Screenshot Competition, - not happy.

KotangaGirl

Pre-Grouping Railways Nut
In the latest Screenshot Collection in the latest Trainz newsletter they say, 'The top four shots as voted for by you!'

My screenshot came in fourth and it wasn't in the newsletter, but the one that came in fifth equal was. Then my screenshot was created in TS2012 and the locomotive and coaches were legacy items. It was also pre-grouping Uk as well so I guess that made it doubly doomed.
I'm not going to enter the screenshot competition again because there's no point. I have a current entry that's being voted on at the moment and after that no more.


Edit: Explanation for the error over not posting my screenshot is given by Zec Murphy further down in this thread.
 
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I imagine that most of you will be wondering why I'm making such a fuss about this, but I feel I've been physically slapped across the face by this example of expedient lying that was no doubt motivated by corporate marketing intended to present the current version of Trainz as being the latest and best thing and very much aimed at the modern era in order to attract younger customers with money to spend.
 
Likewise I have no idea how they pick what is or is not included in the news letter and to be honest I don't look that closely at the screen shots, but daily I do look at what has been added to both the Competition and Screenshot threads of the Forum. It is the work of others which drives the inspiration and imagination to improve and develop our own routes, so whether you contribute to the competition in the future of cause will be your decision but I do hope you will still continue to post your achievements somewhere for the rest of us to enjoy and be motivated by. Peter
 
Thanks Peter. It was that they said that they were the top four as voted by forum members that made me angry. I'm used to anything from the Uk steam era being ignored, but this was the first time they went and actually lied about it.

I won't bother with the competition anymore, but I will continue to post screenshots in the pre-BR Blue screenshot thread which is where us Uk steam era refugees tend to gather to hide away from all the diesels.
 
I agree that the wording on the newsletter "The top four shots as voted by you" was misleading, but the competition and the newsletter are two different entities. It is N3Vs newsletter and they can select whichever images from the competition suits their purposes - and if that is for the benefit of marketing their latest product then that is their right.

If the screenshot competition had excluded any non TRS19 images in reporting the final vote tally, then that would be a different matter and you would be right to feel aggrieved as there are no version restrictions on the entries. But N3V can put whatever additional restrictions they like on their marketing materials.

But bear in mind it is not a serious competition. After years of sporadic attempts I eventually achieved an equal first about 2 years ago - my one and only place in the top podium position. I scored last or next to last more times than I could count.

One thing that that I (and others) did notice was the same names were always coming up as winners - this is not a complaint nor an accusation of foul play but more likely it was the result of the skills and endless free time of those "constant winners". Obviously they have more free time than I do. But it would have been far too easy to give up and claim that it was all rigged.

Lately I have been far to busy on other things to spend much time looking at the entries, much less entering. I fully intend to get back into the competition again when time permits.

If what happened to you also happened to me then my attitude would be "who cares? There are more important things in Trainz than screenshot competitions".

I hope to see you back with more entries in the future.

My thoughts.
 
Thank you for your sensible and well thought out reply. I actually have no arguement with the competition itself, - the standard of screenshots is very high and those who win deserve their 15 minutes of fame. I have won twice now I think, but it was more by fluking clicking the camera shutter at the right time rather than any real technical skill.
I will go away and think about it and let my temper cool down and perhaps I might come back to the competition again at a later time. Perhaps, - who knows, - the N3V newsletter team might even be a little more careful in future about not offending people.
 
I thought about entering a few times, actually did once or twice, but I quickly realized it's not a "screenshot" competition, but a competition to see who's best at editing photos in a graphics program.

I'm no good at editing graphics so I don't bother anymore. :)
 
Well I for one never edit any of my screenshots. They are all exactly as I snapped them in the simulator.
 
If it were possible I would give all high points and negate the competition so therefore I never bother to give any points on the competing images and enjoy seeing them all.
 
I found most screenshots are much too dark. I wonder if many people still have not found where to reset/adjust the color/environment settings. Take a train mag and compare the photo's in the mag to the screen shots. Not the composition and such - just the brightness. Trainz screenies are much too dark.
 
I agree with 1611mac about the screenshots being too dark, and when I post what's close to the real thing with the lightning, it gets no votes, and it does get a vote, a very low number...

Cheers
 
I enjoy the screenshot contest, but mainly the themed as that needs extra "work" to make the actual theme itself. I like to see imagination being used and the "thinking outside the box" to create something different as to what else can be shown in trainz.

As for edited screenshots, I do not vote for them nor do it myself as editing interferes with the ability of the author's actual true talent. I do not find many screenshots too dark, it depends what time of day/evening the shot is taken, ie to make it look more atmospheric. I look at them to see what the author is trying to present.

Yes, I have had the odd screenshots not shown in the newsletter at times even though it was high voted, but I am not going to beat myself up about it. First time it happened it was a bit grrr though, but I just shrug now.

Voting is good, as it makes one strive harder to hopefully create a scene that will "beat" the author who get's that regular vote.

Perhaps the top most popular "six" be shown in the newsletter?
 
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I sympathize with the op. I remember being upset when a TANE entry of mine, which placed 2nd in the competition, was overlooked for the Newsletter. All the shots in that edition of the newsletter were 2019 shots. As you say, you will cool down. I did, and I continue to enter the competition. I enjoy the process of evaluating my own shots to pick an entry for the week. However, I have never really worked out what the Trainzing public are looking for. Voting for shots I have entered but was uncertain about has turned out well, and others I think are fantastic get little support. A shot I entered about a year ago, which to this day I still think is my best ever shot, attracted not one vote! I rewarded myself by using it as the 'cover' shot for my route. Ironically it eventually made a (more prominent) appearance in the newsletter, when my route was featured :)
 
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From my experience it has nothing to do with the top 4. I can say this as 2 newsletters back they posted one of mine, which came near the bottom of the voting list, and was from TANE pre 1950's era. So I'd guess they just pick whatever they fancy?
 
Depends on the wording in the Newsletters, this week it did say "The top four shots as voted for by you!", other times it's a bit more vague, such as for example "More fantastic screenshots from our weekly competition."
 
Sure, they can do what they want, but what's wrong with being upfront about it ? If they say they pick the top four "voted by forum members" than that's what they should do. Being misleading isn't good.
 
Sure, they can do what they want, but what's wrong with being upfront about it ?

Yes, "Four of the top entries, as voted by users" would have served just as well and would not have been misleading.

Hoping for truth in advertising is a bit like hoping for world peace - it can all be in the wording. All those movie posters giving 4 and 5 star ratings from a short list of reviewers is not being untruthful, it is just being selective.

My absolute favourite "selective truth" quote comes from the Soviet propaganda newspaper Pravada when it reported on the result of a friendly bicycle "race" between President Kennedy and Party Chairman Khrushchev during one of their cold war summits. There were only two in the race, Kennedy and Khrushchev, which Pravda did not mention but they reported that "Chairman Khrushchev came second while President Kennedy came 'Next to Last'".
 
"Four of the top entries, as voted by users" would have been fine by me and I wouldn't have been bothered by it at all.

"The top four shots as voted for by you!" is a different statement altogether with an entirely different meaning. Yes I know it's just a for fun competition with no prizes involved, but it still hurt to have a screenshot that I was rather proud of in effect erased as if it didn't exist.

As FootplatePhil says who knows exactly what makes for a winning screenshot, but I know sometimes as I look over the entries for the week a particular screenshot will just grab me and make me go, 'Ooooo'. And it won't be just whether it's modern or historical, steam or diesel, - it will be because everything in the image just fits together and works.


 
As someone pretty new to voting, and thinking of entering, I admit that I get drawn to the eye candy from TS2019, but I try to go for unique and creative views, settings, angles, times of day, weather and situations, rather than just trains on a track. Having said that, I voted for someone on the last set that had some pretty unique weather effects, and I wondered whether that was built into TS2019, or how that was achieved. Now I wonder if that wasn't post-shot editing, so I will be much more careful in my voting.
But to Kotangagirl's point, yes, they need to say in the newsletter how the shots posted are are actually selected, and not make up votes if they did not exist. Years ago, there seemed a lot more in the newsletters that there is nowadays. It just seems to be updates on updates, and the screenshots, and maybe a video. It takes me about one minute to get through it. But that's another topic....
 
As per post #7 lots of people never used a photo shop editor, then maybe they should have two different computations for photos, and if that's to much then just make just screen shot from Trainz with no editing. Make it fair for anyone who would like to enter. Just my opinion.
 
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