Thursday, March 5, 2009

Best Game vs. Best d20/OGL, part I

Since there was some comment on the distinction between these two categories I thought I'd go over them in a bit more detail. I'm really glad this came up for a number of reasons.

First, it gives me context to ask what people think about the d20/OGL category in general and if it is necessary. One commenter seemed to believe that the distinction between the two was a way of relegating other games to a 'lesser' Best Games award, which shocked me, and I'm really curious if this belief is prevalent.

Second, I'm rapidly running out of stuff to talk about, since anyone who really wants to know how I judge can look at all the stuff I've done before :)

Finally, I've been wanting to do a little series on some of the awards and what makes them unique for a while now. Last year The Brilliant Gameologists did a great job discussing the awards and that year's nominations. I really appreciate the way they do these things because:
(a) They actually read all the products nominated instead of just looking at a favorite and assuming nothing else could measure up. That's quite a commitment, and I salute them.
(b) They define the criteria they're using, and even though I don't agree with their definitions a lot of the time, without them you have no basis for judging the decisions they make.

That's my primary motivating factor here. It's what I think is the number one complaint about the awards, and it's a primary reason a lot of people out there voted for me. I've made it a habit to make the process as open as possible, yet there's still no really great definition for each category. So, as I'm able, I'll try and give at least some basic idea of how I decide on products for each category.

What's that got to do with d20 vs. OGL? Nothing, but it's late, so forgive me, but I'm going to wait until tomorrow to finish my point.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's the reason I voted for you (and I swear Jeramy didn't know this before writing about me). I wanted some detailed criteria from judge nominees as to who they'd vote-- I'm not comfortable with the gut feeling type vote. It just doesn't feel good in my cockles!