Okay, I'm not going to try and make a big deal out of this, and I'll probably just make a Congress post (end up supporting neither side), but here's my views on it:
Eye-Candy is an art. Much like music. So obviously having a better gfx card is going to play a large role, like in music, having better recording equipment and availability to equipment in general will give you a little edge in selling a song or having it become popular than compared to just a simple tape recording. But that's real life, and it's a little more strict.
But this is an online community. Not everyone has a chance, where in music, if you really have talent, then someone might pick up on it and offer you that free chance to become great, but here, you might be the best eye-candier ever, but just have a crappy gfx card because of various reasons, you don't get that same chance.
Now I understand from the mod's views that it is really difficult to run a two-way contest for good and poor gfx, because we've tried it before. So the only thing I could recommend at this point is to have two winners, but based on different standards.
One vote would be like it is now, just a mainstay popular vote, where most likey, high gfx would be favored. But the other vote would consist of a group of selected individuals who know what good eye-candy really is and don't need gfx to fill their boat (veteran eye-candiers, etc..), and could perhaps change everytime. Perhaps even a public vote on who gets to be in the group, and whoever they say, gets to win too.
I'm not saying it would have to work like that, but it's an idea.
Co-Leader and Founder of the Eye-Candy Guild
Head of Research and Development for the AOE3 Editor
Designer's Mod Co-Creator
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