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Award ceremonies have been with us since time immemorial. Competing to see who is the best at something is a part of human nature and today, even the video game industry has a ton of different competitions. One of the most popular ones is the The Game Awards, an annual awards ceremony, which will have its tenth iteration very soon, on December 12. On that note, the nominees for the coveted Game of the Year and other awards were announced yesterday, and TFD was nowhere to be seen. This begs the question: should The First Descendant have been nominated for an award? Surprisingly, this question has sparked a massive debate in the community.
“The First Descendant Should Have Been Nominated for “Best Community Support” Award
The nominees for The Game Awards 2024 have been announced and will be “competing” in various categories, like Best Narrative, Best Art Direction, Best Ongoing Game, or the most prestigious Game of the Year, to name a few. One of the categories is Best Community Support, which is for games that have the best developers/community relationships, open communication and transparency with the fans, and stuff like that. This year, the nominees for that award are Baldur’s Gate 3, Final Fantasy XIV, Fortnite, Helldivers 2, and No Man’s Sky.
Some TFD fans are a bit disappointed that their favorite game was not nominated in any category. Nexon really has a close relationship with the fanbase, especially with the official Q&A channel that opened recently. One player stated that it should have at least been nominated for “Best Community Support”, adding: “The game was released at a rough state, even now, it still has a way to go. But the dev’s communication is better than anything I’ve seen in a long while.” However, this sparked a debate in the community, with some agreeing and some heavily disagreeing, some saying that it won’t be nominated due to political reasons, while others went a completely different route, saying that TGA has nothing to do with game quality and that it’s just for show.
“Best Devs Ever!”
A lot of players claim that Nexon is deserving of a TGA nomination. The open communication it has with the players is nothing short of commendable. “Communication, Feedback and commitment is ultra high,” said UgandaJim, “They realized pretty early that listening to concerns of other fellow descendants make a difference and their loyalty to their favorites” said Flaky-Bee2563, while others think that the game is too “young” to be considered right now. “Give it a year so more people understand how interactive they have been with the community. The game is still very new compared to the other nominees.” said xandorai.
Players Say The First Descendant Is Not Good Enough to Be Nominated for an Award
On the other end of the spectrum, those who say that TFD is not deserving of an award are way more vocal with their opinions. However, there are a lot of different approaches to this. Some say that the communication is actually not that good. “This game doesn’t even have an official forum page, let alone they’re not even checking most of the platforms other than Discord and Twitter. I also witnessed how the support team of this game been ignoring some of the players issues in regards of account linking fiasko.” said Xenomorph-Drone.
Moreover, some claim that Nexon has been way too agreeable and that being yes-men does not mean “good communication”. “Developers’ situation and stance feels weak… They’re letting players control them.” said Battery1255, “There’s being receptive to feedback and accommodating players’ wishes, and then there’s placating to the detriment of the game’s health.” agreed Puzzleheaded_Owl35, and “…the devs have been communicative but they’ve been purely yes men, which although great for making community not act up isn’t necessarily what their job should be.” added Snivyland.
Lastly, there are those who say that TFD still has too many balancing and other gameplay issues to be considered for an award, as well as not being THAT popular (like other nominees).
Is it All About Pushing the Agenda?
Finally, a lot of players say that TGA today is more about politics and not about honoring quality games. It is a known fact that today’s mainstream pushes a certain agenda and that IPs (be it movies, games, or anything else) that don’t fall into that category will have a rough time. They say that TFD’s main selling point (the very appealing design of the characters) is the reason why it isn’t so well-received in today’s “Western” world. “The gaming industry is now about pushing an agenda and the fact that TFD hasn’t already been the subject of a coordinated takedown campaign surprises me,” said Cinj216, and “Title like Veilguard and Dusborn will be the ones walking out with awards. Because they stuck to the message. TFD has been under fire in more than one occasion because of the character designs,” added haildoge69.
Ultimately, the Steam Awards are getting closer (usually somewhere around New Year’s) so there is a chance there, and let’s not forget that The First Descendant was awarded the Best Game Award (“Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Award” to be specific) on Korea Game Awards on November 13. It’s not all that bad.