Gamertell

Don’t miss the other half of this 2Bits debate.

The idea of a video game industry awards show, one much like the Oscars, is a pretty intriguing idea. Much like the Oscars, though, it would most likely fall apart due to industry politics.

One of the great things about entertainment is that some people do it simply because they love to do it. If not, they at least love to please an audience. However, with the multitudes of industry-specific awards, most of the love and life that went into industries including music, film and literature has disappeared. There are usually at least four or five industry-specific awards and then there’s multiple genre-specific awards. The multitude of awards has giving writers, actors, directors, designers and musicians an entirely new reason to do the work. Rather than working for the art or the audience, some started working for the awards, becoming more a matter of recognition and money. Sure, there were those who kept the love of the work but a lot of the heart just isn’t there anymore. We certainly don’t want the game industry to become more concerned with awards and recognition than actual gamer satisfaction.

Another problem with industry specific awards is that many of the things that would be worthy of even being nominated usually aren’t. An example is Lions for Lambs. It was worthy of at least being nominated for Best Supporting Actor and maybe Best Screenplay in the Oscars and it wasn’t nominated, losing out to some lower quality works. Grace is Gone is another example and it was worthy of many other awards at the Oscars and it was barely even mentioned in passing.

Also some things that are worthy of nomination but not worthy of an award end up winning. An example, and I apologize to the Ledger family and fans out there, is Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight since he won Best Supporting Actor based entirely on a political decision. That was nowhere near his best work and that’s the role he wins for best supporting actor. What about Brokeback Mountain, where Ledger’s acting was award worthy. Sure he lost out to Forrest Whitaker for his masterful job in Last King of Scotland but Ledger did deserve the award.

The same problem could easily go to the game industry. Say, for example, the following games are nominated for a theoretical Best Survival Horror Game category including: an indie game, two previously unheard of games by lesser known studios, a new Resident Evil game and a new Silent Hill game. The indie and one of the unheard of games are particularly good and should be the two serious contenders for the award. Then part of the development team that worked on Silent Hill dies. One of the things that the voters - typically industry professionals - look out for is whether or not the game is well established (ie a franchise). Then, if there’s a death related to one of the games, it is more likely to get more votes due to sympathy. The real winner should be either the indie or unheard of game but is most likely going to be the Silent Hill game, regardless of how good or bad it really is.

So therein lies the problems with game industry awards. A focus on an annual awards ceremony might cause an already over-saturated industry to lose heart and become unnecessarily politicized.

While there is no indication that this will actually happen, the possibility still remains. What lies at risk is whether or not the game industry holds true to itself. If it doesn’t, there will be fewer designers and programmers that will get involved in the industry for the right reasons. While we might get things that are technically good, there will be something missing that will make some games memorable.

Read [NEIU Independent]