Games like that are complete outliers and you have to draw a line somewhere. I’d say it’s not eligible until it’s a 1.0. That’s on the developer for not being able to release it. It’s either that or you go by the first playable date.
The reality is there will always be exceptions that people want to throw into the mix, but there are thousands of games within the last decade you could vote for instead. If you can’t bring yourself to vote for any of those, then just don’t vote. It’s really that simple.
We had a discussion about that that more or less ended with people doing whatever they wanted, but the “official” policy has always been early access doesn’t count as released, since it causes issues like StS in two best of yearly lists.
I think we can stick with the 1.0 release between 1/1/2010 and 12/31/2019 and not have too many problems, even if it’s pretty clear that some people are going to put a few things out there that break that rule, sometimes in the spirit of fair play and sometimes not. But unlike with 2018 StS (which had the effect of a 2019 game of the year miss since several people wouldn’t let themselves vote on it two separate years) I doubt any shenanigans will cause any real issues.
As for series titles, I’m assuming that the people voting for the series can work out just fine if they want to group up games or not on a per series basis. I didn’t even consider CoDs and the like, I was thinking about the posts on this year’s thread about Pokemon Sword and Shield. I think Dave is mostly right that sports games are a good fit for series voting but not CoD and GTA etc as they are unique games. I expect that voters will be able to figure that out on their own in a way everyone will agree on, but maybe I’m missing something.
I mean, if we wanted to get really serious about it I could try to find a list of all valid games from the decade and reject the vote failing a match, but I feel like that will just exclude people with hurt feelings.
Do you really need to throw your toys out of the pram if you don’t get your way?
Why is specific release date the most important criteria? If people think a game was important to this decade or to them during it, why the hell can’t they vote for it? Why is your opinion so damn important?
Huh, haven’t played it but been hearing about it so long I assumed it was fully released.
Shit, man, I dunno. These things are so fuzzy in these days of early access, betas, continual development that the notion of a single date is almost an outmoded relic.
Whether that is a good or bad thing I leave for you to decide.
Just include some kind of “just ship it already” bonus award for games forever in early access.
It’s especially egregious when you see other games that have shipped and continued to update like No Man’s Sky. Having a release version doesn’t preclude further development game makers!.
Maybe, like what I see from all the other of this kind of threads, someone should just step and say "this is how I will run this poll ". Getting what, 100 people, to agree on anything like this is a lost cause.
is this poll coming this decade? I will not vote for Demon’s Souls even though it was my game of the decade. Released 2009, but fully understood much later. Dwarf Fortress was 2006 released?
I disagree. The most official ruling on the eligibility of EA games (from the person running that year’s vote) in each of the last five years was:
2015: I think the year thing is MOSTLY to get away from folks listing games that came out in previous years but they just got around to in their snapshot of this particular year. I personally have no beef with someone putting a beta or EA game in here if they like.
2016, 2017: We’ve discouraged listing Early Access games in this space in the past but since Early Access is becoming harder and harder to tell apart from just being a bad game, go ahead and list whatever.
2018, 2019: Early Access games are eligible if they were “released” (whatever that means–showed up for purchase I guess) in calendar 2018
As long as someone who votes for an EA game this decade doesn’t try to vote for it again next decade, I’m probably personally fine with it. :) I’d make another poll but I think many people would just prefer I make a decision and go with it.
I’m kind of leaning towards the same thing as with series games, if there’s wide consensus that it’s ok, Factorio and Dwarf Fortress come to mind here, then it’s fine by me.
Games from more than 10 years ago at their 1.0 are clearly off limits though.
