Zpectre - The Awards for ZDooM Excellence

[ReX]

In keeping with the spirit of celebrating DooM's birthday (yesterday, December 10), and to foster the community interest in all things ZdooM, I'd like to announce the first (of hopefully many) annual Zpectre awards for excellence within the ZDooM universe. "What does that encompass?" you ask. In a nutshell, the ZDooM universe covers all initiatives related to ZDooM and its derivatives (GZDooM, SkullTag, etc.) Here are the basic guidelines:

A. What Qualifies for Consideration?

1. Any wad or mod that relies on ZDooM & derivatives for its principal features. This includes maps, gameplay mods (e.g., weapons, enemies, etc.), graphics mods, etc. Wads that alter the game without specifically requiring the use of ZDooM or that do not specifically take advantage of ZDooM features (e.g. music, sounds, sprites that can just as easily be used in other source ports or in vanilla DooM) will not be considered.
2. Any program or software that promotes the use or ease of use of ZDooM & derivatives. This includes front-end game loaders, utilities that make editing the game easier, editing software, etc.

B. What Criteria Will be Used for Consideration?

1. Innovativeness - does the wad/mod push the envelope of ZDooM/derivative features?
2. Fun - does the wad/mod satisfy the crucial reason for playing all games?
3. Groundbreaking - does the wad/mod pave the way for other wads/mods that build upon the features in the original?
4. Memorable - does it stand out from the other offerings?

C. How Will Wads/Mods be Selected for Consideration?

1. In a fashion similar to the process used for DooM World's Cacowards, wads/mods will need to be nominated.
2. Nominations will be made on these (or other forums), presuming the ZDooM forum moderators see fit to allow them.
3. People can nominate as many candidates as they feel are deserving. However, the nomination process will require a fairly specific identification of reasons for nomination (based primarily on the criteria outlined in B, above; instructions will follow).
4. A panel of so-called "judges" will review the nominations and short-list the candidates for final selection.
5. The judges themselves will constitute a panel. Three judges will be long-standing members of the ZDooM community who have contributed either through wads/mods or the knowledge base on these forums and the wiki. Two additional judges will be nominated through the same process as wads/mods are nominated. In this way, people relatively new to the community can also have a say in the process, while allowing for the benefits of the collective wisdom of the group.
6. As I foresee that I will be putting in a considerable amount of effort for the Zpectre awards, and because I've been around the ZDooM community for a while, I'd like to nominate myself as one of the three appointed judges. If anyone has objections, be prepared to meet me out in the back alley with your logic. I'm a reasonable guy, and I'll listen to your arguments, but I'll be carrying my baseball bat. Heh.
7. Soon (the ZDooM moderating gods willing), I'll be starting a thread on the nominations for wads/mods as well as one for the judges. These posts will have the instructions and formats for the nominations. Not to worry, the instructions/formats will be fairly simple.

D. How many Awards will be Given?

1. There will be 2 awards made in each of the criteria outlined in B, above, plus 2 "wild cards" for a total of 10 awards.
2. There will be "honorable mentions" for nominees that didn't make the cut for the so-called "top ten".
3. A nominee may qualify for an award in more than one criterion, but will only be eligible to win one award. [Of course, if a nominee qualifies in more than one category, then it will receive the award for the category for which it most qualifies.] In this way, the spotlight can shine on all deserving candidates.

E. Are There Only Going to be Zpectre Awards for 2010 and Going Forward?

1. There will be 10 awards for the top wads/mods in the past 5 years [2004-2009].
2. There will be 10 awards for the top wads in the past decade [1999-2009].
3. The same nominee for a 5-year award will not also be considered for a 10-year award. However, people can feel free to nominate a wad/mod for both awards - it will be a matter for the judges to decide into which bin the nominee should be placed.
4. Given that, as ZDooM has advanced, so too have the wads/mods that have taken advantage of these features. Therefore, it would likely be unfair to compare a 2010 wad/mod with a 2000 wad/mod. For this reason, those wads nominated in 2010 will not be placed in the running for the 5-year and 10-year awards. Hence the selection of the date range.

F. Are There Going to be Prizes for Winners?

1. Yeah, right!

G. Is there Going to be Feature?

1. I'm not sure if ZDooM forums will facilitate featured articles on the awards. If it does, then the articles will appear here.
2. If it's not possible on ZDooM, then it will likely happen on DRDTeam.org, provided that Eruanna is fine with it.
3. As a last resort, the articles will appear on DooM Nexus.

H. When Will the Shit Hit the Fan All This Happen?

1. I will begin the nomination process tonight.
2. Nominations for the 2010 awards will be accepted through January 10, 2011.
3. Nominations for the 5-year award will be accepted through January 31, 2011.
4. Nominations for the 10-year award will be accepted through February 28, 2011.
5. The 2010 awards will be made by January 31, 2011.
6. The 5-year awards will be made by February 28, 2011.
7. The 10-year awards will be made by March 31, 2011.

This thread is only for discussion of the Zpectre award process. IT IS NOT MEANT FOR SUBMITTAL OF NOMINATIONS. Please use the proper thread for submitting nominations.

[esselfortium]

Okay, I'll bite: why is this necessary? Half the Cacoward winners are for ZDoom most years anyway; it's not like there's a deficiency of recognition for ZDoom or its projects. This seems like it'd inevitably be a huge circlejerk.

[ClonedPickle]

Way to assume that people would instantly love your idea and start three different threads for it. This is ridiculously unnecessary.

[wildweasel]

Not to diss on your idea, ReX, but you probably should have asked first if it was alright (not just with us mods, but with the forum as a whole) before creating your other threads. Remember the whole reason Realm667 has its own forum now is because we forumers didn't like Tormentor keeping two threads and "enforcing" them by yelling at people. =P

[Kate]

Why is this necessary?

This seems like it'd inevitably be a huge circlejerk.

[InsanityBringer]

[00:39:07] <InsanityBringer> also, this is just hitting another pet peeve but the "ZDooM Excellence" part of the title sounds too elitist
[00:39:28] <@Kate> InsanityBringer, yeah that's what I was getting at at the last part of what I said

If you really want to go through with this, something like "The awards for creative, fun zdoom mods" would be a hell of a lot better.

[Gez]

You know what would foster interest in all things ZdOoM? A nice wiki. Or WikI. Go [wiki=Category:Cleanup]here[/wiki], pick a mod, and write it a nice little article with a few pretty screenshots. Turn something like [wiki=Dark_7]this[/wiki] into something like [wiki=Doom Resurrection]this[/wiki] or [wiki=Fortress of D'Sparil]this[/wiki].

Or write a brand-new page for some other ZDoom mod you like which isn't there already.

[Kinsie]

"Alright, SCREW the Cacowards! I'll just make my OWN awards thing! With hookers! And Blackjack! Actually, skip the Blackjack. And the awards. Ahh, forget the whole thing."

[Shadelight]

This is ridiculously unnecessary.

[Kinsie]

May I suggest the following categories?

• The Gez Award for the best Gez on the forums. Criteria includes being Gez and being damn good at it.
• The Fuck The Titanic Award for the WAD with the most icebergs and least boats.
• The Chocolate Condom Award for the best ZDoom-only, Skulltag-incompatible deathmatch level.
• The Gothic99 Award (Ha! You Thought I Was Gonna Make A Torm Joke) for most needlessly complex detail for players to get stuck on, both visually and physically.
• The Moon Award for the WAD with the least atmospheric effects (rain, ambient sounds)... this is a joke category that's always rewarded to 98% of all releases that year.
• Attack of the 50ft Award for the best WAD name. Because, really, that's what matters the most, right?

[esselfortium]

Ooh, ooh! I nominate Icytux for The Gez Award!

[phi108]

Having another big set of awards like the Cacowards might not be necessary, but maybe it would be good to have some "Advanced, Innovative, and Different" awards, maybe not limited to ZDoom, for things like Stronghold, Action Doom 2, and Vaporware. Though that also may still be redundant.

[zap610]

The Moon Award

---

[youtube]IK2cfdsgzoQ&autoplay=1[/youtube]

[wildweasel]

Why does Youtube autoplay work on these forums?!

[esselfortium]

Why does Youtube autoplay work on these forums?!