ZIv Contest 2025 (FIFTEEN YEARS OF ZIv SIMFILE CONTESTS)

It's not just your contests. I co-hosted Summer Contest with djVERTCAI. The idea of a Summer Contest doesn't belong to you, it belongs to Pandemonium X, who started it back in 2010.

The reason why I created this contest is because I feel that Zenius -I- vanisher is the proper home for these sorts of things. I don't want the site to die, and neither do any of you. I am not intending of this replacing any existing contest that may be happening on the Triple Cross server. In fact, I am simply hosting a contest that people that have been banned from that server are able to join, as well as anyone else who wants to. Please understand I am not trying to undermine any existing summer contests that may be happening that I am unaware of.



I really don't intent to cause drama. I just want a place for people who have been outcast from previous ZIv competitions, especially since joining the discord server is mandatory toward participation, to have a place to make simfiles! I don't care if we get 5 people or 50.

Speaking of which, if you still want to join, let me know!

If you and you alone have a problem with me using your name for the contest, just let me know and I'll change it to something else! I don't want to upset you, especially since this contest is in dedication to your first contest back in 2010

zenius has been the home of these contests for over a decade, and it's only been a recent change to bring it all over to one single discord server. to try and say that bringing it back to the place where it belongs is "leeching off of success" or trying to fool people is so absurd to me that it's almost insulting. if anybody is guilty of these things, it's the people claiming it can only happen in one random discord server, one that's actively trying to distance itself away from the forum they were an offshoot of to begin with.

i'd argue that at the end of the day, whether it's being held here or somewhere else, multiple simfile contests can co-exist. i'd even go so far as to say that it's a good thing to encourage, helping bring different influences to the table and creating unique results. being exclusionary and reclusive with a project that has always been about the people is counterintuitive. it's gross. roping it all in to a server that seems to be notorious for keeping people out (going off of what's been said in this thread, i don't have proof otherwise), that's such a summer bummer.

plus, to go off of what darkanine said above, it'd be nice to breathe some life back into this site. i've been around this joint for way too long and i don't want to continue seeing it being a shell of its former self. contests like this always seemed to cause a buzz. a buzz is what we need.

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As someone who hasn't been in a broad rhythm game Discord server for about 3 years, I must say that Triple Cross has done not even a poor job, just no job spreading awareness of either their brand change or this year's slate of contests on this site. The last contest of significance that seems to have been organized by them with outreach here, the Battle Royale of 2024, was still under ZIv branding, and the only reason I'm aware of Triple Cross holding their own Summer Contest is because after the tete a tete here, I looked up on YouTube and there was one user who recently posted playthroughs. Plus, the outreach on the site even while under the ZIv brand was poor: the 2024 Summer Contest thread is basically the introduction and recruiting, the results of the main weeks in a single post, and nothing about the VIP round that happened afterward.

I'll wait for the dust to settle on this before deciding if I want to get back into charting things outside of the Penn State annual, but I do think a contest for the site is a valid thing to happen one way or the other.

I'm not sure if I even believe you about that part. It's been almost a year since I've been banned with no communication from anyone on that server. I'd more so like to see the server implement a ban appeal system and a strike system, and also have the several people that have been banned from that server all be considered for un-ban.

I thoroughly believe in and want that server to be successful, but right now it seems more of an exclusive community than a public discord server.

Yes. I think it’s important for me to say I don’t want to bring anybody down with anything. Apologies if my wording was harsh in my post, I really don’t mean to come off like that. Actually? I’m happy to see you all thriving in your server. I’m just not there (and rightfully so). I remember when the last SC and the drop zone packs were posted on here, I wanted to follow along. But the weekly DL links (which I assume still exist), weren’t even added to the category. It really does come off as “exclusive”.

Edit: wording

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i just need an excuse to release simfiles, i have so much WIPs piling up like crazy

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Done! I have renamed the contest to ZIv Contest of the Summer 2025! I was not aware that the Summer Contest was still going under the same name, as how could I be? It would be confusing to have two Summer Contest 2025s going at the same time, and I understand that.

Not that you need another oldhead chiming in, but:
- I agree that it was a little disingenuous to promote this as the Z-I-v Summer Contest 15th anniversary edition without mentioning why the seat was empty;
- The Triple Cross team should either abdicate fully or not at all. Maybe there's some beef going on between y'all specifically, I haven't been paying attention. But what if it had been a fresher face, who wanted to relive glory days they weren't themselves a part of? Would you still be trying to collect rent?

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No I got sent your letter to us that you wrote out, I read through it and took it to the mod chat and we were discussing the content of it and any options going forward. Not to throw anybody under the bus but I was actually more in favour of giving you another shot than the others were and then a few days later I guess you proved them right and me wrong.

As for ban systems and appeals, we do give out temporary bans. Karl was unbanned in January of this year as we told him and agreed upon, he hasn't rejoined us as that decision is up to him. We had a few moments where we've had to time some people out for a day, maybe a week, but yeah if we feel like a person can come back we honour that and we will always hear people out, very rarely is someone outright banned and that's the end of it. So no, we are not exclusive, and out of our 250+ members currently in there we have only had to issue 13 bans so.

And if you were to believe everything you had said in your previous post about "who Zenius belongs to" then you would've asked Pandy BEFORE making a thread if it was alright to do this, and ya didn't. I personally objected to the use of Z-I-v at all and have been for years. NONE of the Zenius staff are involved so it always felt weird to me that there was a contest with the website's name tacked on, especially when you think that to the general public the Zenius site is what is liable for the output. Plus it's just nice to have your own identity and not have those ties y'know?

The reason we stopped engaging with the ZIv forums is because, and it sucks to say genuinely as somebody who has come from Bemanistyle, DDRUK and here, forums are just not as active as they used to be with the advent of other networks and apps. The last two events under the ZIv branding we carried out we posted here, and the only people who engaged with it are those who are banned! So what's the point when sharing between Discord servers, links on Twitter, posts on Reddit and general word of mouth gets significantly more interest?

And on a final point on the "poor job of communication the rebrand", we changed our links to ZIv just before Summer Contest 2025 went live, as we didn't want to change it mid-contest. All of the server assets are Summer Contest themed, so the real announcement and us "going live" with the Triple Cross branding will be when our Summer Contest is over.

I genuinely do not have any "beef" with anyone, and if this goes ahead then I hope you guys have fun and make content! But just imagine something like ITL changed it's name one year, they begin their annual contests and then somebody else who is disconnected from ITL is like "ITL 2025 Sign Up Here!". It just wasn't a cool thing to see and I think it's understandable why.

Wish you luck with this though.

*breathes in*

*breathes out*

Okay. I've been giving it some time before I decide whether to say my two cents on the whole situation, as someone who has been mostly away from the simfile community for a whole year (half of that time voluntarily). Now that I've been mentioned though...

- Mad respect for the fact that no one has a problem with this contest existing, let's get that right. Yes, the reservations over the details are understandable (I'll get to my own in a bit), but the fact that no one is outright calling for this contest to be shut down, not even the people with an issue with the contest name, is commendable. Speaking of the contest name...

- I agree that Pandy should be the sole arbiter of whether darkanine can use the term "Z-I-v Summer Contest" (or any related term for that matter, more on that later). Ultimately he created the idea, and we're all just carrying it on in the most appropriate way we think possible. Good on darkanine for changing the name after a) realizing that the contests on Triple Cross are still called Summer Contest, and b) Pandy made it clear that he does have an issue with this contest also being called "Summer Contest". As for the new name...Idk. It does give off "yes you can copy my answer, just change the answer a little bit so the teacher doesn't notice" vibes. But again, Pandy should be the judge, not me or anyone else.

- I agree that it's a beautiful thing, even as someone who's still figuring out if he wants to be included in the aforementioned "us".

- I'm not going to get too in depth with the whole Triple Cross situation, especially since I was out for a whole year now. All I will say is: as Ben said, I was unbanned this year and it's up to me whether I come back and, if so, when. There are indeed reasons I voluntarily, even today, decided against returning for the time being, among them being focusing on other things (in fact, I only made one file since then have barely touched Stepmania since, and just learned this morning that it's Triple Cross now), actually taking care of my mental health, and feeling like six months is not exactly enough time for the dust to settle between us (not to say it can't happen, just that it hasn't happened yet). I'm not going to comment further on Triple Cross as, like some people said, there is no way for anyone who is not in the server, especially those of us that are permabanned, to know. I know nothing of what went on there from July 2024 onwards, and tbh the idea of rejoining the server now and potentially running into the convos about me that happened in my absence does make me a bit nervous tbh.

As for whether I will be involved in this contest, I'll take some more time to think about it. Same goes for rejoining Triple Cross. I'm still trying to figure out if I'm even going to return to making stepcharts and participating in contests in general, Zenius/Triple Cross aside.

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may i join too? want to participate for first time in an zenius contest

I have no problem with them opening a Discord group to run their own contests. I'd just wonder what was he point if Zenius has the tools to do so.

I read that the forum has little activity, and it's obvious, because if people go elsewhere to create bemani or contest threads, the forum will obviously remain dead.

Everyone goes where they feel most comfortable, but understand that if more people leave, there will be less activity
Why complaining is unnecessary.

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Fuck it, sign me up for this one too. I haven't made simfiles in years but this will be a good way to de-rust and maybe actually.make something good for once.

Yep! Welcome!

Welcome!! Glad to have you back!