XYZZYs 2023 poll

Competitions
21

Yeah – it seems to me the options are either 1) keep encouraging Sam to turn over the XYZZYs to a committee and/or the IFTF (I know he’s resisted the latter option, though personally I think it’s the best option) or 2) do a wildcat version of the XYZZYs, with the exact same categories and rules, and hope that that leads to an adverse-possessionish transfer of ownership rather than a fifty-years-of-multiple-popes kind of situation. Since the IFDB Awards already exist, and were intentionally designed to fill a distinct niche relative to the XYZZYs, I think another set of awards would just dilute things and increase confusion.

(Personally I am in camp 1 rather than camp 2; I agree that this is a bad situation and I’m disappointed that things seem to be moving slowly, if they’re moving at all, but at the same time I think Sam’s efforts over the years merit a high level of deference, and the fact that the XYZZYs are among the longest-standing awards in all of video games makes me think it’s extra important not to devalue them).

13 Likes
22

I think the idea was that the awards would be a temporary substitute that would sort of keep the XYZZY Awards alive until the official XYZZY Awards come back. The Unofficial XYZZY Awards. Unlike the IFDB Awards, it would actually have all the same award categories as the XYZZY Awards. (I’m not saying this is the best way forward, but that’s what I was responding to.)

Also, it would be possible (though not ideal) for the XYZZY Awards to take place even a year or two after the year the games were released, so I don’t think there’s a hurry to give up on the idea of an official transfer just yet.

5 Likes
23

If Eileen Mullin was still in control and being unresponsive I would absolutely advocate deference. However, as I see it, Sam isn’t the creator or owner of the XYZZY awards but merely the current absentee custodian. I’d have no problem with the IFTF just declaring themselves the new custodians.

8 Likes
24

I believe Sam mentioned wanting a team rather than just one person to run the XYZZY Awards. I wonder if anyone else (besides Max) has volunteered to help.

25

I think he also wants a specific kind of team; me and Dan Fabulich worked out a plan to work on the XYZZY awards and at least one other tech person was willing to be involved, but Sam was looking for someone not already heavily involved in the IF community. After that I started the ifdb awards (and Dan programmed the ifdb tech developments that let that happen).

6 Likes
26

Yeah, this seems like the real sticking point to me, since “willing to spend significant volunteer time running an IF award” and “not heavily involved in the IF community” do not seem to me to be circles with a lot of overlap. My sense was that he’d maybe loosed on this a bit in his latest post, though maybe that’s just wishful thinking – otherwise I have a hard time seeing who such a person/people could me, much less how to find them.

15 Likes
27

Why? Like Mike says, it’s hard to imagine that person.

6 Likes
28

I hope it’s not rude of me to copy and paste his emailed remarks here.

My primary concern for passing on the XYZZYs - which I’ve been wanting to do for a while - has always been that when the handoff happens, it should be an opportunity to expand the pool of people doing organisation and leadership in the IF community, in particular beyond people who are already closely involved with IFTF. I’m going to have to decline.

9 Likes
29

Beyond IFTF is very different from someone who isn’t already involved in the IF community, which I think was perhaps some of the confusion further up thread?

7 Likes
30

Ah, it all makes sense now. And this is a good point Sam makes.

1 Like
31

Except that this has been floundering for years now. If he wants to deepen the pool, then do the work to find someone.

5 Likes
32

I focused on this part at the time:

it should be an opportunity to expand the pool of people doing organisation and leadership in the IF community

because I was not, at the time, involved with IFTF directly, and still am not. I also did not run the IFdB awards or spring thing at the time.

10 Likes
33

I wonder if Sam would be ok with someone (even someone who was involved with IFTF) running it on a temporary basis, until Sam finds his ideal team to hand it over to. Then at least it could still function (for as long as necessary) until he finds a more permanent organizer.

6 Likes
34

I voted ‘wait for Sam’s approval’ above, so I’m not advocating for drastic action, but I should point out the time frame here.

I’m a middle-aged man, and by the end of this year I will have spent 1/4 of my entire life with XYZZY being late. They started being late when Obama was president. When they started being late, Star Wars Episode VII, Inside Out and The Martian were in movie theaters. Adele had released ‘Hello’. Marvel was wrapping up Phase 2, and people were waiting for Captain America: Civil War. Fortnite wouldn’t release for 2 more years. The internet was full of memes about the sharks at Katy Perry’s superbowl performance, pizza rat and the blue/gold dress debacle.

(In 2015, it started in May and the organizer apologized for it being behind. It’s been later each year since then).

25 Likes
35

I think a lot of people–including me–would be happy to help Sam with his search, if we understood his criteria a little better.

9 Likes
36

Let’s just drop this idea from the discussion, for two reasons:

  • Given Sam’s comments, it would be absolutely inappropriate to throw the organization’s weight around to take it over.
  • Even if we did, the first question would be “who is actually going to do the work?” Which folks are already discussing! Without “IFTF” being in the loop!
14 Likes