Vapourware A New Top 101 Poll

[S.torch]

Believe it or not, it's been almost 5 years since the previous poll was conducted.

I certainly don't believe it. It feels like yesterday.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

Let's just have a game of the year poll 2023. Save the big list for next year.

 

[Lord_Potato]

I'm all for it on the condition mods will not be applicable.

It's either Archolos or me. You have to choose.

It's Archolos then!

 

[behold_a_man]

Wouldn't it be more useful to have the ranking or poll:
1) With the ability to give any game a score on some scale (say, 1-10) - like in yearly pools.
2) With the aggregation of votes every some time (like six months) and the ability to cast or change a vote at any time.

The current ranking does not address two nagging questions:
1) How people with similar tastes to mine rate games (now, the pool of games people can vote on is limited).
2) How many people played the game (hopefully).
Besides, it's way harder to compare a game I played 7 years ago with a game I played a week ago using that scale. I usually remember whether (or roughly how much) I liked the game, not what exactly I liked - and the current voting system seems designed to reward games that did something very well rather than were very polished, so it probably will get skewed in favor of newer games (or games that were rather played recently than in times long gone).

Also, I'd love to see a ranking where I can filter out people whose opinions I disregard and see how it changes. Now, it's quite a chore.

 

[whydoibother]

I think it would be interesting to have the equivalent of the old 2012-2016 top. Perhaps 2017-2023 or 2012-2023?

It would be more unpredictable and dynamic than having the same top-10 with Planescape, Fallout, and Arcanum rehashed for the nth time.

Top 5 games of the last 5 years. Each person has 5 votes, the list of applicants are games that saw mainstream release (early access or final or PC port) between 2018 and 2023, included. Final result is the games ordered by number of votes.

Here's a normie list to compare:

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

Is Murphy in Detroit that became human? (Face it… Detroit is lost).

Can a poll handle a ranking of 1-10 in it? Hell, can a poll handle the many little things you can rank in a survey. I get these fucking surveys all the time from Medicare asking to score 1-10 on this and that (like about 20-50 questions?. I usually just round file that shit unless I seek amusement…. And my answers in the “fill in the blanks” are very amusing.

 

[Butter]

I think it would be interesting to have the equivalent of the old 2012-2016 top. Perhaps 2017-2023 or 2012-2023?

It would be more unpredictable and dynamic than having the same top-10 with Planescape, Fallout, and Arcanum rehashed for the nth time.

Top 5 games of the last 5 years. Each person has 5 votes, the list of applicants are games that saw mainstream release (early access or final or PC port) between 2018 and 2023, included. Final result is the games ordered by number of votes.

Here's a normie list to compare:
View attachment 45967

I would want to exclude early access and rerelease unless the rerelease is substantially different in some way. ME Legendary Edition and The Last of Us Part 1 and Skyrim Bullshit Edition shouldn't be eligible.

 

[whydoibother]

I think it would be interesting to have the equivalent of the old 2012-2016 top. Perhaps 2017-2023 or 2012-2023?

It would be more unpredictable and dynamic than having the same top-10 with Planescape, Fallout, and Arcanum rehashed for the nth time.

Top 5 games of the last 5 years. Each person has 5 votes, the list of applicants are games that saw mainstream release (early access or final or PC port) between 2018 and 2023, included. Final result is the games ordered by number of votes.

Here's a normie list to compare:
View attachment 45967

I would want to exclude early access and rerelease unless the rerelease is substantially different in some way. ME Legendary Edition and The Last of Us Part 1 and Skyrim Bullshit Edition shouldn't be eligible.

Make the list however you want it, I just linked imdb as a comparison.
And some games, like Against the Storm or Valheim, basically had their peak in early access.

 

[Disciple]

Having this kind of poll every 5-6 years sounds about right, I guess. Codexers who want to see how the more recent RPGs stack up against the classics get their wish granted, and those who faint at the notion of constant re-evaluation of the RPG canon can always defer to the older polls, anyway.

Seeing the minor shifts and erosions in popularity of certain games can be interesting too. Will Disco Elysium split the 'story-guy' vote and make PS:T slide from the very top? Which Knights of the Chalice game do Codexers favour more by now? What are those older games being quietly displaced by newer games – e. g., Wizardry VI went from #32 in 2014 to #69 in 2019, and did not fare very well in the pre-Diablo survey either (barely top 30)?

 

[MpuMngwana]

2016-2023 or something list could be interesting, since it could feasibly include some hidden gem that flew under most people's radar. Another all-time list would be pretty pointless, it would just be old list + the biggest new releases and the only remotely interesting result would be pages upon pages of pointless hissy fits ("Witcher 3 made the list, the Codex has fallen", "What a shit list, next time we should make the objectively correct list by only allowing people with exact same taste as myself to vote", "How dare these subhumans put Fallout 2 in 4th place and Arcanum in 3rd place when if you were a 250 IQ, high-testosterone alpha male with a large penis such as myself you would know that by objective metrics of RPG goodness Fallout 2 is the 3rd best RPG of all time while Arcanum is the 4th")

 

[Jason Liang]

Easiest would be:
- Pick 5 games to get 3 points
- Pick 5 games to get 2 points
- Pick up to 25 games to get 1 point
- Pick any number of games to get 0 points (to lower its average)
- Total is up to 50 points

 

[whydoibother]

Will Disco Elysium split the 'story-guy' vote and make PS:T slide from the very top? Which Knights of the Chalice game do Codexers favour more by now? What are those older games being quietly displaced by newer games – e. g., Wizardry VI went from #32 in 2014 to #69 in 2019, and did not fare very well in the pre-Diablo survery either (barely top 30)?

This would make sense, if Codexers weren't crazy about signaling how hardcore they are, and how much they worship at the altar of The Classics, and how they mock people who don't have The Classics in their top picks.
Which is why I'd prefer a poll that is limited by a start and end date, to judge the recent offerings without the baggage of having to include the traditional list of 10-12 games that everyone MUST have or else their post is discarded.

 

[EtcEtcEtc]

Here's my pitch -

No more 'best of' polls. They don't actually tell anything, the methodology is shit, and it ends up w/ Oblivion listed on the top 101.

Meanwhile any game released before 1995 is unaccounted for -

This place should have a recommended list - people vote yes or no for a game - games that pass a certain threshold of yes' go on a list/wiki/whatever - you can also see those games 'no' votes.

That way you get multiple things:

A list that's going to provide RPG's worth at least looking into.
A list that will account for games that aren't going to make a 101 list because most people haven't played them - Disciples of Steel for example, or Prelude to Darkness.
A list that's regularly updated rather than a one time thing, so it's not going to attract a bunch of rando's from outside the forums to try to juice the counts.
A list that should self sort - Planescape will probably get the most yes votes, and will end up at the top the same way it would.

You'd also get a sense on games that may not have been played by most but are universally loved, vs games that are polarizing, giving you a better grasp of what you think is worth playing.

 

[Serus]

1. starfield
2. fallout 76
3. bear sex 3
4. polack sim 2015 (witcher 3)

Done, just fill the rest of the top 101 in with some shitty anime games.

Bear Sex 3 will definitely be on top of the poll but other than that, you are probably correct.

 

[smaug]

Oh fuck no, the absolute massive influx of weebs and BioWare fans would fuck the ratings even more

only the 2014 one is legitimate, fuck off Butter

 

[luj1]

Felipepe should be decapitated

 

[Spike]

Here's my pitch -

No more 'best of' polls. They don't actually tell anything, the methodology is shit, and it ends up w/ Oblivion listed on the top 101.

Meanwhile any game released before 1995 is unaccounted for -

This place should have a recommended list - people vote yes or no for a game - games that pass a certain threshold of yes' go on a list/wiki/whatever - you can also see those games 'no' votes.

That way you get multiple things:

A list that's going to provide RPG's worth at least looking into.
A list that will account for games that aren't going to make a 101 list because most people haven't played them - Disciples of Steel for example, or Prelude to Darkness.
A list that's regularly updated rather than a one time thing, so it's not going to attract a bunch of rando's from outside the forums to try to juice the counts.
A list that should self sort - Planescape will probably get the most yes votes, and will end up at the top the same way it would.

You'd also get a sense on games that may not have been played by most but are universally loved, vs games that are polarizing, giving you a better grasp of what you think is worth playing.

Tremendous idea. I vote an emphatic YES.

 

[OttoQuitmarck]

At least the yearly polls felipepe does are pretty good, he's been shilling east asian games and nexon especially a lot lately though even though it's pure borderline unplayable garbage. I don't CARE that 2 billion asians play that shit.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Considering the decline from 2014 to 2019, the new poll will feature:

1. Fallout 1/2 and PST falling out of the top 100, because none of the nuCodexers have played them.
2. Oblivion and Fallout 3 will take F1/2 and PST spots as the old classics before the "decline".
3. Fallout 4 will be to Fallout 3 what Fallout 3 used to be to Fallout 1/2, and Fallout 76 will be #9 due to Gregz and Rusty's alts.
4. Bear Sex 3 will be #1, because there are too many filthy casuals here now. Starfilth will be #50 because even filthy casuals can't buy that much copium.
5. At the end of the voting period, Lillura will manifest as a the final form Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VII, and kill everyone.

 

[Lemming42]

I'm gonna vote for Fallout 3. I'm gonna fucking do it and nobody can stop me. Hahahaha!

No really though we need a better rating system, the last one was raw dogshit and fucked the results right up. I'd really like to see the non-RPGs one redone without point allocation mayhem too.

 

[rojay]

No more 'best of' polls. They don't actually tell anything, the methodology is shit,

The only purpose for best of polls on the Codex is so that people can argue about the results.

Are you old enough to remember "Bum Fights"? Because that's what the threads turn into, except instead of fat homeless people fighting, it's fat morons arguing about computer role playing games. Almost as funny.

 

[Falksi]

Quality of votes should count.

Instead of running a poll, posters should post their personal list with more points being awarded higher up the list a game is (e.g. Number 1 get's 15pts, 2 gets 14pts etc.).

Each game featured should come with a brief description of why said Dexer loves it, and ones without said mini-reiews, or with lame mini-reviews which contain no genuine substance (e.g. "it is crap"), should be discounted.

That way we'll get a proper list from proper Dexers who have the capacity to put their thoughts forward, and far less political voting too. Normie lurkers who struggle to do more than click on a vote button make way for more prestigious opinions.

And fuck omitting older games, just because they are still better than 99% of shit churned out now shouldn't invalidate them. This place is a last bastion of gaming culture, we should keep it that way and ensure people coming here are provided with a top reference point to get the most out of the genre. I literally came here because when I got back into gaming big time everywhere else, like IGN, wasted my time with garbage "best ever" lists.

 

[flyingjohn]

only the 2014 one is legitimate,

 

[octavius]

Alas, no matter what system we use, Chaos Strikes Back will never be voted the Top 1 CRPG.

 

[felipepepe]

Would be cool to do a new poll, and I'm perfectly fine with someone else doing it or changing the voting system, but we should decide what kind of list you want to make before discussing the methods.

Last time we had 361 codexers voting on 278 RPGs (they could vote on any game they wanted). And we got a ton of new RPGs the past 5 years, but only a few mega-popular ones. If we use the same methodology and scope, it will likely be a very similar list, but with way fewer older games and tons of drama about where Disco Elysium and Baldur's Gate 3 should go.

So might be interesting to consider doing separate votes/categories by decade or in 5-year blocks, for example - "list up to 5 games from 1999-2004" - would be 10 blocks, from 1979 to 2024. That way we also get a 2019-2024 poll that some people asked. And Chaos Strikes Back might be #1 of the 1985-1989 block lol

Asking people to rate games is a nightmare, there's too many games and it leads to trolling & downvoting. Just picking up to 5 games is simple, but will become a popularity poll. Doing points again is tricky because it helps trolls, but it also helps highlight hidden gems and it's more versatile: you can rank by points, by average, do bayesian average or just count every vote as 1 and see what's more popular.

TL;DR: I suggest doing it in chunks of 5 years, from 1979-2024. Each person picks up to 5 games (#1 has 3 points, #2 has 2 points, #3-5 has 1 point). Do like 1 per month, so we do the 2019-2024 when the year is over. Or just wait and do it next year.