2006 ENnies discussion

[BSF]

Wow! This is an early start. I think that might be a good thing. Perhaps some of the judges will be able to get a little more playtesting with stuff as well?

Will judges be allowed to review product as they receive it, if they have time? Or should they hold off on reviews until after the voting?

Would any of the previous judges be willing to share a frank view of what the job entails? Hours spent reading, in discussion, etc would all be useful.

 

[Crothian]

Wow! This is an early start. I think that might be a good thing. Perhaps some of the judges will be able to get a little more playtesting with stuff as well?

With luck yes, but this will actually depend more on when the product gets to the judges.

Will judges be allowed to review product as they receive it, if they have time? Or should they hold off on reviews until after the voting?

Last year I reviewed some of the books before the voting, and I imagine those that are judges will be able to this year as well.

Would any of the previous judges be willing to share a frank view of what the job entails? Hours spent reading, in discussion, etc would all be useful.

For three years I've had to take off of work to get the reading done. Being a Judge has been very much like a second job, and sometimes a third. We had over 200 products last year, so imagine how long it will take you to read that many. Some are small PDFs some are big books like Arcana Evolved.

Be prepared to teach yourself a new RPG, or 5. Depending on how many games you are familar with, this can vary. But for instance we usually get a bit of books from Hero Games. And if you doin't know the system, you can't judge it so in addition to reading all the books you might have to track down a main book to learn the rules so you can judge the item. This is in addition to the new games that get submitted that need to be learned. The same goes for settings, if you don't understand Midnight and FFG send in some of the books, they are going to be near impossible to judge fairly.

If you have loved ones that like to see you, mention this to them before you choose to become a ENnie Judge. I'm not married and I don't know how the other guys balance work, family, and the ENnies but I imagine it has something to do with very understanding wives. I do know myt first year of judging cost me a girlfriend. You might not have time for a lot of other things, I usually stop gaming during the judging for a month or so (though this year I stayed with a bi weekly game and that worked fine).

 

[Dextra]

It is an early start, but hopefully one that will offer some stress reduction for the judges, and greater ease for the publishers- as a product gets released, it can be shipped out to reviewers and judges all at the same time! And they if they get the stuff out early, everyone gets to save on shipping and use regular mail rather than more expensive courriers.

Yes, if the judges are already Staff Reviewers they are welcome and encouraged to post review products as they receive them. However I need to emphasize that because of the huge stack of materials that the judges receive and the massive time demands evaluating each product requires, publishers shouldn't expect judges who are also staff reviewers to post reviews of each and every product that comes in!

Wow! This is an early start. I think that might be a good thing. Perhaps some of the judges will be able to get a little more playtesting with stuff as well?

Will judges be allowed to review product as they receive it, if they have time? Or should they hold off on reviews until after the voting?

 

[jcfiala]

Hm. I'm interested, but I do have a question - you mention in the rules that you can't have a professional relationship with a publisher. What if you've had a professional relationship with a publisher, but no longer do? I did have an adventure published a number of years ago, but since then I've really had no contact with the publisher beyond the usual chat on messageboards and the like.

 

[Crothian]

Hm. I'm interested, but I do have a question - you mention in the rules that you can't have a professional relationship with a publisher. What if you've had a professional relationship with a publisher, but no longer do? I did have an adventure published a number of years ago, but since then I've really had no contact with the publisher beyond the usual chat on messageboards and the like.

That's fine. We've had judges who a few years ago were published.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

Would any of the previous judges be willing to share a frank view of what the job entails? Hours spent reading, in discussion, etc would all be useful.

I think Crothian summed most of it up pretty well, but let me add a few things.

1. If you have a significant other, be prepared for them to hate what you are doing. You will be spending lots of time reading, comparing, making notes, reading again, and generally not doing the normal stuff you do with them for a good period of time. I have gone on vacation and taken 15 books with me to read during the week, gone on a weekend anniversary trip and spent much of it reading, and even brought a few books on my honeymoon two years ago in order to get everything done.

2. If you are not prepared to sacrifice vacation time, school or job work, sleep, living space, and game time, don't be a judge. Period. The books and the judging will take up lots of space, boith physically and figuratively, in your life for a significant amount of time.

3. In the responsibilities Denise listed above, she said "-Expect to dedicate at least two weeks of full-time reading and another week of deliberation in June."
Bulls%&t. That's the bare minimum if you want to slide by and let the other judges do more than their share of the work. Expect to dedicate 4 weeks reading and 2 weeks deliberating, and you will still be behind. It's a thankless job, and you will hate it at times.

4. Expect to spend your own money buying rulebooks and other stuff you normally wouldn't pick up in order to judge the stuff that is sent it. I have picked up several RPG books that I will probably never play, but needed to have the basis for a system down before I could judge what was sent it.

5. Expect to take some heat from authors and publishers whose works don't get nominated. Usually it is light and casual, they just want to know why their books did not make the list. But I have been verbally abused by one author, and told that the judges were biased against him. It's not an easy position to be put into, and you have to be prepared to stand your ground in the face of accusations. Every parent believes their kid is the cutest, and every author believes their book is the best. You are going to disappoint and anger some people. Some will not take it well, and you might be the guy they decide to lash out at.

6. If you hate reading PDFs onscreen, son't be a judge. You'll get a lot of PDFs, and unless you work at Kinkos, you'll never be able to print them all out and will spend lots of time reading onscreen.

7. Something good-you will get to know your fellow judges quite well, and learn A LOT from them. Everyone sees things a bit differently, and you willget some eye opening observations from them. You'll also need to be able to stand your ground when you have a strong opinion and the others disagree with you, but also need to know when to compromise and make a decision with the others.

 

[PatrickLawinger]

Judge selection for the 2006 ENnies will begin very soon. We're still ironing out some details, but I hope that the polls will open October 1st for one week. We're opening up the judge selection earlier this year so that publishers have the option of shipping product directly to the judges as soon as it is released.
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Please don't take this wrong, but I think this is a bit early. From a publisher point of view the ability to ship product directly to judges as soon as it is released is, well, not a savings by any stretch of the imagination. It is much more economical to send all of the books being entered in one package. Expect shipping costs to be a major expense for everyone and everything this year. And this is not just due to hurricanes in the Gulf. Worldwide demand for oil and gasoline have spiked as more and more countries are industrialized. Worldwide gas and oil use continue to rise. Gas prices in the USA were going up before the hurricanes took refineries offline.

I would humbly suggest set shipping times. Possibly an "early" shipment for the first portion of the year's entries and a later shipping date for the final deadline. Products that get read early are not going to stay as clear in the judges' minds as the products read last. This is by no means a slam on the judges who have a massive job, it is simply a reality that the book you read 8 months ago is not as fresh in your mind as the book in your hands.

Well, I had some other comments, but this is enough I suppose. My suggestion is to do whatever it takes to make shipping by the contributors easy (set times) and equitable.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

Well, I had some other comments, but this is enough I suppose. My suggestion is to do whatever it takes to make shipping by the contributors easy (set times) and equitable.

Patrick, what other comments do you have? As a former judge and staff member who is currently involved in the preproduction planning for next years ENnies, I can tell you that the board of directors, judges, and staff of the ENnies take all the comments and suggestions seriously.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

This is not a definitive list of qualifications, but it should help you make up your mind:
-You may not have had anything published during the eligibility period.

I'm not exactly clear on this. I have a character sheet that I contributed to Cajun Arcana (comes out next month). Does this make me ineligible?

 

[Dextra]

Good points

I'm very interested in discussing any points with you, or any other publisher interested in participating in the planning process. Please continue to speak up!

My ultimate goal is to have the judges selected in time for Gen Con Indy, so publishers can pass along product directly to the judges at Gen Con. With these earlier submission dates, I hope to offer some flexibility to the publishers, and remove some stress from the judges. Nothing is forcing publishers to submit as soon as they release, I'm just offering the option. Many publishers (and/or their fulfilment houses) already have a mechanism in place for sending out reviewer copies, so by the addition of a few names and addresses to their list, their worries have been reduced. Also, we received a lot of submissions by courrier at the last minute, and suspect that if these publishers had been able to send by regular government mail service, there would have been considerable savings.

There's nothing stopping a publisher from waiting until May to submit a box of their stuff- especially if they wish to cherry-pick their favourite products. With the potential of a $5/product entered S&H fee (if shipped to the Submissions Coordinator), there will be some publishers who may wish to be a little choosier and limit their entries. Who knows?

I like the idea of an early submission date, but am not quite prepared to make it policy (yet- there's always 2007!). But I will publicize a Suggested Shipping Deadline, and heartily encourage all publishers who released anything from June to October to get their stuff in by November 15th, and anything from November through February by March 15th so the judges can get a head start on reading over the holidays. Nothing says Christmas-Solstice-Chanukah-Passover-Easter-Equinox Spirit like ignoring your family members to sequester yourself and read/evaluate RPG books!

Your point on the freshness factor is well-taken. I'll certainly encourage the new crop of judges to take copious notes. I know that many if not all of past years' judges did. I'm sure that in past years there have been products submitted in May that the judges had already read as soon as it was released. Said products might not have been top in their minds, but a quick re-read and glance at notes would certainly refresh! Judges have used the ENnies judges forum to post their thoughts in the past, and could use the venue as a host for notes.

Well, I had some other comments, but this is enough I suppose. My suggestion is to do whatever it takes to make shipping by the contributors easy (set times) and equitable.

I look forward to any other comments/suggestions you'd like to share!