So with the Premium Contest it's easy enough to know when you didn't follow the entry rules themselves, as you won't get approved as a valid entry.

However, when it comes to being judged, can a bad alter disqualify you from being chosen as a winner?

By "bad alter" I mean, more specifically, something that requires a pass or two (or three) before you get approved.

I submit 3 examples: "a decollete gown", "a longsword that radiates light", and "a short skirt side slit to the waist".

"a decollete gown" is likely the one that someone can create without a second thought about validity. However, "decollete" is not an approved word. Continuing further though, "nubuck" is and so now go Google the origins of decollete vs nubuck (do "nubuck etymology"). If my word is to be believed.. decollete originates from the mid 1800s while nubuck is early 1900s. I can easily see someone submitting an entry that contains the word decollete.

"a longsword that radiates light" is a bit iffy. It's likely to get shot down, but how strict are the contest entry rules? We're to let our imagination go wild, as long as it doesn't break immersion, right? Typically things like that are left as ambients versus in an alter, and so if you hand this off to a regular GALD merchant they're going to say no but as a Premium Contest entry?

"a short skirt side slit to the waist" is, 9 times out of 10, going to be someone trying to sneak a very risque alter through a tired merchant. Nearly all of us know this is not going to pass. However, would it pass the entry requirements for the Premium Contest?

"Clothing or items that represent lingerie, undergarments, or "adult toys" of any sort, are forbidden. Sexy clothing is okay, but only to a point. You can have a "low-cut bodice", but anything more risque stands the risk of being rejected." -- this is the ALTER rule about risque clothing.

"..but only to a point." and "..but anything more.. stands the "risk" of being rejected." Wording that says "likely no, but maybe yes."

So all this comes back to my original question...

If all 3 of these alters would be sufficient to get through the initial "valid entry" check, are they still sufficient to be judged the same as alters that WOULD be successful on the first try? Or are they looked at, deemed invalid, and then become invalid as potential winners? Under a regular GALD the item would be handed back with suggestions on changes to make it valid.

"a decollete gown with all the fancy Google words in a very flowing style"

That's such a great design! It can't be used because of decollete, but I like it and will give it my vote of approval as a winner!

..vs..

Yeah, unfortunately, decollete can't be used so this cannot be a winning entry.

:thinking:

This all started with me trying to make a feras choker. However, the "must adhere to alter rules" made me pause and investigate further. As feras is not a metal it cannot be used as a material in an alter. So I scrapped the idea and decided on "a lovingly crafted whatever" to which I then questioned the word "lovingly" as how can someone know it was lovingly crafted versus say hatefully crafted? To which my response was "well, I don't think it matters for the Premium Contest as we're supposed to make the things we like and want" but then I got to wondering...

I don't think it matters to be considered a valid entry, but does it matter when it comes to judging?

Should I go with "a gown with a plunging neckline" instead of "a decollete gown" when my desire is to win the contest?

I'm sure someone in QC/Premium could give you a very technical answer to your actual question, but I just wanna give a little piece of insight from my neck of the woods. GMs are basically voting on your entries so that it's not just like one person or a couple people deciding/judging everything. What I think having a lot of people vote comes along with though, is that I'm sure we aren't all paying the same level of attention to whether it's a valid alter, unless it's just facially invalid. I'm going to assume that the GM choosing which entries to submit to the other GMs for vote are pre-screening them to a level where my vote counts for something. And I'm picking the ones that I like the best. I don't recall considering if I thought the alter was valid (again, unless it's just obviously not). I probably wouldn't have bothered to look up the word decolette before voting, using that type of assumption as justification. Perhaps I just learned that I need to do better work!