Counting Votes
The method of counting the votes in GMC Jams has changed multiple times. For the very first GMC Jam voters could only pick their favorite game. In most GMC Jams since, voters have been able to rank their games in order of preference. Full details of each counting method are listed below:
First-Past-The-Post
Used only very early in the GMC Jam's life, First-Past-The-Post is where each reviewer votes only for their favourite entry and the entry with the most votes wins. See Wikipedia for more details.
Instant-runoff
Used for much of the Jam's early history, this method allows voters to rank their entries in order of preference. When it comes to counting the votes, all entries without a first place vote are eliminated immediately. Then the entrant with the lowest positive number of first place votes is "eliminated" and the reviewer's second favourite game is given an additional first place vote. This continues until one entry has more than half of the available first place votes or until all other entries are eliminated. This method allows reviewers greater control over positions below first place (unlike FPTP) but it is difficult and time-consuming to count, and results in a lot of draws for lower positions. See Wikipedia for more details.
Modified Instant-runoff
This modified version of Instant-Runoff was used only by the host GameDevDan from GMC Jam 12 to GMC Jam 16. Before going through the process of counting and eliminations, entries are assigned an average rank based on where the average voter placed them. E.g. a game ranked 3rd, 4th and 5th by three reviewers would have an average rank of 4th. Then counting continues the same as Instant-Runoff except that when multiple entries would be eliminated at the same time, only the entry with the worst rank is eliminated. This generally doesn't affect the result near the top of the list, but it reduces the number of draws in the middle and the bottom of the table.
Inverse Rank
In this voting method, voters rank jam entries in order of preference. Entries are then given points based on the rank they were given by each voter using the formula:
1/rank
For example, if a voter puts an entry in 10th it gets 1/10 points or 0.1. The total number of points is calculated for each entry and the entry with the highest score wins.
Inverse Rank Plus One
In this voting method, voters rank jam entries in order of preference. Entries are then given points based on the rank they were given by each voter using the formula:
1/(rank+1)
For example, if a voter puts an entry in 3rd it gets 1/4 points or 0.25. The total number of points is calculated for each entry and the entry with the highest score wins. Compared to regular Inverse Rank counting, this method reduces the influence of anomalous votes on the final result.
???
This descriptor is applied to Jams where the counting method used is currently unknown.