Make Arma Not War - Submissions Re-opening

[Korneel 115]

Dear Make Arma Not War contestants,

After analyzing the submitted entries in the Make Arma Not War contest, we noticed that many contestants had not correctly submitted their data (around 50 entries) - even though some of these entries were marked to be in beta or even gold state.

Although we have tried to communicate the correct submission method as clearly as possible, we recognize that some of our messages might not have gotten through - or that some of the contestants might have simply misunderstood. Therefore, since this involves such a significant number of entries, among which several that have attracted a high number of supporters, we have decided to temporarily re-open the submissions for existing entries in the Multiplayer/Addon/Total Modification categories (does not apply to the Singleplayer category). This will give every contestant in these categories the chance to correctly submit their data, or if you have already submitted your data correctly, to submit updated data.

All in all, we have carefully considered the pros and cons of this decision, and we fully understand this might upset some of the Make Arma Not War contestants. However, as ultimately the point of this contest is to highlight quality community content, we feel this is the best way forward. Instructions regarding the re-opening of submissions can be found below.

IF YOU ARE COMPETING IN THE MAKE ARMA NOT WAR CONTEST, BE SURE TO CAREFULLY READ THROUGH THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS. INCORRECT SUBMISSION OF DATA WILL LEAD TO DISQUALIFICATION!

Who can re-submit?

Every registered entry in the Multiplayer/Addon/Total Modification category of the Make Arma Not War contest can (re-)submit their work. The situation does not apply to the Singleplayer category - here nothing has changed.

When can I re-submit?

We will re-open submissions from today up until Sunday December 14th at 23:59 GMT+1.

How should I re-submit?

If you decide to re-submit, you will need to upload your entry files to a shared folder on the Make Arma Not War Dropbox. There are two ways to request access to this Dropbox folder:

1. You can log in to the Make Arma Not War website, and click on "Request Re-submission Dropbox Access". You will then be given access within one business day.
   
2. You can request access by e-mail via manwar_dropbox@bistudio.com. Please do not forget to include your entry details, such as the entry ID, the e-mail address tied to this entry, and the entry's name. You will then be given access within one business day.
   

Please note that the login details to the Dropbox folder will be sent to you by e-mail from no-reply@dropbox.com. If you have not received anything after one business day, please make sure to check your junk/spam folder, or contact us at support@makearmanotwar.com.

Arma 3 recently received a platform update. What about possible compatibility issues?

Attention! All of the Make Arma Not War entries will be reviewed using Arma 3 version 1.32 (pre-Helicopters DLC update). You can access this special 'Make Arma Not War' build via Steam using the instructions below. Make sure to develop your entry for this version of the game, and make sure your entry works with this version of the game!

MANW build activation

I do not want/need to update my entry.

That is perfectly fine, this is not mandatory. If you have correctly submitted your work the first time, and do not want to update your submitted data, just sit back and relax.

I have provided a public download link, so you can download the data from my website. Is that enough?

No! Just to make sure it's clear, the only accepted method of submission is by uploading your data to the Make Arma Not War Dropbox (or the Arma 3 Steam Workshop - depending on the category/entry).

Currently missing entries

There are a number of entries which we do not have in our repositories. We would like to kindly ask the respective authors of the following modifications to make sure their work is submitted correctly.

List of missing MANW entries

When will you announce the finalists/winners?

Due to the re-opening of submissions, the Make Arma Not War team and the jury members will consequently need extra time to properly review all of the entries. As a result, instead of the beginning of December, we now plan to announce the Make Arma Not War finalists in January 2015. The announcement of the winners is currently scheduled for the end of March 2015.

I have more questions/I need help.

If you have any questions, or if you need any help, please do not hesitate to contact us at support@makearmanotwar.com.

In conclusion, we would like to apologize for any inconvenience this might cause. However, we hope you will understand the motivations behind this decision. This contest is meant for the Arma community, and we feel this is the right course of action to maintain the spirit of the contest - despite the extra hassle that comes with it. We hope that all of you will seize the opportunity to make sure your entry makes it to our repositories, and also to fix all the little issues that had slipped the net.

Good luck to everyone - we look forward to the results!

[Undeceived 392]

Ok, why exactly not reopening the SP category?

Because there were no invalid submissions?

Or because there were not enough invalid entries to turn everything upside down?

More than 2 weeks... Wow... I would be able to release a whole new version for my SP project. This is why this decision is absolutely NOT understandable!

[Korneel 115]

Ok, why exactly not reopening the SP category?

Because there were no invalid submissions?

Or because there were not enough invalid entries to turn everything upside down?

More than 2 weeks... Wow... I would be able to release a whole new version for my SP project. This is why this decision is absolutely NOT understandable!

This is indeed because submissions in the SP category were okay (they required Steam Workshop verification), and it would also be slightly more complicated because this category involved public voting. Also note that we're not accepting NEW entries in any of the categories.

[Rydygier 1309]

As long each category is evaluated separatelly, excluding SP from re-opening does no harm to fair competition in this one. More problematic this fact is for those re-opened - no one expected that, while some continued work and now have improved versions ready to update, others took some rest, and now are handicapped because of that. Well, this or 50 entries less in the competition, don't know, what's worse...

BTW it's odd, so many competitors wasn't able to met/understand submission rules.

Edited November 27, 2014 by Rydygier

[sttosin 67]

Well happy thanksgiving to you too Bohemia Interactive!

[feuerexcz 11]

Taken from MakeArma website:

mission of Entries will be closed on 28th October 2014 at 12am (GMT+1).
(...)
The jury will exclude from the Contest any of the submitted entries which: d. have been submitted belatedly.

Okay, now this is something I will probably never understand. The rules are clear, the deadline was a month ago, and nobody can submit anything after that. It was mentioned literally everywhere.

So, where exactly is the problem? Can the works be downloaded, are they unfinished, or are they just submitted ideas without any actual files? You know, some people use to plan big, write down some ideas, but maybe they couldn't finish the work in time so they didn't upload anything...?

I understand that you want to see all entries, but this is just a punch in the face for everyone who accepted the rules and did their best to do everything in time. People who did only half the work can now submit something entirely different, and completely ruin the one and only rule of the contest, and that is to do the work in time.

Okay, whatever. It's your contest, so yeah, do what you wish.

[CoA|Saint 5]

A Further Nostradamus prophecy is accomplished now. Bohemia Interactive, Kudos!

[bayum 10]

Submission of Entries will be closed on 28th October 2014 at 12am (GMT+1).

(...)

The jury will exclude from the Contest any of the submitted entries which: d. have been submitted belatedly.[/code]

Unfortunately this basically allows them an exception:

Submitted entries can be updated until the Submission is closed. The Organizer reserves the right to reopen the Submission after prior announcement, in the event of any issues deemed serious enough to warrant such actions.

Interestingly according to web.archive.org this omission didn't exist as of June of this year. So that has been changed at least between then and now. There is a line at the very bottom that states it was last updated 22nd October, so if that date is accurate it could have happened then. Once again it is BIS's contest, so they are free to change it, but that doesn't mean we have to be happy about it.

If the Jury was aware that this was a significant enough problem it should have been handled within the days immediately following the deadline and not left until the finalist announcements were imminent. Anyone who was serious enough about this competition should have double checked to make sure their project made it in.

If this is a case of the jury bending the rules to ensure that mods they would prefer are finalists make it in (but are currently excluded), then the integrity of the overall competition certainly comes into question. Although that is good PR spin when it's in the interests of innovation and the modding community, right? :confused:

Edited November 27, 2014 by bayum

[Redphoenix 1540]

Can I just ask what is meant by "not correctly submitted"?

[feuerexcz 11]

Unfortunately this basically allows them an exception:...

My apologies then, I read the whole thing some two months back and don't remember reading about reopening. I did some research and it seems it changed on the 22.10., as it doesn't appear on my stored page from 19.10. It's still a change before the original deadline, so it's okay I guess.

I still don't agree with this decision, and I'm going to continue questioning the contest, especially if one of the finalists is going to be a mod/mission that was originally unavailable/not playable, and got into the contest only because of this decision. Once someone participates in a contest where's this much money, they should at least check their own work, or contact support immediately, if there's a problem. As this re-opening appeared after a whole month, I think that most of the problematic entries are unfinished demo versions, that simply couldn't participate in any form at the time.

[Defunkt 431]

Given the re-submission window I think entries should be able to nominate the version of ArmA they're to be tested with. I expect a lot of entrants have continued to improve their submission with a view to its use on the current version and it might be very difficult to unravel what's only suitable for 1.32.

[mistyronin 1181]

Given the re-submission window I think entries should be able to nominate the version of ArmA they're to be tested with. I expect a lot of entrants have continued to improve their submission with a view to its use on the current version and it might be very difficult to unravel what's only suitable for 1.32.

That would be the logical option.

[tupolov 520]

256 entries of which there is no surprise that 50 failed to even complete their entries.

There are a few surprises but the rules were clear. This does not provide an equal opportunity now as many have ceased working on 1.32 versions. Obviously it also gives those that missed the deadline an extra 2 weeks to submit. Makes a bit of a mockery of the process to be honest.

Would be good if BIS can be transparent and let us know out of the missing 50 who actually submits an entry. I suspect I can name the 4 or 5 that will resubmit :)

[friznit2 350]

Disappointing.

[IndeedPete 1038]

Given the re-submission window I think entries should be able to nominate the version of ArmA they're to be tested with. I expect a lot of entrants have continued to improve their submission with a view to its use on the current version and it might be very difficult to unravel what's only suitable for 1.32.

While that might be true it is a good idea for every contestant to keep (track of) older versions, i.e. maintaining a sufficient change management. I still have all six Alpha and five Beta versions of my entry zipped on my harddrive.

[Wiki 1558]

Yeah, for example, it seems there are problems with my entry:

people who try it, well... the game crashes.

It seems I did it wrong when packaging it up.

So, I think it's lost for this contest.

Reopening it to SP category would allow me to repack it correctly so that people CAN play it via the workshop - and not force them to use the armaholic link...

[ange1u5 11]

So if one resubmits their existing mission (which wasn't in the list but is still fine btw but I've made changes I want to push forward), what format do we upload to dropbox? Just the PBO? A RAR/ZIP file with PBO and readme text file? What about naming? I don't want to resubmit without making sure I do it right.

[six_ten 208]

What were the problems with submissions? If we don't know how do we avoid them?

[bad benson 1733]

this is a new low. why exactly is there a 1 month break between the original deadline and this announcement? how does this ensure a fair process? people who submitted in time and took a resting period are now at a disadvantage over people who just kept working. so this adds 6 extra weeks for some and atleast 2 for everyone. how is that fair? in my eyes this destroys all credibility of the contest and makes a mockery of those who were organised enough to meet the deadline. why is there a deadline at all if it means nothing?

the exclusion of the SP category adds to the insult. you don't like the output? fine. but don't act like this is not a total disaster and 100% random reset of rules. excluding SP (i have no entry there but still) makes as much sense as this whole thing overall.

as long as BI can show off with better results to ensure more sales everything else doesn't matter.

i'm really disappointed. i will try to use the extra time as good as i can but this took what was left of the contest's legitimacy and really shows what the main goal behind this whole thing is. the right thing would've been for BI to take the bullet of the initial fuck up but instead the contestants have to do that now...

[roberthammer 582]

Not a big surprise tho

It smells like it's a Steam workshop fault , BIS or both

[warlord554 2065]

Scrub this contest. Make a new one with a new deadline. That's really the only fair outcome for everyone involved at this point that I can see

[SaOk 112]

No scrubing and new deadlines, please - I hope the SP category really stays closed. Focused my entry to be as stable as possible for it. Have continued now the project with some more risk taking in scripts, would be nightmare to prepare new update for MANW again. Still recovering from stress that the competition caused. :nuts:

Still may use the new deadline in COOP to update my entry for it. Orginally added my entry for it as extra, but couldnt focus it properly (put all effort in SP). I wish I had worked on the COOP last 1 month, but 2 weeks is quite much time too. Still I think the deadlines should have stayed closed, unless there were some uploading issues. Not sure if I should use the new opportunity or respect the old deadline.

Edited November 29, 2014 by SaOk

[fluttershy 2]

Jeah sure go ahead an punish the people that were able to read the rules and uploaded there stuff correctly and in time.....

I am very curtain that delivering something workable, correctly and in-time is something worth taken into consideration. Then again, its not like the gaming industry is lately known to release fine and workable titles on day 1.

Edited November 29, 2014 by fluttershy

[mikero 79]

>No! Just to make sure it's clear, the only accepted method of submission is by uploading your data to the Make Arma Not War Dropbox

My entry of an entire tool suite as a total mod (which they are), have been available for several years at dev-heaven, they are in a continuous cycle of being improved and updated every week. Your demand that i upload a snapshot of 30+ *GOLD* tools is unreasonable. Feel free to avail yourself of the automatic updater and self installers at dev-heaven, like everyone else, or simply don't bother.

https://dev.withsix.com/projects/mikero-pbodll/files

*Any* entry worth bothering with has already been published. Instead of expecting a stale snapshot, you should be awarding points to the authors who have provided clear instructions and easy internet access to their creations.

The fact that bis haven't looked at these entries until the 11th hour is pretty telling in itself. If you were at all committed to this, monthly 'brownie' points would have been used as encouragement awards a year ago.

Edited November 30, 2014 by Mikero

[mistyronin 1181]

Jeah sure go ahead an punish the people that were able to read the rules and uploaded there stuff correctly and in time...

And what about the people that were able to read the rules, that uploaded their stuff correctly to dropbox a few days before the deadline, that checked even if it was sent properly and then BI says that they haven't received the file properly :j: