Denny,

As a suggestion for future contests. Why don't you make a competition for each new WWG release with the entrants using the last WWG release as a competition entry with the winner winning a free copy of the next product and keep this rolling ad infinitum.

This way, there will be regular monthly competitions with a level playing field and time period for all people, plus this will also generate continuous interest and provide you with plenty of photos to display for each new product that is released. (plus it keeps people buying all the products)

There is a danger that a future competition may be swarmed with one or two "mammoth" sets and people being put off by this..

Regards

Avon

[quote author=Avon

There is a danger that a future competition may be swarmed with one or two "mammoth" sets and people being put off by this..

i have to admit that this is what kept me out of the contest i was affarid that my idea was to small but there were some impressive "small" entries

Another potential problem is that there *is* some actual cost involved in these contest entries.  Unless you're going to use something yourself already, some of these entries represent a fairly substatital investment of ink and cardstock that does, over time, add up.

Constant contests, with only $15 prizes (effectively), would mean that it would be difficult to either get people to enter at all...unless they were doing the models anyways...or it would be difficult to recoup your own costs by entering.

Contstant contests, likewise, would have either a minimal payoff (only 1-2 winners) or would wind up costing more than the once-a-year model.

Finally, basing each contest off the last set unfairly disadvantages those who didn't, for whatever reason, purchase the most recent set.  Maybe Seaworks isn't my cup of tea...so should I be out of luck for the Castleworks Ultimate contest, or have to buy a set for the *chance* to get the set I really want for free?  This will be even more of an issue as more specialized sets (Sci-Fi, Western, Eastern) come out.

Andorax,

Gotta disagree I'm afraid.. I'll make it brief as its late here in the UK!

The competition should be geared towards people who are building the sets anyway.. we are the loyal customers, why don't we benefit here?

Cost, is this an issue? If people buy a set then they must be buying ink/card anyway? A lot of people don't enter a competition for a financial motive, they just want a bit of fame and glory right? Furthermore, a small competition encourages people to build stuff. (I own 5 sets but have actually built half one one) I might be encouraged to build more with some incentive but I do not wish to start building huge sets just yet.

You mentioned a problem with people who didn't purchase a previous set? Firstly, this is a good marketing ploy to encourage users to buy all the sets and secondly if this was a continuous competition you would only have to wait until the next set to enter again. Not a massive problem imho.

Still, I accept everyone has their own opinion

Regards

Avon

Everyone has an opinion, and everyone's entitled to theirs.  I've nothing against your idea personally, Avon, I'm just putting forward my own thoughts on the matter.

Most everything I've posted is from an (admittedly) fairly cold and calculating practicaly approach...and is aimed at much at Denny's point of view as that of the typical customer.  I just don't see it as being an effective incentive.

After all...he gave away a full year's supply and still got only 5 entries.  Plus he has to spend part of his time (taken away from production, I might add) to advertise, maintain, manage, and judge all of said competitions.  

I don't think it would be popular with the majority of customers, and I don't think it would be sound business sense for Denny, to do this constantly.  Annual sounds great to me.

...there apparently would be legal problems with requiring a purchase to enter the contest. The rules mentioned that people could use the free samples to build a contest entry -- put a bunch of altars around the dungeon entrance, I guess