It’s an honor system, but also you don’t know the theme until the contest starts. That makes it hard to produce valuable assets in advance.

The goal is to have fun and spend as much time in IRC as possible. In that sense, there’s no real way to cheat. (except by idling I guess :))

We have the Jam for people that want to create things before hand (and with more time). Since there are no prizes, if you extensively cheat and win, what have you accomplished? Ultimately, the event is about motivating people to sit down and make something — very much a be part of the community, encourage each-other arrangement. Who wants the guilt of knowing you’re the dude that cheated?

OK, I didn’t realize the theme was released when the contest starts. That makes more sense . IRC eh, been a while since I used IRC… always had fun on there.