I've always had kind of a problem with GOTY awards and I never knew exactly why. But I never really gave it much thought either. But now I have.
So why is it a bad idea? I think Jim Sterling said it best.
Having a Game of the Year award is pretty much making a statement that, no matter what, this particular game is better than all the others that came out that year.
And this is downright nonsense. As Jim states, there is no perfect video game. Only perfect video GAMES. And not only that, we're comparing games to other games that shouldn't even be compared in the first place because some games will obviously aim for something totally different than the other. I mean, are we going to blame Undertale for not being a good FPS? No! Of course not.
Having said all that though, I might go with awards for games that excel in certain areas, and even that is kind of rickety. This is, of course, already being done though. And that's great, but having some end-all be-all Game of the Year award is just downright silly at best, and harmful to the industry at worst, encouraging the toxic notion that some games are just better to make than others. Which thinking led to the massive propagation of modern military shooters and other such tomfoolery.
So why is it a bad idea? I think Jim Sterling said it best.
Having a Game of the Year award is pretty much making a statement that, no matter what, this particular game is better than all the others that came out that year.
And this is downright nonsense. As Jim states, there is no perfect video game. Only perfect video GAMES. And not only that, we're comparing games to other games that shouldn't even be compared in the first place because some games will obviously aim for something totally different than the other. I mean, are we going to blame Undertale for not being a good FPS? No! Of course not.
Having said all that though, I might go with awards for games that excel in certain areas, and even that is kind of rickety. This is, of course, already being done though. And that's great, but having some end-all be-all Game of the Year award is just downright silly at best, and harmful to the industry at worst, encouraging the toxic notion that some games are just better to make than others. Which thinking led to the massive propagation of modern military shooters and other such tomfoolery.