Welcome to the AARland Choice AwAARds! This is the second round of AARland Choice AwAARds open to the whole several-game forum! The first round was interesting and successful... This last round (just finished, for 2005 Q4) was very successful, and drew more interest... Now this has the potential to even better!
Each game Forum has, or will have (for newer Forums), a major overarching award. The OscAARs, or the VictAARian Cross, etc... These are the big boys, honoring a very few of the absolute best writing on these boards.
The AARLand Choice Awards are a step down from that, but no less important -- more frequent, offering more awards over more categories. Considering the amount of talent on these boards, and the sheer number of AARs, it is a tremendous honor just to be considered for these awards.
As a voter, this is your opportunity to recognize and celebrate some of the AARs you have read that really impressed you. And we definitely encourage you all to take a look around not just within your own favorite forum, but also to branch out into the different AAR forums for different Paradox games.
As often happens, you might find that you have an interest in another game, or another time period, that you would never have expected!
VOTING BEGINS NOW!!!
You may vote for any AAR that qualifies for the category and was updated during the 1st Quarter of 2006 (that is, updated in January, February or March of 2006).
VOTING ENDS almost 4 weeks from now, on APRIL 29 !
Please note what should be an obvious point of modesty:
YOU MAY NOT VOTE FOR YOUR OWN AAR
You may cast votes for ALL categories in ALL forums. However, you may only cast votes for Crusader Kings AARs in this thread. To exercise your right to cast ALL of your votes, you must see the: Main Thread - AARLand Choice Awards - Vote for All Forums.
Note: This is an attempt to engage as many people in the voting as possible, on the one hand, and to attract provincials (those of you who don't know where the main forum is, or who haven't yet read AARs from the other games) to the main forum also -- something which has been said cannot be done, but this is an experiment. Let's see if it will work! Please help me!
You may also edit your choices up until April 29th. You can add to your votes or change them either by editing your original post, or by posting again. I'll screen out multiple votes.
The Crusader Kings categories to vote upon are:
Favorite AAR, CK
Favorite Gameplay/Non-Fanfic AAR, CK
Favorite Comedy AAR, CK
Favorite History-Book AAR, CK
Favorite Dramatic/Narrative AAR, CK
Favorite Graphics in an AAR, CK
There is one category that can ONLY be voted on in the main thread, and that is:
Favorite Character in an AAR, Any Forum (you cannot vote for Hitler)
... so, to vote for favorite character (I won't count votes for favorite character cast here), or to vote in the other threads, go here:
Main Thread - AARLand Choice Awards - Vote for All Forums
You DO NOT have to vote in all categories. We are not asking you to cast uninformed votes. However, we do hope that you will invest the time to read many AARs and to cast as many INFORMED votes as you can!
Casting an informed vote may not actually take that much time. My recommendations are that if you are limited on time (which most of us are) you 1) read parts of an AAR, and skip around, to see if you would even consider it, then read further if you like it -- there's nothing saying you have to have read the whole thing! 2) sit back, wait, and consider some of the AARs others have voted for. These two items will not be a serious disservice to any author (I know every author wants every reader to read his every word, but somtimes that's just not realistic! ), but will allow you to honor very worthy works by bestowing your nod of acceptance!
Category Explanations (note that these AARs are samples, not eligible for voting):
Favorite AAR: What defines 'Favorite' is completely up to you, on your standards. Best written? Most funny? Most hard worked on? Perhaps the best in a combination of categories, or the AAR that has that special 'something'?
Gameplay/Non-Fanfic AAR: Pretty straightforward. The gameplay is lightly buried, if at all.
Examples of Non-Fanfic AARs:
IEX Totalview's Greek Empire: The Anti-Industrial Revolution (Very straightforward non-fanfic style)
Steele's Nukes for Nepal - An AAR(Again pretty straightforward)
Comedy AAR: Self-explanatory. Any AAR that is intentionally or unintentionally humourous.
Examples of Comedy AARs:
Haba's Take London - A Swiss AAR
Satcho's The Rest Stop to the West: A Luxemburg AAR
Farquharson's The Incorrupt Hand: a Comedy of Árpáds
(The thing about Comedy AARs is that they usually do fall into various other categories, due to the styles used by each author being unique. So it might be that a Comedy AAR is also chosen for one of the other categories on the strength of its writing.)
History Book AAR: Has more meat on its bones than a Non-Fanfic AAR, though the distinction is sometimes hard to draw. Does not get deeply into the characters as a character-driven AAR would, but instead reads like a history book in style, giving story justification for the events in the game and some even going as far as reading exactly like a history book written in that timeline would.
Examples of History Book AARs:
Syt's All quiet on the Western Front - Germany 1914 (Fairly straightforward expository style. While it does include little paragraphs of quotes, they are not large enough to make it count as a 'Narrative' AAR.)
Stonewall's From Stone to Steel: A History of Imperial Russia
(An obvious example of a History Book style)
Dramatic/Narrative AAR: AARs that follow a fictional story, with characters, a plot, subplots, etc., though not necessarily all of these. These read like a novel or short-story.
Examples of Narrative AARs:
Estonianzulu's War Without End (Most excellent. Very clearly is a narrative-style AAR, no question.)
Secret Master's The Lives of Famous and Noble Castilians: A Chronicle of the Kingdom of Castile (A classic, so I'm told)
Some AARs fall into multiple categories, perhaps by the virtue of including elements of each, such as blending game event explanations with a deep character-driven plot (making it non-fanfic and narrative). It is allowable to vote for an AAR in more than one category, so long as it fits.
Examples of AARs that are both 'Narrative' and 'History Book':
coz1's For the Glory of Persia (Literally contains elements of both, as there are history-book segments and narrative segments alike.)
Favorite Graphics in an AAR The AAR with the best graphics. Awesomely edited screenshots? Hand-drawn glory? Expert placement of stock photos? Which AAR best utilises the visual realm?
Favorite Character in an AAR The coolest, neatest, most human (or most subhuman!) fictional or historical character in a story. I say fictional OR historical because some favorite characters from AARs can be historical people, but are fleshed out differently in the AAR. Also note that a favorite character does not have to be from a dramatic/narrative AAR. It's entirely possible your favorite character is from a history-book AAR, or a comedy! Just make sure you're voting for a character from an AAR, not from history. And I will not allow votes for HITLER. Verboten.
Example of voting post (again, these are samples, you may not vote for these AARs, which are older):
Favorite AAR, EU2/1:l’Eminence Grise by MrT
Favorite Comedy AAR, EU2/1: The Timurid Scientists AAR by Peter Ebbesen
Favorite Gameplay/Non-Fanfic AAR, EU2/1: Encyclopedia wAARspite : Cambodia by Warspite
Favorite History-Book AAR, EU2/1: The One True Faith: A Byzantine AAR by MAlexander06
Favorite Dramatic/Narrative AAR, EU2/1: l’Eminence Grise by MrT
Etc., etc. etc. -- you get the idea.
As for the concept of an "Overall Forumwide Favorite" I should say that there is some skepticism that enough people will cross into the various subfora, rather than voting/reading in more than just one, in order to make an Overall vote meaningful beyond just a duplicate of the largest forum's favorite.
That said, if I see that there is a great deal of cross-forum voting and that the Forumwide awards are accomplishing what they are hoped to, then I may at that time open the voting to an "Overall Forumwide Favorite", or we may use some other method to choose one.
One last thing... We all owe Anonymous 4401 a great deal of thanks for 1) suggesting these awards in the first place, 2) thinking through a lot of complicated stuff to design them and make them work, and 3) actually get them started in the first place and start the two successful rounds which have now been completed. Thank you, Anonymous! And I hope that you are able to rejoin us soon so you can vote!
NOW...
Start your browsers... do some reading... and GO VOTE!!!
Remember -- vote for Crusader Kings AARs here, but if you want to exercise your full rights, then you must go here:
Main Thread - AARLand Choice Awards - Vote for All Forums
Each game Forum has, or will have (for newer Forums), a major overarching award. The OscAARs, or the VictAARian Cross, etc... These are the big boys, honoring a very few of the absolute best writing on these boards.
The AARLand Choice Awards are a step down from that, but no less important -- more frequent, offering more awards over more categories. Considering the amount of talent on these boards, and the sheer number of AARs, it is a tremendous honor just to be considered for these awards.
As a voter, this is your opportunity to recognize and celebrate some of the AARs you have read that really impressed you. And we definitely encourage you all to take a look around not just within your own favorite forum, but also to branch out into the different AAR forums for different Paradox games.
As often happens, you might find that you have an interest in another game, or another time period, that you would never have expected!
VOTING BEGINS NOW!!!
You may vote for any AAR that qualifies for the category and was updated during the 1st Quarter of 2006 (that is, updated in January, February or March of 2006).
VOTING ENDS almost 4 weeks from now, on APRIL 29 !
Please note what should be an obvious point of modesty:
YOU MAY NOT VOTE FOR YOUR OWN AAR
You may cast votes for ALL categories in ALL forums. However, you may only cast votes for Crusader Kings AARs in this thread. To exercise your right to cast ALL of your votes, you must see the: Main Thread - AARLand Choice Awards - Vote for All Forums.
Note: This is an attempt to engage as many people in the voting as possible, on the one hand, and to attract provincials (those of you who don't know where the main forum is, or who haven't yet read AARs from the other games) to the main forum also -- something which has been said cannot be done, but this is an experiment. Let's see if it will work! Please help me!
You may also edit your choices up until April 29th. You can add to your votes or change them either by editing your original post, or by posting again. I'll screen out multiple votes.
The Crusader Kings categories to vote upon are:
Favorite AAR, CK
Favorite Gameplay/Non-Fanfic AAR, CK
Favorite Comedy AAR, CK
Favorite History-Book AAR, CK
Favorite Dramatic/Narrative AAR, CK
Favorite Graphics in an AAR, CK
There is one category that can ONLY be voted on in the main thread, and that is:
Favorite Character in an AAR, Any Forum (you cannot vote for Hitler)
... so, to vote for favorite character (I won't count votes for favorite character cast here), or to vote in the other threads, go here:
Main Thread - AARLand Choice Awards - Vote for All Forums
You DO NOT have to vote in all categories. We are not asking you to cast uninformed votes. However, we do hope that you will invest the time to read many AARs and to cast as many INFORMED votes as you can!
Casting an informed vote may not actually take that much time. My recommendations are that if you are limited on time (which most of us are) you 1) read parts of an AAR, and skip around, to see if you would even consider it, then read further if you like it -- there's nothing saying you have to have read the whole thing! 2) sit back, wait, and consider some of the AARs others have voted for. These two items will not be a serious disservice to any author (I know every author wants every reader to read his every word, but somtimes that's just not realistic!
), but will allow you to honor very worthy works by bestowing your nod of acceptance!Category Explanations (note that these AARs are samples, not eligible for voting):
Favorite AAR: What defines 'Favorite' is completely up to you, on your standards. Best written? Most funny? Most hard worked on? Perhaps the best in a combination of categories, or the AAR that has that special 'something'?
Gameplay/Non-Fanfic AAR: Pretty straightforward. The gameplay is lightly buried, if at all.
Examples of Non-Fanfic AARs:
IEX Totalview's Greek Empire: The Anti-Industrial Revolution (Very straightforward non-fanfic style)
Steele's Nukes for Nepal - An AAR(Again pretty straightforward)
Comedy AAR: Self-explanatory. Any AAR that is intentionally or unintentionally humourous.
Examples of Comedy AARs:
Haba's Take London - A Swiss AAR
Satcho's The Rest Stop to the West: A Luxemburg AAR
Farquharson's The Incorrupt Hand: a Comedy of Árpáds
(The thing about Comedy AARs is that they usually do fall into various other categories, due to the styles used by each author being unique. So it might be that a Comedy AAR is also chosen for one of the other categories on the strength of its writing.)
History Book AAR: Has more meat on its bones than a Non-Fanfic AAR, though the distinction is sometimes hard to draw. Does not get deeply into the characters as a character-driven AAR would, but instead reads like a history book in style, giving story justification for the events in the game and some even going as far as reading exactly like a history book written in that timeline would.
Examples of History Book AARs:
Syt's All quiet on the Western Front - Germany 1914 (Fairly straightforward expository style. While it does include little paragraphs of quotes, they are not large enough to make it count as a 'Narrative' AAR.)
Stonewall's From Stone to Steel: A History of Imperial Russia
(An obvious example of a History Book style)
Dramatic/Narrative AAR: AARs that follow a fictional story, with characters, a plot, subplots, etc., though not necessarily all of these. These read like a novel or short-story.
Examples of Narrative AARs:
Estonianzulu's War Without End (Most excellent. Very clearly is a narrative-style AAR, no question.)
Secret Master's The Lives of Famous and Noble Castilians: A Chronicle of the Kingdom of Castile (A classic, so I'm told)
Some AARs fall into multiple categories, perhaps by the virtue of including elements of each, such as blending game event explanations with a deep character-driven plot (making it non-fanfic and narrative). It is allowable to vote for an AAR in more than one category, so long as it fits.
Examples of AARs that are both 'Narrative' and 'History Book':
coz1's For the Glory of Persia (Literally contains elements of both, as there are history-book segments and narrative segments alike.)
Favorite Graphics in an AAR The AAR with the best graphics. Awesomely edited screenshots? Hand-drawn glory? Expert placement of stock photos? Which AAR best utilises the visual realm?
Favorite Character in an AAR The coolest, neatest, most human (or most subhuman!) fictional or historical character in a story. I say fictional OR historical because some favorite characters from AARs can be historical people, but are fleshed out differently in the AAR. Also note that a favorite character does not have to be from a dramatic/narrative AAR. It's entirely possible your favorite character is from a history-book AAR, or a comedy! Just make sure you're voting for a character from an AAR, not from history. And I will not allow votes for HITLER. Verboten.
Example of voting post (again, these are samples, you may not vote for these AARs, which are older):
Favorite AAR, EU2/1:l’Eminence Grise by MrT
Favorite Comedy AAR, EU2/1: The Timurid Scientists AAR by Peter Ebbesen
Favorite Gameplay/Non-Fanfic AAR, EU2/1: Encyclopedia wAARspite : Cambodia by Warspite
Favorite History-Book AAR, EU2/1: The One True Faith: A Byzantine AAR by MAlexander06
Favorite Dramatic/Narrative AAR, EU2/1: l’Eminence Grise by MrT
Etc., etc. etc. -- you get the idea.
As for the concept of an "Overall Forumwide Favorite" I should say that there is some skepticism that enough people will cross into the various subfora, rather than voting/reading in more than just one, in order to make an Overall vote meaningful beyond just a duplicate of the largest forum's favorite.
That said, if I see that there is a great deal of cross-forum voting and that the Forumwide awards are accomplishing what they are hoped to, then I may at that time open the voting to an "Overall Forumwide Favorite", or we may use some other method to choose one.
One last thing... We all owe Anonymous 4401 a great deal of thanks for 1) suggesting these awards in the first place, 2) thinking through a lot of complicated stuff to design them and make them work, and 3) actually get them started in the first place and start the two successful rounds which have now been completed. Thank you, Anonymous! And I hope that you are able to rejoin us soon so you can vote!
NOW...
Start your browsers... do some reading... and GO VOTE!!!
Remember -- vote for Crusader Kings AARs here, but if you want to exercise your full rights, then you must go here:
Main Thread - AARLand Choice Awards - Vote for All Forums
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