[Call for Nominations/Categories - First Call] The 2003 Alt.Games.Morrowind Modder Awards

[John Henry]

I'm doing this off the top of my head, so bear with me if it's a bit sloppy
- I'll tighten it up over the next couple of weeks with your input.

I want to set up a vote to determine which Mods us hardcore Morrowind
freaks use the most, enjoy the most, etc. In order to do that most
effectively, I'm going to take nominations (and category suggestions) here,
throw them in a database, and then set up the voting booth - I hope to have
the nomination process complete and the voting "booth" built by the end of
this month, with voting to continue throughout the month of February. Once
voting commences it will run for a month.

Most categories, where applicable, will be split into "balanced" and
"unbalanced" - there are unquestionably two classes of gamers out there,
those who prefer to keep the game "balanced" - i.e. no cheating, just mods
which tweak certain things or even make the game harder, but more
interesting - and those who don't mind the game being "unbalanced," i.e.
cheating, mods which allow you to play through the game without dying,
raise your stats very high very early, etc. For an example:

I would consider my "Mage Enhancements" mod to be "balanced." There are
some great new weapons, but you have to pay for them; there are new spells,
but they still require a certain level of magical proficiency. The mod
makes the game easier to play as a pure mage, which many people remarked as
being somewhat lacking in the off-the-shelf game, but it's still no walk in
the park!

An example of an "Unbalanced" mod would be my Nerevarine Ring, which gives
you allk inds of ridiculous levels of restore health, disease resistance,
etc., basically ensuring that as long as you're wearing it, you're
effectively immortal.

Some mods are neither "Balanced" nor "Unbalanced." Bethesda's "official"
plugin, the Siege at Firemoth quest, falls into this category - it makes
the game neither easier nor harder; it just adds a new quest tree.

These are the "first" awards of this type, and I anticipate that they'll
remain relevant until Oblivion is released, so please bear with me as I go
through this trial-and-error process.

Please indicate your nominations in a reply post; please DO NOT remove
alt.games.morrowind from the newsgroups: line! If you absolutely can NOT
post to AGM, you may e-mail your nominations to me at morrowmods AT
lowgenius DOT com. Remember, if you politely request alt.games.morrowind
from your ISP or News Provider, they will usually add it! You can also get
AGM through the free text-only Usenet provider news.individual.net - it
takes about 24 hours to get an account there after registration, please see
http://news.individual.net for more information!

Remember, these are for MODS, not individual items. For example, if you
think the "Abject Depression" spell in my Mage Enhancements mod is the best
thing since sliced Guar, you would nominate "LowGenius' Mage
Enhancements," not "Abject Depression." It would also be helpful if you
could include links to mods you are nominating; this will help other
players in finding it! If nothing else, try to include the primary hosting
site for the mod (i.e. lowgenius.com, morrowind.com, morrowindfiles.com,
m0use.net) if you can.

Finally, I'd like to request that those of you who visit other morrowind or
CRPG sites with discussions boards could please let people there know about
this 'contest.' I'll hit a few of them myself, once this message shows up
in Google, but I don't even know where half of them are. The more input we
get on this, the more fun and informative it will be!

The final winners in each category will have their mods hosted at a
dedicated "Morrowind Mod of the Year" page at LowGenius.Com. (This is why
I've asked you to include hosting information, so I can download and host
the mods when the time comes!)

The initial categories for nomination are as follows:

BALANCED MODS

Best Overall Mod:
Best Armor Mod (Unenchanted):
Best Armor Mod (Enchanted):
Best Weapon Mod (Unenchanted):
Best Weapon Mod (Enchanted):
Best Alchemy Ingredient:
Best Alchemy Equipment:
Best Transportation:
Best Housing:
Best Magical Item (Staves, Rings, Amulets):
Best Enchantment:
Best Magical Spell:
Best Apparel (Unenchanted):
Best Apparel (Enchanted):
Best Warrior Mod (Overall):
Best Mage Mod (Overall):
Best Thief Mod (Overall):
Best New Race Mod:
Best New Character Class Mod:
Best Balancing Mod:
Best Misc Mod:

UNBALANCED MODS

Best Overall Mod:
Best Armor Mod (Unenchanted):
Best Armor Mod (Enchanted):
Best Weapon Mod (Unenchanted):
Best Weapon Mod (Enchanted):
Best Alchemy Ingredient:
Best Alchemy Equipment:
Best Transportation:
Best Housing:
Best Magical Item (Staves, Rings, Amulets):
Best Enchantment:
Best Magical Spell:
Best Apparel (Unenchanted):
Best Apparel (Enchanted):
Best Warrior Mod (Overall):
Best Mage Mod (Overall):
Best Thief Mod (Overall):
Best New Race Mod:
Best New Character Class Mod:
Best Misc Mod:

NEUTRAL MODS

Best Overall Mod:
Best Quest Mod:
Best New NPC Mod:
Best New City Mod:
Best New Land Mod:
Best Misc Mod:

ADD CATEGORY SUGGESTIONS HERE

Category:

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I will add all new category suggestions to the second call for nominations,
to be posted around the 15th of January.

Thanks everyone, for making this great game and this newsgroup such a
success. Spread the word!

[John Henry]

Hi, John Henry! This is a friendly line to let people know who I'm
talking to!

I guess I should make one more thing clear - this poll is NOT limited to
mods created only by people in AGM. It's just being hosted in that group,
and is intended to be a tool for the players to decide which mods make for
the best gameplay experience.