Would You Be Interested In A 4E Optimization Contest?

[PoeticallyPsyco]

If you've been to the 3.5 subforum, you've seen these all the time. Iron Chef, Junkyard Wars, Villainous Competition, Monster Mash.... You're given (at least) one "secret ingredient", which is a class, feat, race, or sometimes even piece of equipment for you to build around, and your build is compared to the other entrants on Originality, Power, Elegance, and how well you used the Secret Ingredient.

Would people be interested in participating in something similar for 4th Edition? What would need to change from the 3.5 formats (obviously instead of prestige classes, we'd be looking at Paragon Paths and/or Epic Destinies). Which model of contest would you be most interested in: Iron Chef (one secret ingredient, the classic), Junkyard Wars (two secret ingredients and one forbidden ingredient), or even Villainous (create a villain for the DM side of the screen at various CRs)? Not sure how well that last one would work for 4e, but maybe it would be great!

My gut says that there isn't a large enough 'population' here to do the traditional entrants and judges model; I'd probably run it like the now defunct Game Warpers contest, where the contestants essentially vote on which entries were best (and can't vote for their own, obviously).

[Spartanmoon]

The only issue with something like this is that, for the most part, with the game having been finished for a long time, the crazy builds are already solved, and the math has been plowed through to find the perfect builds in a vacuum, but that vacuum is very specific.

[LibraryOgre]

Instead of optimization, you might try theme contests. "Make a 10th level character into Super Mario." And that might see a few variations.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

The only issue with something like this is that, for the most part, with the game having been finished for a long time, the crazy builds are already solved, and the math has been plowed through to find the perfect builds in a vacuum, but that vacuum is very specific.

That's why Originality would definitely be one of the categories. In the 3.5 competitions, it's typically 5 out of the 20 total points you get, exactly the same as Power (so all else being equal, a highly original but weak build will score exactly as well as an already solved but optimal build, and a highly original and moderately functional build will outperform both). If you think the problem would be bigger in 4E we could double that (making it 10/25); that might be a good idea for the first round anyway.

Iron Chef and Junkyard Wars both found an extra way to disincentivize the well-known builds. Iron Chef requires you to use a (typically very suboptimal) prestige class; this won't work as well in 4E due to the differences between it and 3.5. Junkyard Wars, with its two required and one forbidden ingredients, usually outright bans a key piece of the obvious build. This would probably work better in 4E... but I don't think I have enough system mastery to pull it off yet.

Instead of optimization, you might try theme contests. "Make a 10th level character into Super Mario." And that might see a few variations.

Oh yeah, the theme contests tend to be my favorites. Looser themes tend to work better, though; makes it so that everyone's fluff doesn't end up the same. For instance, to name a few of my favorites, "Oh Hell No" (restrict, negate, or counter enemy actions as much as possible), "Spooks & Specters" (use incorporeality), and "The Stand of the Three Hundred" (build an army that would perform well at Thermopylae).

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Possible Round Ideas (vague description):
The Devil May Cry (mechanical goals for your character's tactics)
Power At A Price (flavor requirements for your build choices)
Make it Work (there's a mechanic I've never seen used or discussed; now you have to build with it)

Let me know if any of those sound interesting. Also let me know if you need more details before you can even begin to form an opinion; I erred on the side of keeping it vague.