Danielle = Denise.  She was the business manager this year and has stepped down, with Tony Law taking over.  He posts as reveal here.

As for the Judge's Spotlight, it's not just an honorable mention.  Each category gets an honorable mention but this is a product that struck a chord with the judge that put it forth and is one that they feel needs to be recognized for it.  In the end, it lets the judges put that recognition straight into the hands of the one receiving the award.  I'm glad we got to start the Judge's Spotlight award this year and look forward to seeing what future judges select.

Quote from: Abyssal Maw;397897Now they culminate in a little blurb on the cover of a game 95% of us will probably never see. let alone play. What do they even mean anymore?

You say that like it's a bad thing.

WotC has enough money to pimp its own shit.  Let the little guys get a spotlight, too.  Quite a few of those games are good games.

Quote from: Kinetic;398001Danielle = Denise.  She was the business manager this year and has stepped down, with Tony Law taking over.  He posts as reveal here.

As for the Judge's Spotlight, it's not just an honorable mention.  Each category gets an honorable mention but this is a product that struck a chord with the judge that put it forth and is one that they feel needs to be recognized for it.  In the end, it lets the judges put that recognition straight into the hands of the one receiving the award.  I'm glad we got to start the Judge's Spotlight award this year and look forward to seeing what future judges select.

My apologies concerning Denise... I have been up for the last two days with only a fraction of my normal sleep. You can't recall her, or persuade her to come back? I found her integrity and coolness under pressure remarkable. You know you can't buy that kind of honor, right? That's worth immense credibility.

Also, with the case of the Judges Spotlight would you (or Tony Law) consider allowing each Judge to provide an award for the game of their choice? I realize that means adding more awards for the ceremony, however it will give the Judges some additional influence in the awards process, and it will provide some game designers another option for recognition.

The Game Design community is much larger now than it was ten years ago even.

I think it is an amazing hint into how the opionions on ENWorld changed re: 4e. Numerically speaking.

What also could have happened is that ENWorlders didn´t really care and many votes were actually from the  Paizo-boards. Paizonians are quite a loyal bunch.

Quote from: Peregrin;398002You say that like it's a bad thing.

WotC has enough money to pimp its own shit.  Let the little guys get a spotlight, too.  Quite a few of those games are good games.

There really is nothing wrong with that, but is this award a celebration or a promotional device? It used to be the first thing- that's what distinguished it from the Origins award, which by 1998 was so cynical it was meaningless.

I'm sure the people who manage it are great, I'm sure the judges are all wonderful people. But I stopped voting for the Origins award ten years ago for this exact reason.

Quote from: Peregrin;398002You say that like it's a bad thing.

WotC has enough money to pimp its own shit.  Let the little guys get a spotlight, too.  Quite a few of those games are good games.

Amen!

Quote from: Abyssal Maw;398050There really is nothing wrong with that, but is this award a celebration or a promotional device? It used to be the first thing- that's what distinguished it from the Origins award, which by 1998 was so cynical it was meaningless.

I'm sure the people who manage it are great, I'm sure the judges are all wonderful people. But I stopped voting for the Origins award ten years ago for this exact reason.

I never expect any awards to be anything but promotional devices.  The degree to which a given award twisted towards other purposes may vary, but if an industry as large and inclusive (sub-culturally speaking) as video-games can't even manage a single unbiased set of awards, I wouldn't expect it from a niche and segmented hobby with a lot of memories and very strong opinions on 'how things should be.'

Quote from: Abyssal Maw;397897As far as I can tell, the ennies are now an outreach award for recognizing games that nobody cares about in a post d-20 world. They represent nothing but the Ennies committee trying to stay relevant and bear the name of a website community that in no way represents or even recognizes (for a large percentage, anyhow) the committee picks. In a sense, the award itself is being voted in as a judge.
the first couple of years the awards were real and honest. Now they culminate in a little blurb on the cover of a game 95% of us will probably never see. let alone play. What do they even mean anymore?

This is absolutely right.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Kinetic;398001As for the Judge's Spotlight, it's not just an honorable mention.  Each category gets an honorable mention but this is a product that struck a chord with the judge that put it forth and is one that they feel needs to be recognized for it.  In the end, it lets the judges put that recognition straight into the hands of the one receiving the award.  I'm glad we got to start the Judge's Spotlight award this year and look forward to seeing what future judges select.

That certainly sounds celebratory to me. For this little corner of the awards at least there is no mob, no pressure, just one guy giving a shout-out to something he liked.

Plus it comes with a cool medal.

QuoteAs far as I can tell, the ennies are now an outreach award for recognizing games that nobody cares about in a post d-20 world. They represent nothing but the Ennies committee trying to stay relevant and bear the name of a website community that in no way represents or even recognizes (for a large percentage, anyhow) the committee picks. In a sense, the award itself is being voted in as a judge.
the first couple of years the awards were real and honest. Now they culminate in a little blurb on the cover of a game 95% of us will probably never see. let alone play. What do they even mean anymore?

Translation:  The awards stopped sucking Wizards' dick like the rest of ENWorld does, so that makes them heretics.

Quote from: Peregrin;398002You say that like it's a bad thing.

WotC has enough money to pimp its own shit.  Let the little guys get a spotlight, too.  Quite a few of those games are good games.

Barking up the wrong tree.  Maw's only definition of "good" is "Wizards currently publishes it."

Quote from: J Arcane;398291Barking up the wrong tree.  Maw's only definition of "good" is "Wizards currently publishes it."

You're an angry little schmuck. But I guess that's not like.. against the law.  

No, the point is- that award used to mean something kinda cool to the consumers rather than the producers who have a cynical grip on it right now. Gencon plays into this- it's not coincidental that GenCon is where it is awarded. Gencon is where you walk into this room and there are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of new games  being sold and promoted.  But this award wasn't originally a promotional gimmick. It was a matter of people (not game producers but just people that hang about on forums) at Enworld going "you know what was great this year?  Madness in Freeport. That was awesome. They should get an award". And they put up a little internet poll, and people voted, and it was cool.

Now it's like they send these guys out trying to do outreach, and they have nominated judges (aka reviewers) do the picking on behalf of people, and everything is sort of set up to try and minimize the effects of what people actually like by allowing judges to pick on their behalf what you even get to vote on. And you have people like Morningstar here trying to figure out how to best game the voting system so the also-rans can eke some converts out of the process (and beleive me, these guys don't give the least possible crap about how anyone outside of post modernist forgie-land get's their games together. To them, you are all souls ready to be converted and saved).

The biggest controversies all come from producers, not from consumers. It's all about how to get your product before the reviewing committee or get the right judge stealthed into a nomination.

All of this is in the name of outreach and "the committee". I thought the weird over-reliance on reviewers was pretty screwed up in the 1990s at RPGnet, but here it's really the same thing, except ritualized, and everyone dresses up for the ceremony.

And yet, and yet, and yet.. it still bears the name of Enworld.  

I feel a little guilty because I'm flaming the award here, but I really think letting it be managed as it has in the last few years... has ruined it. It's just another version of the Origins award now.

The ENnies have been irrelevant for a while now. They were somewhat relevant when there was a full blown d20 market out there, with lots of different types of games and websites and zines and what-have-you, but now? They don't represent squat. Especially to the people visiting ENWorld.

Add to this the groupthink of the judges and overall organization of the thing that makes it less of a fan awards than one would be led to think by ENW's marketing of the thing and... well. It's nice for people to get an award from there, honestly, but they're about as relevant as Origins' now.

In other words, I agree with Pete on this one.

Thanks.

And I also want to say I don't bear any ill will to the people who get these awards. I like a lot of the stuff that actually wins. I just don't think it is what it says it is.. at least not anymore.

It really is out our hands and they make it look like it's "our" award.

Quote from: GameDaddy;397992There's always going to be politics if you get way more entries than available awards. PirateCat said there were over 2,000 voters for the awards which was a good thing.

Actually, there were over 7,200 votes for products and over 2,000 votes for judges.

Quote from: Jason Morningstar;397801The ENnies results actually gave me pause - as a small press publisher it's not obvious that submitting your game for consideration is money well spent. But seeing Lady Blackbird, Armitage Files, Diaspora, Ancient Odysseys and others getting recognized may change that equation, which is awesome.

It is always worthwhile to submit your products. The judges have a good eye for quality, whether it's from a publisher with excess cash (a la White Wolf who didn't sell any product at Gen Con this year but still had a booth/lounge area) or from a small company that produces items in PDF format only and just gives it away on their website.

As you mentioned, small press publishers are recognized and the fans are speaking out. Obviously, this year Paizo fans spoke the loudest but a lot of indie fans are letting publishers know they want their indies!

Quote from: GameDaddy;398023Also, with the case of the Judges Spotlight would you (or Tony Law) consider allowing each Judge to provide an award for the game of their choice? I realize that means adding more awards for the ceremony, however it will give the Judges some additional influence in the awards process, and it will provide some game designers another option for recognition.

That's really what the Judges Spotlight is all about; allowing each judge to provide an award for the RPG product of their choice. Each of those product company's get a certificate and a medal, just like every other winner. Only the Best Game, Product of the Year, and Fans' Choice For Best Publisher gold winners actually get a trophy.