In May of 2005, I examined case modding contests from the perspective of potential contestants in a Case Study you can find here. That article was created as a guide for other modders interested in competing. Since then, I have been asked many times to host modding contests by various companies and individuals, but have always declined.

There were several reasons for my reluctance, all of which I will cover, but the primary reason has always been judging. I am a competitive person by my very nature and, like most people who fall into this category--or by degree, suffer from this condition--I push myself as hard as I have to, to win. The thought of having the winner chosen by a seemingly random group that may or may not know what goes into a pro class mod is, at best, horrifying to me.

When one of our BoxGods modders, Feldm4n, told me he was entering the Cooler Master 2006 Case Mod Contest, I saw an opportunity to observe the entire process--start to finish--from an almost clinically removed distance. What follows are my observations and, of course, my opinions on what does and what should (or should not) go into hosting a world class modding contest. The intent here is to start a discussion on the subject that benefits both hosts and contestants of future contests in general, and modding specifically.

Let me start by congratulating Feldm4n on his very excellent Spiderman 3 mod, CMC/S3, pictured above and throughout this article. We are all very proud of you Matt.

When Matt approached me about entering the Cooler Master contest, I actually tried to talk him out of it. Not because Cooler Master isn't a quality company and not because they don't fully support the modding community. They do make high quality products, and do offer substantial (and genuine, I might add) support for the modding community--worldwide. Spend five minutes in the modding area of their forums, and you will find a large and diverse group of very supportive modders.

My initial reluctance reverted to the judging issues, and the way contests of this size are generally presented. To be fair here, Cooler Master has done a great job with the entire contest, and getting to watch the process provided many insights for this article--in effect, they bolstered my belief that there is, in fact, a way to pull off a great and fair contest. From here, I will cover "problem areas" in general, and offer possible solutions.