[ravnostic]

How about: Games showing us how you entertain family and friends. For purposes of this theme, “games” are non-sport activities that have rules and some sort of winner. Sports, dress up, riding bikes, running through sprinklers, and similar are not part of the theme.

Takes a lot of words out, gets to the point.

[ravnostic]

Alrighty…. now for the last second out-of-the-box-but-probably-too-far idea. We’ve established that video games are kosher. What about IRL references to video games? Specifically: Grafitti that says “The cake is a lie” a la Portal.

Don’t know how many people will get the reference (I wouldn’t), but I almost went with a shot of a monopoly hotel sitting so it looked like it was on the street with some real buildings. I couldn’t get the shot right. The reference is clearly to the game; go for it. Don’t get busted tagging.

Also: Recreational paintball – Game or sport?

Wearing tights? Sport. Not? Game. 😆

As Ravnostic said, as long as we’re not seeing pictures of “sports” that most people only watch and don’t participate in – right?

Yep.

the more i read this discussion the more i suspect my entries will tank. and the more i wonder what will end up in the contest.

on contests in general:
1) those of us that have been here a while want the contests to get more defined so we will be stretched for our entries both technically and creatively.
2) the rabble won’t and never have read the description.
3) the rabble seem to have problems even following the contest theme.
4) from the beginning the contests were meant to be inclusive.
5) there is a paradox in this somewhere.

/rambling

The comment was made to me at one point that my theme suggestions were too limited; I’ve tried to broaden my suggestions accordingly. And I’ve found I like the outside-of-the-box of thought that winds up in the contests, so I agree with that point.

Rabble: Let them eat cake. Even if it’s a lie.

P.S. I’m not anti-sport; I happen to like men in tights. Just not for this theme.

[ravnostic]

Am I going to have to go into fits of dithering over whether or not it qualifies? Please say no, please say no, please say no…

No.

Let it roll (pardon the pun).

Further, …this got way too complicated. If I wanted this much drama, I’d date gay men, instead of just having sex with them.

If it’s not obviously some testosterone-injected-boy-playing-make-up/dress-up-except-it’s-not-rouge-it’s-to-keep-from-the-light-from-preventing-me-from-seeing-the-ball-and-these-tights-are-called-a-uniform-so-the-cup-and-tight-jockstrap-makes-it-okay-and-oh-by-the-way-that-pat-on-the-ass-is-TOTALLY-heterosexual-because-this-is-sports-and-that-makes-it-mas(th)culine….

…or the lesbian (I mean testosterone challenged) equivalent thereof..

then let it slide.

Sheesh. I just didn’t want ‘games’ to mean ‘sports’ for this contest. I trust your judgement on making that call.

Take it with a grain of schwetty balls. Or a high grain alcohol. Either or.

[ravnostic]

My ‘no sport’ objective was to keep out the football/baseball/basketball/soccer/and ice hockey shots. We see those images all the time in the papers. Golf, too. I wanted images we don’t see all the time. I wouldn’t object to bowling, but to keep out the other riff-raff, perhaps it’s best that way. Miniature golf I think, though, is a go. And I wouldn’t dq anyone for posting some obscure game that nobody makes money at playing anymore. Like…competitive tatting, for example. Or frisbee golf.

[ravnostic]

It’s too late to take my spin the bottle shot with the models I had lined up 🙁

Even if you can’t get Ginger and the Howells on short notice, I’m sure a shot with Gilligan, the Skipper too; the professor and MaryAnn would be just fine.

[ravnostic]

HAHAH that’s a good thought, too. I did half wonder if the themes were more “abstract” in wording, if people would bother reading the descriptions. Maybe I should look up how many DQ’s there are with more abstract theme titles vs more obvious theme titles.

Sure. Like you need more work. Have at it!

Look, I’ve been at it nearly 5 months, you’ve been at it 5 years. You got me by 12 fold. You know what I was going for, and you’re the moderator. Write the appropriate T/D and lets just get’er’dun.

But I don’t want dq’s for images without people visible playing the games. If the game pieces provide enough context that the game implied is obvious, I want it to be a ‘go’ (collect $200). I can accept that families in the Ozarks play ‘Spin the bottle’ and ‘Strip poker’ together[da-da-dee-dee-dee-da-dee-dee-dee…]. As a gay guy, I can’t begrudge old family habits; hell, if it weren’t for inbreed’n, I would not be here today (see my family tree for details; the kissin’ cousins start 6 generations back).

And ‘sports’, as I’m sure you understand I meant them, are definitely DQ. Football, baseball, basketball, soccer and hockey (ice or otherwise). Beyond that, I don’t think we’d see enough entries to make a difference.

**Oh, and gymnastics are okay, so long as it’s men’s gymnastics, and the tights are white, and not black. White is so much more…artistic.**

Yeah, that’s the ticket. Artistic.

[ravnostic]

ravnostic: Honestly, I think your amended description is a little tl; dr. It kind of made my head spin, and given how the more casual folks don’t tend to read theme descriptions very carefully, I think they’ll just not bother. I kind of liked U-Man’s suggestion as it was fairly short and concise.

One random thought I’ve had recently is that I think (unfortunately, as the case may be) we need to pay more attention to our theme titles and consider ways to make them as indicative of the theme description as possible. I love our creative titles, but it just seems like casual folks see the title/headline, make an assumption of what kind of photos are required based on it, and post whatever. On the one hand, it makes my job easy when someone clearly didn’t read the description and posted something obviously off-theme, but on the other hand, it’s kind of annoying (not that it’s any more or less annoying than it was a year or three ago–we’ve always had those types). So maybe it’s not worth it to change what we do based on the behavior of casual folks. Dunno, I’m rambling.

I know it’s too long, and I agree. I tried to keep it short but indicative of the theme. It started out a lot longer, though. Feel free to edit it how you see fit.

Personally, given I ‘loosened’ up, perhaps just ‘Show us family and friendly gaming scenes, people not required, major sports not allowed’, and just see what happens.

Too many stipulations=headache. The only thing I’d really dq is either the sports (the big ones–it’s not rocket science what I was going for there), and scenes not family orientated. Hell, let Kestrana have her bottle and Leica strip, for that matter.

At this point, with all the quibbles, I’m for K.I.S,S. So this why people don’t submit many themes…they might get picked and have to defend themselves!!
🙄

[ravnostic]

Well, one of my shots involves drinking and photography 😉

There’s just no booze in the shot…

Will be interested in seeing what you came up with for $40, a bartender, and no booze in the shot.

[ravnostic]

i just shot one of the “games” i want to use and it says it’s a puzzle. that ok?

it’s similar to rubic’s cube in that you have to solve the puzzle by assembling a bunch of oddly shaped parts into a fixed shape.

Under the definition I gave orionid (and further, under the broadened TD), I think that’s fine.

So a shot of a football team jumping through a sprinkler while solving a Rubik’s Cube is ok?

Only if, while doing so, they’re trying not to get wet. 😉

[ravnostic]

Well, I do want inclusivity, but not to the point of strip poker, etc. Will stick with the ‘amended’ theme description, then. Rubik: In. Spin-the-bottle: Out. I’ll await Elsinore’s input on the amendum wording, however. Must. Sleep. Now. I’ll check at dusk for updates.

[ravnostic]

Ahhhh. I remember the days when we had themes like, “Red. Take a photo with some red in it.” 🙂

+ |[-1, 1]|

[ravnostic]

**one more thing–‘spin the bottle’ is not a game to play with your 7 year old daughter and 45 year old drunken uncle. That’s just wrong. So please, keep it clean in that regard.**

Well glad you got that out of the way, although I think my picture was humorous and cute, not dirty.

I would argue though that Dungeons & Dragons is not something I would let my 7 year old play with my drunken uncle, nor is Poker or any other game with betting involved. Just sayin’

It’s not that I really object to ‘spin the bottle’ pics per se, it’s just that it’s sexual suggestive in my own perverted mind, so not very ‘family’ friendly. I was hoping to keep this in the ‘good, clean entertainment’ realm. Maybe yours does, but say another posts something more lewd–does Elsinore mind drawing that line?

If Elsinore will moderate for good taste (and less filling), then so be it and I’ll delete that portion of this comment thread. That’s up to her.

As far as D&D and poker; I played D&D when I was 8 (poorly, but still), and look how great I turned out!

😯

Oh. Well. Nevermind then. Moving on…

Poker needn’t be played with money nor chips. Yeah. So…there! Neener-neener.

[ravnostic]

but not toys or playset tea parties, etc.

So…. No Rubik’s cubes? Now that one of Kestrana‘s shots has been eliminated, why not add one of mine to the heap?

Nonsense. Rubik’s IS a game–of solitaire, which is definitely in (there’s no reason why a game has to include two people; I should have included ‘solitaire to Rubik’s cubes’ in the original TD). The boob cube may not have any set ‘rules’, but it does involve skills and strategy to solve, the use of which (spacial logistics) are effectively the ‘rules’ needed to win, which is often the point of many games. Mental games are still games–crosswords, Sudokus, etc.

Hackysacks would fit into this category also–the goal is to keep the sack from hitting the ground. There’s no set rules, except you can’t use your hands.

Lets make it open, so there’s less chance of DQs. I remended my amended description, but in such a way that the voters can decide for themselves whether a shot qualifies, rather than a mod having to work too hard at it.

* saw the youtube of the 5×5 one; decided solving the 3×3 in Jr. High was sufficient for my life’s expectations.

[ravnostic]

It’s been a fairly challenging contest, but wide enough that I’ve been able to run with it. Iz happy, even if I don’t do well 🙂

Sadly, I forget the inspiration I had for a shot when suggesting the theme. I did the bar thing, too; was rather disappointed with the results (drinking and photography may not always mix well I suppose.) I have a couple days, though; we’ll see. I don’t think my shots are anything ‘award’ winning, but I’m happy with what I have so far as well. Glad you had fun!

[ravnostic]

Alright, this adjust-the-theme is harder than I expected. I don’t want the description to be a book, but I want to include what’s been already discussed. I want to include all sorts[/b] of games, but not toys or playset tea parties, etc., as U-Man articulated. However, it’s easier to manage entries when the field is wider-opener.

How ’bout this as an adjusted theme description:

“Shots of family-friendly game activities, for one or more players. Players and/or fully-staged mock-ups not required. Games with ‘goals’ and/or ‘objectives’ are preferred, but not mandatory. Difficulty: Sports not allowed, unless they might be played at a bowling alley.”

I think that will keep the foot/basket/baseball/hockey/soccer type stuff out (mostly), yet allow for potatosack races and hopskotch, and subjective interpretation of what a ‘game’ is.

One of my shots this week cost me something like $40. I really hope it doesn’t get DQ’d. =P

I get the point, so if this revision is a problem, we can take a different angle. I spent about $60 for this weeks shots, one shot alone cost $30, and it isn’t even likely to break the top 20. I think what I wrote above covers most everything discussed so far, though. [edit–I’m sure with the revised revision, this won’t be a problem.]

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