Should WOTC participate in the ENnies?

[Thornir Alekeg]

Because it's supposed to be for "Best RPG book" not "Best RPG Book From A Company With No More Than Two Dozen Employees". And the little guys have more than demonstrated that they are able to go toe-to-toe with WotC.

Preach brother Biggus!

It'd be nice if WotC entered. But for the life of me I can't think of a business reason why they should. All they'd be doing is driving sales to other companies.

The business reasons I can think of are not directly related to dollars and cents, but instead less tangible reasons: External recognition of WotC writers who excel, demonstrating that they don't feel threatened by competition and actually respect top-notch products from other publishers, and of course bragging rights.

I've seen quite a few posts from Scott Rouse that make me think he at least is interested in WotC being part of the gaming community rather than just trying to pretend they are the gaming community.

 

[bento]

I'm getting the hint that some posters to this thread believe that WoTC titles would be a slam-dunk win in most categories.

But not letting WoTC a shot at the ENnies is like barring pro athletes from competing in the Olympics. WoTC has just as much opportunity not to win as any of the other participants.

For other publishers to be nominated and win against a WoTC publication would probably earn them greater recognition. Besides I'd like to see Dungeon Tiles win an award - they're really cool!

 

[BiggusGeekus]

The business reasons I can think of are not directly related to dollars and cents, but instead less tangible reasons: External recognition of WotC writers who excel, demonstrating that they don't feel threatened by competition and actually respect top-notch products from other publishers, and of course bragging rights.

You and Glassjaw raise good points and I agree with them. It's just that if I were in front of the president of WotC (who is he or she anyway?) making the case that the company is indirectly better off, I think I would be given a polite smile and sent on my merry way. And I think entering competitively would help them deliver stronger products. Especially the way the ENnies are structured with a team of judges assembling a list of nominations to be voted on by the fans.

But it's still hard to make the dollars-and-cents case that they should risk losing sales for potentially long term profit when its a pretty small and fragile industry.

I've seen quite a few posts from Scott Rouse that make me think he at least is interested in WotC being part of the gaming community rather than just trying to pretend they are the gaming community.

Interesting times, indeed....

 

[GlassJaw]

I'm getting the hint that some posters to this thread believe that WoTC titles would be a slam-dunk win in most categories.

If the ENnies continue to adhere to the "quality, not quantity" standard, then WotC will be just another company in the mix - and that's a good thing. Their products should be given equal consideration, and vice versa, alongside every other product.

If the ENnies becomes a popularity or sales contest, then there certainly will be issues.

 

[00Machado]

Absolutely they should participate. It would also be nice to see reciprocal recognition of the ENnies in PR stuff should a WotC product win. I would hope, though, that they would play nice and not submit everything they produce for every category. Pick the one or two products you think are the best you've done in a year and submit those.

Maybe the fans could nominate products for consideration? Instead of publishers nominating their own?

Or, maybe limit the submission to one or two per publisher per category.

 

[GSHamster]

I don't think that the ENnies should actively prevent WotC from entering.

However, I think it's a more complex situation for WotC. I generally have a positive impression of WotC and the work they do, and I believe that they would want to win on the merits. To win the Ennie because they have the best product.

But the reality is that a WotC product is far more likely to be familiar to most people. And maybe that would end up with people voting for WotC because they've tried their product and not the other ones. WotC wins because it's the most popular, not because it's the best. I don't think WotC would be happy with that result.

The key question is how likely is the above result? If it is very likely, then WotC should refrain from entering. If it is not likely, than WotC should jump in gladly.

So I really don't know. Maybe WotC should only put up one or two books for consideration. I.e. its masterworks for that year. Like this year, put up Star Wars SAGA.

 

[GlassJaw]

It's just that if I were in front of the president of WotC (who is he or she anyway?) making the case that the company is indirectly better off, I think I would be given a polite smile and sent on my merry way.

Unless you think doing so would cost you your job, I would say kudos to you. You have to start somewhere. I think it would be really cool if some WotC people came to the ENnies even if the suits didn't give the green light to have their products submitted.

 

[00Machado]

I voted yes, and I certainly don't think they'll win every time. What I do NOT want to see is the couple years where the catagories were constructed in such a way to restrict WotC from competing. (Such as "best OGL accessory" then saying D&D isn't OGL.)

I think that the voting crowd isn't biased towards WotC, probably against truthfully, and I think the competition will be better for having the full spread of products.

I agree they should participate, but am not sure I agree that OGL should embrace D&D products. Wouldn't D&D better fit into a d20 category? If they are included in both d20 and OGL categories, then I at least think that the same products should have to be submitted for both categories. It makes no sense, for example, to suggest that RHoD is d20 and Eyes of the Lich Queen is OGL.

Maybe Star Wars is OGL? If it were developed by a third party, wouldn't it have to compete in that category since it has character creation rules? Then again, d20 modern might have to be OGL too if it were created by a third party, so maybe it doesn't make any sense to put Star Wars in the OGL camp.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Star Wars SE would be an intereseting submission. It would let WotC participate in the ENnies without the baggage of submitting D&D products.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I think it would be really cool if some WotC people came to the ENnies even if the suits didn't give the green light to have their products submitted.

They did that last year, if I remember correctly.

I'm just sayin' is all.