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Submitted for Your Consideration: Changes to ORIGINS Awards
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<blockquote data-quote="RyanD" data-source="post: 979977" data-attributes="member: 3312"><p>The following is a proposal I intend to submit to GAMA and the Academy for review. Following the widespread dissatisfaction with this year's ORIGINS Award process, I believe rapid, significant change is necessary to rebuild the stature and interest in the Awards that is required to make them meaningful and relevant.[prbreak][/prbreak]</p><p></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]113193[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>Your comments are welcome!</p><p>-----------------------------------</p><p>PROPOSAL TO CHANGE THE ORIGINS AWARDS - DRAFT</p><p></p><p>Intent:</p><p>=======</p><p>The intent of this proposal is to focus the ORIGINS Awards toward the games which are produced by the members of GAMA, specifically products that represent the bulk of the products sold by the majority of the</p><p>members of GAMA, and to position the ORIGINS Award as the pre-eminent award which could be earned by those products in any venue.</p><p></p><p>Problems with the Current System:</p><p>=================================</p><p>1. Awards Not Representative of Best in Class</p><p> ------------------------------------------</p><p>Due to the challenges in working with European and Japanese publishers,</p><p>the ORIGINS Awards do not fully represent the extremely active and</p><p>diverse publisher communities in either region. As a result, awards in</p><p>the Board Game, Card Game and Trading Card Game categories (by any</p><p>terminology) often overlook worthy entrants. And, even if the</p><p>nominations process was improved, the vast preponderance of voters are</p><p>located in North America, meaning that the chance of a product from</p><p>either Europe or Japan winning in its category regardless of merit is</p><p>essentially nil.</p><p></p><p>2. Specificity of Game Types</p><p> -------------------------</p><p>The increasing overlap between the terms used to describe tabletop games</p><p>and video/computer/console games makes it hard to differentiate the</p><p>ORIGINS Awards from Awards targeting the computer game market.</p><p></p><p>3. Get Out the Vote drives unduly influence winners</p><p> ------------------------------------------------</p><p>Each year, a handful of publishers make an extraordinary effort to</p><p>motivate their consumers to vote on their behalf for ORIGINS Award</p><p>consideration. As a result, a number of products have won ORIGINS</p><p>Awards despite overwhelming general consensus that they were not the</p><p>best products in the categories in question. This effect is especially</p><p>pronounced when the publisher in question operates a widely distributed</p><p>house-organ such as a magazine or a highly trafficked website.</p><p></p><p>4. A number of categories are outdated</p><p> -----------------------------------</p><p>Several ORIGINS Awards are given to product categories which no longer</p><p>have any material effect on the financial health of the industry. These</p><p>categories slow down the awards presentation, clutter the ballot, and</p><p>reduce the overall impact of ORIGINS Award nomination and winning.</p><p></p><p>5. A number of categories are subordinate to other awards</p><p> ------------------------------------------------------</p><p>A number of the current ORIGINS Award categories are subordinate to more</p><p>prestigious awards handled through other venues. Continuing to make</p><p>awards in these categories, without realistic hope that the ORIGINS</p><p>Award will rise to become the pre-eminent award in that category,</p><p>reduces the overall value of the ORIGINS Awards substantially.</p><p></p><p>Proposed Award Category Revision</p><p>================================</p><p>The following is a list of the current Award categories, and a proposed</p><p>list of new award categories, removing a number of existing categories</p><p>and adding three new general recognition award categories.</p><p></p><p>Current Categories (as of 2003):</p><p>--------------------------------</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Abstract Board Game</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Board Game Expansion or Supplement</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Card Game Expansion or Supplement</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Game Aide or Accessory</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Game Periodical</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Game-Related Fiction Long Form</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Game-Related Fiction Short Form</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Graphic Design of a Board Game</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Graphic Design of a Book Format Product</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Graphic Design of a Card Game Or Expansion</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Graphic Fiction</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Historical Board Game</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Historical Figure Miniature Series</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Historical Miniature</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Historical Miniature Rules</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Play-By-Mail Game</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Roleplaying Adventure</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Roleplaying Game</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Roleplaying Supplement</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniature</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Illustration</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Figure Miniature Series</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures Rules</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Trading Card Game</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Traditional Card Game</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Game of the Year</li> </ul><p></p><p>Proposed Revised List of Categories:</p><p>------------------------------------</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best Game Periodical</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best New Game Aide or Accessory</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best New Traditional Board Game</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best New Traditional Card Game</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best New Tabletop Wargame</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best New Tabletop Roleplaying Game</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best New Tabletop Roleplaying Supplement</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best New Tabletop Roleplaying Adventure</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best New Game Requiring Sculpted Miniature Figures</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best New Sculpted Miniature Figures Line</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best New Individual Sculpted Miniature Figure</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best New Trading Card Game</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Best New Trading Card Game Expansion</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Artist of the Year</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Designer of the Year</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Publisher of the Year</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Game of the Year</li> </ul><p></p><p>Revisions to Policies & Procedures:</p><p>===================================</p><p>The following points represent changes to the ORIGINS Award policies and</p><p>procedures which are designed to better achieve the objectives of the</p><p>Awards in general.</p><p></p><p>Scope of Awards:</p><p>----------------</p><p>The ORIGNS Awards will specifically be described as:</p><p></p><p>"The premiere Award recognizing excellence in the field of tabletop game</p><p>publication featuring products distributed in the North American</p><p>market."</p><p></p><p>It is important to note that these are not >game design< awards. They</p><p>are product awards, which encompass game design, graphic design,</p><p>illustration, editing, marketing, and brand management. As such,</p><p>separate recognition for the components of the game products (as per the</p><p>current "Art" awards) is not desirable.</p><p></p><p>Changes to Award Categories:</p><p>----------------------------</p><p>Many of the current categories represent works eligible for more</p><p>prestigious awards in other venues. Several are legacy awards that no</p><p>longer represent mainstream unit volume or revenue for most GAMA</p><p>members. Others target things sold in game stores which are not games.</p><p>And some are subdivisions of categories that already represent small</p><p>portions of the general GAMA membership's marketplace.</p><p></p><p>The list of categories eligible for Award consideration is changed</p><p>substantially by this proposal. First, it focuses on the 3 significant</p><p>categories of revenue which support the whole industry: RPGs, CCGs and</p><p>Miniatures games. Second, it removes legacy categories and categories</p><p>with more prestigious awards. Third, it recognizes individual</p><p>excellence in the fields of Artist, Designer, and Publisher.</p><p></p><p>The net effect of these changes should be a much more focused Awards</p><p>Ballot and Ceremony, and an increase in the overall prestige value of</p><p>the Awards. The Awards will also be more fully representative of the</p><p>actual market represented by the GAMA Memebership.</p><p></p><p>New and Unusual Formats:</p><p>------------------------</p><p>In the event that a game appears which is both popular, and defines a</p><p>new category not covered by the existing ORIGINS Awards categories (i.e.</p><p>Diskwars or Magic: the Gathering), the Academy would have the ability</p><p>within 2 years of the game's first distribution in the North American</p><p>market to award a special "ORIGINS Award for Innovation" to that game to</p><p>ensure proper recognition of the achievement.</p><p></p><p>Selection of Products for the Final Ballot:</p><p>-------------------------------------------</p><p>Based on market research provided either by GAMA, or gathered by the</p><p>Academy in a process acceptable to GAMA, the top 3 best-selling (by unit</p><p>volume) products that qualify for each category will be automatically</p><p>placed on the Final Ballot.</p><p></p><p>A Nominations Form will be circulated to the members of the Academy.</p><p>The Nominations Form will list all products qualifying for each category</p><p>to the best of the Academy's ability to assemble such a list. The list</p><p>will not include the marketshare leading products that are automatically</p><p>placed on the Final Ballot. The members of the Academy will be allowed</p><p>to vote for 3 products in each category. The 3 products with the most</p><p>votes in each category will be added to the Final Ballot.</p><p></p><p>The Academy committee may, at its sole discretion, add one or more</p><p>products it deems worthy, but overlooked, to the Final Ballot for each</p><p>category.</p><p></p><p>The Academy Nominations Form will be used to select the Artist, Designer</p><p>and Publisher of the Year nominations.</p><p></p><p>The Academy committee will determine which products are nominated for</p><p>Game of the Year. Game of the Year consideration is not limited to</p><p>products eligible for the other ORIGINS Award categories.</p><p></p><p>Publisher Control of Nominations:</p><p>---------------------------------</p><p>The publisher of a given work may elect to omit that work from the Final</p><p>Ballot for any reason and without prejudice. Publishers with products</p><p>nominated (or placed) on the Final Ballot will be contacted in a timely</p><p>manner prior to the public release of the Final Ballot and asked if they</p><p>wish to exercise this privilege. In the event that a publisher</p><p>exercises this option, the next product in the natural sequence of</p><p>selection for that category would be placed on the Ballot.</p><p></p><p>Voting Process:</p><p>---------------</p><p>The winner of the ORIGINS Award will be determined as follows:</p><p></p><p>Each GAMA Full Voting Member will be permitted to vote, and those votes</p><p>will constitute 33% of the total value of the votes.</p><p></p><p>Each Academy member in good standing will be permitted to vote, and</p><p>those votes will constitute 33% of the total value of the votes.</p><p></p><p>Members of the general public (those who are neither GAMA members nor</p><p>Academy members) will be permitted to vote, and those votes will</p><p>constitute 33% of the total value of the votes.</p><p></p><p>In the event of a tie, the Award will be given to both products.</p><p></p><p>This procedure will tend to minimize the impact of "bloc voting"</p><p>engendered by publisher campaigning, and will shift a preponderance of</p><p>the vote value to professionals in the industry. Essentially, the</p><p>public vote becomes a tiebreaker between the publishers and the gaming</p><p>professionals who comprise the Academy itself.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RyanD, post: 979977, member: 3312"] The following is a proposal I intend to submit to GAMA and the Academy for review. Following the widespread dissatisfaction with this year's ORIGINS Award process, I believe rapid, significant change is necessary to rebuild the stature and interest in the Awards that is required to make them meaningful and relevant.[prbreak][/prbreak] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" alt="650x650_de5f47be2b7f2bc4d3bf2c5d0dd66ee07a29cbeb56c1bb1faf782ff0.jpg"]113193[/ATTACH][/CENTER] Your comments are welcome! ----------------------------------- PROPOSAL TO CHANGE THE ORIGINS AWARDS - DRAFT Intent: ======= The intent of this proposal is to focus the ORIGINS Awards toward the games which are produced by the members of GAMA, specifically products that represent the bulk of the products sold by the majority of the members of GAMA, and to position the ORIGINS Award as the pre-eminent award which could be earned by those products in any venue. Problems with the Current System: ================================= 1. Awards Not Representative of Best in Class ------------------------------------------ Due to the challenges in working with European and Japanese publishers, the ORIGINS Awards do not fully represent the extremely active and diverse publisher communities in either region. As a result, awards in the Board Game, Card Game and Trading Card Game categories (by any terminology) often overlook worthy entrants. And, even if the nominations process was improved, the vast preponderance of voters are located in North America, meaning that the chance of a product from either Europe or Japan winning in its category regardless of merit is essentially nil. 2. Specificity of Game Types ------------------------- The increasing overlap between the terms used to describe tabletop games and video/computer/console games makes it hard to differentiate the ORIGINS Awards from Awards targeting the computer game market. 3. Get Out the Vote drives unduly influence winners ------------------------------------------------ Each year, a handful of publishers make an extraordinary effort to motivate their consumers to vote on their behalf for ORIGINS Award consideration. As a result, a number of products have won ORIGINS Awards despite overwhelming general consensus that they were not the best products in the categories in question. This effect is especially pronounced when the publisher in question operates a widely distributed house-organ such as a magazine or a highly trafficked website. 4. A number of categories are outdated ----------------------------------- Several ORIGINS Awards are given to product categories which no longer have any material effect on the financial health of the industry. These categories slow down the awards presentation, clutter the ballot, and reduce the overall impact of ORIGINS Award nomination and winning. 5. A number of categories are subordinate to other awards ------------------------------------------------------ A number of the current ORIGINS Award categories are subordinate to more prestigious awards handled through other venues. Continuing to make awards in these categories, without realistic hope that the ORIGINS Award will rise to become the pre-eminent award in that category, reduces the overall value of the ORIGINS Awards substantially. Proposed Award Category Revision ================================ The following is a list of the current Award categories, and a proposed list of new award categories, removing a number of existing categories and adding three new general recognition award categories. Current Categories (as of 2003): -------------------------------- [LIST] [*]Best Abstract Board Game [*]Best Board Game Expansion or Supplement [*]Best Card Game Expansion or Supplement [*]Best Game Aide or Accessory [*]Best Game Periodical [*]Best Game-Related Fiction Long Form [*]Best Game-Related Fiction Short Form [*]Best Graphic Design of a Board Game [*]Best Graphic Design of a Book Format Product [*]Best Graphic Design of a Card Game Or Expansion [*]Best Graphic Fiction [*]Best Historical Board Game [*]Best Historical Figure Miniature Series [*]Best Historical Miniature [*]Best Historical Miniature Rules [*]Best Play-By-Mail Game [*]Best Roleplaying Adventure [*]Best Roleplaying Game [*]Best Roleplaying Supplement [*]Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Board Game [*]Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniature [*]Best Illustration [*]Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Figure Miniature Series [*]Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures Rules [*]Best Trading Card Game [*]Best Traditional Card Game [*]Game of the Year [/LIST] Proposed Revised List of Categories: ------------------------------------ [LIST] [*]Best Game Periodical [*]Best New Game Aide or Accessory [*]Best New Traditional Board Game [*]Best New Traditional Card Game [*]Best New Tabletop Wargame [*]Best New Tabletop Roleplaying Game [*]Best New Tabletop Roleplaying Supplement [*]Best New Tabletop Roleplaying Adventure [*]Best New Game Requiring Sculpted Miniature Figures [*]Best New Sculpted Miniature Figures Line [*]Best New Individual Sculpted Miniature Figure [*]Best New Trading Card Game [*]Best New Trading Card Game Expansion [*]Artist of the Year [*]Designer of the Year [*]Publisher of the Year [*]Game of the Year [/LIST] Revisions to Policies & Procedures: =================================== The following points represent changes to the ORIGINS Award policies and procedures which are designed to better achieve the objectives of the Awards in general. Scope of Awards: ---------------- The ORIGNS Awards will specifically be described as: "The premiere Award recognizing excellence in the field of tabletop game publication featuring products distributed in the North American market." It is important to note that these are not >game design< awards. They are product awards, which encompass game design, graphic design, illustration, editing, marketing, and brand management. As such, separate recognition for the components of the game products (as per the current "Art" awards) is not desirable. Changes to Award Categories: ---------------------------- Many of the current categories represent works eligible for more prestigious awards in other venues. Several are legacy awards that no longer represent mainstream unit volume or revenue for most GAMA members. Others target things sold in game stores which are not games. And some are subdivisions of categories that already represent small portions of the general GAMA membership's marketplace. The list of categories eligible for Award consideration is changed substantially by this proposal. First, it focuses on the 3 significant categories of revenue which support the whole industry: RPGs, CCGs and Miniatures games. Second, it removes legacy categories and categories with more prestigious awards. Third, it recognizes individual excellence in the fields of Artist, Designer, and Publisher. The net effect of these changes should be a much more focused Awards Ballot and Ceremony, and an increase in the overall prestige value of the Awards. The Awards will also be more fully representative of the actual market represented by the GAMA Memebership. New and Unusual Formats: ------------------------ In the event that a game appears which is both popular, and defines a new category not covered by the existing ORIGINS Awards categories (i.e. Diskwars or Magic: the Gathering), the Academy would have the ability within 2 years of the game's first distribution in the North American market to award a special "ORIGINS Award for Innovation" to that game to ensure proper recognition of the achievement. Selection of Products for the Final Ballot: ------------------------------------------- Based on market research provided either by GAMA, or gathered by the Academy in a process acceptable to GAMA, the top 3 best-selling (by unit volume) products that qualify for each category will be automatically placed on the Final Ballot. A Nominations Form will be circulated to the members of the Academy. The Nominations Form will list all products qualifying for each category to the best of the Academy's ability to assemble such a list. The list will not include the marketshare leading products that are automatically placed on the Final Ballot. The members of the Academy will be allowed to vote for 3 products in each category. The 3 products with the most votes in each category will be added to the Final Ballot. The Academy committee may, at its sole discretion, add one or more products it deems worthy, but overlooked, to the Final Ballot for each category. The Academy Nominations Form will be used to select the Artist, Designer and Publisher of the Year nominations. The Academy committee will determine which products are nominated for Game of the Year. Game of the Year consideration is not limited to products eligible for the other ORIGINS Award categories. Publisher Control of Nominations: --------------------------------- The publisher of a given work may elect to omit that work from the Final Ballot for any reason and without prejudice. Publishers with products nominated (or placed) on the Final Ballot will be contacted in a timely manner prior to the public release of the Final Ballot and asked if they wish to exercise this privilege. In the event that a publisher exercises this option, the next product in the natural sequence of selection for that category would be placed on the Ballot. Voting Process: --------------- The winner of the ORIGINS Award will be determined as follows: Each GAMA Full Voting Member will be permitted to vote, and those votes will constitute 33% of the total value of the votes. Each Academy member in good standing will be permitted to vote, and those votes will constitute 33% of the total value of the votes. Members of the general public (those who are neither GAMA members nor Academy members) will be permitted to vote, and those votes will constitute 33% of the total value of the votes. In the event of a tie, the Award will be given to both products. This procedure will tend to minimize the impact of "bloc voting" engendered by publisher campaigning, and will shift a preponderance of the vote value to professionals in the industry. Essentially, the public vote becomes a tiebreaker between the publishers and the gaming professionals who comprise the Academy itself. [/QUOTE]
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