I don't like this new change either.
I really enjoy seeing people's rooms they post in this thread. I checked it every day.
It added so much joy and inspiration to the gaming experience...now going to be gone.
It was wonderful to see a winner picked too.

Maybe they felt they wanted to broaden the entry base by including everyone?

I'm going to miss scrolling through the room entries in this thread, I do know that.

May (110044468) wrote:^^^ Congrats lolo PIC and Nutty, Dex, ViE, Alison YOJ and Beatrice

Thank you!

Skull (6186221) wrote:

Beatrice (178761483) wrote:

Skull (6186221) wrote:Congratulations to everyone: recent winners and all past ones !!!
I don't often come to write this, but I am always pleasantly impressed by the creativity of those who post their creations in this thread and by those who are selected !!
you are ALL fantastic

I am very sorry that the next Room of the week winners will be selected from players who received 5.8 in the gem challenges



very very sorry about this, but I hope it's only for the next newsletter and after that ,ANYONE can once again have a chance to win some yocash or receive an honorable mention

Happy decorating everyone and Happy Sunday !

I noticed that as well -- I thought it was confusing ... they are going to use the gem contest rooms posted? I hope we return to this format - so we can see the rooms that fall outside of the current themes OR as using items from the current themes in non traditional ways. (then I worry, some weeks we havent had any rooms that pulled a full bonus posted. it's very possible that would happen again? I hope they reconsider this)

to the bolded part I add:
the amazing transformations that people can achieve...WOW...we have some tremendously gifted decorators in this game

Flatch Ulater (13247207) wrote:
I think they would probably use 5.8 winners from the past as well. They have access to all entries since the beginning of the GE. It's kind of cool for those that win, they get the YC from the GE and extra YC if they win this contest.. good incentive to try harder on the GE

this could be one of the reasons for this "new idea" .

Serenity Now (6134566) wrote:Wha?

Hopefully it's a one time thing, and not an ongoing ploy to push people to do the GEs. It would be a shame if BVG take it that route.

That's exactly what I hope too !!

Thank you!

Thank you everyone for sharing your feedback.

We are pivoting towards the Gem Events for this showcase primarily due to participation. We love seeing all the amazing and creative entries that you share here, but unfortunately, they result in the same group of people being featured. By switching to the Gem Event entries, we get a much wider array of rooms to choose from and a larger pool of players that we can shine the spotlight on.

Viking Andrew wrote:Thank you everyone for sharing your feedback.

We are pivoting towards the Gem Events for this showcase primarily due to participation. We love seeing all the amazing and creative entries that you share here, but unfortunately, they result in the same group of people being featured. By switching to the Gem Event entries, we get a much wider array of rooms to choose from and a larger pool of players that we can shine the spotlight on.

Nah. Nope. I find it hard to believe there are that many 5.8s given what I see when voting. This is just a promotion for your newer products. It's not an accurate showcase of people's creativity. Not even close. Most of the best rooms I've seen people create were not Gem Event entries. My best rooms also are not GE entries. This is a bogus excuse and I don't think this is going to motivate anyone to try harder to get a 5.8 and spend more in their efforts. This is disappointing and has absolutely NOTHING to do with creativity. Not to mention people that do amazing GE rooms get crappy scores. Whoever made this decision is clueless and just trying to rake in more cash. Do you guys think we are all so dumb we can't see this?

For those that enjoy seeing other peoples creations... there is still Creator's Corner ... lots of people post their decos there. No prize for posting there but still get to scroll and see all the beautiful rooms/homes

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=61116

LisaTM (10095126) wrote:

Viking Andrew wrote:Thank you everyone for sharing your feedback.

We are pivoting towards the Gem Events for this showcase primarily due to participation. We love seeing all the amazing and creative entries that you share here, but unfortunately, they result in the same group of people being featured. By switching to the Gem Event entries, we get a much wider array of rooms to choose from and a larger pool of players that we can shine the spotlight on.

Nah. Nope. I find it hard to believe there are that many 5.8s given what I see when voting. This is just a promotion for your newer products. It's not an accurate showcase of people's creativity. Not even close. Most of the best rooms I've seen people create were not Gem Event entries. My best rooms also are not GE entries. This is a bogus excuse and I don't think this is going to motivate anyone to try harder to get a 5.8 and spend more in their efforts. This is disappointing and has absolutely NOTHING to do with creativity. Not to mention people that do amazing GE rooms get crappy scores. Whoever made this decision is clueless and just trying to rake in more cash. Do you guys think we are all so dumb we can't see this?

Exactly.

I will continue to NOT do the gem events. This is such a turn off, that I would stop doing the gem events if I were still doing them.

If it were as simple as not enough people sharing rooms in this thread, BVG could easily have requested more people share rooms. Not once was there any mention, and I don't recall seeing an announcement in game promoting sharing rooms in this thread. At the very least, the winning rooms could still come from this thread as well as the gem events, instead of just ditching this thread.

This is a huge disappointment.

LisaTM (10095126) wrote:

Viking Andrew wrote:Thank you everyone for sharing your feedback.

We are pivoting towards the Gem Events for this showcase primarily due to participation. We love seeing all the amazing and creative entries that you share here, but unfortunately, they result in the same group of people being featured. By switching to the Gem Event entries, we get a much wider array of rooms to choose from and a larger pool of players that we can shine the spotlight on.

Nah. Nope. I find it hard to believe there are that many 5.8s given what I see when voting. This is just a promotion for your newer products. It's not an accurate showcase of people's creativity. Not even close. Most of the best rooms I've seen people create were not Gem Event entries. My best rooms also are not GE entries. This is a bogus excuse and I don't think this is going to motivate anyone to try harder to get a 5.8 and spend more in their efforts. This is disappointing and has absolutely NOTHING to do with creativity. Not to mention people that do amazing GE rooms get crappy scores. Whoever made this decision is clueless and just trying to rake in more cash. Do you guys think we are all so dumb we can't see this?

We had 68 people get a 5.8 rating in our last decor challenge (just 1 challenge of the 2 or 3 that may occur during the selection period)

Conversely, we had 6 people submit rooms to this thread during our last window.

I know a lot of players that do the GE but never post here in the forum. Players that deco daily don't post here in the forum. Players won't post in the forum regardless of prize, it's not the most welcoming place at times. Even regular forum members don't post as much as they use to. Opening up the contest for players that don't post here can't be a bad thing.

Viking Andrew wrote:

LisaTM (10095126) wrote:

Viking Andrew wrote:Thank you everyone for sharing your feedback.

We are pivoting towards the Gem Events for this showcase primarily due to participation. We love seeing all the amazing and creative entries that you share here, but unfortunately, they result in the same group of people being featured. By switching to the Gem Event entries, we get a much wider array of rooms to choose from and a larger pool of players that we can shine the spotlight on.

Nah. Nope. I find it hard to believe there are that many 5.8s given what I see when voting. This is just a promotion for your newer products. It's not an accurate showcase of people's creativity. Not even close. Most of the best rooms I've seen people create were not Gem Event entries. My best rooms also are not GE entries. This is a bogus excuse and I don't think this is going to motivate anyone to try harder to get a 5.8 and spend more in their efforts. This is disappointing and has absolutely NOTHING to do with creativity. Not to mention people that do amazing GE rooms get crappy scores. Whoever made this decision is clueless and just trying to rake in more cash. Do you guys think we are all so dumb we can't see this?

We had 68 people get a 5.8 rating in our last decor challenge (just 1 challenge of the 2 or 3 that may occur during the selection period)

Conversely, we had 6 people submit rooms to this thread during our last window.

this is because YOU started selecting only by looking at the most recent rooms, but during the 9/12 days between one theme and another many people came to post their rooms, following the criteria you wrote on the first day.
if the shares have dropped it is mainly because of that (As Loie rightly wrote yesterday.)

The game is yours, the decisions are yours
but I still think this is another bad one you got .

I quit posting in this thread because the same handful of Yo's were being selected over and over again. :/

Serenity Now (6134566) wrote:

LisaTM (10095126) wrote:

Viking Andrew wrote:Thank you everyone for sharing your feedback.

We are pivoting towards the Gem Events for this showcase primarily due to participation. We love seeing all the amazing and creative entries that you share here, but unfortunately, they result in the same group of people being featured. By switching to the Gem Event entries, we get a much wider array of rooms to choose from and a larger pool of players that we can shine the spotlight on.

Nah. Nope. I find it hard to believe there are that many 5.8s given what I see when voting. This is just a promotion for your newer products. It's not an accurate showcase of people's creativity. Not even close. Most of the best rooms I've seen people create were not Gem Event entries. My best rooms also are not GE entries. This is a bogus excuse and I don't think this is going to motivate anyone to try harder to get a 5.8 and spend more in their efforts. This is disappointing and has absolutely NOTHING to do with creativity. Not to mention people that do amazing GE rooms get crappy scores. Whoever made this decision is clueless and just trying to rake in more cash. Do you guys think we are all so dumb we can't see this?

Exactly.

I will continue to NOT do the gem events. This is such a turn off, that I would stop doing the gem events if I were still doing them.

If it were as simple as not enough people sharing rooms in this thread, BVG could easily have requested more people share rooms. Not once was there any mention, and I don't recall seeing an announcement in game promoting sharing rooms in this thread. At the very least, the winning rooms could still come from this thread as well as the gem events, instead of just ditching this thread.

This is a huge disappointment.

in the newsletters there was a link that led directly to this thread and I know of people who posted only thanks to that link.

Skull (6186221) wrote:

Serenity Now (6134566) wrote:

LisaTM (10095126) wrote:

Viking Andrew wrote:Thank you everyone for sharing your feedback.

We are pivoting towards the Gem Events for this showcase primarily due to participation. We love seeing all the amazing and creative entries that you share here, but unfortunately, they result in the same group of people being featured. By switching to the Gem Event entries, we get a much wider array of rooms to choose from and a larger pool of players that we can shine the spotlight on.

Nah. Nope. I find it hard to believe there are that many 5.8s given what I see when voting. This is just a promotion for your newer products. It's not an accurate showcase of people's creativity. Not even close. Most of the best rooms I've seen people create were not Gem Event entries. My best rooms also are not GE entries. This is a bogus excuse and I don't think this is going to motivate anyone to try harder to get a 5.8 and spend more in their efforts. This is disappointing and has absolutely NOTHING to do with creativity. Not to mention people that do amazing GE rooms get crappy scores. Whoever made this decision is clueless and just trying to rake in more cash. Do you guys think we are all so dumb we can't see this?

Exactly.

I will continue to NOT do the gem events. This is such a turn off, that I would stop doing the gem events if I were still doing them.

If it were as simple as not enough people sharing rooms in this thread, BVG could easily have requested more people share rooms. Not once was there any mention, and I don't recall seeing an announcement in game promoting sharing rooms in this thread. At the very least, the winning rooms could still come from this thread as well as the gem events, instead of just ditching this thread.

This is a huge disappointment.

in the newsletters there was a link that led directly to this thread and I know of people who posted only thanks to that link.

Unfortunately, I don't get the newsletters, even though I am subscribed to them. It would be nice if BVG would have made more effort to promote this thread in the game.

Viking Andrew wrote:

LisaTM (10095126) wrote:

Viking Andrew wrote:Thank you everyone for sharing your feedback.

We are pivoting towards the Gem Events for this showcase primarily due to participation. We love seeing all the amazing and creative entries that you share here, but unfortunately, they result in the same group of people being featured. By switching to the Gem Event entries, we get a much wider array of rooms to choose from and a larger pool of players that we can shine the spotlight on.

Nah. Nope. I find it hard to believe there are that many 5.8s given what I see when voting. This is just a promotion for your newer products. It's not an accurate showcase of people's creativity. Not even close. Most of the best rooms I've seen people create were not Gem Event entries. My best rooms also are not GE entries. This is a bogus excuse and I don't think this is going to motivate anyone to try harder to get a 5.8 and spend more in their efforts. This is disappointing and has absolutely NOTHING to do with creativity. Not to mention people that do amazing GE rooms get crappy scores. Whoever made this decision is clueless and just trying to rake in more cash. Do you guys think we are all so dumb we can't see this?

We had 68 people get a 5.8 rating in our last decor challenge (just 1 challenge of the 2 or 3 that may occur during the selection period)

Conversely, we had 6 people submit rooms to this thread during our last window.

Well how do you explain the tons of rooms entered in previous windows since this started? How were those winners chosen? And just because someone gets a 5.8 doesn't ALWAYS mean it's a display of talent or creativity. What is the process of choosing them? I mean, I understand wanting a larger selection of rooms to use for this so as not to be selecting the same people repeatedly, but I'm not sure the GE is an accurate representation of creativity.

Serenity Now (6134566) wrote:

Skull (6186221) wrote:

Serenity Now (6134566) wrote:

LisaTM (10095126) wrote:

Viking Andrew wrote:Thank you everyone for sharing your feedback.

We are pivoting towards the Gem Events for this showcase primarily due to participation. We love seeing all the amazing and creative entries that you share here, but unfortunately, they result in the same group of people being featured. By switching to the Gem Event entries, we get a much wider array of rooms to choose from and a larger pool of players that we can shine the spotlight on.

Nah. Nope. I find it hard to believe there are that many 5.8s given what I see when voting. This is just a promotion for your newer products. It's not an accurate showcase of people's creativity. Not even close. Most of the best rooms I've seen people create were not Gem Event entries. My best rooms also are not GE entries. This is a bogus excuse and I don't think this is going to motivate anyone to try harder to get a 5.8 and spend more in their efforts. This is disappointing and has absolutely NOTHING to do with creativity. Not to mention people that do amazing GE rooms get crappy scores. Whoever made this decision is clueless and just trying to rake in more cash. Do you guys think we are all so dumb we can't see this?

Exactly.

I will continue to NOT do the gem events. This is such a turn off, that I would stop doing the gem events if I were still doing them.

If it were as simple as not enough people sharing rooms in this thread, BVG could easily have requested more people share rooms. Not once was there any mention, and I don't recall seeing an announcement in game promoting sharing rooms in this thread. At the very least, the winning rooms could still come from this thread as well as the gem events, instead of just ditching this thread.

This is a huge disappointment.

in the newsletters there was a link that led directly to this thread and I know of people who posted only thanks to that link.

Unfortunately, I don't get the newsletters, even though I am subscribed to them. It would be nice if BVG would have made more effort to promote this thread in the game.

I agree, it should have been promoted better within the game too, you're not the only one who doesn't receive news letters.
I explained to some of my friends how to update their email in the "account settings" tab and they finally started to receive them, others, despite having an active email associated with the game, still do not receive them, I have no explanation for this.

Skull (6186221) wrote:

Viking Andrew wrote:

LisaTM (10095126) wrote:

Viking Andrew wrote:Thank you everyone for sharing your feedback.

We are pivoting towards the Gem Events for this showcase primarily due to participation. We love seeing all the amazing and creative entries that you share here, but unfortunately, they result in the same group of people being featured. By switching to the Gem Event entries, we get a much wider array of rooms to choose from and a larger pool of players that we can shine the spotlight on.

Nah. Nope. I find it hard to believe there are that many 5.8s given what I see when voting. This is just a promotion for your newer products. It's not an accurate showcase of people's creativity. Not even close. Most of the best rooms I've seen people create were not Gem Event entries. My best rooms also are not GE entries. This is a bogus excuse and I don't think this is going to motivate anyone to try harder to get a 5.8 and spend more in their efforts. This is disappointing and has absolutely NOTHING to do with creativity. Not to mention people that do amazing GE rooms get crappy scores. Whoever made this decision is clueless and just trying to rake in more cash. Do you guys think we are all so dumb we can't see this?

We had 68 people get a 5.8 rating in our last decor challenge (just 1 challenge of the 2 or 3 that may occur during the selection period)

Conversely, we had 6 people submit rooms to this thread during our last window.

this is because YOU started selecting only by looking at the most recent rooms, but during the 9/12 days between one theme and another many people came to post their rooms, following the criteria you wrote on the first day.
if the shares have dropped it is mainly because of that (As Loie rightly wrote yesterday.)

The game is yours, the decisions are yours
but I still think this is another bad one you got .

I understand what Loie means and how she approached it. I fully understand that way of thinking, it is not wrong at all. When I read about the contest I entered some rooms, but I didn't enter a whole bunch. I figured I would post a room here and there, not all at once. Same with outfit contests, I don't post a bunch, just a few outfits. My thinking was I could enter sporadically, drawing attention to my rooms over a period of time, and also maybe win. (it's nice to win, but dammm, when a player compliments a room I did, like you did, that is worth more than the 25YC I can tell you that!)
Once they announced a winner that week I just considered my entries as non winners and if I want to win next week I should submit another entry. That was my way of thinking. not like Loie's

I am not right.. I am not claiming to be, I am just saying it's the way I looked at it. I could be dead wrong, I might be absolutely incorrect.. I don't know.. this is just my thoughts on it.
I really reaaaaly like Loie's rooms, she should win a lot based on her creativeness. Even her outfit she is wearing, Dammm it's coool! She's a creative Yo, and I don't want anyone to assume I am even hinting otherwise. She's always been a very friendly Yo, a model Yo if you will.

Flatch Ulater (13247207) wrote:

Skull (6186221) wrote:

Viking Andrew wrote:

LisaTM (10095126) wrote:

Viking Andrew wrote:Thank you everyone for sharing your feedback.

We are pivoting towards the Gem Events for this showcase primarily due to participation. We love seeing all the amazing and creative entries that you share here, but unfortunately, they result in the same group of people being featured. By switching to the Gem Event entries, we get a much wider array of rooms to choose from and a larger pool of players that we can shine the spotlight on.

Nah. Nope. I find it hard to believe there are that many 5.8s given what I see when voting. This is just a promotion for your newer products. It's not an accurate showcase of people's creativity. Not even close. Most of the best rooms I've seen people create were not Gem Event entries. My best rooms also are not GE entries. This is a bogus excuse and I don't think this is going to motivate anyone to try harder to get a 5.8 and spend more in their efforts. This is disappointing and has absolutely NOTHING to do with creativity. Not to mention people that do amazing GE rooms get crappy scores. Whoever made this decision is clueless and just trying to rake in more cash. Do you guys think we are all so dumb we can't see this?

We had 68 people get a 5.8 rating in our last decor challenge (just 1 challenge of the 2 or 3 that may occur during the selection period)

Conversely, we had 6 people submit rooms to this thread during our last window.

this is because YOU started selecting only by looking at the most recent rooms, but during the 9/12 days between one theme and another many people came to post their rooms, following the criteria you wrote on the first day.
if the shares have dropped it is mainly because of that (As Loie rightly wrote yesterday.)

The game is yours, the decisions are yours
but I still think this is another bad one you got .

I understand what Loie means and how she approached it. I fully understand that way of thinking, it is not wrong at all. When I read about the contest I entered some rooms, but I didn't enter a whole bunch. I figured I would post a room here and there, not all at once. Same with outfit contests, I don't post a bunch, just a few outfits. My thinking was I could enter sporadically, drawing attention to my rooms over a period of time, and also maybe win. (it's nice to win, but dammm, when a player compliments a room I did, like you did, that is worth more than the 25YC I can tell you that!)
Once they announced a winner that week I just considered my entries as non winners and if I want to win next week I should submit another entry. That was my way of thinking. not like Loie's

I am not right.. I am not claiming to be, I am just saying it's the way I looked at it. I could be dead wrong, I might be absolutely incorrect.. I don't know.. this is just my thoughts on it.
I really reaaaaly like Loie's rooms, she should win a lot based on her creativeness. Even her outfit she is wearing, Dammm it's coool! She's a creative Yo, and I don't want anyone to assume I am even hinting otherwise. She's always been a very friendly Yo, a model Yo if you will.

I understand what you say, I respect it, each of us uses the game in our own way and freely chooses whether to participate or NOT (as in my case) in contests, challenges, and more..

I also remember, perhaps wrongly (I hope someone will correct me if this is the case) that at the beginning there was no prize in yocash and that you were the first to both share and be selected in the newsletters (I should go and check my email to to be sure)

I repeat, I may remember wrong, but if I'm right, I say that it was nice for that too, no prizes, just the joy of sharing!
and as I wrote to you yesterday, your rooms have pushed me to decorate and redecorate, even look for things that I don't have and spend money, just like you wrote yesterday... sharing also serves this purpose and this is good for BVG too.

as for what you just wrote about Loie
I AGREE, she knows exactly what I think of her creations, I don't like to flatter in public, not too much at least ... but yes, she is extraordinary in everything she does!

Skull (6186221) wrote:

Flatch Ulater (13247207) wrote:

Skull (6186221) wrote:

Viking Andrew wrote:

LisaTM (10095126) wrote:

Viking Andrew wrote:Thank you everyone for sharing your feedback.

We are pivoting towards the Gem Events for this showcase primarily due to participation. We love seeing all the amazing and creative entries that you share here, but unfortunately, they result in the same group of people being featured. By switching to the Gem Event entries, we get a much wider array of rooms to choose from and a larger pool of players that we can shine the spotlight on.

Nah. Nope. I find it hard to believe there are that many 5.8s given what I see when voting. This is just a promotion for your newer products. It's not an accurate showcase of people's creativity. Not even close. Most of the best rooms I've seen people create were not Gem Event entries. My best rooms also are not GE entries. This is a bogus excuse and I don't think this is going to motivate anyone to try harder to get a 5.8 and spend more in their efforts. This is disappointing and has absolutely NOTHING to do with creativity. Not to mention people that do amazing GE rooms get crappy scores. Whoever made this decision is clueless and just trying to rake in more cash. Do you guys think we are all so dumb we can't see this?

We had 68 people get a 5.8 rating in our last decor challenge (just 1 challenge of the 2 or 3 that may occur during the selection period)

Conversely, we had 6 people submit rooms to this thread during our last window.

this is because YOU started selecting only by looking at the most recent rooms, but during the 9/12 days between one theme and another many people came to post their rooms, following the criteria you wrote on the first day.
if the shares have dropped it is mainly because of that (As Loie rightly wrote yesterday.)

The game is yours, the decisions are yours
but I still think this is another bad one you got .

I understand what Loie means and how she approached it. I fully understand that way of thinking, it is not wrong at all. When I read about the contest I entered some rooms, but I didn't enter a whole bunch. I figured I would post a room here and there, not all at once. Same with outfit contests, I don't post a bunch, just a few outfits. My thinking was I could enter sporadically, drawing attention to my rooms over a period of time, and also maybe win. (it's nice to win, but dammm, when a player compliments a room I did, like you did, that is worth more than the 25YC I can tell you that!)
Once they announced a winner that week I just considered my entries as non winners and if I want to win next week I should submit another entry. That was my way of thinking. not like Loie's

I am not right.. I am not claiming to be, I am just saying it's the way I looked at it. I could be dead wrong, I might be absolutely incorrect.. I don't know.. this is just my thoughts on it.
I really reaaaaly like Loie's rooms, she should win a lot based on her creativeness. Even her outfit she is wearing, Dammm it's coool! She's a creative Yo, and I don't want anyone to assume I am even hinting otherwise. She's always been a very friendly Yo, a model Yo if you will.

I understand what you say, I respect it, each of us uses the game in our own way and freely chooses whether to participate or NOT (as in my case) in contests, challenges, and more..

I also remember, perhaps wrongly (I hope someone will correct me if this is the case) that at the beginning there was no prize in yocash and that you were the first to both share and be selected in the newsletters (I should go and check my email to to be sure)

I repeat, I may remember wrong, but if I'm right, I say that it was nice for that too, no prizes, just the joy of sharing!
and as I wrote to you yesterday, your rooms have pushed me to decorate and redecorate, even look for things that I don't have and spend money, just like you wrote yesterday... sharing also serves this purpose and this is good for BVG too.

as for what you just wrote about Loie
I AGREE, she knows exactly what I think of her creations, I don't like to flatter in public, not too much at least ... but yes, she is extraordinary in everything she does!

You are correct. I didn't even know I won until a friend messaged me. She has been playing as long as I have but never posts or comes to the forum. She saw it in the newsletter. There was no prize at that time but Andrew posted later that any previous winners should message him and he would send them the prize (I didn't message him, just winning was enough).. but yes, I did win the 1st one .. Surprised the hell out of me.

edit to add...
one thing that BVG does that bugs the hell out of me is.. Creators Corner.. being stuck in the middle of nowhere.. Outfit creation threads moved to the middle of the middle of nowhere. Keep that stuff out front, here, where we all see and enjoy. Free promotion... it inspires players to create.. and they are fun to look through and comment about. It's a big part of yo, it shouldn't be buried in the back unused section. Rant over

edit agian..

post some rooms dammit!!..

Serenity Now (6134566) wrote:

LisaTM (10095126) wrote:

Viking Andrew wrote:Thank you everyone for sharing your feedback.

We are pivoting towards the Gem Events for this showcase primarily due to participation. We love seeing all the amazing and creative entries that you share here, but unfortunately, they result in the same group of people being featured. By switching to the Gem Event entries, we get a much wider array of rooms to choose from and a larger pool of players that we can shine the spotlight on.

Nah. Nope. I find it hard to believe there are that many 5.8s given what I see when voting. This is just a promotion for your newer products. It's not an accurate showcase of people's creativity. Not even close. Most of the best rooms I've seen people create were not Gem Event entries. My best rooms also are not GE entries. This is a bogus excuse and I don't think this is going to motivate anyone to try harder to get a 5.8 and spend more in their efforts. This is disappointing and has absolutely NOTHING to do with creativity. Not to mention people that do amazing GE rooms get crappy scores. Whoever made this decision is clueless and just trying to rake in more cash. Do you guys think we are all so dumb we can't see this?

Exactly.

I will continue to NOT do the gem events. This is such a turn off, that I would stop doing the gem events if I were still doing them.

If it were as simple as not enough people sharing rooms in this thread, BVG could easily have requested more people share rooms. Not once was there any mention, and I don't recall seeing an announcement in game promoting sharing rooms in this thread. At the very least, the winning rooms could still come from this thread as well as the gem events, instead of just ditching this thread.

This is a huge disappointment.

This. All of this.

And not only all that, but doing the GE challenge today, some stuff popped back out of my room into inventory after buying it and saving. This is a joke. I am not doing these to try to win the newsletter prize. I don't know why I do them at all at this point. But really, if the GE is where you are focusing, shouldn't it at least work properly?