Why is it so flippin difficult….

Modding and LAN parties… 
chocolate and peanut butter
frick and frak
Starsky and Hutch
Yin and Yang

You see where I go with this? LAN parties are out there and prolific. And people who mod their computers are at these events… 

So *why?* is it so flippin difficult to get a proper modding contest going and have it run fairly, at LAN parties?

Over in Europe they have friggen Leagues of professional modding. International modding leagues that vie for money and hardware. You put out the best, it brings out the best in the modders. 

Over here, you might get a contest thrown in as an afterthought, where you get a video card or a motherboard… if you even get that at all! (I have several friends that have placed or won at a major LAN party here in the states that have not received their winnings for the last 2 years!) 

I mean…. come on folks! Some people game and can win 10’s of thousands of dollars. I’m betting they cannot invest 100’s of hours learning how to paint, shape metal, work with acrylic, styrene, fiberglass, foam, etc. only to get tossed a bone…. that is just rude. But we will pay pro gamers all of this money, but when it comes to having a modding contest that could draw pro modders to compete… oh, that is a different story! No money, and the prizes are usually some hardware. 

Let me give you a hint. Most modders already *have* a lot of hardware. What we also have a lot of, are bills that have stacked up from paying for the things needed within our beloved hobby. Pro gamers have their expenses paid, they have their equipment provided… modders, some of us have companies we can contact in a pinch, so…. hardware is cool, but if you are going to go that route, stack the prize package so that it becomes worth our time to try and take the risk to transport our work of art.  We are risking the breakage of our builds, to take it out in to the public areas… to risk scratches and such, only to arrive at the “modding contest” and find out that the rules have changed, that the prizes will be primarily hardware or that (god forbid) the prizes are not even awarded after the winners were chosen. 

It is honestly not that difficult to throw a Modding competition at a major LAN. You just have to be consistent, and put *just* a little thought into it. 2 classes (modified case and “from scratch”) and 3 tiers work wonders: novice/intermediate/expert. Prizes commensurate with the risk (expert “pro” classes will get larger prizes due to complexity and overall design, downsteppping to intermediate, and downstepping again to novice). It is not that difficult… but some people make it that difficult. 

The over all polish and appearance of the mod should be taken into account. Not just the shock value of seeing a computer inside of something unexpected. If it is done well….  then hats off to the builder