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The change in the impy format to self nomination did a few things.

1. The community were completely left out of any of the decision making. Mm chose the shortlist, Mm chose the winners. So instead of the community making suggestions for the Dreams they liked best it became totally about what Mm likes best.

2. Asking people to nominate themselves for an award is problematic for a lot of people. Myself included. I was humbled and surprised to get impy nominations in the previous years - it was a lovely surprise and a validation of what I was doing - but I would have NEVER suggested myself or thought of putting myself forward - especially for categories with names like Community Star! I didnt even vote for myself in categories I was nominated for (feeling that was bad form). There are a lot of talented people in Dreams who just would not put themselves forward to be judged, but would happily take a nomination if the community wanted them to have one. That means that only the confident people will be in the running - and that is not necessarily an indication of what was the best items of the year.

3. By nominating yourself you know 100% that you were in the running for an impy, and if you do not get into a shortlist that Mm did not like your creation enough or at all. This was not the case with anonymous community voting. You did not know if your creation was ever considered (unless you voted for your own things of course), and you could console yourself on the fact that maybe you would have got an Impy if people had remembered your game and Mm had seen it. Knowing that Mm definitely saw your game and did not rate your creation can be devastating for some people, especially if it took a lot of courage to nominate themselves in the first place. 

4. The Impys has now turned into a contest where people place an entry rather than an awards. As such it is less of a celebration of the community in Dreams because their likes and dislikes are no longer relevant and not every Dream is in the running. Now I understand that business awards run like this everywhere, and it is common for people to have to nominate themselves or even purchase an entry - but that doesn't mean its good.

5. When I won the curation impy last year, I was at a point of quitting Dreams because I did not feel anyone was interested or appreciative of what I was doing. But with a nomination from the Community it showed that I was appreciated and noticed, and the win meant Mm also recognised that. With the new system you only get Mm's approval. It is just not the same. It does not mean the same thing. Under the new system I would not have got that feeling of being wanted by the Dreams community - and I would probably have still quit. I feel sorry for the winners of future impys who will never get that feeling of love and appreciation from the wider Dreams community from winning an Impy - because the award is no longer coming from them.

Apparently this was driven by a need to get approval from all the nominees which was time consuming, so by having people self nominate that cut out the need to chase them down and ask permission. As we ALL had to agree to having our creations used by Mm in the terms and conditions we sign when first loading Dreams I do not see why this is necessary. We have all already agreed or not. But in case it needs to be explicitly about the Impys they could add a toggle on/off status to our profiles that says - I agree for my creations to be considered for Impys. Job done.