MaxisCactus has once again started a new contest, with the theme of Urban Legends!  She’d like for you to create content based on any urban language (that doesn’t involve gore or adult situations).  Drop by the Sporum to check out her thread, or catch the rules below:

Challenge Details

Recreate a creation from urban lore for the Urban Legends Challenge!

Not sure what to make? Check out these references:
Wikipedia on Urban Legends
Snopes animal urban legends
Urban Legends open directory
Mythbusters

What will the challenge winner get?

A chance to be featured on Spore.com!

We’ll post our favorite submissions here, then YOU get to vote for which one is your top pick! The winner may be featured if it meets our criteria for featured creations.

  • It must not have any parent authored by a different creator.
  • It must not have any offensive creation in its lineage (any parent or child creations).
  • It must not have any links or references to other sites in the submission’s tags, name, or description

Submissions that do not meet the above criteria will not be considered for the poll

Rules:

  • Your creation must be based on an urban legend
  • To submit a creation, tag it with: mclegendchallenge and publish
  • Post about your creation on the forum: include a link, picture, the name of the urban legend, and at least one link to a reference online (see the mermaid example below)
  • You can submit as many creations as you’d like
  • Your creation can be made with any editor you choose
  • All submissions must be in by 11:00am PDT June 1st 2009

Challenge FAQ

What’s the definition of Urban Legend?

– Urban Dictionary: An urban legend is a modern myth. A frightening untrue story in which the storyteller insists is true, but has no evidence to back up. Also, it never happened to the storyteller but someone removed from them.
– Merriam Webster: an often lurid story or anecdote that is based on hearsay and widely circulated as true

What’s the difference between an urban legend and a mythological creature/creation?

An urban legend can be about a mythological creature, if the mythology is recently created.

As a general guide, your urban legend should be based on mythology that’s sprung up within the last 100 years.

Many legends are old, but have had new twists recently, such as the mermaid myth. If there has been new material or recent controversy over the subject within the last 100 years, its OK to use.

Example mermaid material: http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_mermaid_tsunami.htm

Want to create something that stretches the imagination, such as from an Urban Legend on another planet?

Go ahead! Just make sure to include the back fiction in your creation’s description so we understand what you’re getting at.

Q: Is ____ an urban legend?
A: Research it! Use google to figure out if it is. Post your evidence here. I know there are some grey areas. If you make sure to post reference material, your creation will be considered for this contest.

Q: Can I submit something which may be extremely gory or offensive?
A: According to the Terms of Service, you should avoid uploading any content that could be considered: “harmful, abusive, racially or ethnically offensive, vulgar, sexually explicit, defamatory, infringing, invasive of personal privacy or publicity rights, or in a reasonable person’s view, objectionable.”

Basically, use your judgment on this. If other players are flagging your creation as offensive, the CS team may have to remove it from the server.