Origins Award Winners

Eltab · Jun 19, 2018

Jhaelen said:
Unfortunately, the number of sales is absolutely NOT indicative of quality, whatsoever.

... and I said that volume should be 'a factor', not the final determination.

No I hadn't heard of the Echo Music Prize, before or after they covered themselves in not-glory.
Way back when, Ed Sullivan told the Rolling Stones to tone down their lyrics if they wanted to appear on his show; the Echo people had the same option.

TerraDave · Jun 19, 2018

kenmarable said:
Or, alternatively, capitalism works to some extent and the best products might tend to have the best sales.

Or, the products with the highest budgets and best chance at high sales will tend to have the most effort put into them to make them better than other products.

Or.... etc.

There's many potential explanations of why the best selling products are more likely to win awards other than sales and popularity having some weight. Correlation does not mean causation (and even if it did, which way does that arrow of causation point?)

Sure sure.

But they did go for the best selling 5e products. Which is redundant, as those will be the best sellers, but it does make you wonder. Even for a fairly overt 5e fan boy like myself it makes you wonder. Where they just better, or was it 5es built in audience?

Ogrebeef · Jun 19, 2018

This is the most boring, flaccid, sell out list I've ever seen. These awards have no value at all. You're telling me that Adventures in Middle-Earth should have more accolades then games like "Blades in The Dark" or "Blue Rose"? Who were the judges?

Zarithar · Jun 19, 2018

Ogrebeef said:
This is the most boring, flaccid, sell out list I've ever seen. These awards have no value at all. You're telling me that Adventures in Middle-Earth should have more accolades then games like "Blades in The Dark" or "Blue Rose"? Who were the judges?

Based on that list I would say Amazon.com.

Seriously though... congrats to Ken St. Andre!

Jhaelen · Jun 20, 2018

Eltab said:
Way back when, Ed Sullivan told the Rolling Stones to tone down their lyrics if they wanted to appear on his show; the Echo people had the same option.

Given the outcome, I'm quite glad, the Echo representatives were too naive to think of such an option. That award was an abomination, anyway. I mean, how would you feel about "50 shades of gray" getting a Pulitzer price? That's just ridiculous.

Eltab · Jun 20, 2018

Jhaelen said:
Given the outcome, I'm quite glad, the Echo representatives were too naive to think of such an option. That award was an abomination, anyway. I mean, how would you feel about "50 shades of gray" getting a Pulitzer price? That's just ridiculous.

Yassir Arafat somehow was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, despite never having good-faith pursued peace in his life. I wonder what the REAL qualification list was that year?
(P.S. not wanting to derail thread with politics but the historical example was too memorable to ignore.)

AngusA · Jun 20, 2018

Ogrebeef said:
This is the most boring, flaccid, sell out list I've ever seen. These awards have no value at all. You're telling me that Adventures in Middle-Earth should have more accolades then games like "Blades in The Dark" or "Blue Rose"? Who were the judges?

The voters were the attendees of Origins.

Jer · Jun 20, 2018

AngusA said:
The voters were the attendees of Origins.

No. I used to think that too, but that's not the case.

The members of the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design are the ones who have the vote on the actual Origins Awards. The Academy an honorary organization that is made up of some subset of GAMA members who can apply to get in and gain membership through some process that isn't publicly known (so very much like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the way they handle the Oscars).

The voting that is done at Origins by attendees is for the Fan Favorite award in each category, not the actual winners.

And to answer my own question above, the Academy has now posted the 2018 fan favorite winners on their website.

Interestingly enough this year - the Fan Favorites in almost every category track exactly with the determination of the Academy members. There are maybe two that differ (maybe one?) - the award for Best Roleplaying Game went to Adventures in Middle Earth, but the Fan Favorite in that category went to Starfinder. And the award for Best Card Game went to Ex Libris, but both Ex Libris and Hero Realms are listed as Fan Favorites (dunno if that's a typo or if they really tied).

Zander · Jun 22, 2018

Jer said:
No. I used to think that too, but that's not the case.

The members of the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design are the ones who have the vote on the actual Origins Awards. The Academy an honorary organization that is made up of some subset of GAMA members who can apply to get in and gain membership through some process that isn't publicly known (so very much like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the way they handle the Oscars).

You might imagine that being an Origins Award winner automatically qualifies you to be an Academy member or at least to have some say on future winners, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I won an Origins Award a few years ago and, as far as I know, no particular privileges flow from that. :.-(