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I WAS A BAFTA GAMES JUDGE by Mr Biffo

13/3/2015

16 Comments

 
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You may be aware that Destiny took the 2015 BAFTA for best game at this year's awards, yet lost out in every other category it was nominated in. 

When similar has happened at, say, the Oscars. I've always wondered why. It seems a bit weird, doesn't it? How can something win best director or script, but not best movie - or vice-versa? 

I mean, surely if the judges think something is the best game, it has to be the best in other ways too? Is it just political voting, to give others a chance of winning something? Or a more strange and esoteric process - involving, let's imagine, prisms, troughs and naked pagans - that we normal plebs couldn't possibly hope to understand? 


Turns out it isn't either. I know this now, because this year I was a BAFTA Games Awards judge - this pleb got to glimpse behind the famous golden mask, and see the writhing, bio-organic worms that really decide who gets what and why.

Yes, you read that right - I was a BAFTA judge. And now? And now I'm going to share my story with you. Sadly, I lied about the bio-organic worms.

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DRUNK TANK
So. Late last year, shortly after Digitiser 2000 rose triumphantly from the earth, I got an email from a guy called Rob Jones, who worked at BAFTA. 

I'd met Rob once before at a BAFTA Children's Awards ceremony, when I was roughly five or six bottles of wine worse for wear, after my kids show 4 O'Clock Club (go watch it on BBC iPlayer) failed to win Best Comedy. He told me he was a big Digitiser fan, which was particularly lovely, as back then I honestly didn't think there were any Digitiser fans left. Incredibly, despite the alcoholihaze, I remembered his kind words.

Rob had emailed to ask if I'd be interested in judging the story category for the 2015 BAFTA Games Awards. I was as surprised as you probably are. Somehow, despite being the man who accidentally wrote Pudsey: The Dog: The Movie, Rob thought my background as a games journalist, and three-time BAFTA nominee (sorry - I tried for ten minutes, but there's honestly no way to write that without it looking like showing off: if it's any consolation, I've never won any of the times I've been nominated) made me a good fit.

And that, you see, is why a game can be considered best game, but lose out in other categories: each category has its own independent judging panel.

THE LIST
Rob sent over a list of games whose story I'd be helping to judge. The shortlist had apparently been whittled down from a very long list, in a process that I completely forgot to ask about. Let's imagine that one did involve prisms, troughs, and nude pagans.

However, most excitingly - more exciting than the honour and privilege of being a BAFTA judge - this also meant that, for the first time in years, I was going to get free games. Consequently, you can thank Rob for helping get Digi2000 off the ground in those early days (and probably for planting the seed in my drunken head that, potentially, not everyone still hated both Digitiser and myself). 

On the downside, I had to play all of those games and not skip a single cut-scene. We'd been told we didn't have to finish all of the games - which was just as well in the case of some of them - but certainly we had to play them enough to properly get a sense of how they told their stories. 

It was interesting. I don't typically play games for their plots - I'm quite militant about the fact that story should be there to serve a game, and not vice-versa. They should at least feel seamless. That did change, admittedly, with The Last of Us - the one and only time I've ever been emotionally invested in video game characters... but that did such a uniquely brilliant job of feeling like all the gameplay beats are tied to the story. It makes you care. 

Still, I wanted to do a good job, so play through those games I did - with a little help from YouTube in some of the cases. By the end, I was pretty sure of what I was going to be voting for. What did surprise me was how close I came to changing my mind, as a result of the discussion.

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PANEL BEATING
The voting panel took place back in February, at BAFTA HQ in London. 

Absurdly, I'd written enormous essays for each of the games on the shortlist, on the merits (or lack of merits) of their stories. When it came down to it, there simply wasn't the time for me to make my excellent and valid points in the detail I wanted. Everyone had plenty to say, and the debate was lively and long.

Here's how I approached the judging.

Basically, I was looking at how story worked in the context of the whole game; how each of the elements served to tell the story. We weren't judging "best script" - if we were I'd have approached it differently. From my perspective, this was about storytelling, and just as a movie's story is told through direction, editing, music and acting, so I was looking at how the games told their stories through gameplay, as much as cutscenes and script.

I might have recently come to appreciate the gameplay in something like, say, Dragon Age: Inquisition (to pluck a game out of the ether - "drag on" is right... ha ha ha), but if you look at it from a storytelling perspective, it's like an explosion in a word factory. It's just a glut of information and backstory - the actual narrative is pretty thin, in terms of story beats, but it's padded to the point of suffocation. 

Plus, for my money, it suffers from that usual Bioware thing of lurching from an impressive, cinematic cutscene or action sequence, to a horribly static couple of poorly-acted talking heads, with a dialogue wheel. That, I don't feel, is good storytelling. It feels  archaic, clunky and inconsistent.

There were games on the shortlist that - however charming and valid their narrative qualities might be - sported game mechanics that I felt were so hopeless that they impacted negatively on the storytelling.


DIALOGUE WHEEL
There was a lot discussion about my top two games, and I'd expected them to be shoe-ins. From where I was sitting (near the sandwiches) - there seemed to be a lot of points being made about games that allowed the player to create their own story, versus games where the story was more linear, and handed to you on a plate. Like the sandwiches.

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Then came the first round of judging. We were all given a touch-screen tablet, and asked to pick six games from the list of 12. The scores were automatically and anonymously tallied, and the top six went through to the next round. We then had to pick our favourite.

I'd gone into the room thinking I knew what I was going to vote for, but the arguments against it nearly convinced me otherwise. My finger hovered for a good minute or so over a different choice, but ultimately I went with my gut - the "story" that had impacted on me most, the one I felt touched by. The one, I believed, had been best told.

We didn't get the results on the night: I didn't know which game had won that final round of voting until it was announced at last night's BAFTAs. Without giving too much away, I was pleased that Left Behind won. It feels warm and furry to know that I had a hand in the journey that led to its victory.

As well as genuinely being a privilege, it was a fascinating process to be a part of. It made me think harder about video game storytelling than I've ever done before - what works, what doesn't - and the different ways that games can tell a story. Is an emotional connection with a character the same thing as a story? Is a well-told story worthy of winning an award, even if that story is cliched and unoriginal? 


It was also nice to actually spend time with games people. Much as I've loved my years working in TV, there's a real sense - on a very personal level - of coming home. I'm more excited than ever about the possibilities of video games, and interactive narratives - I honestly think it's the future of storytelling.

But anyway. There you go. You can debate whether having independent panels for each category is the best way to judge an awards ceremony, but - rightly or wrongly - that's how one bit of the 2015 BAFTA Games Awards was judged. No prisms, no troughs, and no naked pagans.

That was the after-party.

FROM THE ARCHIVE:
  • BAFTA GAME AWARDS 2015: The winners
  • DESTINY IS NOT FOR ME by Mr Biffo
  • THE POWER OF NOW-STALGIA by Mr Biffo

16 Comments
Klone
13/3/2015 04:56:26 am

Excellent window into the world of game awards. Really enjoyed reading that, cheers!

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lilock
13/3/2015 05:07:26 am

Having the deciding vote on the (a) BAFTA? This is just the first step in Digi's plans for world domination and total control. Next year the Man's Daddy will be hosting the awards and, the year after that, the Man will get a new job as prime minister. Be warned people!

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Mr Biffo
14/3/2015 01:53:03 am

Hah! I dunno. I was a tiny cog in a big machine. World domination sounds like far too much responsibility/hard work.

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Mr Smith
13/3/2015 05:25:17 am

Fascinating and valuable. An intimate look at how these things work, which is rare! You won't find unique pieces like this on those multi-million viewing websites. (Actually, I'm not sure, I don't really visit the big sites.) This was great.

At some point will you regale us with scandalous tales of writing the script for Future Tactics?

Having had this experience with BAFTA, are you interested in writing the script for games again?

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Mr Biffo
14/3/2015 01:54:24 am

God yeah. I'd do it again in a shot. There's not much of a tale to tell with Future Tactics, alas - but I might see if the Pickfords fancy doing an interview.

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Dan link
13/3/2015 06:00:15 am

Ah, so you're saying this was the mysterious reason (amongst others, I'm guessing) for bringing back Digi? Aw, I thought it was Gamergate-related! :P

Gonna trawl your Twitter for pics of the pagans...

And I am stealing 'drag-on' and there's nothing you can do to stop me!

Wish we'd talked about this in our podcast, was a fascinating read. Hopefully this the beginning, and not the end, of new Digi though!

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Superbeast 37
13/3/2015 12:05:44 pm

That is a really interesting insight.

I am so flabbergasted by some of the results and even the nominations (or lack of) that I can't really think of anything sensible to say!

I never take such awards seriously but I do console myself in the knowledge that my wallet hopefully put right some of the injustices.

Sadly it was also partly responsible for the main injustice of the entire evening.

But back to story telling; I totally agree with what you said here:


"Basically, I was looking at how story worked in the context of the whole game; how each of the elements served to tell the story. We weren't judging "best script" - if we were I'd have approached it differently. From my perspective, this was about storytelling, and just as a movie's story is told through direction, editing, music and acting, so I was looking at how the games told their stories through gameplay, as much as cutscenes and script."

That is why Vanishing of Ethan Carter was not only my game of the year but also the best story.

Still, we all have our own list of "who should have won" and let's be honest; we all find everyone else's list as boring as hell whilst we expect everyone to listen to and accept our own.

With that in mind I'll get my coat!

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Mr Biffo
14/3/2015 01:56:37 am

Awards are all just the opinions of some people, ultimately - you might get a different outcome with a different group of personalities. But it was good to see how thorough everyone was in their deliberations.

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Dave
13/3/2015 12:51:11 pm

Oooohhh Biffo's a luvvie now! Seriously though, that was genuinely a very interesting read. I always wondered how things like these were decided and it does help explain some of the more "unusual" winners down the years.

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Adam
13/3/2015 03:38:13 pm

What were the sandwiches like? Was it an M&S platter?

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Mr Biffo
14/3/2015 01:57:19 am

They were BAFTA sandwiches, I believe. Also: BAFTA sausages and chips.

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CrispyF
14/3/2015 01:20:08 pm

Was there jam sponge and custard for BAFTAS?
...
*gets coat*

HUSSMAGNET
13/3/2015 04:33:45 pm

I like sandwiches. How did Mario Kart not win the music award? Was it being judged by some lemmings with a thin layer of skin over their ears which can only be pierced by the shrill call of a dying mantis?

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Count Dracul
14/3/2015 01:24:26 am

Wery wery good (I'm from Transylvania). My uncle Dracul says that The Last of Us is great for story, but he so old he still playing Fairchild Channel F. Maybe be right though. I check it out.

Question for you: I want to make a single donation to your site - not monthly payments (in Transylvania recurring payments are illegal), say via PayPal or FangTooth (native payment processor to Transylvania). How can I do that? Why not have Pateron AND PayPal donate at the same time? Ha, ha, ha. A-one, a-two, a-three... Ha, ha, ha.

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Mr Biffo
14/3/2015 01:57:54 am

Our PayPal button allows one of payments, Vlad.

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SlackWillies
15/3/2015 02:46:15 pm

Enjoyed that, you may now return to being a silly billy...

Reply



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