Male hair petition ~

You can't blame people considering entries that clearly go directly against the rules STILL ending up in the finalist choices.
Take it as critical constructive critiquing rather than whining as this will show SE that they need to tighten up and stick to the rules THEY THEMSELVES WROTE. it shows a slight lack of commitment to people's sensibilities when they put hard work into designs only to find that some were taking up spots that not only they but other unique styles could have taken.

It's expected because it shows lack of attention and makes it appear like SE is full of it. I entered and am not bitter that mine didn't get in BUT knowing that some are clear ripoffs (one WITH AN IMAGE RIPPED FROM SE EMBEDDED INTO THE PICTURE: Warrior of Light - Red)that go against the rules, coupled with some of the "samey" designs are going to warrant discussion and criticism.

People expect them to AT LEAST follow their own rules.

Comments like "those finalists suck" and "why wasn't MY entry chosen" and "I don't like any of the [winning] finalists, can't we vote again" aren't very constructive, and yet make up the vast majority of the complaints. The only real argument one could make is SE apparently waffling on the "original design" rule, to which they seem to have taken a stance where an 'interpretation' of something pre-existing is fine so long as the artist clearly worked on it (such as the red Fighter hair and the Quistis-looking 'do). That seems to be the case since they immediately disqualified a submission when they learned it was a literal copy-paste job and left the other two. That falls into the realm of the rules being unclear.

So yes, the contest has had it's share of problems, largely stemming from unclear rules, but most of the complaints made are unrelated to those problems and are unconstructive.

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Originally Posted by ElHeggunte

The only real argument one could make is SE apparently waffling on the "original design" rule...

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People have quoted the contest rules as stating "original works" which, to be clear, is not the same as "original design". Original work would be something made from nothing, the first version. Doesn't have to be a new and unique thing, just created in a unique way. A statue of a famous person would be an original work, the original design very clearly being the famous person. "What does a statue have to do with this?" The hairstyles based off the minion and Quistis? Clearly they weren't copied from outside sources like Female #12 was, which is the difference here. Female #12 was, literally, a photoshop edit. The only original work there was from the lady who'd taken the original photo, the person who'd entered it only edited it to fit Square's model.