annadobritt
First Post
There's already an award called the Edgar giving for mystery novels.
PDF Awards?
- Thread starter Warden
- Start date
Fast Learner
First Post
While it appears that the award (both name and description) is moving away from it already, I'd still like to request that "PDF" not be included in the award names or anything else. Call it electronic publishing or something similar, please, since while PDF is currently the most popular format, the core concept is that the products are published electronically, not in print. I would think that a product distributed as a Word doc or a text file or anything similar should qualify just as well.
In fact you could even play on that idea... something about the products being "proton free" or "unprinted" or "virtual" or something along those lines.
(I think that web-based utilities should qualify as well.)
In fact you could even play on that idea... something about the products being "proton free" or "unprinted" or "virtual" or something along those lines.
(I think that web-based utilities should qualify as well.)
annadobritt
First Post
Why not call it the Digital Doc Awards?
BrooklynKnight
First Post
Hrm, actually, i disagree. I think it should be restricted to pdfs. And open to expand on other secure mediums when they become popular.Fast Learner said:
cybermonkey
First Post
rpghost said:
That's a cynical view of things.
Any system can be corrupted. It's human nature.
Eternalknight
First Post
This brings up an interesting point. If it's going to be Electronic Document Games and Role-playing Aids (though we can't use that, as anna pointed out), that implies that software can be included, and this wasn't obviously the intent.ArthurQ said:
So, how about ERDA (Electronic Roleplaying Document Awards)?
Eternalknight said:
It was never meant to think that software could not be included, just that it hadn't been thought of. As far as I'm concerned, I think that all non-print formats should be considered but there would have to be some acceptable guidelines set down by a council of some sort.
Think of it this way: all of us who create material for public consumption and sale are trying to increase our market size. No one has yet taken the electronic print industry seriously and that is the goal of this festival/awards show -- to showcase the electronic roleplaying product. I do believe that a category was mentioned for Best Roleplaying Aid or Best GM's Aid and that could include software. I would say that as long as the product is offered for sale on a publicly accessible website, such as RPGNow, it should be applicable for these awards. But we could use a title such as ERDA and still have room for non-documents.
As for a judges panel, it is true that devising a fair and impartial jury is truly important in order to be taken seriously but we need suggestions as to how this can be achieved. One side of the argument can say that only publishers/insiders should be allowed for they understand what it is like to put such products together while another can state that selecting those not involved with the e-publishing market is fair and will not allow votes for favouritism but what kind of vote would they make. As this can become a serious issue that could undermine the credibility of these awards if not handled properly, we need suggestions on how we can achieve a decent, respectable jury. I would say that the first two conditions must be that any jury member cannot be involved with a nominated product for that year and they must be chosen by a governing council of sorts with at 70% in favour of the selection. Jury members/judges can be publishers, reviewers, online distributors, webmasters, etc. Perhaps another condition can be that all judges shall remain anonymous until after the awards have been announced.
Flyspeck23
First Post
I'd say include software, but in their own "Best of..." categories - like "Best RPG Software", "Best GM Assistance Software" and the like. Why? Imagine Shrek with an Oscar nomination for Best Actor...Warden said:
Prest0
First Post
Scorpio said:
I spent 30 minutes trying to come up with other names, but still like these two the best.
As far as how voting should be conducted, I agree that anyone with a stake in the awards shouldn't be voting. One thought is that you could recruit from print publishers in addition to reviewers. (Granted, some of them also e-publish as well). As previously stated, keeping it in the industry means judges who understand the work that goes into a production. I'd also recommend a large panel--something in the neighborhood of 15-20 judges. It may be harder to reach a consensus, but it should also minimize heckling about judge bias.
It seems to me that to keep this thing going from year to year it's going to need a permanent sponsor. The most logical choice would be some sort of industry guild or association. Does an e-(game) publisher association already exist? If not, maybe we need to talk about forming one. One with officers and dues. If each publisher ponied up something like $25 a year, there are hundreds of companies that specialize in taking care of the adminitrative side of running an association. They maintain the association website, process member dues, etc.
Whether or not we create a formal guild, the awards will need a council of organizers. That's partially what we're all doing here on the forums, but at the end of the day someone still has to 1) make the final decision, and 2) execute the plan.
That's my $0.02
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