Ouch.

Blizzard finally announced the winners of their creative writing contest. I offer hearty congratulations to those who won and those who got honorable mentions.

I received neither. My selfish ego keeps conjuring up this notion that my work overstepped some boundary that disqualified it for reasons beyond pure content quality. This is mostly a defense mechanism. When you play the Mega Millions on a big pot, you can't help but fantasize about how your life will change if you win. This contest became something akin to that. It was my big chance to get out of a line of work I don't love and into one I would. But rather than a meager $5 investment, I poured a bit more into it, and random chance wasn't to blame for my loss, all of which adds to my frustration and feeling of inadequacy.

Blizzard has released few details aside from winning titles and authors. My wish, unrealistic as it is, is to hear from someone at Blizzard who can say “hey, this is why you didn’t place”. But with 1500 entries, what we’re more likely to get, if anything, is a canned response that will end up insulting more entrants than it soothes. I do hope that the winning content is revealed soon, so that I can know that I was either displaced by a superior work and sharpen my pen for the next one, or take heart that my work was equally strong, but cast aside for arbitrary reasons. At which point, legal matters be damned (Blizzard apparently owns all submissions), I will release my work to anyone who wants to read it.