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Notice The Future of TWR Awards

What caused you to not vote / make limited votes?

  • I didn't know the Awards were a thing

    Votes: 4 14.8%
  • I didn't have the time (Summer vacation, busy work period, etc.)

    Votes: 7 25.9%
  • I didn't feel like I had the right to properly vote (e.g. you only played a single game)

    Votes: 9 33.3%
  • I wanted to vote but just forgot

    Votes: 4 14.8%
  • It was too much effort to look at older games

    Votes: 8 29.6%
  • I haven't been as active last season (compared to others) and haven't kept up to date with the games

    Votes: 14 51.9%
  • It was hard to choose people and couldn't make up mu mind

    Votes: 6 22.2%
  • Other

    Votes: 5 18.5%

  • Total voters
    27
  • Poll closed .
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With TWR Awards of this season having rounded up, I would like to reflect on this event with you guys. Compared to previous years, this one was pretty lackluster. Honestly, kind of disappointing if I may say so.

However, instead of sobbing over it I want to find a way to improve this and to make sure next year is more successful than this year, and even the years before that.
So what went wrong here, well the big issue was a lack of votes, both in people voting and the average amount of votes placed.

Now, don't get me wrong, I do NOT blame anyone for this. I am as much responsible for this as anyone else.

So let's fix this. First, I've created a poll with all the possible options I think are the cause for someone to not vote.
We would really appreciate it if you could select any and all options that apply to you and, if you'd like, clarify your choice(s) in a comment below.

Next to that I have a few open question. Feel free to answer any and all of them as you wish.
- How would you change TWR Awards for next season?
- Were there enough public announcements for the awards? (In the Situation Room and our Discord server) Would you want more and in other places?
- Do you think public voting is a good thing or should it be private?


So to round this up, let me start the discussion by saying that my main problems were the timing where I was on a summer break and didn't have a lot of time + just forgetting about it.
I think a great improvement would be to make the next Awards "easier". I'm not exactly sure how yet, but improve it in some way that makes voting an easier and less consuming experience, while still being a fun highlight of TWR.
As for public voting, I think it does support a sense of discussion and a push for others to also vote.
 
Yea I knew they were a thing I just didnt know they were going on right now. If I knew I wouldve voted :(
 
Even though I voted, it still took me about 30 mins to an hour to decide where all my votes went. My memory is never the best so it's hard remembering how things went during a game for awards like strategic player or best substitute.
An everyone ping on the Discord server might've gotten more people to notice, as they may not frequent it much otherwise, such as CyanideCrystal.
I don't mind public or private voting, I think either works as long as it's clear who has already voted privately.
 
- How would you change TWR Awards for next season?
I have an idea for this one. I heard that XenForo has a capability to make all posts invisible in a thread until they get "moderator approval", and I think that blind voting could be a possibility, by making the votes invisible to all members until everyone has voted.
 
Sorry for double posting, but I forgot to add something. The reason why I would like blind voting is because:
  1. The thread would feel less cluttered.
  2. Voting would feel more "fair" because votes could not be influenced by others' votes.
 
I admit I didn't see the thread until the very end :notworthy:

There were many games I didn't follow, so I wouldn't have felt confident enough to vote in many of the categories.

I think private votes might be worth doing, in the future, I guess.
 
Not going to weigh in on the public/private voting, since I really don't care either way.

What I will weigh on is a couple of things that are apparent either from the poll or my own observations.

1. People who don't know about Awards season or when Awards season occurs.
This one seems like a fairly easy fix, TBH. We've already discussed having a section specific notice banner in TWR when it is Awards season, and that's both simple and easy to do. However, what might not be a terrible idea is to mention both Awards and when the Awards season takes place in one or both of the Introductory threads.
Also, since there are people who may be less active in TWR and/or who may be away from Bulba for an extended period of time, it may be worth reaching out to regulars from other communities during TWR Awards season, so that visitors from other sites who've participated in games can come in and vote.

2. People who don't feel "qualified" to vote, who feel like they have to vote in all categories, and/or who feel like they have to review all of the games from the season before they can vote.
This is a tougher obstacle to overcome, but there are a few things that can be done.
First and foremost, there is a reason that the "qualification" for voting in TWR Awards is playing or hosting a single game during the season. That is all that is expected of anybody before they can vote. The Awards and your votes are based on your personal experience, no one else's. Actually, a good reason to not review other games is because, when it comes to voting, experiencing a "good play" firsthand is much better than reading it afterward.
Things to remember:
1. You do not have to vote in every single category It is perfectly acceptable, and encouraged, to vote in the categories you feel strongest about.
2. You only need to participate (play in or host) a single game in order to participate.
3. Because this is extremely subjective and based on your personal experiences, you do not need to read or review any of the games you didn't participate in in order to vote. Heck, you don't even have to review the games you did participate in. Just vote based on what you've seen or read in games.

At the end of the day, making sure this is crystal clear to anyone who is looking at the Awards thread is critical moving forward. I don't like seeing people not participating because they don't feel "qualified." Everyone is "qualified" and, more than that, everyone is welcome to express their opinions.

3. The Awards are for both the people voting, as well as those being voted for.
The games we play here are fun. It takes a lot of effort to host games and to play in games. The Awards are ways for us to express our appreciation for each other and the fun and joy we've brought to each other in the past year. It helps us bond as a community and reflect on all the highlights and positivity from the past season. It's not about a competition between players or hosts, just acknowledging those people who go a step further to provide entertainment to us all. Keeping this in mind, hopefully, will encourage people to vote more in the future. When you vote for someone, you aren't voting against anyone else, you are merely saying "thank you" to the person you are voting for.


That said, I realize that, since a) I'm retired and b) I didn't vote this season, myself, this may come across as slightly hypocritical, however, to those points I will say this:
a) while I may be retired from TWR and I'm no longer a forum staff member, this is my home. This is where I grew up, both as a user and a staff member. This is where I have many, many fond memories, despite the relatively low number of games that I've played or hosted.
b) I didn't vote because my brain is figuratively a baked potato right now. I was extremely inactive this season, and, when I was hosting, I was barely aware of anything that was actually going on gamewise, since I had other concerns on my mind at the time, mostly work/COVID related stress. However, my inactivity this season is not the reason I didn't vote. As I said earlier, even if I had played or hosted one game, I would still vote if anything noteworthy happened in that game. I didn't vote this season because I wasn't mentally present enough to be aware of anything that was happening in the games I was participating in (which, incidentally, is also why I didn't play any games this season).
 
If I may add my own two cents to the mix... I think the voting period is too short. The thread went up 31st of July... the results were announced 16th of August. That is a little over two weeks. I was going to suggest extending it, but it had already been posted by that point.

My suggestions is two fold:

1) Extend the voting period to 1 month (30 days).
2) Allow nominations through out the season.

For example. If I have a really good game where something that I think is nomination worthy, I can submit my nomination to the TWR staff (Yeah, I know I'm staff... just roll with it for now :p). This can be added to that category for my votes, which can be kept until the voting season. If I submit another one to that category, it overrides the last one. This would allow people to submit nominations while the game is very fresh in their mind.
 
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Sorry for double posting, but I forgot to add something. The reason why I would like blind voting is because:
  1. The thread would feel less cluttered.
  2. Voting would feel more "fair" because votes could not be influenced by others' votes.
1. Without public voting there would be no posts at all. Not that such a thing is an issue, but is filling the thread with votes really an issue?
2. This is an argument that imo can be used for both sides. It can definitely make it less biased, but it can also help refresh memories of other voters, making their votes easier to decide.
 
I felt like I wasn't qualified, due to only playing Mafia once or twice during my whole time here. And tbf, I don't think I'll play anymore, since Mafia is somehwat stressful for me and I'm afraid of messing up, and I'm intimidated since the majority of people who frequent the War Room have been playing for quite a while.
 
2) Allow nominations through out the season.

For example. If I have a really good game where something that I think is nomination worthy, I can submit my nomination to the TWR staff (Yeah, I know I'm staff... just roll with it for now :p). This can be added to that category for my votes, which can be kept until the voting season. If I submit another one to that category, it overrides the last one. This would allow people to submit nominations while the game is very fresh in their mind.
I love this idea, I even remember this season thinking "Oh that was really cool, I should vote them for TWR Awards" but then I have no idea what game or player that was about. But I suppose we as players could just keep notes on our end until voting time.
 
I felt like I wasn't qualified, due to only playing Mafia once or twice during my whole time here. And tbf, I don't think I'll play anymore, since Mafia is somewhat stressful for me and I'm afraid of messing up, and I'm intimidated since the majority of people who frequent the War Room have been playing for quite a while.
As ME already perfectly stated, everyone who at least played or hosted once is "qualified" to vote, no exception. He explained that super clearly and I want everyone to be aware of that for the future.

As for you captain chib, mafia isn't for everyone and it can be stressful sometimes, especially if you get really into it, I understand that. However, I would like to point out that messing up it totally fine, it's just a game after all.
A lot of players here have quite some experience here, that's true, but even now we have new players who have only played a few games and are still getting used to it as well. All the veterans here are very beginner friendly and are always willing to help out new players, never to look down on new players. That is not the nature of TWR.

In short, I suggest you give it another shot, not being afraid to make mistakes, but to learn from them and grow as a player. Maybe even keep an eye out for any future Mentor games, where new players can learn alongside an experienced player. In the end, I won't force you to join of course, that is all up to you, but know that we are always willing to help :bulbaLove:
 
I didn't vote because I've not been very active this season playing only 5 games and missing the middle of the season in almost it's entirety so I didn't feel I could vote fairly based on this.

I don't think the problem lies particularly with the awards format in itself though and think the reason for the low amount of votes more ties into the general inactivity in the section at the moment. It seems like ages since the last mafia game was being played and the games currently in sign-ups appear to be struggling to fill and a lot of games are not filling. Inactivity then leads to demotivation and apathy which is probably what the awards were suffering from.

I think Snowy's idea of allowing private nominations at any point during the season is a good one though, as people can nominate performances whilst they are still fresh in their minds. Maybe having a poll for the nominees collected for each category when it comes to awards time could be a new way of marking the event?
 
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I didn’t know it was going on. I don’t really go into the main section unless signing up for games since I’m usually subscribed to those I’m in, so I didn’t even see that the awards had started. So I agree that a banner at the top would be a good idea since then we’ll see it when checking games we’re in.

Another idea would be a mention list. Those that want to be mentioned when it’s awards time have their name put on the list.

I also agree with Snowys idea of extending the voting period. Two weeks is short and there are a lot of categories now. Plus if someone wants to reread through games, two weeks isn’t that much time.

Lastly I also like Snowys idea of putting a vote in before the awards. Games blend together for me but being able to commend someone in a game I just played without having to try to remember it would be awesome. While I know we can just take notes, having a thread for it or soemthong like that seems better since then there is no risk of losing it, and it’s an easy to do at that moment thing regardless of where you are.
 
I like where you are going with this but that creates a new problem of people not knowing about the list.
If we take my idea of allowing nominations all year, I don't know what form it'd take... but one idea is a pinned thread all year... If this happens, we could use that same thread to let people know about the list... It's not perfect, but it's the best I can think of.
 
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