The SA TG Critical Hit Groggies Awards Discussion Maelstrom

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > The SA TG Critical Hit Groggies Awards Discussion Maelstrom

Winson_Paine: Oct 27, 2000; Wait, something is wrong.

homullus posted:

Wow, maelstrom is right.

Going one further than what Leperflesh said, since this is supposed to be highlighting the best with our excellent critical eyes, catching things that those other awards don't et cetera, it should probably likewise be a model award process. A good starting point would be that the judges should have played the games in question, and if they request stuff for free for review, they are obligated to actually, you know, use it.

Again there are no judges, this is gonna be a popular vote Hugo sorta thing.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2016 19:32

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 02:00

Winson_Paine: Oct 27, 2000; Wait, something is wrong.

Leperflesh posted:

Yeah I'm not offended guys, that's fine.

I am bemused, though. Knowing in advance that this undertaking is bound to be a target for drama and controversy, why would you start off from the outset by being intentionally opaque and secretive?

Maybe just inexperience, which I'm sympathetic to, so I'm trying to sort of goad you into aiming the gun a little farther from your figurative foot.

I'll be explicit, instead; be scrupulously transparent about absolutely everything, to a fault. Be relentlessly polite, even in response to impoliteness. Anticipate the liklihood of accusations of bias, and head them off by constantly documenting the unbiased process you're following.

You will never completely avoid the drama, but you can at least not paint obvious targets on your back. Step one is to do your organizing in a transparent way. I realize IRC is way more convenient, but it's also basicially indistinguishable from a smokey back room.

e. Also, recognize that you can't really get away with "this is my thing because I'm the one stepping up and making the effort" while also claiming the imprimatur of the SA TG community. If this is the award given by our community, then it cannot also belong to a self-appointed volunteer dictator. I'm certain you'll be rewarded by showing leadership while also not acting as though you get to have final say, even if that approach is much more difficult to manage.

Also this is not for a million dollar prize. Lives do not hang in the balance here. There is no physical prize, at least as tar as I know. It is just a thing. If you could ratchet back the hostility, even if it is for our own good, that would probably go a long way to averting the drama. You could even offer to help, or offer helpful suggestions of some kind. You are good at organizing things, you have run the TGSS reliably every year, how about bringing some of that to bear rather than trying to heckle the project to death, which is the course you seem to have chosen.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2016 19:38

Winson_Paine: Oct 27, 2000; Wait, something is wrong.

homullus posted:

Even better!

In terms of how I would use such a thing (independent of voting), I do value awards websites that make it easy to see what games have won, and what games were nominated. I have often found myself exploring new corners of traditional games (Euro games, war games, et cetera) and have been frustrated with the navigation of awards websites in my quest to find out what people have thought was "good."

I don't know how to make good awards websites, only how to complain about bad ones.

I think the main things at this point, unless I am mistaken, like the two major obstacles are:

- Some means of nominations/voting that leaves the result reasonably certain of "one goon, one vote" without requiring PMs or some weird nonsense.

- A list of topics/categories. I think Minis and Board Games should be included (other stuff? are there enough CCGs around to warrant such a thing anymore?) and think the categories could probably be pretty similar. Maybe have a Best in Show/GOTY for overall.

To a degree, it is gonna be a popularity contest. It is an award thing, that is pretty much what they are.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2016 19:59

Winson_Paine: Oct 27, 2000; Wait, something is wrong.

homullus posted:

Board game for hobbyists
Board game for non-hobbyists

What would the split there be? It is an interesting distinction and I know what you mean I just dont know how like I would quantify that.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2016 20:07

Winson_Paine: Oct 27, 2000; Wait, something is wrong.

homullus posted:

I was channeling the difference between the Spiel des Jahres and the Kennerspiel. The non-hobbyist ones would be things like Codenames or Patchwork -- not just party games.

Edit: In terms of strict criteria . . . I don't think you can. You probably knew what I meant by "big" and "small" RPGs, but that would also necessarily be in the box labeled "I know it when I see it." An example of a rule of thumb might be "can you explain the game in less than 12 minutes?"

That makes sense.

I think keeping the catagories limited the first time around makes a lot of sense too; maybe 3-5 per broad grouping (RPGs, Board Games, Minis, Whatever) and if it goes well next year things can expand?

# ¿ Sep 26, 2016 20:50

Winson_Paine: Oct 27, 2000; Wait, something is wrong.

Leperflesh posted:

I formally volunteer to help write unambiguous category definitions for all categories, and then act as a judge for resolving category questions and disputes. I think there should be a panel of three such judges, to enable a brief debate and conclusive vote for such questions as they arise.

Missed this on my phone, this is a really good idea. I like the idea of very concrete catagories at least for nominations, and having different judges for determining catagories would be a good idea in the sense that like, the board game judges might be nominally familiar with board gaming and so on.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2016 01:56

Winson_Paine: Oct 27, 2000; Wait, something is wrong.

Also it is occurring to me I am probs not gonna have time to help admin this, I am gonna step down although to be fair I am not sure what admins do yet

# ¿ Sep 27, 2016 01:58

Winson_Paine: Oct 27, 2000; Wait, something is wrong.

This has to be a record for goon projects

# ¿ Sep 27, 2016 04:48

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 02:00

Winson_Paine: Oct 27, 2000; Wait, something is wrong.

Leperflesh posted:

On the one hand I sincerely hope I didn't kill this thing single-handedly. Seriously.

On the other hand, if criticism or even unfair shitposting by one goon was enough to kill it, it was doomed from the start.

That said the idea has merit and I hope it moves forward. I cannot run it or take a lead role, though; I have too many other commitments, TGSS being a major one. Also I'm stuck in hellish jury duty selection for a 6+ week murder trial this week so I'm not even able to give my lethal shitposting the attention and time it deserves.

Aye, what it really needs is at least one invested person who is good at being a project manager, can get others to help, and has the time to do so. It is gonna take at least a reasonable time/effort commit, which I have not got currently. THe good news is I think once it gets set up/established it will more or less run itself almost, but someone or someones are gonna have to make that initial investment of effort.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2016 14:41

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