The 2021 Cacowards

[LadyMistDragon]

I forgot this earlier, but @rd. just happened to make a post that had at least one thought I was thinking. If the Dootwards get expanded next year, I'd like to express my interest in writing a little something for them.

[Steve D]

I'm a bit late to the party, but Yay! The Cacowards are here. Congratulations to all the winners. You all deserved the honor!

 

This has been a sensational year for the community, and I think that while it may slow down some in 2022, we'll see big floods of great stuff every year for years to come. Not only do we seem to have a critical mass of creators, but even if some of them drift away for awhile, or longer, we keep getting newcomers like @LordEntr0py, entering at Master Level. What, you trying to be the next Nootrac4571 or something? Sheesh! ;)

 

So basically, we're set for endless fun.

 

I wish I could say that I played a bunch of this year's line-up of bangers, but IRL stuff kept me away, so the only thing I played was Lullaby by @Danlex. My jaw hit the floor at the start and stayed there all the way through. IMO the most beautiful map I've ever seen.

 

My heartiest congratulations to the Cacowards crew for your hard work and outstanding write-ups. I hate to single anyone out, but major props to @Demon of the Well and @rd. for killin' it like always. And yes, I'm going to miss @Not Jabba's insights and outstanding prose, but cheers to the new team members, you're off to a great start.

 

I was honored to get a Silver Caco as part of the Deadly Standards 3 team. I think the series has been strong from the start, and IMO this year's edition had some sweet entries. So thank you, judges!

 

2022 is just around the corner, Doomers. I'm betting it's going to be almost as good as 2021. :)

[pcorf]

1 hour ago, Steve D said:

2022 is just around the corner, Doomers. I'm betting it's going to be almost as good as 2021. :)

 

To be honest it might be actually slightly better.

[Rook]

I was late to notice it, but delighted and honoured to see my mapset Sucker Punch 2 included in the 21 More for '21 section - thanks again @Major Arlene for the writeup. I think that for the first time, Doom mapping really "clicked" with me while making those nine maps. it has been a pleasure to see numerous people playing the set and making demos, streams, and videos. I plan to work on Sucker Punch 3 and to release it in 2022.

 

It was also a nice surprise to see a screenshot of my map "Sand Trap", a contribution to RAMP. @DavidN did an extraordinary job with organising, guiding and documenting that project so congratulations again from me.

 

The Cacowards are such a unique thing which are integral to what makes the classic Doom community special. Huge thanks to all those who make it possible, and sincere congratulations to all the winners, runners-up and mentions.

[Somniac]

Well done to all who made the cut. I admit it was a quiet dream of mine to maybe end up somewhere on that list I've read so many times over the years, but I've only started mapping and released a few of my own maps this year, and none of them have been especially outstanding really. Even if one of the CPs I'd took part in had made it that would have blown my mind a little bit, as conceptually I felt they were all very interesting and worthy of recognition due to the work of everyone involved. 

 

Anyway, it's not a competition and my takeaway from it all is to keep doing what I'm doing. Except better! Hopefully....lol

[MemeMind]

Cool Cacoawards

[Sokoro]

There is so much of stuff.

Am I the only who has hard time even keeping track of all those wads, let alone playing them?

Is it even possible to stay sane after killing so many demons after those years?

Could you just make a little less, maybe?

 

Still very good stuff and GZ for the awards.

[Roofi]

About the speedrun section , I'm pretty surprised there is no mention about JCD's first ever made D2all nm100s on Plutonia. The demo was recorded during december just after the cacowards 2020.

 

 

[Xaser]

Sorry for the hella-late response, but I suck at words and I'm still kinda in shock (in a good way). Just wanna say super-thanks for the writeup and  the kind words and dammit I still can't believe this has happened. o_O

 

I do feel a bit sheepish 'cause there's like a zillion unfinished things on my plate, one of which is a long-arse list of people to thank that's still brewing in my head 'cause I don't wanna forget anyone, but for now I wanted to at least highlight this one bit 'cause it nicely sums up where my head is at:

 

On 12/10/2021 at 9:32 AM, kraflab said:

I hope that was a half-lifetime achievement award, because we have more to do in 2022 😉

 

I ain't done yet.

[Not Jabba]

On 12/10/2021 at 3:08 AM, Peter said:

The Plutonia MIDI Pack 10000% deserves to retroactively be awarded a 2013 Cacoward.

To underscore the bigger perspective, I was actually planning to run a feature this past year to retroactively give the Dootaward to soundtracks released from 2008 to 2019, similar to the Missed Cacowards. Not that I was in any way qualified to write about that subject, but I was going to anyway, because I cared about it. I had discussed it with the team, and I had picked out all the contenders and many of the awardees for those years (any earlier coverage would've been too spotty -- there were many early years with no OSTs at all). I'm not sure whether PlutMIDI would have gotten one, because that was also the year Unholy Realms came out, but it was still up in the air. 2019 would have been the easiest year of all; we literally had already agreed to create the music award by the end of 2019 and had selected Eviternity as its recipient that year, but ultimately no one was able to get the writeup done between a combination of existing Cacoward commitments, the publication of Roots, and real life. I had already run three 25 Years of Doom features, so I don't doubt that I would have managed to force the Missed Dootawards out one way or another if I'd stuck around -- and given how much text everyone else churned out this year, it would most likely have been by writing the whole thing myself.

 

But I retired from the Cacoward team (whether temporarily or permanently, I still have no idea) because it was more extra pressure and work than I was able to handle in 2021. The Cacowards are a year-round process and a huge amount of work. There's not a single person on the team who takes it lightly, or who doesn't think that every extra word and every inch of sidebar space crammed into those pages is worth the effort for celebrating everything people have created each year. There have already been at least two or three groups of people who tried to create competitors to the Cacowards -- and I would actually like to see someone succeed at that -- but so far they have all given up because they didn't understand how much effort and compromise it was going to take.

 

Criticism of the Cacowards is valid, and although it's an inevitable piece of the mental health toll of participating in the creation of the awards, it has to be accepted in stride and taken to heart. But what has really bothered me in the past few years is the growing numbers of people who come in fists swinging, whether it's on Doomworld or some other platform, expecting, demanding, or pressuring for awards to be given to their own work, as though loudly insisting upon their own greatness is the key to success. That's not how any of this works. Nobody is qualified to determine the quality of their own projects, and at the point where people are throwing tantrums about it, they've lost sight of ethics and integrity, let alone common sense. I don't remember this happening in the old days, although it may have. Maybe it has just become more common, along with every other aspect of creation, as the community has grown. But I hope that people will be more self-aware than that, or at least that the broader community will recognize it for what it is. 

 

I'll echo what many people have said, that it would be great to see a dedicated music writer on the Cacowards team (although DotW has been excellent at the award reviews). I've thought about this before, and I was always like, "Oh man, it would be so perfect if we had Jimmy or AD or Tristan hanging out and working on that." But aside from whether they'd want to do it or not, Jimmy and AD and Tristan are involved in like half of the soundtracks that come out. It would never work. So like rd said, if you're interested in reviewing music or anything else, please get out there and show your writing chops.

 

Finally, although a lot of people have said it already, a huge thanks to everyone on the Cacowards team for producing the biggest awards ever. The expansions this year are fantastic, and you are all awesome.

[Doomkid]

1 hour ago, Not Jabba said:

what has really bothered me in the past few years is the growing numbers of people who come in fists swinging, whether it's on Doomworld or some other platform, expecting, demanding, or pressuring for awards to be given to their own work, as though loudly insisting upon their own greatness is the key to success. That's not how any of this works. Nobody is qualified to determine the quality of their own projects, and at the point where people are throwing tantrums about it, they've lost sight of ethics and integrity, let alone common sense. 

That’s a good point, Not Jabba. However, have you considered the fact that me and all my projects are super epic and deserve all the Cacowards, so if you don’t give me all the Cacos then you’re just a big meanie? Just do some soul searching, Caco team. The true answer lies within...

 

 

 

(that answer is “giving me Cacowards” just to be super clear)

[Major Arlene]

2 hours ago, Not Jabba said:

Criticism of the Cacowards is valid, and although it's an inevitable piece of the mental health toll of participating in the creation of the awards, it has to be accepted in stride and taken to heart. But what has really bothered me in the past few years is the growing numbers of people who come in fists swinging, whether it's on Doomworld or some other platform, expecting, demanding, or pressuring for awards to be given to their own work, as though loudly insisting upon their own greatness is the key to success. That's not how any of this works. Nobody is qualified to determine the quality of their own projects, and at the point where people are throwing tantrums about it, they've lost sight of ethics and integrity, let alone common sense. I don't remember this happening in the old days, although it may have. Maybe it has just become more common, along with every other aspect of creation, as the community has grown. But I hope that people will be more self-aware than that, or at least that the broader community will recognize it for what it is.

I'll echo this as well, if you're making things for the sole purpose of getting awards you'll end up sorely disappointed pretty much every single time. Make things because you love to do it, or you want to improve a skill. Creative works are a highly intrinsic process, and while validation is nice, it shouldn't be the only reason you make maps.

[Biodegradable]

Receiving a Cacoaward should be a positive consequence of you putting all your love into your creations, not your prime motivation. The recognition and prestige of getting one for your hard work is nice and all, but finalising your creative vision and being able to put it out there for the world to enjoy should be its own reward. If not, you're creating for the wrong reasons.

Edited December 18, 2021 by Biodegradable

[MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai]

On 12/17/2021 at 11:33 PM, Major Arlene said:

I'll echo this as well, if you're making things for the sole purpose of getting awards you'll end up sorely disappointed pretty much every single time. Make things because you love to do it, or you want to improve a skill. Creative works are a highly intrinsic process, and while validation is nice, it shouldn't be the only reason you make maps.

Can't wait for a new genre of creative projects to spawn here called "Caco Baits" ;)

Edited December 19, 2021 by MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai

[dew]

On 12/14/2021 at 4:50 PM, Roofi said:

About the speedrun section , I'm pretty surprised there is no mention about JCD's first ever made D2all nm100s on Plutonia. The demo was recorded during december just after the cacowards 2020.

I had to be economic with space - and the sidebar is still extremely long and sort of breaks the page flow. I skipped over the nm100s movie, because it's a rarer category and I skipped Arby's Sunder max, because it misses two monsters, even though not by his fault. I'd have to add some extra explanation for either of them, which would be even more words and longer sidebar. I apologize for that, but space constraints were a real worry.

 

In fact, before any further expansion of the music award, I'd much prefer giving a more formal upgrade to the speedrun section.

Edited December 19, 2021 by dew

[dac]

3 hours ago, dew said:

I had to be economic with space - and the sidebar is still extremely long and sort of breaks the page flow. I skipped over the nm100s movie, because it's a rarer category and I skipped Arby's Sunder max, because it misses two monsters, even though not by his fault. I'd have to add some extra explanation for either of them, which would be even more words and longer sidebar. I apologize for that, but space constraints were a real worry.

 

In fact, before any further expansion of the music award, I'd much prefer giving a more formal upgrade to the speedrun section.

 

I can't say it should be like this without knowing how heavier the workload would become, but I believe the Cacowards have reached a point where you can't shove something this big and this interesting in a long sidebar, and I'd be all for speedrunning to get its own section and highlight the most impressive records set during the year. And that goes for a lot of sidebar stuff - in my ideal Cacoward, sidebar writing would be for supplementary material (like you already do for the mods and deathmatch section) and for less serious writing meant to lighten up the 'zine a bit.

 

But once again, this is more work, I can get why the writers would be a bit iffy on having the thing be bigger and bigger.

[LadyMistDragon]

Welp, I missed all of the inevitable salt. I LMAO'd at the parody awards though.

 

[Redneckerz]

Basically the whole salt mine and resultant highlight posts come down to this:

• Getting a Cacoward is an awesome gesture of recognition.
• Getting mentioned in the Sidebar is an awesome gesture of recognition.
• Getting referenced for a Mordeth award is an awesome gesture of recognition.

Simply put, being mentioned on the Cacowards pages at all is an awesome gesture of recognition.

 

Trust me, i know.

 

Spoiler

Thanks once more @Not Jabba for that. It might be of no relevance to anyone, but it made the world for me, and it still does to this day.

 

[Doom House]

I was a tad bit saddened seeing it all go to salt, but hey, what can you do. Regardless of all of that, congrats to everyone who got an award and mention, matter of fact, everyone who has made something for this game we all love, Doom

[Scypek2]

No new megawad from me this year, but thanks to my participation in Jimmy's contest, I have now been awarded the elite title of a Someone. Now I'm truly among the best of Doom modders.

[Horus]

On 12/20/2021 at 1:16 AM, dac said:

 

I can't say it should be like this without knowing how heavier the workload would become, but I believe the Cacowards have reached a point where you can't shove something this big and this interesting in a long sidebar, and I'd be all for speedrunning to get its own section and highlight the most impressive records set during the year. And that goes for a lot of sidebar stuff - in my ideal Cacoward, sidebar writing would be for supplementary material (like you already do for the mods and deathmatch section) and for less serious writing meant to lighten up the 'zine a bit.

 

But once again, this is more work, I can get why the writers would be a bit iffy on having the thing be bigger and bigger.

 

Maybe one possibility would to have an award, like 'Speedrunning Event of the Year' with a write-up of a paragraph or two about the most impressive record of the year, which could be on top of the current compendious summary, or maybe even instead of?

 

I wouldn't want the Cacoward panel to feel overwhelmed in terms of workload either, it's already a huge effort that is greatly appreciated. Perhaps it's a question of where to draw the line between the Cacowards being an annual awards feature (its ultimate primary role) vs. a summary of what happened in the Doom community over the year.

[Major Arlene]

to sum up the "you should do x" thing-

1. we aren't Narnia or a grocery store with extra write-ups or energy for write-ups tucked away somewhere. as said, this is a volunteer effort that basically becomes a part time job (and many of us work full time jobs on top of that).

2. you should do the thing instead if it's something you really desperately need to see- the awards are awards, not necessarily a full-on summary of everything that's happened over the year, which may give that impression with some of the sidebar articles, but the sidebars are things we know how to judge/write about.

 

bonus: the sidebars are just as relevant as the rest of the awards. if you're salty about something in the sidebars not being on the wiki then add it. we're not an all-encompassing be-all end-all for everything Doom. we write about the stuff we think is cool. if there's a thing we missed then please by all means write about it.

I can't stress enough how much I would love for you guys to begin your own threads or other content about this stuff.

 

can't guarantee any of it would be stickied but if it's high-quality discussion it will maintain itself for a good long while (maybe even the whole year!)

[Dynamo]

21 hours ago, Horus said:

I wouldn't want the Cacoward panel to feel overwhelmed in terms of workload either

This kind of sums up why, in my humble opinion, many of the "suggestions" given, short of being unwelcome, are certainly inapplicable :) There's more than just the cacowards for bringing light to content made each year, or doom content in general, and we ourselves are the first ones not to be involved in just the cacowards. So I wholeheartedly support arlene's statements, be the change you want to see in the world, there's much unexplored potential in what could be covered via threads, blogs, video essays, and whatnot.

[Horus]

7 hours ago, Dynamo said:

This kind of sums up why, in my humble opinion, many of the "suggestions" given, short of being unwelcome, are certainly inapplicable :) There's more than just the cacowards for bringing light to content made each year, or doom content in general, and we ourselves are the first ones not to be involved in just the cacowards. So I wholeheartedly support arlene's statements, be the change you want to see in the world, there's much unexplored potential in what could be covered via threads, blogs, video essays, and whatnot.

Fair enough. I should clarify that my suggestions are not meant as a “you should do X”, I have no expectations as to whether they will or won’t be implemented, but I just mentioned them as a potential idea that came to my head.

 

However, I appreciate that these kind of suggestions, without substantiation and/or related contributions, are unhelpful given that the awards are already very big and take a very long time to write, so I apologise and will refrain from making any further such suggestions.

[baja blast rd.]

This was discussed internally, and you should not expect the 2022 awards to be even bigger than last year's. The feature will stick to a scope that one group of people can reasonably cover. 

So if you want to see specialist recaps that showcase an even larger number of gameplay mods, or soundtracks, or ports/utilities, go ahead and do any of that. Nothing is stopping people from doing that.

 

It obviously would be good for more than one group of people to be doing meaningful, effortful yearly recaps that can be read as supplements or alternatives to the Cacowards. (That extends to wads and levels too.) Saying "hey, you one group of people, do all the work" ultimately isn't very feasible.

[Scuba Steve]

*Does all the work*