Because being a dreamer RPG game creator before, I've been a member of those RPG maker forums. Then, one thing I've been noticing was the awards. Yearly, they'd award some games, or maybe users, each year. Well, for a long time, I've been itching to see something like that in here.
Some creators, like Jack Norton, Papillon, myself, etc. just to name a few, work commercially, and thus hold everything they do to a higher standard, while a lot of the other creators on the boards are doing so as a hobby.
Plus, we have a wide range of experiences and ages on the board - I'm not saying the field of any contest should be perfectly level, but take me for instance - I'm a professional artist with a Bachelor's of Fine Art, working for a film studio doing Visual FX, and I've been drawing and writing for 20+ years. For me to compete against a 15-year-old would be vastly unfair to them. (They might have an advantage as far as free time goes, however.)
Sure, contests can motivate, but they can also hurt feelings as well. Comparisons are bound to be made and people will ask, "If that game won an award, why didn't mine?" Feelings will be hurt.
Now, I frequent other art boards that have contests, like Polycount, but those boards are all about critiques - constructive, sometimes harsh, but honest critiques, but all with the goal of making the members better. There are no "support" threads, only criticism and critiques. It makes sense for them to have contests, but less so for Lemmasoft. Here threads tend to pat each other on the back - hard criticism isn't often received well. Awards are a form of criticism and judgement.
I say no. I'd rather there be a celebration of games rather than a competition of games. We need to stimulate the industry, rather than start separating the good from the bad just yet.
I get the fun of it (and why you recommend it), but I think this is one of those cases where if everyone doesn't get an award, it's not going to do any good here.
And I'm going to echo LateWhiteRabbit in that, LSF has a forcefully positive atmosphere, and the absence of an award is a negativity that I thought we were trying to avoid.
I would never want to see a "Best VN" award in someone's signature -- not even mine. What a goddamned slap in the face to all the other developers here.
I think the RMVX forum gets away with it on some basis, because isn't it less of a community and more of a hub for RMVX users? Used for practical purposes (getting code and resources) -- anyway, our community seems smaller, so more intimate. I know you guys. By name. It's personal. Not just some database for projects.
I will say, however, that I'm not totally against such an award-giving body/activity, but it needs to come from somewhere else other than LSF. That means that the LSF itself must remain neutral and the award-giving body must exist separately and distinctly from it.
btw, note the unnecessarily scathing tone of quite a few people in there who also got away with it. Ahem arteeeeestic vision?
How do you make your games? I see. Thank you for the prompt replies, but it is my considered opinion that you're doing it wrong inefficiently because I am a perfushenal professional. Do it my way this way and we can all ascend VN Nirvana together while allowing me to stroke my ego you will improve much faster. Also, please don't forget to thank me for this constructive critique or I will cry and bore you to death respond appropriately with a tl;drrant discourse of epic adequately lengthy proportions. - Sarcasm Veiled in Euphemism: Secrets of Forum Civility by lordcloudx (Coming soon to an online ebook near you.)
I'll echo the above posts. The feelings that can be hurt is just not worth it.
Some might say that people should stop being babies and get over it if they are hurt, but it can lead to lack of motivation, creativity etc. I have seen other art sites get smaller and smaller with almost no new members and talent for exactly this reason.
It can also be very easy for the whole thing to just boil down to one big popularity contest. Although I am a new member, this strikes me as contrary to the LSF vibe.
I agree with the others as well. I think that maybe the best thing someone could do is make little badge/ribbon images and post them along with their reviews of a game? For example, choosing what stood out the most in the VN, whether it was the nice storyline, character art or overall feeling of the game? Then, the game-maker would feel better and maybe post the ribbon into the first post, saying "Won/Received a ribbon for _______".
Kind of like those "Approved by ______" ones that I saw a few times. xD
A theme-based contest with places for different skill levels (rookie, intermediate, professional, ect) may work. That would be fun and beneficial for all parties I believe; I've worked with themes for contests before and I always got a little something out of it. Competing against other people in your rank forces you to work harder, giving you more experience.
But not all out awards based on quality; as said above. That should be done by a third party, like a game review blog. (We've had games on here get awards like that before if I'm not mistaken)
