the greatest game poll has now matched the total # of contributors that the original sight & sound poll used to determine the Citizen Kane of movies way back in 1952
Thanks again to everyone who took the time and brainpower to contribute.
I took a glance at the #s so far, and it’s shaping up to be a solid list with some interesting and unexpected results. HOWEVER, like the original S & S poll, it’s a little clumpy, meaning a number of 4 and 5 way ties. That’s fine, and how a process like this would be expected to go, but it occurs to me that if we allowed forum users to submit more than 10 games, we’d likely see more definition in the rankings, and maybe allow people to be more free in their definitions of “greatestness.” On the other hand, we’d be losing some of the “discipline” and tough choice dynamic a strict 10 imposes. We could do 20 or 25 this first poll, then go down to 10 next year if that’s what people want to do.
In classic “kick the ladder down behind me” fashion, I‘m in favor of keeping it to 10 because I had to do 10!!! I think 10 is impossible but like… let’s do more next year maybe, or maybe we'll find that doing 10 is fun and weird enough that we do it again.
I like ten, and I don‘t see any problem with ties. We don’t need an exact 1 -> x ranking, just a general idea of where things are. In fact, ties are probably more interesting.
10 is great, especially with the emphasis on the games being YOUR decision instead of the objective greatest games list.
I picked games that, for me, feel like what I would define as some of the greatest games, but probably wouldn’t hold up objectively.
10 games, with that caveat, works perfectly for a decently varied list. I also think the forumbase has a bit of a taste overlap, which will inevitably cause some ties.
I don‘t think there is a “right” answer here, but I agree with keeping the 10 game limit. It turned this into a pretty challenging exercise that really forced me to weigh which games were most “important” to me. I ended up sort of choosing archetypical games to represent each of the genres or ideas that are most important to me, and I worry that allowing for any additional leeway would just see me adding more games that are already represented by an archetype. I would have loved to include Bloodborne and Dark Souls, but I feel that Dark Souls II represents that essence for me. Is “The Dig” the best point and click adventure game? Is it even my favorite one that I’ve ever played? Not really…I would probably say Grim Fandango or Full Throttle fit that better. However, because of my specific history and experience with this game it holds an outsized importance and I knew it had to be the one to represent this genre.
With that all being said, there are definitely some I didn't cover! An FPS didn't make it on to my list, though it feels wrong not including Doom 64 or Half-Life 2. Nier Automata is a notable cut, and I'm not even really sure what genre that would fall into. I've toyed with the idea of starting a thread where people can specifically discuss the "Greatest 11-∞ Games of All Time" just to have an area to expand upon your list without clogging up that original thread.
Anyway, I would say that any number at all would be an arbitrary cutoff and that this is an inherently contrived exercise, so I say we embrace it for what it is!
10 is fine but to be honest I feel like the list is gonna end up kind of generic… Maybe next time we submit top 25 then remove top 13 from the final tally? Ha!
As I already said in the topic, I honestly think there‘s always more than 10 games worthy of appearing on a top 10 list.
However
I think the restriction is helpful, because it enforces a little more focus, even if that focus is nothing more than "I didn’t just list every game I remembered that I liked at the time of writing".
I like the restriction, keep it at 10. However I am now forced to put Important Gamer Activity on hold in order to spend time with some Metroids and The World Ends With You, feeling like a traitor to untold numbers of other game darlings. Does this pain make us stronger? idk
Keep it at 10, because even at 10 this forum doesn‘t quite work with a hive-mind. You’re going to see some interesting answers because of how personal the lists are and while SMB3 and Street Fighter II might make the list, it also seems like God Hand and Out Run and Dragon Quest V are showing up a lot.
What I'm getting at is that this ain't no gamefaqs, the list is gonna be cool. No matter what.