Rule change for SGA 2011

I just wanted to say that i had a great time in the SGA competition!
I am a foreigner in a team of 3 Swedish students. I absolutely feel privileged to be welcomed into the event and also proud to be the team leader of our hard working group.
With that in mind I feel obligated to ask someone about a small detail. It seems that our entry was beaten by a game that was published and for sale before the entry was submitted.
Our team would never want anyone to be disqualified or to win by default, however, we would like to suggest that the awards in 2011 enforce the rules they made in their rulebook.
I say this, as a published game suggests that a team may have had significantly more development time than a student project???
Please let me know if i have misunderstood this. I have heard that this has happened in the past in the SGA… and if a published game is acceptable then i think that the rules should be changed to reflect this in the future!
Peace and Love!
Congratulations again to all of the amazing projects that were in this competition.

Just to add to my post. The team that i am referring to did nothing sneaky or deceptive. They had included “now available to buy” in their game trailer.

If i understand correct, you’re referring to: “§1.2 Entries and participants may not be associated with, or sponsored by, a company in the games or entertainment industry. An entry that violates this rule will be disqualified.
Clarification: It is allowed to start a company (non-professionally) associated with the entry. The purpose of the rule is to keep the competition student-oriented and prohibit professional game developers from established companies from competing.
§1.3 The entry must not have been published by a publisher.
Clarification: Releasing a game independently is ok.”
Mainly it is said that you cannot be associated with the game industry while developing your game for this competition.
You mention that a ’”published game would indicated that it had more development time”* but 50% of that team still needs to have active students. Even if they start selling their game (which is ok) they need to prove that they’re students.
I’m the new project manager for SGA 2011 and I will review the rules for next year. Thanks for your input. I will make the rules more clearer so there won’t be any confusions.

Possible issues with the rules has been found and will be addressed in the upcoming discussion regarding the rules of SGA11. We will see to it that the rules are formed to reflect the purpose of the award(s).