3rd Annual
Game Developers Choice
Online Awards
2012 Winner & Nominees
In addition to the Online Game Legend Award and the GDC Online Awards Hall of Fame, Choice Online Awards are given in the following categories. These particular categories will be both nominated and voted on by the development community.
Best Online Game Design
The Best Online Game Design Award honors the overall excellence of design in an online game that launched in public beta or full version in the year to May 2010. This category recognizes the best social-specific gameplay mechanics, quest design, and other major game design elements.
WINNER: Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin)
- Glitch (Tiny Speck)
- Realm of the Mad God (Wild Shadow Studios/Kabam)
- DragonVale (Backflip Studios)
- Woodland Heroes (Row Sham Bow)
Best Online Visual Arts
The Best Online Visual Arts Award recognizes the overall excellence of visual art in online games including, but not limited to, character and animation design, interface design, and 2D or 3D art creation and direction of all kinds.
WINNER: Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin)
- Tera (Bluehole Studio/En Masse)
- Empires & Allies (Zynga LA)
- Age of Empires Online (Robot Entertainment & Gas Powered Games)
- Glitch (Tiny Speck)
Best Community Relations
The Best Community Relations Award honors the currently operating online game that provides the highest quality community feedback and experience, including customer support, forum moderation and leadership, weblog and information updates, real-life events, and other community outreach.
WINNER: League of Legends (Riot Games)
- World of WarCraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Solitaire Blitz (PopCap/EA)
- World of Tanks (Wargaming.net Belarus)
- Diamond Dash (Wooga)
Best Online Technology
The Best Online Technology Award recognizes the overall excellence of technology in an online game. This includes excellence in complexity of network infrastructure, persistent world coding, graphics technology, artificial intelligence, or any other elements.
WINNER: Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin)
- Diablo III (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Indiana Jones Adventure World (Zynga Boston)
- Tera (Bluehole Studio/En Masse)
- The Sims Social (Playfish)
Best Social Network Game
The Best Social Network Game Award recognizes the best game that launched on a social network, such as Facebook or MySpace, honoring the most outstanding title in terms of overall depth, execution and quality in the space.
WINNER: Draw Something (OMGPOP/Zynga)
- CastleVille (Zynga Dallas)
- Rage Of Bahamut (Cygames/Mobage)
- Empires & Allies (Zynga LA)
- The Sims Social (Playfish)
Best Audio for an Online Game
The Best Audio for an Online Game Award recognizes the overall excellence of audio in an online game including sound effects, musical composition, and overall sound design for an online title.
WINNER: Diablo III (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin)
- Tribes: Ascend (Hi-Rez Studios)
- Marvel: Avengers Alliance (Playdom/Disney)
- Indiana Jones Adventure World (Zynga Boston)
Best New Online Game
The Best New Online Game Award recognizes excellence in any online-specific game, including MMOs, free to play titles and social network games.
WINNER: Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin)
- CastleVille (Zynga Dallas)
- DragonVale (Backflip Studios)
- Draw Something (OMGPOP/Zynga)
- Rage Of Bahamut (Cygames/Mobage)
Best Live Game
The Best Live Game Award recognizes the best currently-operating online game -- distinguishing itself by releasing exceptional new content through expansion packs, patches, or other updates in the 12 months to May 2012, as well as a vibrant player community, high-quality community management and network operation during that period.
WINNER: League of Legends (Riot Games)
- Rift (Trion Worlds)
- CityVille (Zynga)
- World of WarCraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
- EVE Online (CCP Games)
Online Innovation Award
The Online Innovation Award honors one particular online game that shows key aspects of innovation in the fast-expanding online games space - a title that pushes the game design and social boundaries of how we play video games online against others.
WINNER: Journey (thatgamecompany)
- Realm of the Mad God (Wild Shadow Studios/Kabam)
- Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin)
- DayZ Mod for ArmA II (Dean Hall/Bohemia Interactive)
- Idle Worship (Idle Games)
Audience Award
The Audience Award honors the favorite game of the worldwide online game community. Members of the public will be able to vote on their favorite currently operating online game, with options from the Game Developers Choice Online finalists and beyond. Voting for the 2012 Game Developers Choice Online Awards “Audience Award” category closed on September 14, 2012.
WINNER: League of Legends (Riot Games)
2012 Special Award Recipients
These two special honors, selected by the Game Developers Choice Online Awards advisory committee, will be presented at the ceremony.
Online Game Legend Award
The Online Game Legend Award recognizes the career and achievements of one particular creator who has made an indelible impact on the craft of online game development.
![]() |
Raph Koster has led a prolific career. As the lead designer on Ultima Online and the creative director on Star Wars Galaxies, his contributions helped lay the foundation for the many massively multiplayer games that followed. Koster's professional credits span nearly every facet of game development, including writing, art, soundtrack music, programming and design. |
GDC Online Awards Hall of Fame
The GDC Online Awards Hall of Fame recognizes a specific online game that has resulted in the long-term advancement of the medium, pioneering major shifts in online game development and games as a whole.
![]() |
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
|