Why the merger of two categories?

[Crothian]

Agreed: I've been fortunate enough to come across tons of great RPG sites lately, but it's a real shame that, somehow, the category got merged in with other categories. I mean, just look at this list. I really don't get it.

I answered it up thread but since people aren't reading that, I'll answer it again.

We only judge the ones that enter and very few people choose to enter this year. Since we had so few we had to merge categories together. We choose that instead of illuminating the categories.

 

[davethegame]

I answered it up thread but since people aren't reading that, I'll answer it again.

We only judge the ones that enter and very few people choose to enter this year. Since we had so few we had to merge categories together. We choose that instead of illuminating the categories.

Crothian, I'm not blaming the judges. I do think there's a problem when that's the end result, however. And I am a bit baffled that Raiders of Oakhurst (a fine product) was placed there, instead of with something like Best Free Product.

 

[Clueless]

Crothian - by any chance do you know who would be the best to check with privately to make sure a submission actually arrived in the right hands? I sent faxes to submit on the last day to submit, but at this point given what you've mentioned about the lack of entries and that I never got a confirmation it was recieved - I'm just hoping they even got there in the first place.

 

[dpmcalister]

See, Planewalker is one of those sites that I would expect to see on the nominations list to be honest. I do know that I never received confirmation when I submitted my site, but never thought anything about it. Now I'm a little concerned that some entries didn't make it (for whatever reason)

BTW, Crothian, I am not having a go at the Ennies Judges. You guys (and girls?) have a really difficult job to do and I don't envy you it at all (I couldn't do it)

 

[HalWhitewyrm]

Let me shed some light at least on the lack of podcasting submissions.

Frankly, the submission process for a digitally available product (and while I'm talking about podcasts, I'll include here as well PDF game products) is archaic and ridiculous. Why should I go through the process of burning CDs and mailing them, when I can send an email with download links customized for the submission process? It defeats the basic principle of them being downloadable digital content in the first place.

As a general rule, we had little to no problem (there were some, but that can be covered in another thread) with the fact that we were asked to submit only 6 episodes for review, but the backlash against the submission process was overwhelming. And yes, you can argue that why the hell are we making such a big fuss over sending some CDs in the mail when some people have to ship really heavy books. To that I'd say it has to do with the principle of the format and the process.

I'm sure there are reasons on the ENnies' side for why this is done so (and I'd love to talk more about it; I know I will be covering the subject in an upcoming episode of my show, The Digital Front) but that's our side. That and there were some people who just missed the deadline, as it always happens.

Hope that helps.

 

[Xath]

I encourage everyone to encourage publishers to submit, especially those who have no income to lose by it (podcasts, free products, etc).

The ENnies can only be as good as the products submitted.

 

[RyanMacklin]

As I read the nominees this morning, I have to admit that I was very disappointed. I'm a podcaster & the guy who maintains RPGPodcasts.com, and last year I felt really welcome by how well podcasts were treated by the ENnies. This year, with the requirement for the CD, I passed on submitting my show -- I didn't feel comfortable with extending my carbon footprint to mail a CD containing content that is naturally available freely online. Honestly, seeing how the categories were lumped together, I'm glad I did.

Many of us podcasters work hard as media, not as "fan products." A number of us, including myself, strive to be professionals in this field and get paid working in the medium (though, to be clear, I get paid for editing other shows, not for my own show, Master Plan). So, for podcasts to be regulated to "fan product" does read like a slap in the face -- after all, there's little difference between a guy in his home making an audio show and a guy in his home making an indie game book. We're both producing independent products for others -- as games or as media.

If it were me in this situation, I can guarantee I would be emailing to have my nomination removed from the ENnies -- I would have submitted for "Best Podcast," not "Best Fan Product." (But, to be fair, that's easy to say as someone who didn't submit because of the archaic CD process.)

Thank you for last year -- you guys did an amazing job with our category, even with some turbulence that, frankly, y'all took care of fantastically well. I hope that the podcast presence in future ENnies will more represent 2007 than this year.

Thank you for your time,

- Ryan Macklin
Host, Producer of Master Plan
The People's Podcast About Game Design
http://masterplanpodcast.net

 

[Dextra]

A few comments/responses

The majority of the ENnies Awards are aimed at professional productions. The "amateur" catagories are there to acknowledge the important role fan sites and productions have in gaming- to give them a chance to shine and not get overshadowed by companies who are in the business of gaming.

In order for a category to be viable, we need at least nine submissions from six different publishers. We received insufficient quality entries in both fan site and podcast, so rather than scrapping both, we merged them and included other fan-driven content (zines and the like).

The podcast category was the child of fan site. And so long as there aren't enough fan sites submitted to keep that category viable, podcast will continue to be folded back into the parent category.

If someone as a media producer wants to be taken seriously like a professional, then they can jump through the same hoops that all the other professionals do and submit the CDs- just like those who produce PDFs are required to send up CDs.

 

[ptevis]

If someone as a media producer wants to be taken seriously like a professional, then they can jump through the same hoops that all the other professionals do and submit the CDs- just like those who produce PDFs are required to send up CDs.

I think you misunderstand: Ryan is saying that if he had chosen to submit his podcast and been nominated, he would have been upset to find it labeled as a fan product.

 

[RyanMacklin]

I think you misunderstand: Ryan is saying that if he had chosen to submit his podcast and been nominated, he would have been upset to find it labeled as a fan product.

Thank you, Paul. That's part of it -- the other being that I feel bad for those who have been nominated, only to find that they're not being nominated for what they thought.

As a point of feedback, I would have respected if the category was (or categories were) closed this time for a lack of submissions. Clearly, that's your call, but it would have really communicated that we as a group need to step up next year. I now know that, and know that I'm not submitting my show just for myself but for the community of podcasters. If I had known that this year, whether right off the bat or someone giving us a heads up partway through that not enough entries were received, I would have accepted the carbon footprint of shipping a half-dozen CD packages.

Side note: the idea to collect a bunch of podcasts into one series of packages (like how some fulfillment houses will ship one shipment for many entrants) rather than each podcast shipping separately only now occurred to me. Would that be a pain for you guys to deal with on your end, should you continue this method or requiring CDs for freely downloadable content?