John VanSickle <evi### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
> Warp wrote:
> > swampie <nomail@nomail> wrote:
> >
> >>If you read the upsurge of comments about POVCOMP 2004, a question was left
> >>unanswered. Can you have a contest that uses POV, just POV, and ONLY POV?
> >>Several comments by the artist in the contest admit using numerous software
> >>packages. I believe POV-RAY will only be truely rung out during a POV only
> >>contest. This should be an opportunity to gain significant feedback for the
> >>advancement of POV-RAY.
> >
> >
> >   I don't see why designing scenes should be limited to creating SDL by
> > hand only.
>
> Especially in light of the fact that Moray will soon be just as
> affordable as POV-Ray (if this is not already the case).
>
> The only logical reason to reserve praises or prizes for hand-written
> code is to make it fair for people who don't have the $$$ for a modeling
> program; for some of us, a $20 shareware fee really is too much for
> something that is only a hobby.  (And most shareware is really
> crippleware, but that's an argument for another thread.)
>
> But with Moray being transferred to the POV-Ray organization, that
> reason goes away.
>
> Regards,
> John

My 2c:
When it's a hobby, the fun is in the-doing, not always just the end-result
or cost-effectiveness.  Sometimes it's not even in effort-effectiveness:

If somebody builds a cabin in the woods, that's impressive.  If somebody
builds a cabin in the woods with no power tools and in fact only self-made
tools, then that's much more interesting.  (There was a PBS special some
time ago about a man who did this and lived for many years off of the land
by choice, documenting his adventures all the while on film.)

In a contest, the rules set the game's challenges and objectives and the
best contests have very specific restrictions - that's what makes them fun.
 The objectives may not be purely focused on the end result, like pretty
pictures.  A contest like swampie was suggesting could be all about who can
come up with the cleverest solutions to _x_ problem when restricted to _y_
resources.   A contest  without those restrictions is simply a different
contest.   (Free-for-all's are fun too.)

Charles

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