2016 Community Game of the Year - Results posted (at last)!

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Dyni wrote:

the Clockmeister

No.

IMAGE(http://dailypositivequotes.com/quotes-images/you-miss-100-of-the-shots-you-dont-take.jpg)

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Dyni wrote:

the Clockmeister

No.

Die Clockmeisterin!

As you are indeed skilled and prominent in Clocking. In fact, as you are the preeminent Clocker, I would go so far as to say you are Die Clockführerin.

BadKen wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
Dyni wrote:

the Clockmeister

No.

Die Clockmeisterin!

As you are indeed skilled and prominent in Clocking. In fact, as you are the preeminent Clocker, I would go so far as to say you are Die Clockführerin.

She plays video games like a Clockenspiel.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Dyni wrote:

the Clockmeister

No.

DJ Clocky Glock Shotz in da hizouse

ccesarano wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
Dyni wrote:

the Clockmeister

No.

DJ Clocky Glock Shotz in da hizouse

Mama said clock you out!

doubtingthomas396 wrote:
ccesarano wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
Dyni wrote:

the Clockmeister

No.

DJ Clocky Glock Shotz in da hizouse

Mama said clock you out!

Keep on Clockin' in the free world!

sr_malo wrote:
doubtingthomas396 wrote:
ccesarano wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
Dyni wrote:

the Clockmeister

No.

DJ Clocky Glock Shotz in da hizouse

Mama said clock you out!

Keep on Clockin' in the free world!

SallyNasty don't like it
Clock the Casbah, Clock the Casbah
SallyNasty don't like it
Clock the Casbah, Clock the Casbah

EDITED TO ADD #10

Posted in the right year's thread this time!

I didn't quite get to 10 games this year, mainly because a heavy work load ate the last third of 2016 for me. My travel schedule also accounts partially for the inclusion of mobile games. I rarely include them in these lists, because I usually don't finish them, and when I do I often forget about them shortly afterward.

As in previous years, I'm bending the rules because I'm only listing games that I finished. I probably couldn't even keep track of a "games started" list in most years, and some games take me many years to come back to after spending a few positive hours playing them.

1) The Witcher 3: Blood & Wine (PC). I know this will get lumped into the totals for the full game, but I don't care. Besides being the size of a AAA game, it outshone everything else in terms of story quality, beautiful graphics, and sheer fun. If it weren't for the new Darkhorse comics and the fan translation of Season of Storms, I'd be going through serious Witcher withdrawal right now.

2) Rise of the Tomb Raider (PC). Fun gameplay, good graphics and a decent story. Didn't quite match up to the 2013 reboot, but part of the impact of that game for me came from its contrast to my previous impressions of what Tomb Raider games were all about.

3) Wolfenstein: The New Order (PC). Ridiculous, but fun. What a Wolfenstein game should be.

4) Life is Strange (PC). A bit clumsy in some places, and it could have been trimmed down a bit, but overall a strong game with some interesting mechanics.

5) The Bard's Tale (Android). Finally! I've probably bought this game a half dozen times over the years, across various platforms, and I never got outside the first village. Turns out that all I needed was a game pad (adjustable length bluetooth pad), and it was like slipping into a warm bath. I see why people loved it. Fun!

6) Call of Juarez Gunslinger (PC). Mindless and fun, with great stylized graphics.

7) Monument Valley (Android). Beautiful visual aesthetic, with perfectly matching music. Fun puzzles.

8) Call of Duty: Black Ops (PS3). It's taken me years to get around to playing this. It was every bit as dumb as I expected it to be, and just as fun. I did not try multiplayer.

9) Call of Duty: Ghosts (360). Even dumber than I expected, with a script clearly written by a 13 year old. But the right length, with mechanics well executed enough to finish it. I did not try multiplayer.

10) Assassin's Creed Black Flag (PC). I didn't finish it, but I'm done. I put in 11 fun hours, and had no problems at all, but then it started locking up my PC at random intervals. Can't even get to the task manager when it happens, so it requires a reboot. I tried different drivers, checked forums (and found lots of similar issues, but no resolution), etc., to no avail. But it was fun enough that I put up with it for a while. But now I can't go forward with the main story, because a cutscene that launches automatically after killing a storyline NPC causes the lock up. Too bad. Just uninstalled it.

Rykin wrote:
sr_malo wrote:
doubtingthomas396 wrote:
ccesarano wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
Dyni wrote:

the Clockmeister

No.

DJ Clocky Glock Shotz in da hizouse

Mama said clock you out!

Keep on Clockin' in the free world!

SallyNasty don't like it
Clock the Casbah, Clock the Casbah
SallyNasty don't like it
Clock the Casbah, Clock the Casbah

You are all horrible.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

You are all horrible.

Everyone is horrible if you get to know them well enough.

Mr Crinkle wrote:

3. Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - This came from out of nowhere and nearly stole the crown. After Starcraft, the single best example in history of a company taking a pre-existing game concept and then executing a perfect version of it. Great production values, great polish, and features a brilliantly simple set of mechanics that you'll keep finding more and more inventive ways to combine. I reaaaaaally hope it winds up having a long tail, and they have the funding to release more levels.

Funny you brought this game up in a Surprise Hit context, 'cause this is my story as well.

When I cobbled my list together a couple weeks ago, I intentionally left the last spot open for any eleventh-hour surprises. And just as expected the vacancy was filled, in the form of Shadow Tactics this time around.

I learned my lesson a couple years ago when I picked up Talos Principle shortly after its Dec. 11th release date. Well after the ink had dried on my Top 10 list. I was so high on that game that I went back and edited it into my GOTY post, much like I'm doing with Shadow Tactics today. Man I love being caught off guard with exciting gaming that wasn't even on my radar to begin with.

So here's my updated list.

I've shuffled some of the placements towards the bottom to accommodate for Shadow. I've also added a couple bonus Year End categories after the list.

I'll also drop the raw data here for Clock's convenience.

Spoiler:

1. Stephen's Sausage Roll
2. RimWorld
3. Farming Simulator 17
4. Stellaris
5. DOOM
6. Duskers
7. Hitman
8. Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
9. Crusader Kings II: The Reaper's Due
10. Alto's Adventure

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Rykin wrote:
sr_malo wrote:
doubtingthomas396 wrote:
ccesarano wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
Dyni wrote:

the Clockmeister

No.

DJ Clocky Glock Shotz in da hizouse

Mama said clock you out!

Keep on Clockin' in the free world!

SallyNasty don't like it
Clock the Casbah, Clock the Casbah
SallyNasty don't like it
Clock the Casbah, Clock the Casbah

You are all horrible.

Hush, Goodjers, what's that sound? Everybody look who's Clockin' now.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I'm about 90% sure you asked this exact same question about this exact same game last year.

Edit: You did.

I'm not going to police people's votes and make sure they played their games when they said they did. And I get that games aren't just standalone releases anymore but are services that evolve and change in significant ways from year to year. I play a couple MMOs; I know the drill.

On the other hand, the spirit of these votes is to give people a chance to highlight what was new and exciting to them this year without the requirement that it be a new release. I initially put the new-to-you rule in place because I wanted people to be able to vote for what they loved, but I didn't want a bunch of lists with WoW or TF2 at the top year after year.

Like I said, I won't police these votes. I don't play Elite Dangerous, so I don't know if it's a totally different game from what it was two years ago or not. But personally, I feel that voting for the same game three years running isn't in keeping with the spirit of things. I'd prefer that evergreen titles like this that people still love and put a lot of time into get called out as honorable mentions or have votes cast for specific, named expansions or changes.

It's your call. Do what you think is best. One vote here or there for an older game isn't likely to change much, but please do think about the example you're setting.

Yeah, I initially brought it up again because I'm a jerk and I really like Elite.

Buuuuut…. Dyni's response actually made me think about it it bit more. The way games are being developed, sold, and played continues to change dramatically year after year, and continues to shift more towards the realm of games as services. I'm starting to wonder if the way we give recognition to games that do something special for us in a given year perhaps should too. "Evergreen" titles are less and less evergreen because we just continue loving what they were, and more and more because they continue growing into new and different things that we fall back in love with over and over. And for more and more people, highlighting what was new and exciting to them in a given year is going to be talking about how their favorite games have evolved over that time period.

——

Of course, please feel free to exercise your prerogative to just say no and keep things as they are, but a few thoughts to expand on that basic thesis:

- The main idea here is to highlight new and exciting experiences for the year, which I think is wonderful and appropriate.

- The idea behind the DLC/Expansion rule is to recognize the fact that those things often add or change enough of the base game to provide significantly new and exciting experiences once again, and this too I think is wonderful and appropriate. I plan to use it for at least one game this year (Witcher 3), and I couldn't be happier to have that opportunity.

- Similarly, we welcome the inclusion of substantial player created modifications to games, which I also think is a very cool -- for example, I see at least one person has included the KOTOR2 fan made overhaul, which by all accounts is an amazing achievement and well worth highlighting as a new experience.

- However, the problem is that there isn't really a kosher way to recognize the efforts and achievements of "games as services" games, where the developers put every bit as much effort into adding content, features, and entirely new gameplay experiences to their games as more traditional games do, but don't necessarily package those changes up in a way that can be quantified as a new, purchasable product.

In my personal example, last year I used the DLC/Expansion rule to technically squeeze Elite on my list, because they were about to release a new purchasable product called "Horizons" which was essentially a subscription to the next series of patches. However, what I really wanted to acknowledge last year was the series of huge game changing patches that occurred throughout 2015, which were in and of themselves every bit as exciting and game changing as more traditional DLC/expansions for other games. And, the same has been true of the content patches they've produced throughout 2016.

Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine brought me back to Witcher 3 and provided me with new and exciting experiences that are well worth acknowledging as being among the best things I did in video games this year, and I will be doing that — but the patches added to Elite this year did the same exact same thing for me but an order of magnitude greater. Hell, I've gotten more new out of Elite this year that I often do out of proper named sequels (yeah, I'm looking at you, Assassin's Creed).

As I briefly mentioned above, I spent the better part of the first four months of this year on an epic journey across the galaxy with over a thousand other players as part of an event that was spurred by the ability to land on and explore the surfaces of planets — a thing that wasn't part of the game until the last week or two of 2015 (i.e., after everything that made me include the game on my list last year).

Then later in the year, an entirely new ship customization and progression system was added to the game, which gave me several months of game time working to build my perfect fleet of highly specialized ships -- and the process of acquiring the resources and access to build that fleet drove me to both do familiar tasks in new and interesting ways, and to do entirely new activities I hadn't ever done in the game previously, despite having put Sean Sands EU2 levels of time into it already.

I mean, both of those things seem just as worthy of notice as the fact that I spent another 20 or 30 hours running Geralt of Rivia around new environments killing new monsters and having new conversations with new people, right? But, there isn't a new paid product for Elite that I can put on my list this year, so if I want to respect the spirt and rules of the thing we do here, I can't really give the game and its developers proper credit for the fact that they had such an amazing, new impact on my life.

And I think that players of MMOs and the variety of newer "games as a service" style games (i.e., MOBAs, ever evolving multiplayer shooters, etc) probably also feel like their personal favorite games often change and grow and offer new, exciting gaming experiences far greater than a typical story expansion or DLC pack for traditional games, in a way that's probably just as worthy (or possibly more worthy) of being acknowledged in this format.

I mean, yeah, the addition of a few new weapons or hats or whatever to TF2 is almost certainly still not be worth mentioning. The same with a MOBA getting a few new characters and some minor balance tweaks — it's probably still providing essentially the same experience? I'm not sure. But the lines start to blur quickly. WoW getting a few new dungeons and raids added over a year without a major expansion? Maybe, maybe not — during my time as a WoW player, some "off years" I felt gave me entirely new experiences throughout the year, and some just gave me a bit more of the same. But again, how fundamentally different is that from the Witcher 3 example above? Ultimately that depends on the specifics of the content and the player, I suppose.

And of course, sometimes the changes are significant enough that they could completely justify inclusion without any question, were they packaged as a newly purchasable product. Obviously I've felt that way about Elite over the past two years, but, for example, the way I hear people talking about some of the modes added to Rocket League sound like the developers have almost made entirely new games for them. From the sound of it DotA players probably will be feeling similarly about the newly launched patch there. And speaking of things that might come into play next year, with the way Blizzard has been developing Overwatch so far, I suspect that next year a lot of Overwatch players will feel like despite the fact that they haven't bought an expansion, they've been playing a very different game and having completely new experiences with it. I know that I certainly felt that way with regard to Mass Effect 3 multiplayer (which followed a very similar business/development template), and I expect Overwatch will change a lot more over the next year than that ever did.

I know that your response both here and to my post last year already leave the door somewhat open to what I'm talking about, but it still felt like I was cheating last year, and it definitely feels like I would be cheating this year to include Elite again (even though they do give their patches marketing names, which technically gives me another out ). Sure, it will be allowed because you are a wonderful, understanding person, but I feel like it would be a lot nicer if we could change the spirit of the rules just a bit more so that folks like me, who are impressed and enthralled by the continued growth and improvement of their favorite games in a given year, could feel like they can give proper credit to that fact without feeling like they are bending the rules to do so.

——

So, with regard to the example I'd setting: I think I would like to explicitly set the example that existing games with spectacular new development not explicitly codified into an expansion or DLC product are worthy of full and proper credit, and worthy having that credit be entirely within the spirit of our community's celebration of everything that is new and wonderful in games in a given year.

I'll be honest, I didn't read but maybe half of what you just wrote, but I feel like you're overthinking this to a great deal. If Elite is your true top game for the year, and it's had substantial enough changes/additions/etc., then by all means put it.

If your desire to put Elite at the top of your list is to promote it then probably don't put it.

escher77 wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

You are all horrible.

Everyone is horrible if you get to know them well enough.

I emphatically disagree with this statement, even if it's the sort of statement I sometimes make.

(Sorry for the derail from the derail derail.)

garion333 wrote:

I'll be honest, I didn't read but maybe half of what you just wrote, but I feel like you're overthinking this to a great deal. If Elite is your true top game for the year, and it's had substantial enough changes/additions/etc., then by all means put it.

If your desire to put Elite at the top of your list is to promote it then probably don't put it.

Yeah, I'm going to do whatever I want with my list (and if I put it on, it's because its content updates have far and away been my best gaming experiences of the year).

If you actually read the post, you'll see that I'm more waxing poetic about the fact that I think it might be useful to change how we think of things here and be more welcoming to the inclusion of updates to "games as services" games on people's lists.

EDIT: Easing off the strong response.

Clock wrote:

You are so horrible to me.
You are so horrible to me, can't you see?
You're everything I didn't hope for
you're the GWJers I need
You are so horrible...to meeeeee....

We will, we will Clock you...

We're gonna clock this town, clock it inside out...

zeroKFE wrote:
garion333 wrote:

I'll be honest, I didn't read but maybe half of what you just wrote, but I feel like you're overthinking this to a great deal. If Elite is your true top game for the year, and it's had substantial enough changes/additions/etc., then by all means put it.

If your desire to put Elite at the top of your list is to promote it then probably don't put it.

Yeah, I'm going to do whatever I want with my list (and if I put it on, it's because it's content updates have far and away been my best gaming experiences of the year).

If you actually read the post, you'll see that I'm more waxing poetic about the fact that I think it might be useful to change how we think of things and be more welcoming to the inclusion of updates to "games as services" games on people's lists.

I read enough of it to see that and I'm saying you're spending too much time thinking about this.

zero wrote:

Ultimately that depends on the specifics of the content and the player, I suppose.

Which is what Clock has said. Her preference is not to have people list the same game three years in a row, but this isn't a hegemony.

Clock wrote:

the spirit of these votes is to give people a chance to highlight what was new and exciting to them this year without the requirement that it be a new release.

We're all able to use our judgment on what to include, sans guilt.

zero wrote:

Rather than continuing to relegate people who enjoy such games to the ghetto of list cheaters who obviously just need to play more "new" games in a given year rather than harping on about that same stupid game we all think is dumb and old now.

Now that's just uncharitable.

zeroKFE wrote:

(Rather than continuing to relegate people who enjoy such games to the ghetto of list cheaters who obviously just need to play more "new" games in a given year rather than harping on about that same stupid game we all think is dumb and old now.)

Really?

Which is what Clock has said. Her preference is not to have people list the same game three years in a row, but this isn't a hegemony.

Preference or not, it disregards the very real joy and excitement that people feel about the continuing development of the games they love -- a joy they are able to freely express under the current system if those updates are packaged as DLC or an expansion, but are discouraged from doing so when they are not.

Again, consider Witcher 3. If they released another round of expansions next year, there are a great many people who would put that game on high on their list three years in a row (myself included), and be well within the expressed spirit of the community GOTY process here. But players of DotA or LoL or Rocket League, or even weirdos who love Elite are preferred to not include their favorite game for counting multiple years in a row even though they might have had similarly new and revelatory experiences playing their game as folks who enjoyed the more traditional content updates to Witcher 3.

And again, the trend is towards more games being developed this way, and more players enjoying thing in that way -- so if the idea here is to let people freely express the new things they enjoyed in gaming in a year, we'll be more and more impoverished and missing the picture as that trend progresses.

Now that's just uncharitable.

True!

But so is half reading a post then making a flippant comment that misses the point a person is making and diminishes the value of the thought they were trying to express.

I wasn't trying to make a flippant comment, so I apologize if it came off that way.

I can see the point of bringing old games into the light that has gotten some new expansion or patch that makes it totally awesome. No matter if it is an MMO, shooter, your random 15 year old Paradox/Blizzard game or what not.
I would certainly be interested to learn about some sweet new update to a game I stopped playing years ago. In the end, that is the joy of this thread too; learning about awesome games you hadn't paid enough attention to.
But maybe it fits better in its own vote thread "Community Game update of the year" or something.

Personally I filter such games out of my list here. No WoW even though I played and enjoyed it a lot. No SWTOR, no Hearthstone etc. Just doesn't feel like it fits the spirit of the thread.

garion333 wrote:

I wasn't trying to make a flippant comment, so I apologize if it came off that way.

Thanks, and apologies for going off the handle a bit. Edits have been made.

zeroKFE wrote:
Which is what Clock has said. Her preference is not to have people list the same game three years in a row, but this isn't a hegemony.

Preference or not, it disregards the very real joy and excitement that people feel about the continuing development of the games they love -- a joy they are able to freely express under the current system if those updates are packaged as DLC or an expansion, but are discouraged from doing so when they are not.

There are a ton of ways to express that joy apart from voting in this particular forums poll?

Personally if we had to choose I'd prefer cutting the "expansions are okay" rule entirely rather than go in the direction you're proposing. I have zero interest in a list full of games-as-services and expansion packs that people preferred. Wouldn't that be better as a separate list or category for those who want it?

Demyx wrote:

Personally if we had to choose I'd prefer cutting the "expansions are okay" rule entirely rather than go in the direction you're proposing. I have zero interest in a list full of games-as-services and expansion packs that people preferred. Wouldn't that be better as a separate list or category for those who want it?

I'd argue that if you're not personally interested in Games As Service models in GOTY voting, that doesn't mean that others aren't as well.

People should have the right to nominate whatever they like. Whatever brought them the most joy in the medium this year.

Isn't that the whole point?

Demyx wrote:
zeroKFE wrote:
Which is what Clock has said. Her preference is not to have people list the same game three years in a row, but this isn't a hegemony.

Preference or not, it disregards the very real joy and excitement that people feel about the continuing development of the games they love -- a joy they are able to freely express under the current system if those updates are packaged as DLC or an expansion, but are discouraged from doing so when they are not.

There are a ton of ways to express that joy apart from voting in this particular forums poll?

Personally if we had to choose I'd prefer cutting the "expansions are okay" rule entirely rather than go in the direction you're proposing. I have zero interest in a list full of games-as-services and expansion packs that people preferred. Wouldn't that be better as a separate list or category for those who want it?

Maybe?

But I think there is a really wonderful clarity and simplicity to what Clock organizes here every year. We say what new experiences we've enjoyed, and then we count it up.

If we back away from expansions being okay, then what about sequels? It might seem like they obviously merit separate inclusion, but I'd argue that some games (even games I mostly love, like the Assassin's Creed series) often release sequels that offer substantially less than many expansions or updates to games as services. And again, as current trends progress the business mechanics of how thing get packaged up and sold to us (or explicitly NOT packaged and sold to us, new or not), it's going to get fuzzier and fuzzier.

But, if we just go back to the core concept of "here's a wonderful new thing I experienced in games this year" then we don't have to worry about how the business structures things, and get to focus on talking about what we actually enjoyed in a year.

Look, Elite only matters to me and a small handful of others around here. But if Valve delivers hard on evolving DotA, or Blizzard on HotS or Overwatch and tons of people here really enjoy them year after year, maybe it is worth those things being freely counted alongside everything else when we are tallying up what it is that our community enjoyed playing the most each year?

Aaron D. wrote:
Demyx wrote:

Personally if we had to choose I'd prefer cutting the "expansions are okay" rule entirely rather than go in the direction you're proposing. I have zero interest in a list full of games-as-services and expansion packs that people preferred. Wouldn't that be better as a separate list or category for those who want it?

I'd argue that if you're not personally interested in Games As Service models in GOTY voting, that doesn't mean that others aren't as well.

People should have the right to nominate whatever they like. Whatever brought them the most joy in the medium this year.

Isn't that the whole point?

Because I don't think the point is to nominate what brought you the most joy in gaming period, otherwise I could go ahead and nominate my Nth playthrough of Final Fantasy Tactics or whatever.

I think the point is to make a list of great things that are new and allowing games as a service could quickly cause this list to stagnate into the same games each year. Yes, those games would have updates, but it's hardly any help if you're trying to find things that are truly brand new.

And yes, that's just my two cents. If the majority prefers it the other way then so be it, it's Clocky's list anyway so she gets final say.

Aaron D. wrote:

People should have the right to nominate whatever they like. Whatever brought them the most joy in the medium this year.

Isn't that the whole point?

Sure, it is.
But maybe doing so in the same vote ends up taking attention away from both.
People already can vote for whatever they want - as Clock says, there is no policing. Some people, me included, seem to focus on new games they played over old games they played, because it is more interesting than picking Counterstrike for the 15th year in a row. Regardless of how many new hats was added.

Tanglebones wrote:

Haha!

Well said.