- CAVX
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- Exalted Legendary Member
I don't mind contests regarding a degree of specialization. I think this community is large enough that it still works even if it requires a tremendous amount of talent (in fact, this most recent one definitely proved that).
It's not always just artistic challenges. I won Killane's Mythic Map Pack game a while back, which was definitely a technical challenge, requiring users to know about encoding and figure out that they needed to open image files in a text editor for clues. They also needed to know certain elements of Bungie lore. That's not a contest for everyone, but it was still a very close call at the end, and a lot of people came close.
I don't think that every challenge needs to be "fair" for the concept to be fair. Specialized is better...it creates more awesome products and highlights true talents of the community. I think as long as the required specialization is cycled enough, and there are occasionally some "bring a crayon, anyone can win" challenges in the mix, it will still be fun for all. Plus, it's rewarding either way. I sure can't draw the winning picture either, but I enjoyed it - as well as all of the other finalists - enough not to care.