I noticed this year a lot of whining amongst critics regarding the traditional end of year GOTY articles. Some people didn’t do one, others pussyfooted around and refused to call anything the “best” but would admit to having a “favourite”, heck even the people who actually named something GOTY were vaguely apologetic about the whole deal. Apparently it’s now passé to rate things as better or worse than each other, which strikes me as odd because that’s kind of the purpose of a critic isn’t it? Once you’ve given up on that then what is it that you do exactly?
I mean you don’t see the people involved in awarding the Man Booker Prize getting all worried about whether or not it’s possible to pick the year’s “best” novel do you?
Quickly a clarification for people who may have gone slightly insane recently. When you say that something is your “favourite” what you mean is that it’s the “best”. Favourite just means the thing you think is the best. Seriously that’s all it means.
But I mean that in my personal subjective opinion it’s the best but I realise that other people don’t like it as much. Something else is really the best because everyone liked that.
Then you are a coward. A coward far too likely to bend to peer pressure. Please do try and entertain the thought that everyone else is occasionally wrong. It will make you a more interesting person.
But the game that’s my favourite has obvious flaws that anyone could spot, how can I call it the best?
Look there’s a reason you love this game despite it’s flaws. Isn’t it possible that what is great about a game is so incredible that it makes the flaws irrelevant. Greatness is not about things being flawless it’s about them being great. Although flawlessness doesn’t hurt, a flawless but mediocre shooter is still just a mediocre shooter.
Anyway with that out of the way let’s cut to the chase. People appear to believe that it’s impossible to name something the best game of the year because “It’s just an opinion man”.
I hate that phrase. Of course it’s an opinion, that it was spoken or written by a human being makes it an opinion. You know what else? Just because something is an opinion doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Whenever you say that something is only an opinion this is what you mean “I think you’re wrong but I am incapable of explaining why that is the case”. To say to someone “Well that’s just your opinion” is to essentially admit to their face that you are incapable of debating them. Or you’re just too lazy to bother in which case why the hell are you taking part in the conversation in the first place?
But there’s no such thing as the best!
Look can a game be good? Then it can also be bad, otherwise there’d be no way to tell if something was good. Can a game be better than another game? Well if a game can be good and another can be bad then yes games can be better than each other. From there is it really such a huge leap of logic to assume that there are gradients between good and bad? Finally if a game can be better than others and there’s a wide gradient of different levels of goodness then it stands to reason that one game is the best.
But there’s no such thing as the truth!
If there’s no such thing as the truth then your statement must not be true, if it isn’t true then the truth must exist. Therefore the only possible option is that a.) the truth exists and b.) you are wrong. Hell even the ancient Greeks figured that one out.
Of course it’s almost certain that nobody knows what the truth is but the truth does not need to be known by man to be true. So yes my opinion may not be the truth but it might be and we’re never going to find out if, instead of challenging me on my assumptions, you sneer and say it’s just an opinion.
You know why people love this “it’s only an opinion” rubbish? Because they’re terrified of being wrong. By saying that everything is an opinion it means you never have to accept the possibility that the person you disagree with is right and if your opponent is right that probably means you are wrong. For a lot of people it feels far better to wrap themselves in this opinion blanket and pretend that they’re so enlightened because they know what the word subjective means. To accept that objective truth is possible is to except that you can be wrong, to refuse to do so is the most unbelievably arrogant and wilfully stupid thing I think of.
So to recap: Yes you can say that something is the best game of year, opinion can be true and saying favourite instead of best doesn’t make you clever. So next year when it comes time to pick a game of the year grow some stones and put your money where your mouth is. And for the love of god don’t pick a game you don’t personally love because you think it’s important, it shipped a lot of units, got a great metacritic score or because that’s what everyone expects. All that matters is that you love it and think it’s better than everything else.
And it’s in that spirit that I name Canabalt my GOTY. I’ll explain why next post.
Images for this piece were lifted from The Gaming Liberty, Krapp’s Last Blog and Cluster Flock
I actually think you’re completely wrong about this. Favourite does not mean best. Best says something about the object, that it is the best out of something that there can be a best of. I disagree that games even can have a best, particularly when you try and rank them on a linear scale from best/worst.
Having a favourite says something about you, and that’s the difference. It’s what you enjoyed more this year. So that’s why I don’t like “Best Game” awards.
I guess I’ve just never heard a reasonable explanation as to why there can’t be a best game. As I briefly mentioned every other art form is perfectly happy to label things as the best.
Think about it like this if you have a favourite game then why is it your favourite? There has to be a reason and that reason will be something in the game. Your personal experience might make that more important to you than most other people but it’s still something in the game, it’s the game that’s possesses that quality in a way that other games don’t.
If I’m like super into gardening, and there’s this awesome gardening game that so totally captures the joy and magic of gardening then it’d be my favourite game ever. Not everyone would get it though. Although the problem here is that they just don’t understand the joy of gardening but if they did then it would also be their favourite.
Like imagine you’ve got protective ear muffs on and you go watch a Tarantino flick without subtitles. You can’t hear the dialogue so you don’t understand why it’s so great but then you watch it again without the ear muffs and suddenly blam you get why everyone loves it.
What people refer to as their subjective viewpoint is merely the particular kind, shape, density and fabric of their earmuffs. Make no mistake we’ve all got earmuffs and it’s damn near impossible to tell whose earmuffs are better but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t at least try and hear through them.
I think your gardening analogy is a bit off – you can learn about gardening, you could even cultivate a passion for it if you’ve had no prior exposure or experience to it (Of course no one would without having some kind of exposure to it, as we don’t live in a vacuum and we don’t do thinks in a ‘Deus Ex Machina’ fashion) but there are going to be things that are unique to each person that just can’t be ‘picked up’ like a love/apreciation for gardening.
Are you really willing to say to anyone who disagrees with you, “Your choice of “best game” is wrong because you don’t have this appreciation for XYZ that I do?” Because that seems to be basically what you’re advocating, and I assume you’re going to try and prove in the future that Canabalt is the one and only Best game from this year…?
Nope not saying that at all because I’m 99% certain that I’m wrong. Most of the people who disagree with me no doubt have their own deep appreciation for things that I don’t understand. However given all the available data Canabalt is what I’d call the best game and there’s still a remote chance that I’m right so it’s worth putting together a case for it (and it’s worth other people putting together a case for why I’m wrong).
This way of looking at the world actually increases (rather than diminishes) the value of other viewpoints. Other viewpoints may contain wisdom or perspective you’ve never encountered before. If you’re merely content to settle for your own ‘personal favourite’ then what exactly is the point of even listening to another person’s opinion? In that scheme other people’s perspectives are worse than useless.
And artistic sensibilities and biases can be learned, in fact I’d say they have to be. As a teenager I hated Ode to a Grecian Urn but then as I grew up I gained more perspective and became more used to reading poetry so I learned to love it.
I think it’s a bit close minded to think “well I didn’t like it therefore I’ll never like it” rather than trying to scratch the surface and try to understand why people like it. It’s like a child that takes one bite of a brussels sprout and refuses to ever try them again.
We did a game of the decade series just recently naming Rock Band game of the 00′s. We just got all our site writers to vote and combined the scores to see what game polled best.
One thing I found interesting is that no-one’s individual #1 made it into the top five, which we then wrote up. Everyone’s idea of the best game over the past ten years was so different that it was our second and third choices that stacked up to winning the vote.
I don’t think there’s a problem with stating it’s personal opinion in a GOTY article. It’s not because the writer is afraid of being wrong, it’s just acceptance of the truth. There really isn’t a best game of the year for everyone, and a writer would be fooling themselves and their readers (not for long in the latter’s case) to assert that there was.
For example, what’s with Canabalt being “my GOTY”? Shouldn’t that be “everyone’s GOTY” according to the article I just read?
To sum up … I actually do loathe brussell sprouts after eating them once as a child.
Hey what works for you is fine by me.
I’m just saying it’s totally redundant to label something as opinion. It’s very obviously opinion and there’s nothing wrong with that. I mean are we really going to start every value judgement we ever make with a IMHO? IMHO the sky is blue.
Saying favourite instead of best is IMHO an affectation designed to make the author appear more diplomatic or fair minded but it also tends to dilute the message. Who cares why something is important to you why is it important to me?
Having the conviction to call something the best, rather than merely a favourite is I think a positive in criticism. It shows a certain level of passion but it also represents a belief that truly great art has the potential to affect all mankind not just an individual.
And yes I think Canabalt has that potential. Notice the “I think”. I think everyone should love this game.
That’s true to an extent, and it would be great for writers if everyone actually thought that way.
I guess labelling a game as favourite over best is just one of those things a more thoughtful writer will do to avoid bogging down an article with arguments. Sure, when we talk about a game, ‘favourite’ and ‘best’ essentially mean the same thing to us, but saying “Rock Band is the BEST game of the decade” is a sentence that’s just screaming out for people to complain/disagree/fanboy rage/accuse the writer of flame-baiting.
Meanwhile the subject of your article goes astray in the arguments, and readers feel a little resentment toward the writer for telling them what they should/shouldn’t like
I suppose ‘IMHO’ing is just a tool to help such a subjective topic stay on message. You’re going to cop flak from people about whatever game you say is your favourite for any given year, but it’d be a lot less than if you claim one title’s definitive superiority over all others.
I don’t get your obsession with that damn game.
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/513760
I’m not going to lie Miami Shark is a powerful work of art.
Part of being a nerd is being mindlessly pedantic enough to care about the distinction between ‘best’ (objective) and ‘favourite’ (subjective), and boring enough to complain whenever someone conflates the two.
The most hateful acronym currently poisoning the English language: YMMV
PS. you are wrong, Knights of the Chalice was the best game of 2009. Or at least the demo was, I haven’t played the full version yet. Because I’m going to give the guy money for the privilege and I still haven’t set up a PayPal account.
I think the main reason I’m slightly hesitant about naming a ‘single’ GOTY is the fact that it’s such a wide-ranging subject. Who’s to say an amazing RPG is any better or worse than an amazing FPS? This is where it becomes a little murky for me.
p
I agree entirely that there are things that make a game ‘good’ and there are things that make a game ‘bad’, and as such, it’s entirely plausible for one game to be ‘better’ than another. However, when you’re crossing genres, how do I decide whether a clumsy inventory system in an RPG makes the game better or worse than an FPS where the AI has an irritating habit of pulling off impossible shots?
Of course, this is where that marvellous word ‘opinion’ comes in. If I’m not a fan of RTS games, and a good RTS and a good FPS game both land in 2009, I’m naturally going to lean towards the FPS, as it suits MY tastes. That doesn’t mean the game is any better, it just means that in MY view, it’s a better game for ME, because I don’t want to squint to see gibs.
Anyway, I’m rambling a little. Good blog.
I think that people have a shaky understanding of the word best and it’s applications. They tend to think in terms of objective things (if you have 10 out of 100, 70 out of 100 and 90 out of 100, then 90 out of 100 is best), without realizing that it works for subjective ideas too. Leonardo Da Vinci was the best artist of all time. This is a subjective statement. I can give objective reasons why (his study of anatomy, his creative sketches, his use of color), but what I said is just a lie. While he did these things, they are being ranked subjectively. I understand why people like Lord Rocket want to believe that there is a necessarily a difference between the two, but sadly, it’s just not the way it is.
So when Ben asks if we are saying that other people are wrong because we think game X is the best (and when Lyndon says he is probably wrong), there is again a misunderstanding. I believe game X is best for XYZ reasons, but if someone else believes game Y is best, it is not that either of us is wrong, it is that judging games is an inherently subjective experience, unique to each person. Even if we’re using the same criteria, who is to say that Uncharted 2 is the best looking game of the year? What if I think that Assassin’s Creed 2 is? Am I wrong in my opinion? What, really, constitutes the best AI? What does it mean that the game is more balanced or more enjoyable? While on almost all of these points we can come to a tentative sort of agreement as to what we mean, we still all have differing opinions as to how they apply.
Which comes back to the argument Matt makes about why IMHO is helpful. Applying the moniker of “Best,” however, puts forward an argument that the writer then attempts to justify with their points and opinions. You stand on rhetorically weak ground if you merely say that something is your favorite, even if–in the end– “Best” is just as subjective and arguable a point.
I quite enjoyed the article and agree with it wholeheartedly.
I largely agree with Jason (the second) – we can say something is “best” and be putting forth our subjective opinion.
However, when so many people would misunderstand you – perhaps even wilfully in service of defending a subject like chosen platform (i.e. fanboys) – then why wouldn’t I just avoid that pitfall altogether and make it even more clear that by ‘best’ I meant ‘the game I found to be the best’.
Also, Jason2, have you ever heard of the concept of Synaesthesia? More specifically, Grapheme-colour synaesthesia? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapheme-color_synesthesia)
For someone who experiences this, even picking “90″ as the objective “best” in your above example is by no means a given thing. They may well have an aversion to the “colour” of 90, as it were, and so they may pick soemthing else. I have a friend who experiences numbers in this sort of way.
Just something else to think with regards to claimed “objectivity” which in my experience is as widely misunderstood as “subjectivity”, if not more so.
I think part of the reason for not saying favourite is that it kills the discussion.
If I say “chocolate is the best flavour of ice cream” then I’ve got to come up with reasons why I think it’s the best. Then if you disagree with me you’ve got to come up with reasons why you disagree with me. In an ideal situation both parties end up learning something.
But if I say “chocolate is my favourite flavour but it’s alright if you disagree with me because all flavours are equally valid” then people who disagree with you will just shrug their shoulders and say “whatever dude”.
Okay so a not insignificant segment of the videogaming audience are pretty unhinged when it comes to their favourite games but should we really be modifying our behaviour to accommodate them?
Shouldn’t we be trying to foster debate instead of quelling it?
The other Jason should be informed that ‘best’ and ‘favourite’ are, in fact, quite different things even if they can be used synonymously in certain contexts (like this one), which a quick trip to the dictionary would confirm. And even in that case, ‘best’ is by far a stronger word than ‘favourite.’ Which he already seems to know.
This does make a difference, whether we like it or not; consider the difference between ‘African American’ and the terms used to refer to people of that descent in parts of the American deep south best left unexplored.
As a case in point for why we would want to avoid so called “debate” about things like best games and review scores and instead make our subjective prejudices and preferences plain, I give you this joyful confused and misguided piece from PSXExtreme from February of last year.
http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/4586.html
I think that debate was worth having if for no other reason than to demonstrate that the editorial staff of psxextreme are freaking psychopaths. I at least found it an enlightening experience.
I mean do EDGE come off as crazy dicks for scoring the game a seven in the first place? No of course not, even though they’re claiming just as much objectivity. EDGE had their reasons and they explained them, psxextreme had a crazy tirade. EDGE continues being the most prestigious, English language, game rag in the business and psxextreme continues being a small site with a narrow fan base. No harm, no foul.