The ENnies are crap

[Meg]

Exhibit #1)

http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=12054

From Zachary the First:

The thought this year, among certain members of the ENnies, was that the categories of Best Podcast and Best Electronic Product should no longer need to send in a CD, but rather could more conveniently send a link to their product. The hope was that this would make the awards more accessible, not only podcasters, fan sites, and shoestring-budget pdf-only companies. It was also hoped that this would stimulate international submissions by bypassing the postage/customs headache that mailing from overseas could be.

You see, the ENnies requires each publisher to send 5 copies of their work (one to each judge), and then a 6th as a backup to the ENnies. If this book isn't used due to a missing judge copy or somesuch, then it is auctioned off, to support the various expenses the ENnies incur--operating costs, awards, that sort of thing. All well and good, yes?

The proposal was this--open Best Podcast and Best Electronic Product (and Best Fansite, of course) to link submissions, meaning unlike the prior rules, they could just fill out the submission form and link to their product. Since the other categories remained in the domain of deadtree products, this would open up two or three categories that would likely benefit most from this change without harming the financial model of the ENnies. In my opinion, it was a way to grow the awards in terms of fan/podcaster, pdf-only publisher, small press/indie, and international participation.

But it clearly is not to be. The ENnies feel that if you submit via link, you should pay an unprecedented submission fee to support the awards. In other words, they are asking you to pay them to consider your product's quality for the award. This donation, as proposed would go mainly to the ENnies, with a percentage going to each judge. Several individuals also wanted this as another "barrier" to the awards process, one of them going so far as to worry "we'll get tons of ill-considered crap that isn't worth the time to download". Hardly the right attitude for a judge, I'd say.

I will tell you right now, I will not accept one red cent of that money. I'm not saying this because I want a pat on the back, I just want you to know where I stand, as I always promised I'd be direct with you. I disapprove of this measure entirely, and find it to be a move in the wrong direction for the openness and accessibility of the awards. Instead of making a move that in no way hurt the ENnies but instead possibly improved awards participation, ease, and lowering cost for the entrants, they chose to go with a measure that provided a new income source for the awards, but that would do nothing to grow the awards in any sense. Bear in mind, this is despite the ENnies allowing several last-minute "usual suspect" and much-vaunted companies to submit via link at the very end of the submission period last year (for no charge, of course)! I'm not sure where this will lead, or what impact it will have. But at least you'll know where I stood.

I am, in a word, disillusioned with the ENnies. I am disillusioned with this, I am disillusioned with the attitude shown towards podcasters and fan products, and I am disillusioned with the purposeful lack of transparency in the awards. I am disappointed in the inconsistency shown on treatment of publishers and in dealing with technical issues.

I was especially angered and extremely disappointed when it was suggested that we retroactively change the submission cutoff dates for Book of Experimental Might 2 so that it would go undiscovered that it was accidentally ineligible for the awards period in question. I feel that judges should not be paid, but should be satisfied with the honor of being chosen to evaluate so much hard work (and all the books they receive on top of that). We have been entrusted to give every product a fair evaluation--there should be no bias or disgust at a product's chosen medium.

I don't feel any of this is in the spirit of making the awards transparent and more open. The air of prediliction towards certain favorites and an insular, incestuous culture for the awards themselves is a cancer which, if left untreated, will damage the awards' relevancy and standing.

With that in mind, and because I will not be a further party to matters I do not feel are right, I have suggested the ENnies contact alternate judge Jeramy Ware. I will work to ensure he receives all materials he needs to do the best job he can. In short, the ENnies need to adapt further to recognize both the growing shape and form of the gaming community. As I find it impossible to affect that change in this current situation, I can no longer support the ENnies. I am sorry for the inconvenience, and I am sorry I could not be a better voice and representative for those who elected me. Thank you.

[AstralFire]

Submission fees are nothing new in the world of awards; they are a very common method of dealing with miscellany entrants who may or may not be myriad and mostly crap; I dunno, never run an awards program. I don't really have an opinion on this until I know how much the cost amounts to.

[CountArioch]

Lame.

Enworld is a shitty forum though, has been for years.

[AstralFire]

Lame.

Enworld is a shitty forum though, has been for years.

Never been. How bad we talking?

/b/ bad, GameFAQs bad, WotC bad? (From most to least horrible.)

[CountArioch]

Well, now they kiss WotC's ass hard, and you get booted for pointing out stuff in 4E that doesn't work.  Also, saying that someone's interpretation is a house rule is a warnable offense.

But before that, I had issues with the Admin, who is basically a liar, doesn't have access to a dictionary, and defends his moderators when they break the very rules they're supposed to enforce.

[Cam_Banks]

Lame.

Enworld is a shitty forum though, has been for years.

My only issue with the ENWorld community is that most of them don't realize Dragonlance has had product published for it since the Eighties.

Otherwise, I think it's no better or worse than any other fan community message board.

Cheers,
Cam

[Meg]

Woah- let's not turn this into a discussion of ENWorld the community.

This is purely about the ENnies Awards-- "The" awards in the gaming industry.

Drama, controversy and conspiracy abound.

Some history:

This year there was a category for Podcasts.  We entered as did at least 8 other podcasts (probably more, but that's what we know). 

When the nominations came out, there were 2 podcasts listed in the "Best Fan Product" category along with 3 websites.

The Podcast category was shafted and instead combined with a category that didn't accurately represent the entries.

Why?  The ENnies said that there weren't enough entries in "one or more" of the categories then went on to say if a category had less than 10 entries they would combine with another category regardless of how many entries that one got.

Podcasts got enough entries (9 just on the RPG Podcast list that admitted to it)- the website category didn't get enough, and yet, of the 5 nominees, 3 were websites.  1 was a website that had some product on it and hadn't been updated in months. 

There was scuttlebutt about the submission process for Podcasts- we had to choose 5 shows before April 30th and put on a CD and mail to 6 different addresses.  Some drama ensued with the podcaster group saying it was archaic and "why should I leave my carbon footprint" blah blah.  It was just bitching as far as I was concerned.  No one who entered had any problem with making a CD.

Then there were some big ass threads on ENWorld about the issue and pages on "what can we do to get more podcasts to enter??"-- bullshit!  There WERE enough podcasts, it was the friggin' website category that didn't have enough because there were no rules listed anywhere on how to enter a website!  Change the focus- this had nothing to do with podcasts.

This comes a year after Fear the Boot was forced to withdraw from the podcast category for hinting on their show that if someone as determined, there was no way they could enforce the "1 vote per person".  It was an off-handed joke and the ENnies went nuts and had a totally lame reaction.

And now they are thinking of instituting a fee for entering?  For JUST the podcast category?  This isn't everyone paying this fee- just podcasters.  When again, they weren't the problem in the first place.

But whatever- that's just podcasts.

Let's look at the books- the meat of the ENnies.

There are a panel of judges that select from the entries who is going to be nominated and then those nominees are put up to a vote by the public.

Listen to our ENnies Lightning Round reviews here for more info:
http://brilliantgameologists.com/blog/48

First of all, total crap products made it through.  I did a full review of the writing category and honestly have no idea where the judges were coming from.  1 product just simply didn't belong- at ALL- and the one who won, Changeling the Lost, had some of the shittiest writing I've ever seen in a book.  I've seen 10x better in Indie Press, Kinko copied books. 

Then, Monte Cook's Book of Experimental Might II: Bloody, Bold, and Resolute not only was nominated, but won for best online product.  The cutoff date for all entries was April 30, 2008.  As in everything clearly had to be created before that.  Our podcast didn't even get good until after that point, so I had to choose between lesser quality shows to ensure we made that cutoff.  The Book of Experimental Might came out on May 5, 2008 ("This item was added to our menu on 05/05/2008 00:14:10." .  And the judges not only knew, but tried to just sweep it under the rug. 

Then- I have a lot of problems with the blatant favoritism by the judges.  I pick on Zachary the First but only because he is the one who blogged the ENnies and was the most public-- I only assume all the judges had backroom things going on as well.

Last September, Zachary blogged that his favorite podcast was Animalcast.  And low and behold, guess which one got nominated!  In comparison with other gaming podcasts, Animalcast has a lot wrong with it and just isn't nearly the quality of many other podcasts- audio or content.  A true critical, objective analysis would not have placed it in the top of all submissions.

And then another book which we were just confounded by as a nomination- Epic Role Playing- wasn't in the same class as the other nominees.  It seemed like a good start, but very amateurish.  But low and behold, turn the book over and guess who one of the accolades printed on the back is from?  Yep, Zachary the First, which means he saw it before it was released, already favored it, and then "judged" it?

And then the just blatant, subtle claims from other judges admitting that there is no way they could be objective.

The award system needs a major overhaul.  I can't imagine any serious endeavor being handled like this and surviving.

I have hopes for the ENnies-- I hope they improve.  They need to if they are going to be taken seriously. 

[adam]

I have no respect for the ENnies, for obvious reasons. 

What this does lead me to believe, though Meg, is that we need to do an award show.  That could be hysterical.

[AstralFire]

I have no respect for the ENnies, mostly because I don't really give a crap for awards.

If there are as many issues as you say, then you should start up your own. The amount of refugees from the botched handling of them sounds like it'd be considerable.

[Highmoon]

Wow, the ENnies just keep going from bad to worse.

I think it's obvious by now that podcasts and the ENnies are not good bedmates and I believe we should all walk away from them en masse next year.

[FraserRonald]

I think it's obvious by now that podcasts and the ENnies are not good bedmates and I believe we should all walk away from them en masse next year.

This is all part of Mr. Perez's diabolical plan to remove all other podcasts from competition and gain both 1st and 2nd place for the Gamer Traveler and Digital Front.

Diabolical, I say.

  Well played, sir. Well played indeed.

[Luke]

The ENnies were always seen as an answer to the Origins Awards, which had become a joke.  I find it hysterical that somehow the ENnies have managed to become even more of a joke in a far shorter period of time.

I've met an ENnies judge who was a good guy all around.  Other than him, everyone else I dealt with on the ENnies staff was taking three times the recommended dose of crazy pills.  I don't even care about the awards, which is no more than a popularity contest, but it's been demonstrated time and again that the organization is about as unprofessional as you can get.

I generally say 'bah' to award shows in general, but the ENnies gets a triple bah.

[CountArioch]

I have no respect for the ENnies, for obvious reasons. 

What this does lead me to believe, though Meg, is that we need to do an award show.  That could be hysterical.

That'd be cool.  I'll even help.   

[Dragon Snack]

Hey Meg, your rant got a mention on EnWorld*: http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/241749-zachary-houghton-resigns-ennies-judge.html

They do a pretty lame job of trying to marginalize your post, but I thought you would appreciate knowing it's out there anyway...

Wasn't there some other ENnies fiasco a few years back having to do with a WotC product?


*Trackbacks people!  This is 'teh intrawebs', link to stuff!

[AstralFire]

I still don't have a detailed opinion on this simply because I am not very inclined to research deeply into the matter (nor do I find the idea of a submission fee as a barrier to be a bad idea at all, provided it's not more than about $100-200, yet the rest is more troubling - but I do not have enough sides' POV to judge), but I found this line so true:

Blogging: Making Burnt Bridges Since 1994.

[Meg]

Hey Meg, your rant got a mention on EnWorld*: http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/241749-zachary-houghton-resigns-ennies-judge.html

Hawesome.  Hawesome to the max 

[Josh]

Let me make a couple of Quick points:

1) Nothing is wrong with an entry fee.  An unevenly applied entry fee on the other hand does show favoritism.

2) Paying judges also gives me an uncomfortable feeling.  Least of all because big companies have more products and more cash.  Leading people to consider them more favorably.

3) There is so little money in gaming that $100 is way too much to expect someone to pay, however appropriate amounts would be more of a hassle then anything to collect.

4) Dragon Cons awards were much more appropriate in the requirements.  They made each podcast make a clip show.

5) All annual awards are not very definitive.  Look at "Star Wars" one of the most important movies of all time.  Or look at "Lord of The Rings", it should have cleaned house with every movie.   

[AstralFire]

The unevenly applied entry fee should only be an issue as far as favoritism goes if it's within the same category. I just picked out $100-200 for a very wide ballpark of how much 6 high quality printed books + shipping could cost.

Paying judges doesn't really worry me personally as long as the fee per category is standardized.

I do agree that annual awards are not definitive, which is why I pay them very little mind. No one is objective.

[Meg]

I'm posting over on ENworld and address a few of these points.

The charge for podcasts they are saying was something not seriously entertained.  Which is good.  The point of the submissions is that the judges get exactly what the fans get- and I love you all, but I'm not going to start paying you to listen to our show.  The judges should get exactly what the fans get.  And on a disc is fine.

The point that is being argued now is the favoritism. 

I claim a judge should try to review material objectively and that is getting criticized and slammed.  I'm a bit... baffled. 

[AstralFire]

Can't help you there. Though objectivity is impossible, it's still something worth striving for if you want your opinions to be taken seriously.

I didn't agree with the commentary there that a judge should be voting for their favorites. Now, granted, there will hopefully be some overlap between favorites and what they attempt to objectively see as the best... but yeah.