Congratulations to the 2015 ENnies Award Winners!

redrick · Aug 1, 2015

I think JeffB's entitled to his criticism of the particular award! Don't think the first post was the best way to give that criticism, but, you know, it can be hard to articulate, and it's not like he posted a 3-paragraph diatribe.

Unfortunately, in the case of Horror on the Orient Express, it's not just a smaller company going up against Dungeons & goddamn Dragons, it's a $120 product going up against a $20 product. A conscientious voter might pick up a $20 adventure off the nominees list in the interests of an informed decision, but I certainly wouldn't drop >$100 just to be fairminded. Short of having opened display copies of the nominees outside the voting booth, I just don't know how you'd handle a thing like that. The Amazon page for HotOE doesn't even include pictures of the box contents, just the front and back cover.

For the Oscars, the studios shamelessly send screener copies of smaller films to the academy voters. Hell, I get screener copies of nominees for technical categories, even though I don't belong to a single voting body, just in the hope that I might buzz about the special effects editing in Fast and Furious 6 to one of my more esteemed colleagues.

RangerWickett · Aug 1, 2015

JeffB, the award basically has two elements.

First, the judges do a sit-ton of work and nominate five great products. All of them are worthy of praise and attention.

Then, to help those products all *get* attention, the is a popular vote. This draws in people who want to vote for what they like, but it also exposes them to many products they might not hear about otherwise.

If you're a small company (or at least, smaller than WotC), it's still a huge win to get nominated.

Moorcrys · Aug 1, 2015

redrick said:
I think JeffB's entitled to his criticism of the particular award! Don't think the first post was the best way to give that criticism, but, you know, it can be hard to articulate, and it's not like he posted a 3-paragraph diatribe.

To be fair, the post was started by Morris to say Congratulations! to the winners. Gold, silver, and otherwise. To see a threadcrap in the first reply is a total downer and whether or not that was the intent, it certainly seemed to be. Why can't we simply congratulate the winners and maybe start another thread where we dissect the event for ways we hoped it might have fallen out differently? And those posts are getting ubiquitous on almost every thread on Enworld. It's fatiguing for someone like myself who just wants to enjoy some gaming discussions with other folks who enjoy as well to constantly filter out the droning din of negativity. Not saying JeffB is even a consistent perpetrator of that - he might have just gotten caught up in a response to that trend.

Sure JeffB is entitled to his opinion and to express it, but he picked the venue and timed it perfectly, consciously or not, to get pushback.

That aside - I already know I like 5e. One thing I love about the Ennies is it shows products to me that I otherwise would never have taken a look at or otherwise known about. Horror on the Orient Express definitely has gotten my attention. Best Adventure gold? Silver for production values under a game I think is great? What's the downside. I'm sure nothing but good things will come to it because of the attention the Ennies have brought to it.

ShinHakkaider · Aug 1, 2015

Also...isnt a new edition pretty much a shoe in to win Ennies? I mean I'm pretty certain back when 4th Edition came out it won a crap load of Ennies not because it was a great game (I'm not saying that it WASNT a great game) but really because people were excited over a new edition of D&D.

I mean, c'mon it's D&D.

Morrus · Aug 1, 2015

Moorcrys said:
To be fair, the post was started by Morris to say Congratulations! to the winners. Gold, silver, and otherwise. To see a threadcrap in the first reply is a total downer

It is pretty disheartening, but also fairly predictable these days, that the very first post will be negative. Internet.

JeffB · Aug 1, 2015

RangerWickett said:
JeffB, the award basically has two elements.

First, the judges do a sit-ton of work and nominate five great products. All of them are worthy of praise and attention.

Then, to help those products all *get* attention, the is a popular vote. This draws in people who want to vote for what they like, but it also exposes them to many products they might not hear about otherwise.

If you're a small company (or at least, smaller than WotC), it's still a huge win to get nominated.

Thx for the elaboration., Ryan. I don't plan on discussing specifics any further here, but I think the system needs some work post judging. I find it far more disheartening in the way it doesn't work in situations like this, than me bringing it up. Either do it right, make it fair, or why bother? (rhetorical)

epithet · Aug 1, 2015

Jeff, considering that the D&DSE is $13, and HotOE is $119, I don't see what you're all bent out of shape over. HotOE looks like an amazing product, but it is not unreasonable for someone to weigh them by price, and the Starter Edition really gives you more than your money's worth. They are both worthy contenders.

Scottius · Aug 2, 2015

Congrats to the 5E team. Well earned all around. Was also excited to see Designers & Dragons win this year. It's such a great book (or series now that it's been split up by decade in the newly expanded release).

Umbran · Aug 2, 2015

JeffB said:
I did not realize the ENNies are essentially a popularity contest. I figured over time there was some sort of mechanism implemented in the voting to balance out products that sell by the tens of thousands to products that sell in the several hundreds.

Well, I don't know what gave you that idea. It isn't like they've kept the process secret.

Given that the publishers are not required to give us sales numbers for their products, I don't see how they could normalize for that.

Moreover, I am not sure how to put this gently. You have an opinion about the production values. That's great. Have you considered that, even after you normalize for sales, maybe WotC would still have won? Especially given the price points - if people are thinking "value per dollar" maybe your favorite isn't as great a buy.

Doctor Futurity · Aug 2, 2015

aramis erak said:
Sometimes, too much really is too much.

Did the $300 collector's ed Judge Dredd earn an Ennie?

There is that. I have read, run and abused my Starter Set to death already. My HOTOE rests on my collectibles wall, a baffling array of stuff I will never have time for. Still....it does suggest that the awards are a combo of popularity and "which product do the most people know?" because I'll bet for every HOTOE copy purchased there were 100 starter sets sold.

Still gratz to all and Zak especially for getting four awards.

Congratulations to the 2015 ENnies Award Winners!

redrick

First Post

RangerWickett

Legend

Moorcrys

Explorer

ShinHakkaider

Adventurer

Morrus

Well, that was fun

JeffB

Legend

epithet

Explorer

Scottius

Adventurer

Umbran

Mod Squad

Doctor Futurity

Hero

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