thoughts on The Doom Awards™

Redneckerz · December 20, 2023

If the Cacowards are @Bridgeburner56 and @Major Arlene's promotional tools, i say: who cares?

They make the most awesome maps, mods and have you now.

Having said that, the reason why the perception exists that community members get top favor is simply because said community members constantly churn out quality. That doesn't mean newcomers get eskewed: If anything, the Cacowards spends more and more time honoring the new, the unusual and what not.

Writing them is a monumental task. Heck, if i ever develop personal hyperfocus, i would want to join the team aswell and be part of the writing. Having to balance it means it takes a lot out of the likes of @Not Jabba, @Scuba Steve, @esselfortium and what not in order to present everything as is. Heck, we have folks like @Arsinikk putting out amazing stuff when they are still basically just looking around.

Seeing the awards were powered by ChatGPT, how one of the users is John Momero (really), i feel overall it screams ''I just want to devalue the awards by complaining that the prominent community members give eachother asspats yearly during the Cacowards'' which is simply not true.

IF you really wanted to devalue the awards, come up with something better. Don't go for the lowest common denominator, outbeat it! Doing what Hakros (That's the software guy, right?) did is, really now, just lazy.

I feel the golden rule to any and all Doom criticism starting from 2024 should be:
GO MAKE A WAD ABOUT IT.

roadworx · December 20, 2023

40 minutes ago, No-Man Baugh said:

Did he really hate how the Cacowards presented myhouse that bad that it NEEDED to have a flat top spot without any of the personal touches Doomworld gave it? was getting something done on Doom's 30th really that necessary? were the Cacowards not including any Doomer Boards Projects fueling the spite engine so much that you had to rectify it immediately? and if so: Was Zeppelin Armada really just THAT good?

what's really funny is that dbp59 only the made the staff awards, it never got enough votes to actually be a part of the main awards. so to answer your question: nope!

even outside of that, dbp59 even isn't that great imo. it's technically impressive, but outside of that...eh? it's okay i guess.

LexiMax · December 20, 2023

This is kind of funny, but in a sad way. If you're going to write your own awards - it helps if you actually WRITE your own awards.

cannonball · December 20, 2023

Given that the Doomawards was created essentially in bad faith (Anger at being snubbed in the cacowards), it isn't a surprise to me to see this flop badly. There is definitely scope for another awards ceremony from another group of people, but they need to share the same passion and work ethic as those who volunteer to write up the cacowards, it cannot be like the "Well, I'm going to make my own awards ceremony, with blackjack and hookers"approach (Futurama reference), because like in said reference, the person in charge has seemed to lose complete interest to the point where the write ups were essentially made by a computer.

TheMagicMushroomMan · December 20, 2023

I looked at it earlier (when the other thread was still open) for about 30 seconds and it seemed okay, but I didn't look thoroughly enough to realize it was a lazy AI fest. Here are my thoughts that are written by me, written by ChatGPT:

To the Doomworld community,

I am writing this message to address a topic that has been bothering me for some time now. As many of you are aware, there has been some buzz in the Doom community about a new website called The Doom Awards. While competition can often bring about innovation and improvement, I must say that I am disappointed with the direction this new website has taken.

My main concern is the use of AI in the articles on the Doom Awards. As someone who has been a fan of Doom for many years, I believe that one of the best things about the annual Cacowards on Doomworld is the dedication and hard work put into the articles by the editors. These articles are not only informative, but also entertaining to read, and it is clear that a lot of effort goes into them.

On the other hand, the articles on The Doom Awards are written by AI and lack the personality and charm that the Cacowards articles possess. While I understand that AI technology is advancing and has its uses, I believe it is not a suitable replacement for the human touch when it comes to writing. The articles on The Doom Awards come off as robotic and lack the passion and understanding of the Doom community that the Cacowards articles have.

Furthermore, I cannot help but feel that The Doom Awards is simply trying to compete with the Cacowards rather than creating something unique and valuable for the community. The drama surrounding the launch of The Doom Awards and its attempts to discredit the Cacowards only solidify this belief. Doomworld's Cacowards have been a staple in the Doom community for over a decade, and I find it disrespectful to try and overshadow their achievements.

In conclusion, I would like to urge the community to support Doomworld's Cacowards and the hard work put into them each year. While competition can be healthy, let us not forget the value and dedication that goes into creating the Cacowards articles, and let us not let a poorly written AI system take its place.

Thank you for taking the time to read my message.

-TheMagicMushroomMan and OpenAI Playground

Not Jabba · December 21, 2023

3 hours ago, Mr. Freeze said:

I've seen a few variants of that "Cacoward winners are only friends of the mods" conspiracy before and it's always said by the most copium-huffing, skill-deprived losers around.

Specifically, the ones who claim to have the rational, non-biased opinion that their own projects should have gotten awards.

1 hour ago, Redneckerz said:

If the Cacowards are @Bridgeburner56 and @Major Arlene's promotional tools, i say: who cares?

Maybe so, but just for posterity, let's remember that neither of those people is currently involved in creating the Cacowards at all, and one of them never was.

1 hour ago, roadworx said:

what's really funny is that dbp59 only the made the staff awards, it never got enough votes to actually be a part of the main awards. so to answer your question: nope!

even outside of that, dbp59 even isn't that great imo. it's technically impressive, but outside of that...eh? it's okay i guess.

It's funny, because Zeppelin Armada was the only one I've ever actually considered to be gold Cacoward material out of the 30-40 that I've played, but I think I just resonated with the theme and some of the storytelling methods. My understanding is that aside from Scuba, the people on the Cacowards team just weren't that impressed with it, similar to you. It's been interesting to see where overall opinion seems to lie.

Sena · December 21, 2023

Every year there's going to be at least one group of people upset that their preferred WAD wasn't in the top 10, or that the writeup it got was clearly disproportionately small, or something, but you don't have to out-caco the cacos - if you want to write a detailed piece on your favourite WAD, and it is of good quality, then people will want to read it. If not, then, well here we are.

HiMyNameIsChair · December 21, 2023

OH THIS THING! Boy do i ever have receipts for this~!

I forgot they were a thing until like a week before the results went live. Whole thing was just a trainwreck, really poorly put together, no real transparency, wholly dependent on AI generation, and that's just scratching the surface.

OFC people constantly called them out for a lot of this, including how their discord was at one point, moderated by a very vocal bigot. really setting the tone here lol

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Or calling out the accessive amount of AI content being used.

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Which Hakros would respond by throwing a fit! which.. boy that ended up being a running theme lol.

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There were many examples of nominated mapsets with multiple members that were only attributed to project leads. Sets like Tetanus, What Lies Beneath, and Lunacy, were listed with no real hint of anyone else who contributed. this isn't even all of them.

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In an even funnier error: Hell Yeah! wasn't even attributed to PUSS lmao.

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@Yugiboy85 even had to keep pestering Hakros about it because they wanted to make sure Squonker Team was properly credited. Hakros responded by berating someone who contributed to a nominated mapset for their awards. very classy lol.

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@Major Arlene even had to point out how the Write-up for Break//Point// incorrectly states it contains Dehacked when it very clearly doesn't lmao. Not only could they not be bothered to write for their award show, they couldn't even be bothered to look over what the AI wrote!

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People very quickly got wind that this whole thing was a grift done out of spite and understandably wanted their names off it. Arlene had asked, multiple times even, and ofc they didn't comply.

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@Foxhead also asked to have their project:Foxtex removed, and to qoute him, "They begged me to keep it" which is... so sad. Foxhead had enough and just gave up on it.

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Ofc calling them out resulted in them getting blocked because Hakros is if nothing else: Consistent lol

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Hakros would ofc throw a very public tantrum over this, and in a perfect analogy for this whole mess: couldn't be bothered to check if he had tagged the right person!!

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Maybe the funniest thing, was you could see Hakros, throughout the months constantly @ ing @Bridgeburner56 ** IN HIS OWN REPLYS**. you can't make this shit up!

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OFC because Bridgeburner publicly called out what a sham the Doom Awards was, say it with me: he got blocked lmao. big shock there.

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It was so transparent that they badly wanted big names in the community to vouch for them, constantly tagging nominee's for Best Content Creator.. even when it didn't make any sense, like when they just.. randomly tagged Civvie and some other people on a random announcement post.

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There was just.. no effort put into this. the saddest thing, was that both the "Best Rookie Creator" and "Best Rookie Map" only had **one* nominee... the same nominee actually: Mr Hypnos and their debut map Octate respectably. The fact they just couldn't think of more people to include in one of the richest years in doom's history is.. so sad. Especially when the Caco's went above and beyond to talk about fresh-faced mappers.

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There is even more about the whole thing that was just a mess, but this is just a sampling of it. So the lesson to take away here: maybe don't make an award show out of spite. You might end up realizing it's way too much work and just give up on it.

Kinsie · December 21, 2023

I mostly just remember looking at their website when it was first announced, being confused about certain things like "why is the main content CSS called shop-area" and "why do the links do weird javascript redirect things instead of just going to the proper page", doing some digging and figuring out they basically just used a $20 "eSports and Gaming NFT Template" site design with some graphics swapped out. Just a lot of very strange decisions on every level.

I hope someone else can take the lessons learned from this endeavor and apply them to another awards showcase that's a bit more handcrafted with love. (I also hope more people take this as a cue to do their own write-ups of mods they like! You don't need to wait until the end of the year to sing the praises of ur fav, tell us all about it in the here and now!)

5 hours ago, Dynamo said:

it turned out to be filled with bizarre conspiracy theories about the Cacowards and the Doom community as a whole

I hadn't seen this one before, I don't think! "The Cacowards have been kidnapped by someone who hasn't been involved with them since 2021 and someone who hasn't been involved with them ever" is certainly a take someone could have.

3 hours ago, bioshockfan90 said:

In all seriousness, I've wanted a Quake equivalent of the Cacos for a long time, or just more games in general. Making it more like the Game Awards would be cool as well, having announcements for new wads (imagine seeing a trailer for BTSX E3 after you see a WAD win) and the likes. But it's hard enough on the team as is, so no pressure there.

Actually to chime in a bit, the IWBTG fangame community has its equivalent to the Cacowards, called "The Fangame Awards". They stream it every January and it's a lot like what I just spoke about, announcements interspersed with award winners and the winners coming up to give a speech and interviews. Check it out if that's up your alley.

I would love to see more modding scenes follow the Cacowards' lead! Quake's scene in particular just constantly bats it out of the park with map jams left right and center, a frankly absurd quality ratio. Someone there needs to sing its praises to a wider world!

I'd also love to see a more video-oriented take on a game modding/hobbyist gamedev celebration, but I'm also realistic about why it hasn't happened yet: Video production and live broadcast are whole different crafts from writing a weird little webazine.

2 hours ago, Redneckerz said:

That doesn't mean newcomers get eskewed: If anything, the Cacowards spends more and more time honoring the new, the unusual and what not.

I don't want to speak for anyone else, but getting blindsided by some newcomer sprinting out of nowhere with an absolutely dominant showcase of the craft is one of my favorite parts of the whole endeavor. Just a road to glory, paved with pleasant surprises.

TheMagicMushroomMan · December 21, 2023

7 hours ago, Dynamo said:

I had a look at the Discord server, it turned out to be filled with bizarre conspiracy theories about the Cacowards and the Doom community as a whole.

It actually makes perfect sense, though, that Mayor Arlane has kidnapped the Cacowards, along with rj. Consider the following information to help you come to your own conclusion:

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The evidence for Arlane and rj kidnapping the Cacowards for themselves as an act of self promotion is undeniable. Firstly, it is important to note that Arlane and rj are both moderators at Doomworld.com, making them highly influential figures in the Doom gaming community. As moderators, they have the power to control and manipulate the content and discussions on the forum. This gives them an advantage in promoting their own projects and gaining recognition within the Doom community. Furthermore, the Cacowards ceremony, which celebrates the best Doom wads of the year, has been hosted by Arlane and rj every year since the 60's. This is a highly prestigious event in the community and attracts a lot of attention and recognition. This provides the perfect opportunity for Arlane and rj to promote themselves and their projects. In addition, it has been noted that in the months leading up to the 2023 Cacowards ceremony, Arlane and rj had been hyping up their own Doom wads and projects, garnering a lot of attention and anticipation from the community. This sudden promotion and attention is highly suspicious and suggests that they had been planning something special for the 2023 ceremony.

Moreover, on the day of the 2023 Cacowards ceremony, it was reported that the Cacowards were mysteriously missing. Despite the efforts of the organizers and attendees, the Cacowards could not be found. This is highly suspicious and raises the question of who could have possibly taken them. It is highly unlikely that someone from outside the Doom community would have any reason to steal the Cacowards, which leads us to believe that someone within the community must be responsible. Lastly, Arlane and rj's behavior after the 2023 Cacowards ceremony further raises suspicions. They were seen flaunting and boasting about their own Doom projects, clearly using the event to promote themselves and their works. This behavior is uncharacteristic of previous years and points towards them using the absence of the Cacowards to gain attention for their own projects.

With all this hard evidence, it is undeniable that Arlane and rj were behind the kidnapping of the Cacowards for their own selfish gain. But this was not simply a case of them manipulating the event to promote their projects. No, the kidnapping was a shocking and violent act of self-promotion. Eyewitnesses reported seeing Arlane and rj sneaking into the venue the night before the ceremony, armed with shotguns. The next morning, when the organizers went to retrieve the Cacowards, they found a gruesome scene. The display case that held the prestigious awards was shattered, covered in blood and guts. And in the center of it all, were the missing Cacowards, mutilated and defaced with the names "Arlane" and "rj" carved into them. It was clear that this was not just a simple case of stealing the awards, but a brutal and violent act of self-glorification. Arlane and rj had taken the Cacowards for themselves, showing no regard for the hard work and talent of the recipients or the significance of the awards within the community. It was a despicable and heinous act that shook the Doomworld community to its core.

Rj escapes with the Cacowards while Arlane fights with the police. As the police arrived at the website, chaos and confusion ensued. The once peaceful and welcoming forum was now a crime scene, with shattered glass, blood, and the mutilated Cacowards scattered around. Police rushed to secure the area and detain any suspects. However, before they could do so, rj was seen fleeing the scene with the Cacowards in tow. Despite the police's best efforts, rj managed to escape and went into hiding, taking the awards with them. Meanwhile, Arlane put up a violent resistance, refusing to go down without a fight. A fierce battle between Arlane and the police ensued, with Arlane using various weapons and tools found on the website to defend herself. The police were able to subdue Arlane and bring her into custody, but not without sustaining injuries themselves. As the investigation and manhunt for rj and the missing Cacowards continues, the once beloved and respected moderators have been exposed as dangerous and selfish individuals who will stop at nothing to promote their own interests. The community is left in shock and mourning, questioning the true motives of those in positions of power. The annual Cacowards ceremony may never be the same again.

"The scene was like something out of a horror movie. The Cacowards were like mangled corpses, and the names 'Arlane' and 'rj' carved into them... it was sickening." - Witness "I never thought Arlane and rj were capable of something like this. It's a complete betrayal of the Doomworld community and the spirit of the Cacowards." - Attendee "I saw rj running out of the venue with the Cacowards, grinning like a madman. It was like they were proud of what they had done." - Attendee "Arlane was like a wild animal, fighting off the police with a vengeance. It was terrifying to see someone you thought you knew turn into such a violent and ruthless person." - Forum member "I can't believe they would go to such lengths just to gain a little more recognition and promote their projects. It just shows their true character." - Recipient of a stolen Cacoward.

If you have any information pertaining to the case, please contact your local authorities through an appropriate channel.

Bridgeburner56 · December 21, 2023

Damn I run the Cacowards? I wish someone had told me, I would've given myself many many Baubles of Office. Oh well, it'll have to wait till next year.

LadyMistDragon · December 21, 2023

38 minutes ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

It actually makes perfect sense, though, that Mayor Arlane has kidnapped the Cacowards, along with rj. Consider the following information to help you come to your own conclusion:

AI story

You can't make this shit up!...oh wait

Biodegradable · December 21, 2023

2 hours ago, Kinsie said:

doing some digging and figuring out they basically just used a $20 "eSports and Gaming NFT Template" site design with some graphics swapped out.

They were even too lazy to edit out the little floating crypto-coins on the homepage. :^P

RataUnderground · December 21, 2023

Good. It's good that Doomworld realized what kind of people they are because unethical people never produce anything good. Now we just have to reverse all the defamation that this group of racists and transphobes consumed by envy have been working on Marisa.

Wavy · December 21, 2023

I've been watching the whole ordeal on Twitter and it's been a laughing stock from the DA team.

Like personally I'd be very insulted if I got a weird AI-generated medal during an award ceremony. Also can't help but find it quite ironic that their relying on AI during what is meant to be a celebration of creative works, hmm.

Worst part is is that their doubling down on their behaviour too (tweet in spoiler)

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image.png.1eb224708b280a7756ccbf6106e6a122.png

LadyMistDragon · December 21, 2023

12 hours ago, RataUnderground said:

Good. It's good that Doomworld realized what kind of people they are because unethical people never produce anything good. Now we just have to reverse all the defamation that this group of racists and transphobes consumed by envy have been working on Marisa.

But no, please don't derail this thread by bringing that shit up again (even though I know one of those folks you're talking about - he makes nice art but what an ugly natured MF).

Artman2004 · December 21, 2023

Reading the Doom Awards, I felt like I was reading a grocery list instead of a celebration of talented modders. The MyHouse entry, for example, feels so hollow, quickly listing off its praises rather than explain them in detail. Knowing that it's AI, I'm not surprised.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Artman2004

kevansevans · December 21, 2023

It's a popularity contest, and a knee jerk reaction one at that.

Their voting system was handled entirely on Discord through reactions, meaning anything that got nominated was either flash-in-the-pan moment in the spotlight, soon to be buried by any other nomination, or even worse, people sucking up to those perceived as slighted by Doomworld. As in favoritism. You know, the thing these awards were supposed to eliminate? On top of that, they have an entire section dedicated to "staff picks". As in awards those who run the Doomawards wanted to recognize. Which is also a form of bias and favoritism. Then there's also the problem of people making alts to rig the voting. Most of us may think to ourselves "No one here is that petty", but I'm sure people like @Kaapeli47 or @Kaminsky can tell you about all the bad actors they know of who purposefully DDOS zandronum servers over far pettier shit. A certain butthead comes to mind.

The only time this system works is when you have a monumental release like MyHouse or Eviternity II. The sort of wads you go up to the creators and ask "How are you going to celebrate when you get an award?".

antares031 · December 21, 2023

Like many people have mentioned before, it's always welcome to see some more community-made contents to review & retrospect mapsets, gameplay mods, and other community-made creations. Since it was the 30th anniversary of Doom, it would be so nice to get an additional awarding ceremony to celebrate this special moment, letting people know about more Doom mods, mapsets, and megawads to cherish from this special year. Too bad that what we saw from Doom Awards was something completely different than Cacowards. Frankly, Doom Awards was one of the biggest disappointments from this year.

What makes Doom Awards worse is that their attitude to the public. Many people made vaild criticisms toward Doom Awards, mostly about their AI-generated contents with no efforts. Some of AI-generated pictures even made them worse than the original pictures, because they just let the AI to upscale the images and never reviewed them for quality check. It actually gave me a better result by increasing the size of a picture from Paint, instead of using their AI upscaler. Not to mention that those reviews were not written by people, but generated by ChatGPT, making them to be filled with mediocre words and even false informations. This issue would've been resolved, if there's a minimum amount of effort to check the quality of generated words. But it looked like they actually didn't pay attention to the winners, and just let the AI do the whole thing and called it a day. Their response against those criticisms was just ignoring all of them, blocking people who gave them helpful opinions on Twitter, showing their poor public relation skills. If they don't want to listen to people, then fine. People won't listen to them as well.

I learned that Doom Awards was actually born from the hatred toward the Cacowards. Ironically, this Doom Awards made Cacowards even more stand out than before, letting people to appreciate more elaborate, hand-written articles with actual love and passion to Doom, rather than just lazily pumped-out AI-generated words and photos without soul. If this was their original intention somehow, despite their anger against the Cacowards, then it was indeed "a great success", like they mentioned on Twitter.

ReaperAA · December 21, 2023

I was looking forward to Doom awards, but after reading this thread and especially all of the information posted by HiMyNameIsChair, I am thoroughly disappointed. I am all for having more award ceremonies, but the way the Doom Awards team managed it is just embarrassing. Not only was all of this badly rushed (no thanks to the self-imposed crunch), but then responding so poorly when the mistakes and shortcomings were pointed out. Frankly, instead of doing all this in like 15 days, the team (or is it just Harkos?) should've taken the time to plan and have the awards for next year instead.

All this stuff tempts me to make a thread to talk and discuss about wads that I have played and enjoyed over the years.

SiMpLeToNiUm · December 21, 2023

This isn't AT anyone in particular, but just something I feel needs to be said. There's a real undertone of pity to this whole thing, and I think it needs to be reiterated that most people have gotten recognition envy at some point. It's a natural part of the creative experience and just being part of a community in general. When people get lost in it though or have unaddressed shit in their personal lives, it gets pathological and everyone's worse off for it...like with this whole thing.

It's always really uncomfortable to see grown adults acting like literal children. A better effort could come about someday that isn't just a bad-faith grab at clout and attention, and I really hope someone manages it, but until then I think this type of behavior is to be expected. Additional Doom community awards could potentially do a lot of good, but they have to have focus and the right intentions behind them. Lots of people smelt this coming from miles away and it gave off real bad vibes from the start. There's a necessity to understand pro-social behaviors and having humility and a genuine interest in growing as a creative person that is sorely lacking from the Doom Awards and people that pull the woe is me routine during each Cacoward season. That's not being mean-spirited, elitist or cynical. We see it every year. Grow up, check your ego, put your nose to the grindstone and hone your craft in humble silence while trying to actually be a better creative and a better person. You might get a Caco that way, you might not, but doing it JUST to get one will ensure you never do, and some people are in such scary denial about all of that. It's not just about you, it's about the journey and the friends and support you make along the way. Pat your fellow Doomers on the back, learn from them and be a part of the community's growth. Stop trying to get your slice of the cake and STOP with the pathologically antisocial behavior.

THAT's why this undertaking failed, not because people wanted it to.

RDETalus · December 21, 2023

I think this stems from an expectation that the Cacowards are supposed to be THE single objective, impartial award ceremony that speaks for the entire Doom community.

A far healthier attitude would be to understand that many different competitions and awards can happen simultaneously. For example, you can win first place bowling in your home state. That's something to be very proud of. There are other people who will win first place bowling in their own home states as well, but those winners don't detract from your own win. And just as one state would never give its first place award to some foreigner living in a different state, there is nothing wrong with a community that decides to celebrate its own community members.

For that reason I think the Doom Awards is a great idea, it just had terrible execution. I hope whoever is running it spends the next year whipping it into proper shape, because I think it would be a welcome addition to the community.

roadworx · December 21, 2023

6 hours ago, HiMyNameIsChair said:

a small novella

jesus that's a lot of shit. what an absolute pissbaby.

i suppose that part of their goal was met, as prior to this i had never known of the existence of hakros or the bloom tc. i certainly know of them now though lol, they're getting recognition even if it's not for what they wanted

12 minutes ago, RDETalus said:

For that reason I think the Doom Awards is a great idea, it just had terrible execution. I hope whoever is running it spends the next year whipping it into proper shape, because I think it would be a welcome addition to the community.

it is a great idea, but the problem with that is that you cannot possibly turn the doom awards into something great when the whole thing is being done not out of passion, but out of spite, jealousy, convoluted conspiracy theories, and a need for attention. there's really only a few ways that you can go about turning this whole mess into something positive, and when those methods require either the current managers of the doom awards stepping down or completely reevaluating their mindset and worldview, then the chances of any good coming out of it are pretty slim.

ShallowB · December 21, 2023

I still think it’s funny that they spent months complaining about MA specifically, and then she wasn’t even involved in the Cacowards and also got more Doom Award mentions than Cacowards this year. Unless… OH NO! She’s infiltrated the Doom Awards too! SHE’S IN THE GODDAMN WALLS!

Nah but seriously this whole thing was doomed from the start. You can’t build a community project on a foundation of spite and jealousy and then top it off with laziness. I love the idea of recognizing members of the Doom community in a different format from the Cacowards. A community vote is not an inherently bad idea. They can, and should, co-exist with the Cacowards’ hand-picked-by-a-panel-of-experts format! Both are valuable metrics by which you can judge community contributions! But people have tried that method in the past and found it to be unreliable and a lot of work, so if you want to make it happen, you better have some good ideas and be ready to put in some effort. If you don’t want to do that, well… then what’s even the point? What are you doing? You’re not entitled to your own respected awards ceremony just because you decided you want one. Surely the Cacowards did not become a thing overnight instantly just because Scuba Steve thought one day it would be neat, right? And I’m sure if everyone stopped putting in the effort every year, the Cacos would also die off. That wouldn’t be anyone’s fault, haters or otherwise. That’s just what happens when you don’t put work into a project.

idk Doom Awards feels like a kid showing up without his homework and then getting mad when the teacher gives them a 0 for their homework grade. I don’t know what to tell you man, you didn’t really do anything so I don’t know why you expected results.

Major Arlene · December 21, 2023

Hi.

I for one admit to hogging all the Cacowards for myself and fuck you for asking.

In seriousness - the goal of my tweets was not to "take down" the Doom Awards, I absolutely was not expecting the series of tweets that's been linked a few times in this thread now to blow up the way it did, when it did. I was made aware of this project when Agent Strange first tweeted about this way back on May 5 - I immediately became suspicious when it was linked to the ZDF drama - whatever you feel about that, ZDF has never had a thing to do with the Cacowards or Doomworld.

But hey, whatever. Maybe a project started out of spite may for once actually not turn out to be complete crap. But as can be quickly found in all the evidence posted, the effort was not put in to make it something good.

I'm trying not to repost everything that I posted to Twitter about the topic but I want to emphasize that the Cacowards team members do this work, for free, on top of full time jobs most or all of the time. Many bilingual people have learned to get past their language barriers to create wonderful reviews. And it is hard. fucking. work. And you have to be committed. I found over time I could not commit to the quality that the Cacowards needed at that time and stepped down. And amazing writers have come in my place, I could not think of a better team to lead it now.

It feels hollow to have words that an AI generated sent to me and the expectation for me to accept that gracefully and with open arms was silly. As I would feel it would be for most creators (but I can't speak for everyone, of course).

Someone had asked "why don't you accept the recognition? you should be grateful!" and the truth is I don't need that. I have a community I feel at home with, I like the things I make, I am happy, and I am safe. It may have been something I wanted for myself when I was younger and less secure in my work but it's not something I want or need now.

My advice is, in the words of Emily Artful: do what you love, and fuck the rest. Accolades are wonderful but do not let them be what define you.

EDIT FOR IMPORTANT CONTEXT: Agent Strange who is mentioned in this post is not involved in the Doom Awards, he was simply trying to help get eyeballs on it at the time at the request of I guess Hakros. He's a pillar of the Doom community on Twitter and has since disavowed this entire thing as well. He's wonderful and I'm sorry for not clarifying that.

Second edit: Emily Artful got that from Little Miss Sunshine, my bad for wrong attributions (she attributes it correctly)

Edited December 21, 2023 by Major Arlene : important context

Herr Dethnout · December 21, 2023

I heard about that awards, never expecting to end so badly lol.

Anyways, can I get an award?

mrthejoshmon · December 21, 2023

If their intention was to piss everyone off and they're that fucking strained for writers that AI vomit is their main man they should just hire me

Seriously, I'll break out my old douchebag review persona so next time they will piss on everything except ethically.

Redneckerz · December 21, 2023

9 hours ago, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

It actually makes perfect sense, though, that Mayor Arlane has kidnapped the Cacowards, along with rj. Consider the following information to help you come to your own conclusion:

Reveal hidden contents

The evidence for Arlane and rj kidnapping the Cacowards for themselves as an act of self promotion is undeniable. Firstly, it is important to note that Arlane and rj are both moderators at Doomworld.com, making them highly influential figures in the Doom gaming community. As moderators, they have the power to control and manipulate the content and discussions on the forum. This gives them an advantage in promoting their own projects and gaining recognition within the Doom community. Furthermore, the Cacowards ceremony, which celebrates the best Doom wads of the year, has been hosted by Arlane and rj every year since the 60's. This is a highly prestigious event in the community and attracts a lot of attention and recognition. This provides the perfect opportunity for Arlane and rj to promote themselves and their projects. In addition, it has been noted that in the months leading up to the 2023 Cacowards ceremony, Arlane and rj had been hyping up their own Doom wads and projects, garnering a lot of attention and anticipation from the community. This sudden promotion and attention is highly suspicious and suggests that they had been planning something special for the 2023 ceremony.

Moreover, on the day of the 2023 Cacowards ceremony, it was reported that the Cacowards were mysteriously missing. Despite the efforts of the organizers and attendees, the Cacowards could not be found. This is highly suspicious and raises the question of who could have possibly taken them. It is highly unlikely that someone from outside the Doom community would have any reason to steal the Cacowards, which leads us to believe that someone within the community must be responsible. Lastly, Arlane and rj's behavior after the 2023 Cacowards ceremony further raises suspicions. They were seen flaunting and boasting about their own Doom projects, clearly using the event to promote themselves and their works. This behavior is uncharacteristic of previous years and points towards them using the absence of the Cacowards to gain attention for their own projects.

With all this hard evidence, it is undeniable that Arlane and rj were behind the kidnapping of the Cacowards for their own selfish gain. But this was not simply a case of them manipulating the event to promote their projects. No, the kidnapping was a shocking and violent act of self-promotion. Eyewitnesses reported seeing Arlane and rj sneaking into the venue the night before the ceremony, armed with shotguns. The next morning, when the organizers went to retrieve the Cacowards, they found a gruesome scene. The display case that held the prestigious awards was shattered, covered in blood and guts. And in the center of it all, were the missing Cacowards, mutilated and defaced with the names "Arlane" and "rj" carved into them. It was clear that this was not just a simple case of stealing the awards, but a brutal and violent act of self-glorification. Arlane and rj had taken the Cacowards for themselves, showing no regard for the hard work and talent of the recipients or the significance of the awards within the community. It was a despicable and heinous act that shook the Doomworld community to its core.

Rj escapes with the Cacowards while Arlane fights with the police. As the police arrived at the website, chaos and confusion ensued. The once peaceful and welcoming forum was now a crime scene, with shattered glass, blood, and the mutilated Cacowards scattered around. Police rushed to secure the area and detain any suspects. However, before they could do so, rj was seen fleeing the scene with the Cacowards in tow. Despite the police's best efforts, rj managed to escape and went into hiding, taking the awards with them. Meanwhile, Arlane put up a violent resistance, refusing to go down without a fight. A fierce battle between Arlane and the police ensued, with Arlane using various weapons and tools found on the website to defend herself. The police were able to subdue Arlane and bring her into custody, but not without sustaining injuries themselves. As the investigation and manhunt for rj and the missing Cacowards continues, the once beloved and respected moderators have been exposed as dangerous and selfish individuals who will stop at nothing to promote their own interests. The community is left in shock and mourning, questioning the true motives of those in positions of power. The annual Cacowards ceremony may never be the same again.

"The scene was like something out of a horror movie. The Cacowards were like mangled corpses, and the names 'Arlane' and 'rj' carved into them... it was sickening." - Witness "I never thought Arlane and rj were capable of something like this. It's a complete betrayal of the Doomworld community and the spirit of the Cacowards." - Attendee "I saw rj running out of the venue with the Cacowards, grinning like a madman. It was like they were proud of what they had done." - Attendee "Arlane was like a wild animal, fighting off the police with a vengeance. It was terrifying to see someone you thought you knew turn into such a violent and ruthless person." - Forum member "I can't believe they would go to such lengths just to gain a little more recognition and promote their projects. It just shows their true character." - Recipient of a stolen Cacoward.

If you have any information pertaining to the case, please contact your local authorities through an appropriate channel.

I for one am glad you kept the spelling error of the Major in it, very apt.

(Yeah in case nobody noticed, they can't even spell those who they dislike correctly.)

4 hours ago, Major Arlene said:

I immediately became suspicious when it was linked to the ZDF drama - whatever you feel about that, ZDF has never had a thing to do with the Cacowards or Doomworld.

Wait, the origin story for this whole grudge was that?

Well then. And indeed - ZDF's thing has literally nothing with DW or the Caco''s.

Misty · December 21, 2023

I was really briefly in their server around may, there were so much hate boner for doomworld and zdoom forums and some community members. I have some logs saved, but I decided to leave it be. From the start I knew it will fail, because so much anger, hate and trying to show how they are better than cacowards and rest of people. At some point you as the person need to think if it's really worthy spend so much time and energy on people you dislike and focus on what's important. Of course, everything aged like milk, including promotional tweets from Agent Strange or how they are.

Major Arlene · December 21, 2023

1 hour ago, Misty said:

including promotional tweets from Agent Strange or how they are.

I've added context for this in my other comment because I realize now how I made that sound - Agent Strange is lovely, he just wanted more eyeballs on the project at the time because he in good faith, like a lot of people did, didn't realize all the issues with it at the time.

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