Honestly, I do think that 888's auraboa winning entry is a little surprising? I'm a fan of his work in a general sense, and it's not what I usually expect from him in terms of creativity and complexity (though at least it's VERY on-theme for Earth, and thematic strength looks to have been the single biggest factor in deciding winning entries this time around).
In this case at least, I personally blame the unspoken rule that the new breed will get a disproportionate amount of entries into the winners' circle, rather than staff favoritism of 888 specifically. I seriously wish that judges would let that rule drop, or at least shift it to "at least one entry with the new breed should win," rather than "at least 2, ideally 3 entries with the new breed should win," which is how things currently seem to go. Or, at the very least, staff direly need to take this kind of thing into account with breed release schedules, because either way the result is that we get forced, rushed entries and a feeling of unfairness.
(Re: UMA vs. site skin cost specifically, while it might not be relevant to you, anon, and that's totally fair, I do think it's relevant to the overall discussion here, since there's at least one anon suggesting some kind of deception on the part of 888, ~manipulating~ contestants into not creating art for the new breed, as if there's literally any advantage to him in doing that.)
ayrt
In this case at least, I personally blame the unspoken rule that the new breed will get a disproportionate amount of entries into the winners' circle, rather than staff favoritism of 888 specifically.
I seriously wish that judges would let that rule drop, or at least shift it to "at least one entry with the new breed should win," rather than "at least 2, ideally 3 entries with the new breed should win," which is how things currently seem to go. Or, at the very least, staff direly need to take this kind of thing into account with breed release schedules, because either way the result is that we get forced, rushed entries and a feeling of unfairness.
(Re: UMA vs. site skin cost specifically, while it might not be relevant to you, anon, and that's totally fair, I do think it's relevant to the overall discussion here, since there's at least one anon suggesting some kind of deception on the part of 888, ~manipulating~ contestants into not creating art for the new breed, as if there's literally any advantage to him in doing that.)