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Why are there so few votes in the GOTY thread?
- Thread starter Jonscrambler
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I haven't played all the front runners yet, don't feel like I should vote. Waiting for PS5 upgrades for Doom Eternal and The Last of Us 2
There's no "point", this is just a community/forum game thingy for fun. I was just answering someone who seemed to care only if their fave got #1 and nothing else.
Anyway, I guess it's true that this place is nofunallowed.gif looking at all the sourpusses in this thread lol
I would imagine it's a combination of the thread dropping later and the winner being obvious.
I'm always kinda shocked at how many people seem to have such an aversion to writing anything about the games on their list, though. I don't care about the overall goty, but I like parsing the thread for the posts that detail their picks as there's always a genuine passion behind it, which is the main thing I'm looking for in goty lists anyway. I'm still writing mine though I've been pretty unmotivated due to the state of things, it hit me when I skipped a few years that I really like being able to look back on my picks and see how much my taste has changed.
The real bummer to me is the soundtrack thread barely scraping by to 50 posts, lol. Soundtracks are such a huge part of what makes games click, but they never really get the discussion or spotlight they deserve.
I'm always kinda shocked at how many people seem to have such an aversion to writing anything about the games on their list, though. I don't care about the overall goty, but I like parsing the thread for the posts that detail their picks as there's always a genuine passion behind it, which is the main thing I'm looking for in goty lists anyway. I'm still writing mine though I've been pretty unmotivated due to the state of things, it hit me when I skipped a few years that I really like being able to look back on my picks and see how much my taste has changed.
The real bummer to me is the soundtrack thread barely scraping by to 50 posts, lol. Soundtracks are such a huge part of what makes games click, but they never really get the discussion or spotlight they deserve.
I would probably want to take a few more minutes than that to genuinely articulate why I enjoyed certain games but the result is the same despite any comments I might make so what purpose is it meant to serve? It real does feel like too much effort.
If you see a GOTY voting thread as just a vote and nothing else, I guess, nothing. If you see this thread as a forum thread intended for discussion, like you should any other forum thread really, then... it seems very strange to ask "what is the point of commenting and discussing video games" on a forum intended precisely for that. 🤷♀️
Basically; given that the conclusion is sort of foregone and nothing I'd want to vote for has a real shot at ranking highly at all no matter what I have to say about it, the effort expected is just out of proportion with the impact on the results.
The format seems more suited for a targeted recommendations thread that highlights specific aspects of a subset of games than an overall popularity contest that's going to be stomped by the expected big-name releases.
It's a thread specifically for voting though. If I want to discuss something about a particular game I won't go to that thread.
There's a lot of "because I don't care" posts getting tossed in here, so let me explain why I personally don't care, even though I do sometimes vote in the end.
If you're the type of person who drops hundreds of dollars on brand new releases every month of the year and plays nothing but those brand new releases, I can see it being more compelling. For me, who spends the majority of his gaming time playing games that didn't happen to get an initial 1.0 commercial release in the same calendar year, it feels a bit pointless. Not just because it only captures a fraction of the gaming I've done, but because I either don't know or care much about any of the rest of the titles I'm indirectly comparing my chosen games to.
I played a lot of Phasmophobia in recent months. Early access, doesn't count.
Stardew Valley with mods and huge official updates. 1.0 release was years ago, doesn't count.
Tetris Effect: Connected? Released in 2018, doesn't count.
Replays of old games on emulators? Doesn't count.
Randomizers? lmao
I'm not saying those things should count, but there are only a handful of qualifying games I actually played within this strict time frame and that I feel maybe could deserve some consideration as GOTY. What I post is more of a list of games I just happened to play that were pretty good. Better than a lot of stuff released this year? Beats the hell out of me. Ask me again in a few years when I've picked up and played most of the stuff I was interested in without having to budget out the equivalent of a used car payment every month. Until then, my post is just going to be "well, here are the handful of games I actually played when they came out and that I liked somewhat I guess."
If you're the type of person who drops hundreds of dollars on brand new releases every month of the year and plays nothing but those brand new releases, I can see it being more compelling. For me, who spends the majority of his gaming time playing games that didn't happen to get an initial 1.0 commercial release in the same calendar year, it feels a bit pointless. Not just because it only captures a fraction of the gaming I've done, but because I either don't know or care much about any of the rest of the titles I'm indirectly comparing my chosen games to.
I played a lot of Phasmophobia in recent months. Early access, doesn't count.
Stardew Valley with mods and huge official updates. 1.0 release was years ago, doesn't count.
Tetris Effect: Connected? Released in 2018, doesn't count.
Replays of old games on emulators? Doesn't count.
Randomizers? lmao
I'm not saying those things should count, but there are only a handful of qualifying games I actually played within this strict time frame and that I feel maybe could deserve some consideration as GOTY. What I post is more of a list of games I just happened to play that were pretty good. Better than a lot of stuff released this year? Beats the hell out of me. Ask me again in a few years when I've picked up and played most of the stuff I was interested in without having to budget out the equivalent of a used car payment every month. Until then, my post is just going to be "well, here are the handful of games I actually played when they came out and that I liked somewhat I guess."
My eyes ignore the stickied threads and I was wondered if others were same. Maybe something could be changed to make them blend in with the rest of the threads but still be stickied instead of being distinct from the rest.
But for me, I just haven't felt like voting in years. I usually don't play enough games that came out that year to really form an opinion on what's the best. Maybe ask me a few years later. I could do a good GOTY list for 2017 now that I got to most of the best games. 2020 games are gonna take me a while.
But for me, I just haven't felt like voting in years. I usually don't play enough games that came out that year to really form an opinion on what's the best. Maybe ask me a few years later. I could do a good GOTY list for 2017 now that I got to most of the best games. 2020 games are gonna take me a while.
I would only vote on one or two games in 2020, besides the winner is pretty much chosen. Also, i prefer to just select something on a pole and if i feel like writing then i will write something.
Only played one or two 2020 releases and I don't care about collective votes to participate. The only list that matters is your one.
I tend to forget the pinned topics are there, I think I also stopped thinking about what my favourite games of 2020 were about a month or so ago so it just hasn't been on my mind.
Yet that thread has very little discussion. I suspect because it really isn't the best place for it. I think GotY voting threads should be simple and cast as wide of a net as possible. There are better places on Era for deeper discussions. The current format is just unfun.
Honestly they just walk you through every step including, click this button, type your game name etc, with pictures for each step.
If we have learned one thing from past voting threads, people are stupid and don't follow simple directions. So that's probably why its so painfully covers each step now.
Realistically you have to write a brief sentence about each game you voted for and click a few buttons. It should take you like 3 minutes if that. People are so dramatic and lazy lol. No one is asking you to write a dissertation on each game you voted for. A simple, "The combat in this game is the best I've ever played, and I loved every minute of it" would be enough.
But you know, people are lazy. I'm just making a point haha.
QFT
GOTYs usually are a joke anyways. The "best" game never wins...
It's kinda funny how much of a pain people are making the voting process into. You write a sentence or two for why you picked your games, click the vote button and then type in the games you want to vote for in order.
Turns out if the GOP were able to pass a rule where in order to vote you needed to write a sentence as to why you're voting for your candidate, they would never lose another election
Turns out if the GOP were able to pass a rule where in order to vote you needed to write a sentence as to why you're voting for your candidate, they would never lose another election
There's a few factors for me. One, I know last of us will sweep so I don't really have any strong energy to vote for one. There's no fun to it.
Second, most of the people who I enjoy reading lists for have written them elsewhere. The thread was very late this year and even I wrote my thoughts elsewhere. I don't feel like just copying it over here or rewriting it.
Finally, I don't like that the threads here don't have affinity charts and stuff like we had back on GAF. Yes I know it was a lot of volunteer work (and I understand it's probably too much work for volunteers) but it was fun going back and seeing people with similar lists especially since a few of them ended up being friends of mine. We don't have them here and that's a shame. It feels less like a community event than it should.
Second, most of the people who I enjoy reading lists for have written them elsewhere. The thread was very late this year and even I wrote my thoughts elsewhere. I don't feel like just copying it over here or rewriting it.
Finally, I don't like that the threads here don't have affinity charts and stuff like we had back on GAF. Yes I know it was a lot of volunteer work (and I understand it's probably too much work for volunteers) but it was fun going back and seeing people with similar lists especially since a few of them ended up being friends of mine. We don't have them here and that's a shame. It feels less like a community event than it should.
Frankly I don't care. I know nothing I like has a chance of winning because mainstream tastes are hyper divergent from what I enjoy so I just don't engage with any popularity contest crap.
Personally it's the comment on every game rule. In previous polls I could write about the underdog and include everything else without comment but that's stopped.
Fall guys is bottom of my list. Fun enough to be worth including but I have no idea what to write about it without it sounding like trolling. Jumping about was fun for a few days but I soon got frustrated and bored. Hardly sounds like goty.
Hell even animal crossing my no 1or2 is basically - massively disappointing and frustrating, loved it and it helped me through lockdown. Goty.
I'll still probably vote though. It'll just be I love Hades, the rest are all disappointments I still like despite flaws.
Fall guys is bottom of my list. Fun enough to be worth including but I have no idea what to write about it without it sounding like trolling. Jumping about was fun for a few days but I soon got frustrated and bored. Hardly sounds like goty.
Hell even animal crossing my no 1or2 is basically - massively disappointing and frustrating, loved it and it helped me through lockdown. Goty.
I'll still probably vote though. It'll just be I love Hades, the rest are all disappointments I still like despite flaws.
I wanted to vote my sweet Crusader Kings 3 and Yakuza 7, but the idea that no matter what TLOU2 is going to inevitably win makes me just want to skip all this GOTY thing.
It's almost disheartening, seeing this constant homogenization of "deluxe gaming" toward depressing serious SP violent games.
It's almost disheartening, seeing this constant homogenization of "deluxe gaming" toward depressing serious SP violent games.
Too much OP to read and too much effort to put forth for me to give my meaningless input on a meaningless 'award'. If you're into it, I'm happy for you, but personally I don't care what democratic consensus this forum comes to for GOTY lol.
Not everyone is equally skilled at getting their thoughts out, or being able to talk about the things they want to talk about. That's why sometimes people just want to put attention to whatever games they happened to like during the year. You have to put yourself in the shoes of people who aren't like yourself and it becomes easier to understand.
The flipside here is that the rules tend to take away from the enjoyment and fun others have with it. The thread and idea itself becomes too serious.
...lol you don't need "skill" to write a forum comment about your favourite games of the year, come on. No one's asking for a dissertation
Oh the affinity charts were fantastic, came across a lot of people with similar tastes and made friends to chat with about the exact weird things we were into.
Again, it's not as easy for many people to direct their thoughts and not everyone is as comfortable putting them into words. There are a lot of reasons for this and they range from mental health to neurodivergencies, especially ADHD where wielding your attention can be a pain in general.
There are just reasons outside of laziness that not everyone is comfortable going in depth with why they enjoy something.
I voted but def. feel things would be better off without them. Just going to be another point of contention in future threads
Honestly? The format is a pain and don't feel like writing a description.
plus you know what games people want to win here
I'll get around to it.....
....also the thread being delayed like a month past when it normally came out means it just wasn't top of mind around the new year like normal. No one's fault, know Covid has affected things, just not thinking about last years games so much this far into the year.
....also the thread being delayed like a month past when it normally came out means it just wasn't top of mind around the new year like normal. No one's fault, know Covid has affected things, just not thinking about last years games so much this far into the year.
I went into GOTY thread few years ago, expecting it will be just a quick poll. Got instantly offput by bombardment of information and dedication required to actually cast a vote and so I haven't bothered since.
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