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The XYZZY Awards are the annual awards given to works of interactive fiction, serving a similar role to the Academy Awards for film.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The awards were inaugurated in 1997 by Eileen Mullin, the editor of XYZZYnews.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Any game released during the year prior to the award ceremony is eligible for nomination to receive an award. The decision process takes place in two stages: members of the interactive fiction community nominate works within specific categories and sufficiently supported nominations become finalists within those categories. Community members then vote among the finalists, and the game receiving a plurality of votes is given the award in an online ceremony. Template:R
Since 1997, the XYZZY Awards have become one of the most important events within the interactive fiction community.<ref>Carless, Simon. XYZZY Ranks Top Text Adventures For 2005. GameSetWatch. 28 March 2006.</ref> Together with events like the Interactive Fiction Competition and Spring Thing, the XYZZY Awards provide opportunities for the community to encourage and reward the creation and development of new works within a genre that is no longer commercially lucrative.<ref>Davidson, Drew. Well played 1.0: video games, value and meaning. ETC Press. 2009. Template:ISBN</ref>
The name of the awards comes from the magic word "xyzzy" causing teleportation from the popular early text adventure game Adventure.
AwardsEdit
The awards have been presented in the following categories.<ref name="awardsLists" />
Best gameEdit
The game which is the most enjoyable as a whole; other awards recognize merit in particular qualities.
Best writingEdit
A game which rises above the others in the quality of its descriptive text.
Best storyEdit
The game with the deepest or most original story.
Best settingEdit
The most original or best-described locations.
Best puzzlesEdit
The most well-crafted, clever, and appropriate puzzles.
Best NPCsEdit
Appropriate, amusing, and well-written casts of non-player characters.
Best individual puzzleEdit
The most inspired, well-crafted, and intriguing puzzle.
Best individual NPCEdit
A particularly well-implemented and well-written non-player character.
Best individual PCEdit
A particularly well-defined and well-written player character.
Best use of mediumEdit
The category had no specific criteria given to voters; many chose to interpret this award as a recognition of particularly daring interpretations of the limits and abilities of interactive fiction, especially as regards the relationship between the player, narrator, and player character. This award was retired in 2010, when Best Implementation and Best Use of Innovation were introduced as replacements.
Best implementationEdit
Introduced in 2010 along with Best Use of Innovation, to replace the Best use of Medium award. It recognizes "completeness of implementation, excellence in parser messages, etc".<ref name="whatsnew">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Best use of innovationEdit
Introduced in 2010 along with Best Implementation, to replace the Best use of Medium award. It recognizes the "most innovative game".<ref name="whatsnew"/>
Best technological developmentEdit
Recognizes "interpreters, authoring systems, libraries, utilities, and so on".<ref name="whatsnew"/>
Best supplemental materialsEdit
Outstanding non-game content ("feelies") created to accompany specific games. Eligibility is based on the year when the supplemental materials were released, regardless of the year of release of the game.
- 2010: Creating Interactive Fiction with Inform 7 (Aaron A. Reed)
- 2011: PDFs and screencast tutorials for Kerkerkruip
- 2012: Feelies for Muggle Studies
- 2013: Multimedia – Dominique Pamplemousse