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Do Multiplayer only games "deserve" Game of the Year Victories?

Do Multiplayer only games Deserve Game of the Year Victories?

  • Yes

    Votes: 441 88.7%

  • No

    Votes: 56 11.3%
  • Total voters
    497
jman1954goat

jman1954goat

Linked the Fire
Member
May 9, 2020
12,410
I was recently reminded of the 2016 Game Awards while reading another thread here.

I remember How I was pulling Hard for Overwatch to win Game of the Year. At that Point A multiplayer title never won game of the year so it's victory was a Long shot.

To my surprise Overwatch did it and took game of the year but everyone was not as excited as me. I remember Both the Old website this community lived at the time and reddit Where very upset That a multiplayer only title could be Game of the Year and threads back then got real Toxic.

People seem ok with multiplayer games getting nominated but get really mad if they win

I personally think Overwatch is one of the Best designed Games of all time with how newplayer friendly and competitive it is.

I love single player games the most However I also I have 1,068 Hours Played in overwatch and I can't see the argument that a game can't win Game of the Year without a traditional Story if it's good.

Will people get Mad if Animal Crossing wins this Year without a traditional beginning to end story?
 
Spring-Loaded

Spring-Loaded

Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,904
Of course they deserve GotY. It's only the "singleplayer games are under attack!" crowd that would have a problem with that.

Also, do all the capitalised words in the OP form a secret message
 
Stat

Stat

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,154
Yeah? They're games aren't they? If a MP only title is that much better than everything else, then of course.
 
Porygon

Porygon

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,014
Mexicali
Why not?

Why game of the year contenders should be mostly gritty cinematic heavy games?

Any good game should be game of the year candidate regardless of the genre
 

Deleted member 5491

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,249
If a game is that good, why should it not win?
Games have all kinds of gameplay and genre, so eh?
 
Chucker

Chucker

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,326
Maryland
jman1954goat said:
Will people get Mad if Animal Crossing wins this Year without a traditional beginning to end story?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

This doesn't match up with the rest of your post. OW is a strictly multiplayer game, AC can be thoroughly enjoyed single player, and while it doesn't have story defined narrative it has goals to meet and the user can decide when they're done with it.

That said, yes, a good game is a good game regardless of its single or multiplayer only modes.
 
Hasi

Hasi

Banned
Apr 25, 2020
283
Absolutely, it would be great if AC won, we need to move away from the platonic ideal of video games as interactive movies.
 
Alek

Alek

Games User Researcher
Verified
Oct 28, 2017
8,467
Super odd question / thread :/

Why wouldn't they? They aren't games? I don't get it.
 
TheGhost

TheGhost

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
28,137
Long Island
It's certainly shouldn't be monopolized by crazy big budget single player games.

multiplayer games should win, any game should be able to win. If Tetris came out today it should be allowed to win.
 
OP
OP
jman1954goat

jman1954goat

Linked the Fire
Member
May 9, 2020
12,410
Chucker said:
This doesn't match up with the rest of your post. OW is a strictly multiplayer game, AC can be thoroughly enjoyed single player, and while it doesn't have story defined narrative it has goals to meet and the user can decide when they're done with it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Multiplayer games also Have goals to meat both in game and personal and you decide when your done with it.
 
ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,347
What kind of crazy opinion is this.

I've often had more impactiful, meaningful, emotive experiences playing and experiencing a game with real humans than I have following an A to B narrative in some boring AAA story written for the widest audience possible.

If a game is good and people love it then it is 100% applicable to be their GOTY.
 
formasymphonic

formasymphonic

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,641
I won't say that I don't believe a multiplayer game should ever win because thats not true. Fundamentally in my opinion — a good game is a good game and should be respected as such regardless of what "type" of game it is.

However in being honest, I'll also say that I believe that the amount of work it took to bring a thing to life should be a consideration in an evaluation of how good the end product is. I realise that this weights or skews GOTY consideration invariably to AAA single player products in the same way that it can do for film, but even so I'll stand by that belief.
 
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Bonfires Down

Bonfires Down

Member
Nov 2, 2017
2,813
I don't think a multiplayer only or even multiplayer focused game has won GOTY at Resetera/GAF, so not according to the members here.
 
Rosebud

Rosebud

Two Pieces
Member
Apr 16, 2018
43,477
Sure.

But Overwatch in particular no, it was the game that made loot boxes mainstream for years.
 
The Albatross

The Albatross

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,955
Yes, they're just as much games as anything else is.

There's a handful of multiplayer games over the last 5-10 years that would definitely deserve a GOTY. Forgetting what else came out those years:

- Rocket League whenever that launched
- Apex Legends a year or two ago
- PUBG (little more complex because of the PC release and long cycle baking it for consoles)

I don't remember the Overwatch fake controversy. And going back to 2015 I don't see any major awards giving Overwatch game of the year:

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I think it can get muddied by a Games as a Service approach that you see with a lot of Multiplayer games. Like, this latest season of Apex is great, fun new characters, great new map ... but I don't think that Apex should necessarily qualify for 2020 GOTY because the game came out 2 years ago, just a lot of content came out now. I think we might need a different award for that. Although it's also worth considering re-evaluating our criteria for GOTY... In television, you don't only give awards to TV shows for those that are the first season... Season 4 of the Sopranos deserved to clean up the 2003 Emmy's even if the show debuted in 1999. I think we have a different criteria for TV, and with a lot of GaaS doing the "Seasons" approach or games launching one year but not really getting everything together for a year or two later, it might make sense to re-evaluate that.

Hell I might even reconsider games for "Game of the Year" ... The real game of the year for 2020? Fucking Jackbox Party Pack 2 and 5, the Year of Covid.
 
Last edited:
Alek

Alek

Games User Researcher
Verified
Oct 28, 2017
8,467
jman1954goat said:
Do people not remember the absolute fit people threw when overwatch (our only multiplayer only game winner in game award history) won?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I mean, I don't agree with Overwatch being GOTY of 2016 either. I wouldn't even consider it a contender personally, but not at all because it's a multiplayer only title.
 
elenarie

elenarie

Game Developer
Verified
Jun 10, 2018
9,792
Of course not, they lack the soul and passion that singleplayer games have.
 
Glio

Glio

Member
Oct 27, 2017
24,495
Spain
Of course. It is limiting for the medium that the vast majority of GOTY and GOTY nominees are games that are very similar to each other.
 
Kill3r7

Kill3r7

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,384
Absolutely. If anything MP games do a wonderful job highlighting the zeitgeist around a game in a given year. PUBG might not seem special today but at launch it took the world by storm and it was the it game.
 
LavaBadger

LavaBadger

Member
Nov 14, 2017
4,986
I honestly don't understand any argument against an MP only game winning. The basis of MP only somehow being a disqualification is more or less total nonsense. Either it is or is not the best thing you've played in a year.

Want to argue an MP only game doesn't do enough to be better than an SP game with a storyline and more bespoke moments? Sure go right ahead and show that for a given year. I'd also caution however that play time is not a metric for something being the best. An incredible 3 hour experience you'll never play again should be just as much in the running as an MP game you put 500 hours into.
 
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