2007 ENnie Voting Goes Live!

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Either I'm just out of the loop or the ENnies just aren't relevant to me anymore. I haven't seen nor heard of (other than from some mutterings on rpg.net) at least 90% of the stuff up for awards.

I'm in the same boat. I sadly had to leave a lot of categories unvoted, 'cause I didn't even recognize a single nominee.

I'd have thought I'd have recognized more from hanging out here at EN World, but perhaps the judges and I have different taste. Or something.

At least I voted for the few products that I liked that were represented, and for the "Best Publisher", which is my favorite category.

 

[Master of the Game]

Hm, my original vote didn't count. It's just like living in Florida!

Re-voted.

If it helps, the publishers could sue each other over who really won for months before finally the supreme... er, mods step in.

 

[00Machado]

The judges evaluate the products sent to them... and, this year, the indie products were pretty flipping fantastic. I don't think an overwhelming number of nominations went to indie publishers, but the ones that got nods deserved them.

Moreover, if we honored fewer indie games, people would be calling us out for lack of respect for the independent publishers in the industry.

And, all that said, I suggest you take a look into the products that were nominated. Seriously - they're all brilliant.

With just about every company being a small publisher, how do you gauge an Indy game? Is there a formal criteria? Not that it matters to me really, I'm just curious - is Malhavoc indy? Green Ronin? Expeditious Retreat would certainly seem to qualify as "indy size", but they're not any bigger than Malhavoc, as far as I know. What about Hero? Or White Wolf? Is every one other than WotC considered an indy publisher?

 

[CaptainChaos]

With just about every company being a small publisher, how do you gauge an Indy game? Is there a formal criteria? Not that it matters to me really, I'm just curious - is Malhavoc indy? Green Ronin? Expeditious Retreat would certainly seem to qualify as "indy size", but they're not any bigger than Malhavoc, as far as I know. What about Hero? Or White Wolf? Is every one other than WotC considered an indy publisher?

All fine questions and why the indie term is silly.

 

[Agamon]

Voties all donie!

 

[fusangite]

I'm in the same boat. I sadly had to leave a lot of categories unvoted, 'cause I didn't even recognize a single nominee.

I'd have thought I'd have recognized more from hanging out here at EN World, but perhaps the judges and I have different taste. Or something.

The set of products we judges are sent is a little different than the standard set you find in your average gaming store. I'm not sure that's a flaw in the system but I agree that it creates some problems. Ironically, products become known after an ENnies nomination or win.

Also the ENnies aren't just ENWorld awards anymore. We work with The Forge, Story Games, The RPG Site and RPG.net. One of the downsides of the bigger pool of voters is that there are fewer generalists out there who will have encountered all the games.

At least I voted for the few products that I liked that were represented, and for the "Best Publisher", which is my favorite category.

I want to commend you for voting responsibly here. I think that you have gone into the voting in the same spirit as the voting system was designed: vote on what you know about and refrain from voting on what you don't know. That will yield a total voter base with more knowledge than any individual voter has.

 

[Crothian]

The nominations are announced a week ahead of the voting so people can look into the books they do not know. and the voting is open for a week so one doesn't have to vote as soon as it depends. Take a few days and read up on the books. Or if there is something you just can't find start a thread on the book or books. No one is expecting anyone to be up to date on everything that gets nominated. At the same time it is also a little unreasonable to assume that someone is familiar with all the RPG books that came out in the past year that might interest them. Every year the ENnies has gone on they have allowed me to discover books I like that I would not of known about otherwise.

 

[The_Universe]

I'm not a judge, but I was a fairly thorough observer of the process, since I live with Queen_Dopplepopolis. There were lots of books that she judged that, before the process began, neither she nor I had ever heard of. Then again, there were some products (like Ptolus) that came loaded with reputation.

But the judges judge what is entered, not what they wish had been entered; the list of products you see is the result. There's a lot of popular, mainstream product out there that isn't on the list...at least part of the reason is that it was not entered.

Furthermore, I know there's stuff that was entered that Liz wanted on the list but isn't there. I can also attest to the fact that there's nothing on the list that doesn't deserve to be there, at least IMHO.

In any case, I encourage everyone to cast their vote, and then check out some of the stuff you've never heard of.

 

[DaveMage]

I voted for what I could.

It's a pity that Rappan Athuk Reloaded wasn't entered - it had much better cover art than the nominees, IMO.

 

[coyote6]

I was almost surprised that I had heard of almost everything -- the only things I hadn't heard of were the Deluxe Galleon and The Dictionary of Mu, amongst the products. I don't own anywhere near all of them, but I own some, have seen many, and have read about most of the rest (e.g., Esoterrorists, Hollow Earth Expeditions), and will probably buy others (my FLGS owner seems to like Qin, or at least thinks I should buy it) eventually.