The XYZZY Awards are the annual awards given to works of interactive fiction, serving a similar role to the Academy Awards for film.[1] The awards were inaugurated in 1997 by Eileen Mullin, the editor of XYZZYnews.[2] 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.
Since 1997, the XYZZY Awards have become one of the most important events within the interactive fiction community.[3] 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.[4]
The name of the awards comes from the magic word "xyzzy" causing teleportation from the popular early text adventure game Adventure.
The awards have been presented in the following categories.
The game which is the most enjoyable as a whole; other awards recognize merit in particular qualities.
A game which rises above the others in the quality of its descriptive text.
The game with the deepest or most original story.
The most original or best-described locations.
The most well-crafted, clever, and appropriate puzzles.
Appropriate, amusing, and well-written casts of non-player characters.
The most inspired, well-crafted, and intriguing puzzle.
A particularly well-implemented and well-written non-player character.
A particularly well-defined and well-written player character.
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.
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".[5]
Introduced in 2010 along with Best Implementation, to replace the Best use of Medium award. It recognizes the "most innovative game".[5]
Recognizes "interpreters, authoring systems, libraries, utilities, and so on".[5]
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.