[3] The top nominated games are assembled into the list of nominees, typically presented in December, are then voted on by final voting body, made up of ICANs, and editors of Game Developer.

[3] The winners are announced during the Game Developers Conference, which is typically held in March of the calendar year.

In the past, nominations are accepted from registered gamasutra.com users, confirmed to be game developers, and from the advisory board.

Once the nomination process is complete, the advisory board identifies five finalists for each regular category.

The recipients of the Lifetime Achievement, Pioneer (formerly known as First Penguin) and Maverick awards are selected by the advisory board.

For the other awards, a vote open to all those who participated in the nomination process chooses a recipient from each category's finalists.

The Best Debut Award recognizes the best game from any development studio which released its first publicly available title during the calendar year.

[49][50] The Ambassador Award is given to individuals within or outside the industry who helped video games "advance to a better place.

[51] The Maverick Award recognizes the current achievements of a developer who exhibits independence in thought and action while experimenting with alternate/emerging forms of digital games.

[63] Richard Bartle received the Online Game Legend award for his work on the first MUD and the 2003 book Designing Virtual Worlds.

Additionally, the MMORPG EverQuest was inducted into the GDC Online Awards Hall of Fame.

MMORPG World of Warcraft was inducted into the GDC Online Awards Hall of Fame.