Time to get this settled once and for all., Sprite Comp self-voting

Some of you may have noticed the recent discussion in the Sprite Comp #111 topic and the topic for the Final Voting for that comp. 4 people voted for themselves in the Top 5 voting, and as it was possible that this would have an effect on the voting results (though in the end it turned out that it did not in this case), and so I put the question to Yoshiman over AIM as to whether he knew if this was allowed or not. He answered in the negative, and I subsequently mentioned this in the topic. All I got in reply was a single comment asserting without backup that voting for oneself was allowed in the Top 5 (and no offense at all, but the member who posted that may or may not be thoroughly familiar with Sprite Comp rules, as the same member once claimed that re-using old sprites was allowed), and despite my further request for discussion, the Final Voting was begun. Once again, nothing needs to be halted for this comp, since the same people would have been in the Top 5 even if the self-votes had not been counted. But I really think this needs to be definitively settled, and that the rule for this should perhaps be officially be written down somewhere (perhaps in addition to other rules, such as ones regarding pixel art vs. sprites).

Voting for oneself in the Top 5 has been allowed since I've been here (and I'd assume before), but not in the final vote. To be fair, I think that rule should be changed.

Why wasn't this rule changed so you can't vote for yourself at all the last time we discussed this?

I forgot to mention this above, but I think it should be disallowed because basically it gives free rein to bias/self-interest that could affect voting results, though I am not at all saying that everyone who votes for themselves does it out of bias or self-interest (some may honestly believe their own sprites are higher-quality, especially if it should happen that extremely poorly-made sprites would be the only other ones in a comp). However, I doubt that is very often the reason people vote for themselves - it would seem that the most expected reason would be to give oneself a leg-up in the comp, so that one would be closer to winning. I'm giving people the benefit of the doubt in this case, of course, but in terms of general probability I think this applies.

I figured at least for the drawing competitions, you could never vote for yourself at all, top 5 or final. Make it the same fo all comps I say.

I know for certain that in Minigame Comps it's always disallowed.

Although those are a bit different, as there tend to be fewer contestants and less votes, I too am in favor of consistency among the different comp types.

This post has been edited by Grant on Jul 5 2007, 10:24 PM

Voting for yourself in Topfive should be fine, it's such a general vote that It doesn't really matter.
if your sprite Isn't good enough to get a top five, and I think mine is, then too bad for you, why should I give out a pity vote? Just keep trying and get better. :(

This has been discussed twice, and it seems to be the popular opinion that this shouldn't be allowed. I don't believe it should be allowed either. There's nothing unfair about not letting people vote for themselves, so.

I've made it a rule in that sticky. Leaving this thread open so you can discuss it any more. It's up for a change if people ***** enough.

This post has been edited by Joey on Jul 5 2007, 10:33 PM

On that same token though, people with bad entries could vote for themselves and then not vote for good ones just so they could get top 5.

Also, if you don't think the others deserve a vote, then I guess you could not vote at all.

The problem is, influence still does exist that's caused by self-voting, and people may do it even if their sprites are cruddy and unworthy of a vote, just because they're their own.
EDIT: lol Press Start beat me to it.


Also, I thoroughly approve of the measure Joey just took.

This post has been edited by Grant on Jul 5 2007, 10:37 PM

You're post confused me at one line :X
"There's nothing unfair about not letting people vote for themselves,"
wut?

anywho I guess this won't bother me much so long as it'll settle all these lil' disputes.. I get enough votes in top five anyway. What's one gone gonna do to me? Alright :X

MECHA FOR SPRITE WINNER.

VOTE FOR ME!
EH.. I'm just groggy tonight >.>

And good point PS 80

Meaning if we disallow people to vote for themselves, like I just did, it doesn't unbalance anything or make anything unfair. NOT voting for yourself isn't any more UNFAIR than voting for yourself.

This post has been edited by Joey on Jul 5 2007, 10:39 PM

oh :o

Gotchya chief'

I don't understand why we have to create a pointless dispute over this. Generally, you are allowed to vote for yourself if you truely believe your sprites are greater than the majority of entries. But you're not allowed to vote for yourself in the final voting, simply because it destroys the purpose.

I'd say disallow.
1. Sprite competition top-5 voting is the only voting here, that allows it. So what's the point?
2. People who vote themselves see winning as an important thing.

This post has been edited by Ultramario on Jul 6 2007, 11:40 AM

How would one be able to even tell if someone were voting because they truly believed their own entry better? There's no way to tell, because even if someone said, "I'm voting for myself because I really believe mine belongs in the Top 5", he could just be lying and voting to give himself an advantage.

The dispute isn't pointless at all, and I haven't seen any good points made against Joey's new rule so far.

To be honest, I haven't seen it make much of a difference when you vote for yourself for top 5 ever.