Judging the 2008 Crap Games Compo

• Looking back over previous CSSCGC websites, I have discovered that different judging methods have been used over the years. Examples include having multiple judges or a single judge or even opening up the compo to public voting.

• For CSSCGC 2008 I'll take the straightforward approach of judging the games myself. To help me do this fairly and in the spirit of the compo, I am currently examining previous CSSCGC competitions to get a feel for the qualities of the games that have done well in the past, and of course games that have done badly. This is now the thirteenth CSSCGC compo so there are plenty of past results to look at. I aim to judge according to similar criteria as has been used in the past, whilst still forming my own opinions as to what is truly an impressive crap game, and what isn't. However, my overbearing consideration is to stick with the true spirit of the compo.

• As I learnt last year, there's a fine line between crap games, and utter rubbish. Games that are just rubbish, rather than exquisitely crap will not score as highly. Likewise, games that are actually good and in no way crap will not score as highly as truly crap games.

• For each game that comes in, I am actually giving it a crapness score from 0 to 10, depending on the "crapness" of the game. Games that are crap in amusing or original ways are more likely to score higher that games that are just simply irritating or that fail to work altogether. Likewise games that have had a little bit of time spent on them (not too much of course) are more likely to score higher than games that have been put together in less than five minutes. The crappiness scores will not be revealed publically until the results are announced in 2009.

• At the end of the compo I will revisit every game in turn and replay it. I will then adjust or normalise my previously decided crapiness scores again if needed depending on my longer term re-evaluations of the games. I feel that when all the games have been submitted, then I will have the big picture in order re-score them properly and fairly.

• The game with the highest score will win the compo and the prize. The game with the lowest score will lose. and the author of the losing game may possibly required to host CSSCGC 2009. (However, this duty has now been opened up to potential volunteers. So, it only applies if no-one has volunteered to host CSSCGC 2009 by the end of this year.). There is no longer a booby prize for the loser.. There may be a booby prize of hosting CSSCGC 2009 for the loser, however I am endeavouring to try to pre-arrange with someone "enthusiastic" to host CSSCGC 2009. All other games will also be scored, so that we can say a particular game came third of fifth for example, and they can all be listed in order of score. I will post this list of results early in 2009.

• I will genuinely endeavour to be as fair as is possible to all entrants when awarding the final scores. Responsibility for judging could have been deferred to a publically open poll for each game on the CSSCGC 2008 forum, however I decided against it as I cannot guarantee that such a poll would be completely secure, or open to unknown influences. Alternatively I could have asked for volunteer co-judges etc.. but again I will try to get the judging done relatively quickly in early 2009 to allow plenty of time for next year's compo to start. Having no co-judges allows me to guarantee that it will be done relatively quickly, without emails having to fly back and forth before announcing the results. As stated on the main page, the final results will be immutable once posted.

• I'm not susceptible to bribery, as I'm not particularly keen on Rolos, and you can't do much with 75p nowadays either. Having said that, if anyone had a pack of "ET biscuits" and a can of "Quatro" available, then would be quite impressive. However as I know that these things no longer exist then it is impossible to use them for bribery purposes. Even if it was attempted, it would in no way influence the overall scores, I can assure everyone of that.

• Any notes I may make in the description fields on the games page are simply the result of my first quick glance at the submitted games, so that they can be posted up on the website as quickly as possible with a quick idea of what each game involves. Therefore these comments should not be taken as an indication as to how the game will ultimately score in the compo.

• Bear in mind that the method of judging and/or the judging itself is at the discretion of whoever is hosting the compo, so expect things to be done completely differently next year (or maybe not) depending whoever lands the job of hosting CSSCGC 2009.