Should WOTC participate in the ENnies?

[BiggusGeekus]

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

That's a pretty good thought, actually.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

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.


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. I mean, it would be nice if WotC came over to my house and made me pancakes every morning, but I doubt they'll do that either.

Do you like plain pancakes or pancakes with blue berries? Oh yeah what's your address?

 

[Cameron]

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.

As an aside and a point of interest:

The Olympics *was* originally for amatuers (non-pros) only. That status changed only in 1988 when certain sports were allowed to have pros in them. The remaining sports got the "pro OK" chop in 1992.




I would support not letting WotC in simply because I don't like the arrogant sods over there. But that is not how this poll should be voted on, so I will refrain from voting.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

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!

As was demonstrated at this years Origins awards when you look at WOTC nominations vs wins.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

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.

A lot of people see movies that are nominated for Oscars only because they were nominated. How many more people went to see Last King of Scotland because it won a Golden Globe in a movie marketplace where this largely indie film had to compete with the likes of the massively over-marketed Blood Diamond?

 

[Mark]

I can certainly understand why WotC has not competed in the past, being a bit of a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation, but if they choose to compete in the future, so be it. It would remove the asterik that some claim the awards carry with them.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Do you like plain pancakes or pancakes with blue berries? Oh yeah what's your address?

 

[Scott_Rouse]

As an aside and a point of interest:

The Olympics *was* originally for amatuers (non-pros) only. That status changed only in 1988 when certain sports were allowed to have pros in them. The remaining sports got the "pro OK" chop in 1992.




I would support not letting WotC in simply because I don't like the arrogant sods over there. But that is not how this poll should be voted on, so I will refrain from voting.

What is more arrogant, purposely with-holding submissions for voting or submitting and hoping we win?

 

[Li Shenron]

When there is a vote to cast people simply vote what they know, they certainly don't vote for a book they've never seen before. Every WotC book is always going to be known by many more people than a 3rd-party book, and I think that is enough to cause a biased effect on the results.

It's a bit like having polls on operating systems, and including Windows. You'll certainly attract windows-hater votes too, but then most of the casual computer users have seen only windows and they will tend to vote for it... even if they don't know another to compare it with!

This of course applies only to nominations, where everyone can vote. Judges would not favor WotC nor penalize it.

 

[bento]

The Olympics *was* originally for amatuers (non-pros) only. That status changed only in 1988 when certain sports were allowed to have pros in them. The remaining sports got the "pro OK" chop in 1992.

I thought the point of allowing pros was so that the Olympics could be about the world's best athletes competing, not those that don't make money from it. It was an artificial barrier and the games are better for it.