We’re all familiar with this topic. If it annoys you, skip this one. For everyone else:
Why contests are trash and unmoderated - in a nutshell
I made the mistake of looking at the top downloads. There are a few examples among the most popular downloads in this DND contests:
Source: Hosted By Creator: @everythingDND — "The Breach" Design Contest - MakerWorld
Why are you looking at contests if you know they are trash and unmoderated? (Sarcasm, just in case I am not clear)
Saying that something is “not eligible for judging” is not enough. This ■■■■ still shouldn’t be there.
On a side note…
Why are contests not pushing innovation?
At least printables can still do it.
MW is straying from wanting real enginnering. They want “art”
I don’t usually avoid it, but I had a conversation about DND and 3D printing, which isn’t directly relevant to this topic - ultimately led me to this contest.
Maybe Bambu thinks that sponges are relevant to DND players and that they should clean their apartments? 
Now that I think about it, some conventions, such as D&D, anime, Yui-Gi-Oh and gaming , have implemented a rule requiring people to shower beforehand. Like:
And yes, I also see it as more of a lighthearted, humorous take with a touch of sarcasm. 
Well, I don’t see it. I spent some time going over the contest entries. Most were relevant and honestly pretty cool. There were admittedly some odd entries. But it seemed to me that the vast majority of the models were on topic. Some were quite stunning.
I think I missed the point of the thread. Is it that a few odd models leaked through? Or is it that the actual topic is silly? I genuinely don’t understand. (for continuity - I am not a DnD guy. never played it. but I will assume the Death Star wasn’t a part of it.)
Sort by downloads and you will see. A lot of the models are on topic, but there are a few that are obviously not.
Personally, I only consider 6 out of the top 16 to be on topic.
Just purely a guess, I think about 30 percent of models should be removed. In a contest format this hurts others that are on topic because it takes the spotlight away from them.
Ah! Yep. Gotcha.
That’s pretty weird. Dang. Yes. Like nobody’s watching the door. Definitely odd.
Heck, if I knew it was that easy to get in, I’d’ve brought a quiche and left with a case of wine.
What CincinnatiDesigns said. From my perspective:
If you sort by downloads, you’ll find lots of irrelevant participants and posts that haven’t been moderated - and there are rarely consequences for the people who exploit the system shamelessly.
The penalties are not really worth worrying about, because it’s more worthwhile to cheat.
clog charms are “real engineering”?
Also D&D terrain is actually complicated to engineer, if it is modular.
I think most people would agree that modular building kits are complex (due to the way the modules are connected, and how to make it work so that you don’t have to connect certain parts together always). Consider D&D terrain to be a modular building that had to deal with fantastical shapes.
I was more referring to the storage system and the spinning tops.
The clog charms were just in the middle.
I can kinda agree with your point, but that is not the majority of what we see in these contests in MW. It is not the main focus.
Even the printed exoskeleton contest seems to be very art forward as well.
I agree that’s art focussed. But Bambu is the “printer in every home” company so of course pretty things will be more important than machine parts.
I have said this before but there are 2 huge communites that use Bambu. Engineers and Creatives. This forum, and hardware reviews, are heavily skewed towards engineers. Those 2 groups don’t read each others’ sites or watch each others’ videos.
This being said I admit a lot of the “art” in the contests is bad, and not even to the point. But this is a question of AI moderation.
I’d say you’ve forgotten a big group: tinkerers / hobbyists. People who want to do a little crafting, a little wiring and electronics, and some even do a little painting - people who enjoy working with technology.
Just tinkering - that’s the hobby. Without going to the extremes of art or the extremes of engineering.
I disagree that the group is divided into just two categories, as this ignores the significant proportion of people in the middle range.
I disagree with this statement - even though decoration certainly plays a major role, you’ve completely overlooked a large group. Like I said: tinkerers / hobbyists.
Is it only certain blessed accoutns that can create a contest?
I want to make one “Most off topic submission possible”. Reward: a bag of printer poop
I completely agree. Although, as @RetroSharky already pointed out, it is hard to only separate users into two mutually exclusive groups. Anyways, I am going to try and be less negative.
What gets me is that they seem to be ignoring the hobbyist/engineer side, which disappoints me because those are the groups that really built the brand.
I used to like seeing the “master” challenges. Not sure why they are not doing those anymore. To see people throw some electronics, motors, sensors, etc into their project is great. Something with some real work behind it.
You have to send them an email to partner with them.
Too bad, in my case, they will just ghost you.
I sent in a proposal for an ESP32 contest, evidently that is either not interesting enough, or got lost in their beaucracy.
Probably for the best, I would get too pissed off with the entries if I was running my own.
I have to give them credit - or rather, the other designers who organise contests - for at least trying. This one, for example, could have been a real hit in the engineering world. But when I check the top downloads, what’s the first thing I see?
Kids’ toys.
Yet the rules clearly state: Exoskeleton & Articulated Mechanism Challenge Design Contest
This contest focuses on advanced articulated mechanisms that combine movement, structure, and mechanical creativity.
Nothing will change as long as MakerWorld doesn’t penalise people who are fully aware of what they’re doing when they sneak in an off-topic contribution.
In my opinion: Immediately ban from participating in further competitions for at least 6 months and deduct points - delist the model from the search results and the trend list, but non’t delete it.
But let’s be honest - it’s always been that way, and Bambu couldn’t care less. That’s why I just laugh it off now. However, the designers who have to organise something like this must be really frustrated by how their competition has become such a bad joke.
I take exception to the Lunara figurine. The Moon’s terminator passes through its poles, not as depicted here.
I count them as engineers
Thanks for raising this. So far, we’ve already removed 80+ submissions that didn’t fit the theme. We’re also in active communication with the contest host to help ensure that genuinely on-theme, high-quality entries get better visibility.
We also agree that simply marking entries as “not participating” isn’t enough if they still take up spots in the feed. For future contests, we’ll work with hosts to align earlier on how off-theme entries should be handled, so we can reduce this kind of behavior.
— MakerWorld Team
Contests could be a wonderful vehicle for promoting the hobby and focusing efforts if more effort was put into weeding out the bad actors and non-compliant models.
It didn’t start with the D&D contest either. It’s been a major issue with contests for well over a year. That the problem has been allowed to grow and fester is probably a contributor to the off-topic opportunistic posts in the D&D contests.
And it is probably going to take an effort by MW to fix it and turn non-compliant posts into a 3rd rail issue that few want to even go near.
Contests need the same kind of treatment as NSFW posts. Use the ban hammer on the worst cases and impose penalties on the rest.
Until you discourage those who benefit from off-topic posts in contests by wiping out any benefits, nobody will be able to stop it.
I would say since the first contests.
And what did we get? The same generic answer that Makerworld has always given.
“We are working on it”
“We’ve removed all these models”
Honestly, I am not happy with a 50 percent job.
The reporting process is overly complicated and further they often don’t get actioned for weeks, that’s my experience at least.
If someone wants to waste an evening flagging entries to a “book nook” contest, should it really be required that they type “It’s not a book nook!” over an over?
Also are you now shifting this burden on to future contest hosts?
The moderation process needs an overhaul in my opinion, the punitive action taken also requires a rethink, risk vs reward.
I posted my thoughts on the exact same topic a month ago:
