Rules and Requirements

[Sean O]

Welcome!

Here are the official rules and requirements for the MVPmods.com Park Design Competition. Please pay close attention to the contents of this thread, since they will help you greatly in your design.

Information:

First off, we want this to be fun. All of these requirements are just meant as basic guides to level the field between everyone. There shouldn't be anything designed to limit your creativity, or to make this difficult or exclusive to anyone.

This can be done in any medium of your choice, as long as you can express your idea to us by the end of the contest. If you want to build a model, that's wonderful, or if you want to use photoshop, just fine.

Rules:

1. All entrants must choose a particular team, currently existing between high-single A and Major League Baseball.

a. Entrants may not choose a ballpark built or heavily modified after 1991. In real-life terms, US Cellular Field is the first park on the exiled list.

2). All entrants must choose a particular plot of land, through maps.google.com, or through google earth.

a. the plot of land must not have substantial buildings existing within it, i.e. no skyscrapers or other difficult objects.

b. the plot of land must be reasonably sized to fit the park you're building, so you cannot build a ballpark on a postage stamp sized plot. The dimensioning tool in google earth is the best bet, since you can measure distances by hitting ctrl-6.

3). The park must be physically possible. For example, no seating sections can magically float over the field or other seating sections.

4). The field must abide by these rules:

a. all fields must have dugouts, bullpens, 90' bases, 60'6" pitching mound distances, and all other required physical elements on a baseball field.

b. all fields must follow these minimum dimensions:

left / right field corners: 302'

left / right field alleys: 365'

center field: 380'

maximum wall height: 60'

c. any designer wanting an exemption from these minimum requirements must post to the forum, explaining the circumstance.

5). All entries must include these elements:

1. a Ground Plan ("birds-eye") view of the stadium.

2. a side elevation or cross-section view of the park, to gage height.

3. dimensions, in feet, of the left and right field corners, alleys, and center field distance.

Entrants may also post any artwork, details, or other information regarding their park. The end result is to give the judges, and everyone else, the best idea of your design.

6). Entries are limited to two designs per registered user name.

7). All entries must be posted in its own thread in this forum by 11:59PM Eastern time, March 31.

Judging:

Judging will take place on 3 different categories:

1). Originality

2). Problem Solving / "Fit"

3). Overall quality of the idea

Originality-

In short, I don't want anyone to think they need to create ridiculous, insane designs just to get a high originality score. I'm looking for a park that's not just another Camden clone, something that is a quality design that's not a collection of cliches.

Problem Solving-

The Marlins don't need an 80,000 seat park. The Twins don't want to be in another soulless, un-retractable dome. Here, we're looking to see how well you adapt both the park to the city and team's circumstances, and how well it fits within the plot of land you chose. If you have a beautiful city setting to the west, and you face the park to the south, that's not using your plot of land to the best of its capabilities.

Overall Quality-

Pretty simple, just an overall feel of how much we like the park.

As I said above, I want this to be a fun, enjoyable experience. Please feel free to post your works in project up to this point in your own thread in the forum.

Also, comment on peoples' posts. Any praise is greatly encouraged, and *constructive* criticism is also welcome.

If anyone has questions about the rules, comment in this thread or PM me. Also, since I know many people here do not have the same experience I have in building parks, if you have specific questions about physical elements, PM me and I'll be happy to help.

Enjoy!

Sean O

[schulzte]

Hey Sean,

Just a little note; I know this is technical, but no major league ballfields that I know of are oriented with the grandstand facing west, and there is a rule in the major league rulebook mandating that ballparks attempt to orient the batter so he isn't looking west. That is because the sun gets in batters eyes too much. I was thinking about point my Olympic Stadium for a view of Manhattan, but that would cause glare problems.

TS

[Sean O]

Yes, I should clarify:

There is no set direction the park has to face for the competition, since even some minor league parks (one in cali, one in mass) actually face due west. Preferably, try to make it face east, since that'll be best and most accurate.

Also, I was able to find the perfect spot across the river in NJ that faces northeast, right at downtown manhattan. It is the perfect spot, and I'm seriously tempted to donate it to you.

But, that would show favoritism, and I totally don't do that without cash payments.