Librarium Online Forums banner

Gamesday Scammed!

Other 
1K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  redarmy27 
#1 ·
Nothing like a good rant to start out the week right, although I type this with as much sadness as disgust. While I know this kind of stuff goes on I hate that its a such a high profile. What we have here are a pair of complete assholes in operation at their finest. Apparently the winning Gold Golden Daemon entry in this years Fantasy category (not sure what specific category) Was not painted by the person who entered it as their own work. Not only that but this asshole walked away with three Golden Daemons all of which were painted by someone else but again represented as his work. The best is this shallow gem of a human being known as Marc Schmelze apparently either didn't clue the painter in that you need to show up and present your own work or the Painter was dumb enough not to care as they themselves exposed this scam on Cool Mini or Not by brazenly tagging the piece as this years Gold GD winner, then citing the painter by name and the guy who won as the collector. This is crazy ballsy and stupid. If you physically can't get your ass to Games Day, you cant win. End of Story. The rules are clear. Mr. Schmelze obviously orchestrated this scam whether or not the painter is culpable or some clueless dimwit is still unknown. GW knows whats going on here is correcting the error and re-assigning trophies to the proper winners and will of course enforce permanent bans on both these idiots.
Being that I was there this year and the fact that the Golden Daemons are the absolute highpoint of Games Day this pisses me off to no end..as a painter/ hobbyist..who strives to get something I might think is good enough to one day make the 1st cut..I know how much work goes into these events. For some tool to come in and buy himself three trophies makes me want inflict some serious pain. So Mr Marc Schmelze please go **** yourself..and Karol Rudyk...get your head out of your ass- too bad you blew it..you're obviously a great painter.

Original story courtesy of Dave Taylor Miniatures

This has happened in the past, but it shows a blatant disregard and respect of the people who actually put in the time and effort to painstakingly convert and paint these minis to a standard and hope to win one of the infamous trophies.

I personally say unless the winner of the trophy can prove that they painted the mini, they should be stripped of the trophies they won and perhaps even banned.

Kuffy
 
#2 ·
I feel bad for the painter if he didnt know this was going on because he was the one that put the time and effort into this, and obviously did so to such a high degree as to win the 3 trophies.

I don't know what proof you could want for people to give to show that they painted the items. Video logs? A painting test ? Eye-witnesses ?
 
#3 · (Edited)
It is too difficult to prove someone else did the painting, and any prerequisite of 'proof' runs the risk of creating a nightmare of controversy if anything does not pass the judge's test of plagiarism.

Honestly, I don't mind someone else getting credit for another's work. The painter is the loser here because their name isn't on the Golden Daemon. Someone still painted a model better than yours or mine and just because you decided to show up in person does not make your model any better than mine. Perhaps the painter gave the model to his friend to present to the Golden Daemon. I see nothing wrong with the painter losing out on fame, it is their loss and obviously they are okay with another gaining the fame because they gave up the model. Perhaps the painter doesn't have the money to fly to Chicago.

Anyways, this is still against the rules and they should both be blacklisted from further Golden Daemon competitions. Any more publicity will cause the painter to gain more fame (maybe even some infamy) than even a legitimate Golden Daemon winner.
 
#4 · (Edited)
This is terrible. Give me a break, I can't stand when people do crap like that. I'm trying to find pics of the entries, but I can't. Hm... have to keep searching I guess.

*Edit* Nevermind, I found them. Wow, such great work and now it's all for folly. I can never understand why people will muck up a contest when such excellent work is put into it. It simply becomes a disgrace. I mean I know that everyone wants to be good at something, but damn, put the hard work in and believe in yourself and eventually you could get there.


Jake
 
#5 ·
The guy who brought this in to Games Day ought to be ashamed of himself. How shallow a human being do you have to be that you need to pretend to paint a piece of plastic or metal in order to get validation and feel good about yourself?
 
#6 · (Edited)
After doing a bit of research into it, the artist Karol Rudyk was fully aware that the entry was being accounted for by Marc Schmelze. You can see the evidence of this in his CMON posts of his minis:

CoolMiniOrNot - CHAOS LORD WITH SLAVE GIRLS GD CHICAGO 2009 GOLD by Karol Rudyk (of the mounted Chaos Lord) and
CoolMiniOrNot - LORD ARCHAON GD CHICAGO 2009 GOLD by Karol Rudyk (Chaos Lord on foot)

He posted these pics of his work titled "Golden Demon Winner..." as painted by him, but "collected" by Mr. Schmelze. He knew full well that Mr. Schmelze was entering the contest with his minis, regardless of his rebuttal on his entries now seen. It's funny, in a cynical way, that not only last night both of these minis were posted as solid "9's", now they're plummeting. You can even see other people making comments and voting them very poorly. Rudyk now claims that he had no knowledge of Schmelze taking the credit, but his previous posts state just the opposite. Now he's frustrated that people are so disgusted by him and his part in the whole thing.

I admit, it's tough painting my best and then being outdone by another painter, but hey, that's half of the sport of this hobby. You're supposed to push yourself and encourage others to do the same. At no point should you assist anyone in winning, aside from giving them encouragement or advice. What Mr. Schmelze did was unfathomable in consideration of the countless hours people put into making their entries for the GD, many of them turned away at the first round and from the actions of Karol, I'd say they're just as guilty since they knew about it.

I'd rather get my butt handed to me by an excellent painter, even if they beat me by one or two votes, because it'd give me the drive to do that much better the next time around. Half of the fun in this hobby is to experience progression and grow through it. What's the point of even entering a contest if you have nothing to show for it?

Being a paintballer as well, it's a common thing to have a few bad players give the sport/hobby a bad taste in the mouth of the masses, but never did I think I would ever feel the same way in this hobby. Apparently people have no shame and have no pride in the hobby, the community or themselves.

>End of Rant<

Jake
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top