Today, the Game Developers Conference in Austin, Texas, now known as GDC Online, announced the 1st Annual Game Developers Choice Online Awards, recognizing excellence and innovation in the area of online gaming.
The new ceremony will honor developers and publishers of online titles ranging from full-fledged MMOs to the still-growing online social gaming category. The full list of categories honored for the year ending in May 2010 include:
The Best Online Game Design Award
Recognizes the best designed game with a full launch or public beta.
The Audience Award
The most popular online game as chosen by the public.
The Best Online Visual Arts Award .
The best visual art design: 2D, 3D, animation, interface, and others.
The Best Community Relations Award
The team with the best community relations and feedback, including customer support.
The Best Online Technical Award
The best technical work: network infrastructure, graphics tech, AI, and other elements.
The Best Social Network Game Award
The best game launched on a social network such as Facebook or MySpace
The Best Audio for an Online Game Award
The best overall audio design, including sound effects and musical composition
The Best New Online Game Award
The best new title for any online-specific game, including MMOs, free-to-play titles, and social network games.
The Best Live Game Award
The best online game in current operation providing new content for players and a robust online community.
There are also two special awards this year:
The Online Game Legend Award
Recognizes the career of a singular individual who’s made a great impact on the online game industry.
The GDC Online Awards Hall of Fame
For a specific online title that has advanced the medium forward and pioneered new shifts in online game development.
All initial information and the submission page for nominations, open to professionals with a Gamasutra account, will be available at the official website. The categories and special award winners are determined by the GDC Online Advisory Board, which includes industry luminaries like BioWare Austin’s Gordon Walton, Metaplace’s Raph Koster, Playfish’s Sebastien De Halleux, and Nexon’s Min Kim. Winners of the awards are chosen by a small subset of the International Choice Awards Network, a group of over 500 leading industry members that also choose the Game Developers Choice Awards.
“With the explosive growth of online games, we’re delighted to recognize and honor all the great work that’s being done in the space,” says UBM TechWeb Game Network Global Brand Director Simon Carless. “And there’s no better place than GDC Online in Austin, Texas to award all the amazing, innovative work in online game development – from Facebook games through the top MMOs - that’s pushing the whole game industry forward.”
