Favorite best game ever?

Okay, I'm cheating a bit here - this post isn't really about game designing. But bear with me, I just want to point out something interesting I've noticed about gamers' opinions.

When you're discussing video games with someone, sooner or later comes the time when they ask about your favorite game, or "the best game ever". I personally don't like the situation at all, mostly because I can never decide on a single favorite - just choosing ten of them is hard enough!

However, people often seem to think that your favorite game and the game you think is the best one made are always the same thing. It can of course simply be a difference in wording and not in context, but there are still plenty of people who think that just because something is my favorite I also believe it should be awarded with "The Game of The Year" and 10 points.

Final Fantasy VII

A favorite is so much more than just something you feel is well made. Nostalgia is one of the biggest factors; if you played a certain game a lot when you were young, there's a big chance that you are gonna call it one of your favorites, simply because of the memories it holds. We also tend to remember our "first times"; Final Fantasy VII might not be the best game in the series, let alone the whole genre, but for many of us it was our first step into the world of Japanese role-playing games.
We also tend to relate to certain games. If a game's story, character or setting reminds you of your own life, it can become dear to you, regardless of how many flaws it actually has - and this applies to other mediums, like books and movies, as well.

There will obviously never be such thing as "the best game ever made", and it's better that way. But if I really had to try to name one, I would turn my head towards aggregate game review scores - the more ratings, the better. They are not perfectly accurate, they still have their own biases, but I feel it's the closest we'll ever get to finding some of the best and the worst.

For example, I have Clock Tower, a game I actually mentioned in the second post of this blog, on my list of my favorite games. Would I suggest it deserves the title of one of the best games made? Not at all.

- TM