Wow, it's November already! The next AGS Awards are around the corner. Now would be a good time to start catching up playing this year's games.
More importantly, though, I would like to discuss the future of the AGS Awards. We, the awards team (cat, @Kastchey and @Snarky), noticed a steady decline in interest. Fewer people nominate and vote, provide resources or attend the ceremony.
Nomination and voting
Good news first, @AGA has confirmed that he will take care of the voting page again. We will be able to do nominations and voting like always. However, there is a noticeable decline in the number of people who nominate and vote. While I think there will be still enough to have a significant result for 2023, it is still worrying.
Is there anything we can do to increase participation? Should we reduce the number of categories (e.g. best graphics and best animation could be merged, best gameplay could be dropped etc.)? Any other ideas?
The ceremony
The ceremony where the results are revealed has been the highlight of the AGS awards for many years. However, it comes with several problems:
* It's getting harder and harder to collect the required resources as many people either deliver them late, in weird formats or not at all. Even when they are collected, someone has to prepare them and put them in the client. We have lives beside AGS and this is taking quite some time.
* Fewer and fewer people are attending. Last year was the lowest number we ever had, as far as I remember. The huge effort of preparing the ceremony seems wasted time for such a small crowd.
Was the timing the problem? Was it just the wrong date and everything would be better with a tighter schedule and a ceremony earlier in the year? Is the ceremony not interesting anymore?
We considered various options for replacing the ceremony:
What are your thoughts on this topic? Are you going to participate in voting or join a ceremony next year?
More importantly, though, I would like to discuss the future of the AGS Awards. We, the awards team (cat, @Kastchey and @Snarky), noticed a steady decline in interest. Fewer people nominate and vote, provide resources or attend the ceremony.
Nomination and voting
Good news first, @AGA has confirmed that he will take care of the voting page again. We will be able to do nominations and voting like always. However, there is a noticeable decline in the number of people who nominate and vote. While I think there will be still enough to have a significant result for 2023, it is still worrying.
Is there anything we can do to increase participation? Should we reduce the number of categories (e.g. best graphics and best animation could be merged, best gameplay could be dropped etc.)? Any other ideas?
The ceremony
The ceremony where the results are revealed has been the highlight of the AGS awards for many years. However, it comes with several problems:
* It's getting harder and harder to collect the required resources as many people either deliver them late, in weird formats or not at all. Even when they are collected, someone has to prepare them and put them in the client. We have lives beside AGS and this is taking quite some time.
* Fewer and fewer people are attending. Last year was the lowest number we ever had, as far as I remember. The huge effort of preparing the ceremony seems wasted time for such a small crowd.
Was the timing the problem? Was it just the wrong date and everything would be better with a tighter schedule and a ceremony earlier in the year? Is the ceremony not interesting anymore?
We considered various options for replacing the ceremony:
- IRC only, as in the good old times
- Chat only, but using Discord
- A discord voice call with a shared powerpoint presentation
- No ceremony at all, the result is just posted in the thread
What are your thoughts on this topic? Are you going to participate in voting or join a ceremony next year?