EverQuest honored at GDC Online awards

The Game Developers Choice Online Awards is a relative newcomer to the group of ceremonies that take place throughout the year to acknowledge accomplishments in game development. Now on its second year, these awards are part of Game Developers Conference Online, a recent refocus of GDC Austin.

Considered a sister event to the classic Game Developers Choice Awards, the GDCO Awards focus on persistent online games, covering a range of game types from traditional massively multiplayer online games to social network games.

This year, Minecraft and Rift each took home two awards. Minecraft won Best Live Game and Best Community Relations, while Rift took home the prize for Best New Online Game and Best Online Technology. Zynga's FrontierVille held the most nominations with a total of three.

League of Legends was the big winner in last year's ceremony, nabbing five of the nine total awards. All categories from last year were retained this year, with one new addition of "Online Innovation."

In addition to traditional categories, this year's awards featured a Hall of Fame inductee and Online Game Legend honoree. John Taylor and Kelton Flinn, founders of Kesmai Corporation and creators of Island of Kesmai and Air Warrior, were honored with the Online Game Legend Award, and Sony Online Entertainment's classic MMOG EverQuest joined Ultima Online as the second inductee in the Choice Online Awards Hall of Fame.

The GDCO Awards ceremony took place October 12 at the Austin Convention Center. Categories and winners are below, with trophy takers noted in bold.

AUDIENCE AWARD
Wizard101 (KingsIsle Entertainment)

BEST ONLINE VISUAL ARTS
DC Universe Online (Sony Online Entertainment)
Rift (Trion Worlds)
Spiral Knights (Three Rings Design/Sega)
Dragons of Atlantis (Kabam)
Vindictus (Nexon)

BEST SOCIAL NETWORK GAME
CityVille (Zynga)
Gardens of Time (Playdom)
Dragons of Atlantis (Kabam)
FrontierVille (Zynga) Ravenwood Fair (Lolapps)

BEST ONLINE GAME DESIGN
Ravenwood Fair (Lolapps)
Pocket Frogs (NimbleBit)
Zuma Blitz (PopCap)
Spiral Knights (Three Rings Design/Sega)
FrontierVille (Zynga)

ONLINE INNOVATION (New Award Category)
Dragon Age Legends (EA2D)
Shadow Cities (Grey Area)
Empire Avenue (Empire Avenue)
Pocket Frogs (NimbleBit)
Zombie Lane (Digital Chocolate)

BEST ONLINE TECHNOLOGY
World of Tanks (Wargaming)
CityVille (Zynga)
DC Universe Online (Sony Online Entertainment)
Rift (Trion Worlds)
LEGO Universe Online (The LEGO Group/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)

BEST COMMUNITY RELATIONS
Wizard101 (KingsIsle Entertainment)
World of Tanks (Wargaming )
Minecraft (Mojang)
EA Sports FIFA Superstars (Playfish/EA)
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)

BEST AUDIO FOR AN ONLINE GAME
Clone Wars Adventures (Sony Online Entertainment)
Spiral Knights (Three Rings Design/Sega)
Ravenwood Fair (Lolapps)
FrontierVille (Zynga)
Dragon Age Legends (EA2D)

BEST NEW ONLINE GAME
Rift (Trion Worlds)
Gardens of Time (Playdom)
Vindictus (Nexon)
Spiral Knights (Three Rings Design/Sega)
Monster Galaxy (Gaia Online)

BEST LIVE GAME
Wizard101 (KingsIsle Entertainment)
Moshi Monsters (Mind Candy)
League of Legends (Riot Games)
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
Minecraft (Mojang)