Rules & Regulations

Below are the rules and regulations for the Game Developers Choice Online Awards. For questions or more information, please contact us.

Special Award Nominee Eligibility

Nominees for the Special Awards (Online Game Legend, Choice Online Awards Hall of Fame) are not eligible if they have previously won a Special Award in the GDC Online Awards.

Regular Award Nominee Eligibility

Unless otherwise noted, eligible titles are persistent online video games which were initially released in Beta or full version June 1, 2010 – May 31, 2011 in North America

Award Nominator Eligibility

All professional game developers who are part of Gamasutra.com's members are eligible to provide nominations, both for the Special and Regular Awards. Choice Online Awards organizers will vet the profiles of those nominating to ensure that the nominating parties are indeed game development professionals. If you are not a member of Gamasutra.com, please sign up via Gamasutra.com to participate.

International Choice Award Network – Online division

Winners in all regular awards will be selected by the Choice Online Awards-specific International Choice Awards Network (ICAN Online), which is an invitation-only group comprised of 400 leading game creators from all parts of the online game industry. ICAN Online members are not permitted to vote for their own products.

Nomination Costs

The Game Developers Choice Online Awards are about peer recognition and rewarding excellence and innovation in online games. There are no fees or costs associated with making nominations.

Special/Regular Award Nomination Process

During the nomination period, any person meeting the above eligibility can come to the Choice Online Awards website to submit their nominations. Note that it is not necessary to make a nomination for each category. Nominations for the same game or person in different categories are allowed. You cannot nominate the same game in the same category more than once - any duplicate submissions will be ignored.

Regular Award Finalist Selection Process

Once the nomination process closes, the Advisory Committee and Gamasutra.com editors will help select the five finalists in each category. Though the committee has some minor discretion to add its own nominations, the list of games nominated during the open process will largely inform and inspire their selections. The winners of the Regular Awards are then voted by the final voting body, the ICAN Online body.

Special Award Finalist Selection Process

The winners for the Online Legends and Hall of Fame awards are also determined by the Advisory Committee, who vote independently on the winners of each category using approval voting.

Award Recipients/Attributions

The game with the most votes in a category receives the given award. Award categories are attributed in the following manner:

Best Online Game Design: creative director, lead designer
Best Online Visual Arts: art director, lead artist
Best Community Relations: Community Manager, Customer Service Reps
Best Online Technology: tech director, lead programmer
Best Social Network Game: studio head, studio founder, lead designer
Best Audio for an Online Game: audio director, audio designer
Best New Online Game: lead designer, executive producer, studio head
Best Live Game: Community Manager, QA team
Online Innovation Award: creative leads

Further, each nominated game will be listed with the development studio and publisher company names. For example: Best Game ActionFest2 (DeveloperX/PublisherY) - John Smith, Mary Jane, Joe Johns

Nominated games must provide the names of the developers assuming the above roles. If developer names are not provided, the game will be disqualified and replaced by another finalist.

The recipients for the Online Game Legend Award and the GDC Online Awards Hall of Fame are determined by the Choice Awards Online Advisory Committee. These special awards are presented to the individuals or representatives of the games being recognized.

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