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Criteria for Jury Work - Objectives and Quality Criteria

Criteria for Jury Work - Objectives and Quality Criteria

Criteria

1 Objective

The profile of the German Computer Game Awards (DCP) is derived from the preamble to the agreement on the awarding of the DCP, in particular by recognizing the award-worthy quality of German and international games. This includes:

  • artistic or cultural value or
  • pedagogical-didactic value or
  • Technology and innovation or
  • fun and entertainment or
  • impact and perception.

Depending on the award category, the respective quality criteria must be weighted by the expert jury. In principle, business models have no relevance to the prize-worthiness of a game. The following descriptions provide an example of the basic orientation.

2 Quality Criteria

  • 2.1 Artistic or Cultural Value

    The nominated title…

    • deals with themes of social or cultural significance.
    • promotes an engagement with the culture and/or identity of the recipients.
    • fascinates through its aesthetic, dramaturgical and/or game-mechanical design and attention to detail.
    • captivates through its audiovisual representation of the game environment, special storytelling or successful stylization.
    • stands up to comparison with other works of its genre, other media genres and/or the gaming tradition.

  • 2.2 Educational Value of a Computer or Video Game

    The nominated title…

    • offers links to the target group’s world, encourages critical reflection and arouses empathy.
    • conveys specialist knowledge, expertise, values or manners without being instructive.
    • has a level of difficulty appropriate to the target group and offers a frustration-free gaming experience.
    • offers potential learning effects in terms of sensorimotor, cognitive, social, personal and/or media skills and gives players valuable feedback on their progress.
    • avoids depicting socially problematic behavior (e.g. violence and discrimination) or at best presents it in a way that is appropriate for the target group and encourages critical reflection.
    • offers potential for encouragement, such as self-efficacy, empathy, curiosity and inspiration.

  • 2.3 Technology and Innovation

    The nominated title…

    • runs technically flawlessly, is smooth to play, does not crash and contains no obvious bugs.
    • maintains the balance of difficulty.
    • is ergonomically controllable.
    • is customizable in terms of controls and presentation.
    • makes sensible use of hardware strengths and compensates for weaknesses as far as possible.
    • leaves well-trodden genre paths, is characterized by the successful implementation of original ideas and/or surprises with special qualities in technology, game mechanics, visualization, controls, acoustics, etc.
    • demonstrates new, previously unimplemented game mechanics, new monetization models, game content that differs significantly from the familiar, is innovative in a different way or has the potential to have a relevant influence on future games.
    • uses games or game elements in new, previously unused contexts or transfers contexts from other areas to the field of digital games for the first time.
    • supports the development, maintenance or marketing of games in new, previously unused ways.

  • 2.4 Fun and Entertainment

    The nominated title…

    • is dramaturgically motivating, offers players particularly entertaining or touching moments, for example, and impresses with an interesting story and a plot full of twists and turns.
    • is easy to use, motivating, captivating and maintains a balance between pleasure, frustration and challenge.
    • is characterized by originality, charm and appeal and promotes shared play and experience.
    • offers scope for self-determined play (experience of self-efficacy) in an authentic/relevant game world.

  • 2.5 Impact and Perception

    The nominated title…

    • appeals to a broad audience and/or sets genre standards.
    • is popular with players or reaches a specific target group, a specific market segment target group, a specific market segment or a (global) region.
    • perfects or improves established features or sets new genre conventions.
    • achieves high ratings in the trade press, receives many (very) good user reviews and/or a lot of coverage in streams and Let’s Plays.
    • is suitable in international comparison as a figurehead for the creative power and/or artistic maturity and/or economic performance of the German games industry.
Organisers:
Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space
game – The German Games Industry Association
Supporter:
Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur gGmbH
Sponsors and media partners