RCTgo

I started playing RCT1 when it first came out and was absolutely blown away and quickly became an addict. I literally played everyday for years and had hundreds of saved games. When RCT2 and its expansions came out I again was blown away. Then over time as I got older I stopped playing for a few years, career took over my life. I played around occasionally but lost track of the progress the game was making behind the scenes. RCT3 came out and I didn't even know it. A year or two later someone told me to try it explaining to me all the perks of the game, still I waited. Flash forward to around 2008... A friend gave me RCT3 (Platinum) when he was going through games he no longer played, he's into fps's and rpg's. I took it home and loaded it up. The addiction was back on lol. However, I had no idea the potential. Some time later I searched youtube for tips and that's when I discovered videos that completely overwhelmed me to say the least! I still remember the video that made one of the biggest impacts on me. The Alice and Wonderland ride. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdZxJ2K2GAo  Looking back, it's not the most detailed or "best" by any means, but at the time it was my first view of the potential and my first glimpse of the world of CS. My interest snowballed after that. People like Silvarret, Moby, and even quite a few on this site became who I followed on youtube. 

That said, if you take a step back and look at the entries in build it, it features builds from the whole series including other theme park games as well. After playing RCT1 through to RCT3 I realize each game has its limitations (that's with any game really). So if a RCT2 game is entered it may very well beat an RCT3 entry just based on how well it looks (or cool factor) because of how well it's put together and how much work went into it, taking into account that particular game's limitations. If there were hundreds of entries every round it would be cool if there could be a round for each game, like an RCT2 competition, a RCT3 competition, a NL2 competition, etc. With grouping them altogether it makes the competition somewhat even more interesting because you have to judge the entries based on a knowledge of the limitations to each game. I kinda like that actually. I mostly play RCT3 and enter those in the build it, so I'm going up against entries from the whole genre, and considering my past experience with those other games I know how much work and skill goes into building those as well. At the end of the day, I think some may be biased based on what game they're into, but for the most part I think people are going to vote for what looks awesome to them. 

I for one will say, I have the utmost respect for the entries from the earlier RCT series just based on how much time and creativity they put into their entries. I remember my first hand experience with those games and know it took a lot to pull off what they pulled off with the limitations involved. Some of those entries blew me away just seeing what's possible with those older versions. A good example of this is, Tropicana (the round 270 winner), amazing to say the least! Another great example is, BlazingEmpire's El Grande in the featured downloads section. If I had been shown these when I was playing those versions I wouldn't have believed you could do that with those games! I wish people entering the contest were allowed to vote, I would've voted for Tropicana even though I was entered into that round with an RCT3 entry.

So I feel like it has to do with knowing a little about the games and knowing how they work, including their limitations, and how each voter feels about each entry. Most people will vote on what grabs their attention. I continue to learn every single day that anyone involved with this culture has a love for creativity, and creativity is what wins these competitions. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
-Brad