ENnies V - and beyond...

[JoeGKushner]

I'll probably sound a little old fashioned here but here are some of my thoughts.

Ship the products to each judge. I'm one of the people in favor of that. Without a means of having cash instantly in hand to ship out the books, they simply take up too much space unless you have a massive house.

I'd rather get rid of the non-d20 stuff. I can see reasons for keeping it but if it's actually demanded that we keep it for Gen Con purposes, more funding should come with that.

On that note, I'd like the voting for the judges to stay on En World. It is the Ennies. Where would you get the other judges from outside or RPG.net? Someplace like Necromancer or Malhavok's board? Hmm... don't think we'd get a fair shake in the product announcements then.

I'd like to see a consolidation in award categories. Some like best licensed product probably didn't need two categories in the first place but this year there were a lot of different licensed products out there. Some like campaign could probably be combined with campaign supplement. As the market focuses towards larger sourcebooks, that's probably a guarantee that categories should continue to merge.

Sponsorship: Perhaps some companies might not want to enter the Ennies. They could help sponsor it. This would require in my opinion, a two year abscense. One year for the current year, and another year to help insure that no accusations of favoritism were plyed on. On the other hand, perhaps En Publishing could do some sponsorship. I don't know what their relationship with En World itself is so that might not be feasable. With the new magazine coming out though, some people who don't use the net may get some information on the whole awards ceremony.

Clarify the relationship between the Ennies and En World. The Ennies booth was a point of contact for many En World people but we had nothing there really representing what En World is.

I've got other ideas but those are it for now.

 

[Umbran]

On permannt categories - "semi-permanent" would perhaps be better. The awards need to be able to flex and change as the industry and hobby changes.

Awards for individual contributors woudl be hairy, to say the least. Keep the entries in terms of products we can get our hands on, not on individual peope whom we have to track over many products.

Fees - Well, somebody has to pay for the whole thing. If, as BK says, that GenCon itself kicks in some dough, good. If that's not enough, then the folks entering products perhaps have to pitch in a few bucks.

Logistically speaking, though, there's issues with sending product to individual judges. It is, I am sure, hard enough to keep track of all the stuff that gets shipped around. Shipping from publishers directly to all the judges will multiply that headache. It may be worth a few extra dollars to keep submissions centralized.

Spreading out the judging - No. No, no, and again, no. If GenCon wants the awards to be based upon broader fan representation than is found here at EN World, then they can organize, fund, and execute their own awards. All matters of tradition aside, we do not want to get into the political headaches and ill-will that would be engendered in ourpicking and choosing who gets to give judges, and how many.

 

[Crothian]

Here's a general question about judges: Should judges be limited to how many years they can be a judge? And is there any problem with Staff reviewers also being Judges?

I did hear a little concern on both these areas from people but as of yet it doen't look like anyone's talked about them here.

 

[Ashy]

On the subject of fees:

Why not have a percentage of each sale of each submitted product dedicated to the Ennies?

Just a thought...

 

[EricNoah]

Ship the products to each judge.

This is a really good idea. It would save EN World hundreds (high hundreds if I'm remembering right) of dollars each year, and I suspect for most publishers it is not a huge deal to send out 6 small packages instead of one big one. The only snag I see is Canada/overseas shipping -- nobody wants to get stuck with the bill for that.

Publishers, I think we'd be very interested in hearing your opinions about the shipping issue. Any comments?

 

[EricNoah]

Here's a general question about judges: Should judges be limited to how many years they can be a judge? And is there any problem with Staff reviewers also being Judges?

I did hear a little concern on both these areas from people but as of yet it doen't look like anyone's talked about them here.

I don't see a problem in either area. Judges have to be a) regular, reliable members of our community (and this is ensured by the voting process), and b) very knowledgeable about the d20 products (we take care of this by making sure each judge gets to see each product, but reviewers have an extra edge because they've taught themselves to notice details an average reader might not).

 

[DaveMage]

Having the staff reviewers as the judges makes the most sense to me too. Especially since they will have undoubtedly already been exposed to many of the products through their reviews.

Of course, that may not be the case for non-d20 products.

 

[Nikchick]

I find that comment highly insulting. Origins never has been (to my knowledge) and never will be a fan award. Whatever the ENnies becomes, it will remain an award decided by the fans and supported primarily by them

By accident or design we were seated right next to the Origins booth. It was odd contrast really. The Origins were once the most widely lauded and sought award in gaming. But after a series of scandals their prestige is undermined and it shows in the way they are spoke of throughout the net across multiple boards. The ENnies meanwhile are the scrappy newcomer to the scene - still struggling to define themselves sure, but with a pure heart. They had their spiffy $1000 dollar booth manned primarily by employees - we had our granted booth decorated only by what *I* could personally afford (along with Hellhound's dry-erase board) manned and visited by enthusiastic volunteers.

I asked them about their statues and I got a long elaborate snotty answer equivocating to "you can't afford to give this away, so go away."

Yeah, Origins is not all that. They are, at best, a guilded monster collapsing in on themselves. To insinuate that we (the ENnies staff and judges) will go down that same path of corruption is to slap us in the face.

I was going to come into this conversation and offer some advice, born of my own hard-won, first-hand experiences being involved with the Origins Awards and GAMA, as well as perhaps sharing some observations from my seventeen years in the industry.

However, it is clear that "scrappy newcomer" SpoonyBard has everything well in hand and has made up his mind that there is no need to hear from the likes of me. Surely no one involved in the Origins Awards has had as pure a heart as he! Surely his prejudices against the awards and the people involved in them are based in truest fact! Surely the ENnies succeed purely because the people involved are just that much smarter, stronger, and better than those pathetic fools who administer the Origins Awards.

You want to talk about feeling "slapped in the face" here, SpoonyBard? I'll give you a run for your money.



Nicole

 

[tensen]

Issues and possibilities:

From a publisher standpoint, shipping to the multiple locations isn't really that big of a deal. Although it could be an issue with non-receipt of packages. I imagine now the judges get a few really large packages, and so it is obvious is something is missed. But with each publisher sending materials out, what happens if 1 of the judges doesn't get the material?

Funding: How about working out a deal for special discount rates on products that are nominated? Although this could make things a bit biased.

Splitting the Judging: Groups such as the Forge, already have their own awards for the Indies. rpg-awards.com Perhaps a segmented judging population. ENWorld people doing the d20 categories, Forge nominated doing the Indie segment of products, Rpg.net or one of the others handling the non-d20/non-ogl segment.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Nickchick, I can understand you being mad. I think that part of SpoonyBard's post is equal parts exhaustion, pride, and frustration. I don't know all of what happened this year. I'm just a reviewer who was a judge. However, I do know that we had no funds and that make things difficult all around. Despite that, we had a lot of great volunteers and a lot of great people helping out. I tried to do my part a few ways. I've reviewed a few of those products I received for the Ennies, despite being overdue on other reviews, and I also manned the booth for 2 hours every day. With the help of those volunteers, we managed to have a great show.

If you're done being mad, I for one, would love to hear your observations. You have a lot of experience in the field and on the few times I've talked to you, have displayed some great insight brought about by years in the industry.Green Ronin was one of the big winners this year, so I'd really love to hear how your experiences can help the Ennies become better.

I was going to come into this conversation and offer some advice, born of my own hard-won, first-hand experiences being involved with the Origins Awards and GAMA, as well as perhaps sharing some observations from my seventeen years in the industry.

However, it is clear that "scrappy newcomer" SpoonyBard has everything well in hand and has made up his mind that there is no need to hear from the likes of me. Surely no one involved in the Origins Awards has had as pure a heart as he! Surely his prejudices against the awards and the people involved in them are based in truest fact! Surely the ENnies succeed purely because the people involved are just that much smarter, stronger, and better than those pathetic fools who administer the Origins Awards.

You want to talk about feeling "slapped in the face" here, SpoonyBard? I'll give you a run for your money.



Nicole