7th Annual Defender Awards

[Drop Your Pants]

Actually, ES was more of a politician using defending as a front to further his agenda...

Which should appeal to the FRA, and yet...

Coming from you, thats a compliment

[Frattastan II]

The proposal to name it after F4A didn't have enough support to justify the change.
Most people preferred not to name the Award after anyone, as any name would've caused some sort of controversy, especially given the fact it's one of the two most prestigious Awards.

Perhaps we could rename Operation of the Year after F4A, instead?

[Lyanna Stark]

The proposal to name it after F4A didn't have enough support to justify the change.
Most people preferred not to name the Award after anyone, as any name would've caused some sort of controversy, especially given the fact it's one of the two most prestigious Awards.

Perhaps we could rename Operation of the Year after F4A, instead?

That sounds lovely to me.

[Klaus Devestatorie]

The proposal to name it after F4A didn't have enough support to justify the change.
Most people preferred not to name the Award after anyone, as any name would've caused some sort of controversy, especially given the fact it's one of the two most prestigious Awards.

Perhaps we could rename Operation of the Year after F4A, instead?

Depends. Who do we get to rename the meltdown award after?

[Mallorea and Riva]

The proposal to name it after F4A didn't have enough support to justify the change.
Most people preferred not to name the Award after anyone, as any name would've caused some sort of controversy, especially given the fact it's one of the two most prestigious Awards.

Perhaps we could rename Operation of the Year after F4A, instead?

Depends. Who do we get to rename the meltdown award after?

This is going to end so well.

[Ambroscus Koth]

The proposal to name it after F4A didn't have enough support to justify the change.
Most people preferred not to name the Award after anyone, as any name would've caused some sort of controversy, especially given the fact it's one of the two most prestigious Awards.

Perhaps we could rename Operation of the Year after F4A, instead?

Depends. Who do we get to rename the meltdown award after?

Falconias?

[Klaus Devestatorie]

Ideally, it should be after someone who is NOT proud. That sadly rules Falc out. :3

[Frattastan II]

The Meltdown of the Year Award won't be named after specific people for obvious reasons.

[Klaus Devestatorie]

The Meltdown of the Year Award won't be named after specific people for obvious reasons.

Actually, you could just rename it each year after last years winner...

[Wopruthien]

Not long left until voting closes. 7th February will be the final day of voting.

[Wopruthien]

The voting period has officially closed.

[Wopruthien]

And the Awards are counted and posted:
http://s7.zetaboards.com/FRA/topic/8783128/1/#new

Congratulations to all the winners.

[Sichuan Pepper]

I love the graphics work done this year!
Congrats to the winners

[Paffnia]

Congratulations to all the winners!

[Sedgistan]

Impressive turnout - congrats to the winners, and on the well-run awards.

[Soviet Canuckistan]

Congrats to the winners!

[General Halcones]

I am not sure I agree with the outcome, but that's me.

How many actually voted?

[Wopruthien]

Thank you Sedge.

I am not sure I agree with the outcome, but that's me.

How many actually voted?

Halcones, I agree the results were a pretty big surprise, but if you win an award it is deserved as you do need votes not just from your own organisation but across the defender sphere. It really was one or two votes separating multiple people.

We had 71 ballots in total with 60+ votes in each of the categories depending on people's preference.

[General Halcones]

Well 60 votes is a tiny fraction of the total number of players in NationStates.

[Vladisvok Destino]

Well 60 votes is a tiny fraction of the total number of players in NationStates.

Yet as mentioned it's one of the highest turnouts the awards have seen and it represents the players that were interested enough in the awards to vote. Edit: Maybe when the new Mass-TGs are in Wop/Fratt can spam about it to get more people voting

Not sure I agree with all the results, but congrats none the less to the winners. Be interesting to see how next years runs.

[General Halcones]

It may be one of the highest turnouts, yet the truth is, the outcome only represents a relatively small group of players. Hopefully in future, they will be able to get more players voting through the Mass TG feature, then we'll have awards that actually mean something.

[Klaus Devestatorie]

It may be one of the highest turnouts, yet the truth is, the outcome only represents a relatively small group of players. Hopefully in future, they will be able to get more players voting through the Mass TG feature, then we'll have awards that actually mean something.

At the same time, the group of players that actually knows enough to be able to make an informed vote on every award really isn't that much bigger, either.

[Vladisvok Destino]

At the same time, the group of players that actually knows enough to be able to make an informed vote on every award really isn't that much bigger, either.

^ Essentially this, just because more people vote doesn't mean they know enough about the awards/candidates to do anything other than pick a name out a hat (personally I abstained on a couple of awards for that reason.) I'd rather the awards were given based on the opinions of those who actually know enough to judge.

[Wopruthien]

It is a small fraction when you consider there is 19,493* players, however 71 people turning out and participating in any one single event is a high number. Likewise we cannot force people to participate, all we can do is make people aware of the Awards. We were quite concious of not overly pushing the awards to the point where we are an annoyance, as happened with a couple of individuals (Sorry Codger and Abbey ). If people and or organisations don't want to participate there isn't much we can do other than make them aware that the awards are going on.

And as Klaus states, these awards are based on a year of activity, so how many are actually around to make an informed decision?

Maybe when the new Mass-TGs are in Wop/Fratt can spam about it to get more people voting

heh. Well that depends on who the Arch Chancellor is next year, as it is the Arch Chancellors job to organise the Awards. But I'm sure it is something we might look into. However, we were aware that it could constitute a form of recruiting, with many defender organisations having a very strict policy on poaching, so I think we did as much as we could without crossing any lines.

I look forward to suggestions on what we can do differently once the thread is posted.

The actual results are a surprise and certainly something I was not expecting. However, 71 people voted so they are what they are, the only way you can influence the results is by voting, if people don't want to vote then they aren't going to influence the outcome. I'll reiterate that the votes were extremely close with only one or two votes separating up to 3 people in a number of categories. A few people said they would vote and didn't and I've no doubt that had they showed up the entire outcome would of completely changed.

This however shouldn't take anything away from the Awards and those that came out as victors. Anyone of the nominees could of won, and all deserved an award in their own right. I'm very proud of these awards and any nominee should feel justifiably pleased that they were nominated for an award.

*Figure based on WA nations, although not accurate as doesn't take into account those who don't have a WA nation it's a good indication of how many individuals play this game.

[Communist Eraser]

I'll say there are around 60 "regulars" on these gameplay forums.