Community Codex GOTY 2015 - Results

[Infinitron]

Stingray said:

I think that "top 10" is a bit misleading because for most of those games, hardly anyone on the site actually played them. Their style of voting was a bit out of the ordinary - instead of voting for the best game, what they did is have everyone rate every game that they played from 2015. The list is derived from the Bayesian average ratings of each game.

If you limit the list to games that were played by a reasonable number of voters, then their full GotY rankings would be:

1. Underrail (played by 58%) - rating 4.20
2. AoD (played by 63%) - rating 4.18
3. Witcher 3 (played by 51%) - rating 4.00
4. Serpent in the Staglands (played by 35%) - rating 3.56
5. Shadowrun: Hong Kong (played by 44%) - rating 3.52
6. Pillars of Eternity (played by 76%) - rating 3.30
7. Sunless Sea (played by 17%) - rating 2.91
8. Undertale (played by 29%) - rating 2.60
9. Fallout 4 (played by 44%) - rating 1.86
10. Sword Coast Legends (played by 11%) - rating 1.71

Every other game was only played by 8% or less of the voters. (The full spreadsheet is available at their site, my list is taken from the GotY tab of it.) #7 and #10 weren't played by many, so maybe they should be dropped too. Now the list begins to look pretty reasonable.

If they had actually voted like we do here, I'm assuming AoD would have won their GotY, due to its somewhat higher % of players than Underrail (and Witcher 3), and similar rating.

Useful data, although it becomes funny after #6. Also, I find it hard to believe that many people actually played SCL. Pirates, I guess.

 

[V_K]

AoD may have lost, but overall storyfags win 2 to 1.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Also, I find it hard to believe that many people actually played SCL. Pirates, I guess.

Free weekend. It really earned my 1.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

Stingray said:

I think that "top 10" is a bit misleading because for most of those games, hardly anyone on the site actually played them. Their style of voting was a bit out of the ordinary - instead of voting for the best game, what they did is have everyone rate every game that they played from 2015. The list is derived from the Bayesian average ratings of each game.

If you limit the list to games that were played by a reasonable number of voters, then their full GotY rankings would be:

1. Underrail (played by 58%) - rating 4.20
2. AoD (played by 63%) - rating 4.18
3. Witcher 3 (played by 51%) - rating 4.00
4. Serpent in the Staglands (played by 35%) - rating 3.56
5. Shadowrun: Hong Kong (played by 44%) - rating 3.52
6. Pillars of Eternity (played by 76%) - rating 3.30
7. Sunless Sea (played by 17%) - rating 2.91
8. Undertale (played by 29%) - rating 2.60
9. Fallout 4 (played by 44%) - rating 1.86
10. Sword Coast Legends (played by 11%) - rating 1.71

Every other game was only played by 8% or less of the voters. (The full spreadsheet is available at their site, my list is taken from the GotY tab of it.) #7 and #10 weren't played by many, so maybe they should be dropped too. Now the list begins to look pretty reasonable.

If they had actually voted like we do here, I'm assuming AoD would have won their GotY, due to its somewhat higher % of players than Underrail (and Witcher 3), and similar rating.

And even these numbers would only mean anything if one could prove that people had actually played the games they voted for. (Spoiler: They didn't. Haters gotta hate.)

I only voted for games that I actually had played and knew well enough to vote about. That amounted to two games: Evoland 2 and Undertale. Evoland got a '2' rating because it's a pile of jumbled mush, and Undertale got a '4' because it actually dares to be stupid try something new and entertains while it lasts. The only other game I tried out was Underrail, and after my hour-long playthrough I could easily have given it a '1' vote, which judging by the butthurt fanboys around here could have been the swingvote to knock it off the top spot.

I really don't care about any of the results, but what this poll proves first and foremost is that the RPG Codex will never be taken seriously as a gaming site, because it is just another victim of 'gaming journalism' by running a poll where every Tom, Dick and Harry can not only vote, but rig the vote to suit their agenda, leaving the 'RPG GOTY' about as credible as every other 'Top XX Games of All Time' out there.

Great job, guys. I know considerable effort went into this, but nothing good came of it. My suggestion for next year's vote: Assemble a 'panel' of judges whom will first help establish which games are actually worthy of being in the poll, and then have their vote weigh 50% against the userbase vote. That might actually yield some credible results, not this crap.

 

[Cassidy]

Stingray said:

I think that "top 10" is a bit misleading because for most of those games, hardly anyone on the site actually played them. Their style of voting was a bit out of the ordinary - instead of voting for the best game, what they did is have everyone rate every game that they played from 2015. The list is derived from the Bayesian average ratings of each game.

If you limit the list to games that were played by a reasonable number of voters, then their full GotY rankings would be:

1. Underrail (played by 58%) - rating 4.20
2. AoD (played by 63%) - rating 4.18
3. Witcher 3 (played by 51%) - rating 4.00
4. Serpent in the Staglands (played by 35%) - rating 3.56
5. Shadowrun: Hong Kong (played by 44%) - rating 3.52
6. Pillars of Eternity (played by 76%) - rating 3.30
7. Sunless Sea (played by 17%) - rating 2.91
8. Undertale (played by 29%) - rating 2.60
9. Fallout 4 (played by 44%) - rating 1.86
10. Sword Coast Legends (played by 11%) - rating 1.71

Every other game was only played by 8% or less of the voters. (The full spreadsheet is available at their site, my list is taken from the GotY tab of it.) #7 and #10 weren't played by many, so maybe they should be dropped too. Now the list begins to look pretty reasonable.

If they had actually voted like we do here, I'm assuming AoD would have won their GotY, due to its somewhat higher % of players than Underrail (and Witcher 3), and similar rating.

And even these numbers would only mean anything if one could prove that people had actually played the games they voted for. (Spoiler: They didn't. Haters gotta hate.)

I only voted for games that I actually had played and knew well enough to vote about. That amounted to two games: Evoland 2 and Undertale. Evoland got a '2' rating because it's a pile of jumbled mush, and Undertale got a '4' because it actually dares to be stupid try something new and entertains while it lasts. The only other game I tried out was Underrail, and after my hour-long playthrough I could easily have given it a '1' vote, which judging by the butthurt fanboys around here could have been the swingvote to knock it off the top spot.

I really don't care about any of the results, but what this poll proves first and foremost is that the RPG Codex will never be taken seriously as a gaming site, because it is just another victim of 'gaming journalism' by running a poll where every Tom, Dick and Harry can not only vote, but rig the vote to suit their agenda, leaving the 'RPG GOTY' about as credible as every other 'Top XX Games of All Time' out there.

Great job, guys. I know considerable effort went into this, but nothing good came of it. My suggestion for next year's vote: Assemble a 'panel' of judges whom will first help establish which games are actually worthy of being in the poll, and then have their vote weigh 50% against the userbase vote. That might actually yield some credible results, not this crap.

 

[Infinitron]

Great job, guys. I know considerable effort went into this, but nothing good came of it. My suggestion for next year's vote: Assemble a 'panel' of judges whom will first help establish which games are actually worthy of being in the poll, and then have their vote weigh 50% against the userbase vote. That might actually yield some credible results, not this crap.

It would also yield massive drama. You're naive sometimes, Unkillable Cat.

At least this way it's just numbers. Take 'em or leave 'em.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

butthurt fanboys around here

Undertale got a '4' because it actually dares to try something new and entertains while it lasts

the RPG Codex will never be taken seriously as a gaming site, because it is just another victim of 'gaming journalism' by running a poll where every Tom, Dick and Harry can not only vote, but rig the vote to suit their agenda, leaving the 'RPG GOTY' about as credible as every other 'Top XX Games of All Time' out there.
Great job, guys. I know considerable effort went into this, but nothing good came of it.

 

[V_K]

...and the butthurt rating button was removed just when it's most needed...

 

[Ellef]

We'd be seeing record numbers on that butthurt cat comment that's for sure.

 

[Tacgnol]

Can't wait to see butthurt from other communities. 2014 poll caused much anguish outside the codex.

 

[Cadmus]

Stingray said:

I think that "top 10" is a bit misleading because for most of those games, hardly anyone on the site actually played them. Their style of voting was a bit out of the ordinary - instead of voting for the best game, what they did is have everyone rate every game that they played from 2015. The list is derived from the Bayesian average ratings of each game.

If you limit the list to games that were played by a reasonable number of voters, then their full GotY rankings would be:

1. Underrail (played by 58%) - rating 4.20
2. AoD (played by 63%) - rating 4.18
3. Witcher 3 (played by 51%) - rating 4.00
4. Serpent in the Staglands (played by 35%) - rating 3.56
5. Shadowrun: Hong Kong (played by 44%) - rating 3.52
6. Pillars of Eternity (played by 76%) - rating 3.30
7. Sunless Sea (played by 17%) - rating 2.91
8. Undertale (played by 29%) - rating 2.60
9. Fallout 4 (played by 44%) - rating 1.86
10. Sword Coast Legends (played by 11%) - rating 1.71

Every other game was only played by 8% or less of the voters. (The full spreadsheet is available at their site, my list is taken from the GotY tab of it.) #7 and #10 weren't played by many, so maybe they should be dropped too. Now the list begins to look pretty reasonable.

If they had actually voted like we do here, I'm assuming AoD would have won their GotY, due to its somewhat higher % of players than Underrail (and Witcher 3), and similar rating.

And even these numbers would only mean anything if one could prove that people had actually played the games they voted for. (Spoiler: They didn't. Haters gotta hate.)

I only voted for games that I actually had played and knew well enough to vote about. That amounted to two games: Evoland 2 and Undertale. Evoland got a '2' rating because it's a pile of jumbled mush, and Undertale got a '4' because it actually dares to be stupid try something new and entertains while it lasts. The only other game I tried out was Underrail, and after my hour-long playthrough I could easily have given it a '1' vote, which judging by the butthurt fanboys around here could have been the swingvote to knock it off the top spot.

I really don't care about any of the results, but what this poll proves first and foremost is that the RPG Codex will never be taken seriously as a gaming site, because it is just another victim of 'gaming journalism' by running a poll where every Tom, Dick and Harry can not only vote, but rig the vote to suit their agenda, leaving the 'RPG GOTY' about as credible as every other 'Top XX Games of All Time' out there.

Great job, guys. I know considerable effort went into this, but nothing good came of it. My suggestion for next year's vote: Assemble a 'panel' of judges whom will first help establish which games are actually worthy of being in the poll, and then have their vote weigh 50% against the userbase vote. That might actually yield some credible results, not this crap.

The gaming world will never take the codex seriously??? Omg, better assemble a profeshunul panel of judges!
Your post is too gay to argue with, I don't want some of the gayness to rub off on me.

 

[felipepepe]

I wish I could criticize the RPG Watch's poll like that, but while we release the full data & methodology, they only post the results...

And people should enjoy the list as a whole, not just the Top 3. Numbers are extremely easy to bend to your favor, a simple change in methodology could have easily changed the results. I've kept the methodology I said I would from the start (bayesian, n=poll's middle most voted game), which was intentionally planned to favor good games over popular games. But I added all those other ones (and the raw data) so that you too can make your own GOTY.

Wanna know which GOTY the Codex as a whole liked more? Sort by the "% enjoyed tab".

1. Age of Decadence - 51%
2. Underrail - 48%
3. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - 38%
4. Pillars of Eternity - 35%
5. Shadowrun: Hong Kong - 23%

This shows the % of overall voters who thought the game was good or great (4 or 5). It's a funny ranking because PoE is at once the 4th most enjoyed, the 2nd most hated game and by far the most played.

The spreadsheet has data on what 742 codexers think about +100 games, it would be a shame to just look at the Top 3 in one rating.

I was disqualified due to some kind of technical issue. I think I accidentally hit the submit button, pressed Enter, or something similar before I'd made my selections properly. I don't really remember exactly what happened, since it didn't matter much even at the time, and certainly doesn't matter now.

No, you and the other guys were disqualified for being lazy trolls randomly downvoting every game while pushing your agenda, which activated my trap card - you all voted for Oertolas: Legends of the Lost King, a game that doesn't fucking exist.

 

[Cadmus]

Rofl!

 

[Diggfinger]

Underrail wins RPGCodex's GOTY 2015?
Fuck yeaeah

 

[Aenra]

Wanna know which GOTY the Codex as a whole liked more? Sort by the "% enjoyed tab".

1. Age of Decadence - 51%

Evidence of a conspiracy against our SS-Obersturmführer! This shall not pass. We have ways...

 

[Daedalos]

Guys settle down.

AoD and Underrail are both great games. Underrail is just abit better

We shouldn't fight about it, we should just enjoy the fact that we get so many great RPGs coming out in recent times.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

It would also yield massive drama.

And what is this thread again? Massive drama and butthurts galore. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

I could have posted nothing but "LOL" and still be judged as butthurt.

At least felipepepe put forth all the numbers and data - that's about the only notable effort here.

 

[Blaine]

No, and the other guys were disqualified for being lazy trolls randomly downvoting every game while pushing your agenda, which activated my trap card - you all voted for Oertolas: Legends of the Lost King, a game that doesn't fucking exist.

That premature submission in fact did occur, so if I "went through downvoting every game" then the scripting for that poll is shit, since I'd only gotten through a fraction of them.

If I were REALLY pushing my agenda, then I would have rated AoD a 1. I didn't. Whereas I can pretty much guarantee you that there are plenty of AoD fanboys who gave Underrail undeservedly low scores, considering their shit-flinging elsewhere.

The only games that mattered on that poll were Underrail, AoD, the new D:OS (I think it was on there), and secondarily some Kickstarter darlings. It was bloated with a bunch of obscure nonsense and weeaboo crap, possibly because you overestimated the amount of effort to expend on something that doesn't matter at all.

All that having been said, I am indeed very lazy and I certainly did vote anything I didn't recognize a 1, because if I haven't heard of it, it's shit. No doubt I did hit your trap card. I recall voting most of the animu crap a 1 because animu is also shit. I only voted fairly on games that actually matter.

The spreadsheet has data on what 742 codexers think about +100 games, it would be a shame to just look at the Top 3 in one rating.

Why would it be a shame? Does a spreadsheet of opinions no one really cares about actually matter?

 

[Infinitron]

It would also yield massive drama.

And what is this thread again? Massive drama and butthurts galore. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Nah, it's really not that bad because there's nobody to point fingers at.

I think I serve as a good recent example of what happens when there is somebody to point fingers at. Given that, who would even dare serve on a panel of judges?

 

[Feyd Rautha]

No way that Shadowrun Hongkong is better than PoE!

 

[V_K]

Nah, it's really not that bad because there's nobody to point fingers at.

Just the opposite, since the raw data was released with usernames in it there's no shortage of people to point fingers at.
Personally, I've alrady added the dumbfucks who rated Voidspire at less than 3 to my ignore list.

I think I serve as a good recent example of what happens when there is somebody to point fingers at.

Where was that?
Looks like I missed all the fun again...

 

[Darth Roxor]

No way that Shadowrun Hongkong is better than PoE!

even underrail is even than poe

many things are better than poe

 

[Haba]

No way that Shadowrun Hongkong is better than PoE!

Any game that is actually fun to play is better than PoE.

 

[Jaedar]

It would also yield massive drama.

And what is this thread again? Massive drama and butthurts galore. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Nah, it's really not that bad because there's nobody to point fingers at.

I think I serve as a good recent example of what happens when there is somebody to point fingers at. Given that, who would even dare serve on a panel of judges?

Anyone who isn't a massive coward.

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

AoD fans really start to approach Biowhores level of fanatical dedication. As if it's hard to understand that a game with more orthodox gameplay will be at an advantage over an experimental stuff when it comes to counting averages. I liked AoD, but I understand why someone simply not enjoy it, not because he is a retard with ADHD, but because he doesn't like slow single-character combat and visual novels.

EDIT:
On the other hand I think that many of the bad votes for Undertale came from people who didn't play it. It's a popular meme game that is completely outside of average's codexer sphere of interest, yet according to the pool almost 1/3 of the Codex played it.