Becoming Judge | ENNIES pt.3
I'm your judge in the 25th annual ENNIES.
It's official! I'm going to be a judge at the 25th annual ENNIE Awards. Thank you to everyone who voted. I've wanted this opportunity for a long time. Embarrassingly long, to be honest. Despite my quibbles with award shows overall, I'm still something of an optimist.
What are my goals as your judge?
- Learn what makes the ENNIES tick. The ENNIES are a black box. What goes on behind the scenes? What are the challenges besides the obvious? I've been a judge, planner, and nominee in several rpg (and non-rpg) award shows—The Awards, D&AD, The Webby's, and The Art Director's Club—to name a few. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. I suspect The ENNIES is unique.
- Expand representation. Sorry in advance, but I will probably message and annoy many of you. "Have you submitted ______ to the ENNIES? Can I do anything to help you submit? Don't forget to submit!" I'm accepting this judge seat as a license to be annoying. The reason is simple: I think many smaller creators who aren't in the United States or who don't look like me either don't submit for economic and social reasons or get lost in the shuffle. I intend to not contribute to that problem. Hence, I'm setting up the spreadsheets and the Google calendar reminders. This is also a license for you to reach out.
- Educate and speak on design. The ENNIES positions itself as an award show for excellence. That word is complicated. The word I prefer is remarkable. What can the ENNIES do to guide the conversation? I critique work as part of my day job. There are no rules for visual design, art, and—well—rules. But everything lives in context. I'll be elevating games that engage with that context, be it the artist's intent, attention to craft, or conceptual ideas. I've said it before. Art is not objective, but neither is it arbitrary.
What will happen to Explorers Design?
Content-wise, not much. I won't be doing design delves on anything that came out this year—those notes will be reserved for the other judges. The dream is to write a year ahead of schedule, turning my judge duties into research for future delves and articles. No promises.
What are the unknowns?
I don't know the exact obligation of judges. Will I be signing an NDA? How long does it last? What will I be compelled to do now that I'm judging for the ENNIES? I suspect there will be some limitations. The fact there aren't many blog posts (that I can find) from previous judges suggests there is some legal restraint. We'll see.
Final thoughts. (In no particular order.)
- ENNIE categories have always been fraught with controversy. In the past, the showrunners put the judges in charge of what categories should or shouldn't be included. I know previous judges have expressed frustration with "category bloat" which can make this taxing responsibility even more taxing.
- In an ideal world, because we can't decide the eventual winner, every judge nomination should be nominated because we believe they deserve silver or gold. There should be no consolation nominees.
- Particularly popular games, like Mothership 1E and Knave 2E, need to be nominated carefully. They have the potential to sandbag an entire category with their audience. In other words, if the other judges think a game must win an award—they can't increase its odds by putting it in irrelevant categories. This "gaming the system" appears in every award show. Games nominated in categories should be nominated on that category's terms.
- I think the ENNIES should operate under the knowledge and acceptance that other award shows exist. We don't have to be everything to everyone when The Crit Awards, The Awards, Diana Jones, and others also exist.
- I'm itching to judge this coming year. The wait is intolerable. I hope it lasts.
- I'm looking forward to this year's RAMMIES.
- Sacha Goat is hosting this year's Bloggies! Zedeck graciously hosted last year's.
- I wish we had a craft-focused award show. Maybe I'll learn more about running rpg awards after being in my second one.