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[raiten]

So, seriously... can anybody tell me why so many people here at TIGSource got so upset about You Have To Burn The Rope getting nominated for a Nuovo award last year, but there was no TIGrage AT ALL this year when Enviro-Bear 2000 got nominated?

[Mipe]

But but but...

[Guert]

Well, first of all, the Nuovo award is new this year. Last year it was named Innovation award. Renaming the category and giving it a clear and less debatable definition (an award that promotes the abstract, short-formed games that makes you think about new ways to use the medium of gaming) made sure people wouldn't go mad angry at the nominees. The innovation awards included all games submitted to the IGF. The Nuovo awards, however, only include a few selected games, picked during the judging process, and are judged independently by a group of selected judges from the rest of the games. So instead of having massive debates over "this-is-not-innovative-it's-a-gimmick-why-is-his-even-selected-in-the-IGF", you end up with a category where all the selected games all have the same vibe.

In my opinion, it's much better this way. Less fussing, more recognition for abstract games. Plus Cactus got some recognition which will allow him to continue his game developer career. And fo course, it allows guys like me to get a bit of spotlight. One thing I'd like to see is a list of honorable mention for the other categories, like they did with the Nuovo awards. It's always sweet to which game almost made the cut so you can give them attention too.

[moi]

I think it was indiegamer people who were angry at YHTBTR rather than TIG people.
Also; it was in relation to the amount of work, YHTBTR was more like a joke game very quickly made, envirobear is more a real game than YHTBTR.
Also: envirobear was made here on TIG so you will likely not see any rage against it, and it's a very enjoyable game (although not with a lot of replayability)
Also: all these events are cicrcle jerk and why do you even bother getting outraged about that. It's been the same people auto congratulating themselves for the past 5 years, and you might as well do as I do and don't bother reading about this.

[Radix]

I don't know what else missed out on nomination, but Enviro-Bear is a pretty interesting game in its own right. I was a bit surprised when I saw it up there only because I thought it might've been a bit too old for this years IGF, not that I know how that works or remember how long it's been around.

[Valter]

Well, among other things, Enviro Bear is a game, while YHTBTR is a song.

[Zaphos]

It's been the same people auto congratulating themselves for the past 5 years, and you might as well do as I do and don't bother reading about this.

I don't think there is *that* much overlap in the finalists/winners from year to year.

I don't know what else missed out on nomination, but Enviro-Bear is a pretty interesting game in its own right. I was a bit surprised when I saw it up there only because I thought it might've been a bit too old for this years IGF, not that I know how that works or remember how long it's been around.

It was originally developed for the tigs cockpit compo, so it was early 2009.  I think IGF will judge older games though.

[pgil]

YHTBTR is a joke game that lasts a minute and makes fun of a video game cliche with as much subtlety as a kick in the balls.

Enviro-bear is a very silly game on the surface, but at least has a unique method of controls. Also, the humor mostly comes from the gameplay itself. Things just happen, and it's funny. That's why you can play it more than once.

[mewse]

YHTBTR is a joke game that lasts a minute and makes fun of a video game cliche with as much subtlety as a kick in the balls.

I think I would have enjoyed YHTBTR more if it had been a new joke.  I mean,  Quest for the Crown was built around exactly the same joke about six years earlier, and tells the joke better than YHTBTR did. 

To be fair, it's not a particularly difficult joke to invent;  I'm sure it's been independently invented dozens of times over the past decade.  I'm certainly not accusing YHTBTR of plagiarism or anything of the sort.  Just pointing it out.

[Zaphos]

To me Quest for the Crown and YHTBTR feel like different jokes, though they're obviously similar.

[mewse]

To me Quest for the Crown and YHTBTR feel like different jokes, though they're obviously similar.

Interesting.  For me, they're both about the modern dumbing-down of video games;  games where virtually all of the development budget and effort has gone into giving spectacular rewards to the player for playing a boring game, instead of putting the budget into making an interesting game.

[raiten]

Well, first of all, the Nuovo award is new this year. Last year it was named Innovation award. Renaming the category and giving it a clear and less debatable definition (an award that promotes the abstract, short-formed games that makes you think about new ways to use the medium of gaming) made sure people wouldn't go mad angry at the nominees.

It's not really new, it was called Nuovo last year as well (officially it was the "Innovation (Nuovo) Award"), but yeah, they did take "innovation" out of the name and they did clarify what they wanted to do with it. I got a sense this was mostly in response to people throwing feces at the IGF over YHTBTR, though.

I think it was indiegamer people who were angry at YHTBTR rather than TIG people.

I could easily find at least a hundred quotes bashing the game on the TIGforums, in the article on the nominations announcement itself, and let's not even talk about the anonymous frontpage comments.

Here is just one example (I'm not referring to the fact that cryptic sea made a parody game, I'm referring to the actual comments being made by other people than cryptic sea - somebody is even at one point calling Kian a "major douchebag" for submitting the game to the IGF)

Also: all these events are cicrcle jerk and why do you even bother getting outraged about that. It's been the same people auto congratulating themselves for the past 5 years, and you might as well do as I do and don't bother reading about this.

I'm not outraged, but I think there's a lot of hypocrisy among those who got so upset about the YHTBTR nomination but are perfectly content with Enviro-Bear 2000's nomination, and I was hoping people would recognize that and maybe reflect on why. I think explanations like "Enviro Bear was a better joke than YHTBTR" are poor excuses while I think the "circle-jerk" explanation is closer to being one of the actual reasons (in the sense that many forum members are complementing themselves and the community when games that have a strong connection to these forums are nominated).

[moi]

Why do you think envirobear was a joke? it wasn't, it was actually a fairly innovative, albeit of reduced scope, game.

[Radnom]

For one thing, Enviro-Bear was funny.

For another thing, it had a couple of innovative design choices, and it actually had gameplay.

[Gainsworthy]

For one thing, Enviro-Bear was funny.

For another thing, it had a couple of innovative design choices, and it actually had gameplay.

Gotta back this one up. Enviro-Bear isn't a joke-game. It's a game which happens to be thematically absurd. This adds to the appeal, but that's not all there is. To draw a parallel, Angry Birds (another iPhone game) is funny - there a ridiculous sounds, and you fire birds out of slingshots at pigs. Well, uh, I think it's funny. But it's hardly a joke.

Not to come across as being flippant, but have you given Enviro Bear a decent playthrough, or just a once-over?

[raiten]

I'm not saying that either YHTBTR or Enviro-Bear are just jokes/joke games, I was referring to comments like the one pgil made.

[TOM SENNETT]

YHTBTR is awesome. Enviro-Bear is also awesome.

Any award that claims to honor "innovation" is stupid.

Actually, any award is stupid.

[nihilocrat]

But.... Enviro-Bear 2000 is awesome.

[battlerager]

But.... Enviro-Bear 2000 is awesome.

It is.