I found the "Best family game" category at Game Awards a little strange and condescending

[Waluigilicious]

Best Family Game

• Luigi’s Mansion 3
• Ring Fit Adventure
• Super Mario Maker 2
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
• Yoshi’s Crafted World

These games literally have nothing in common with each other except for the fact that they have the same publisher. They are different genres, different play styles and don't belong in the same category other than as if to say "Ah, here is those other Nintendo/kid friendly games that we didn't put elsewhere because they were not worthy in our opinion", attempting to throw thousands of fans a bone.

A game being accessible to all ages and being fun to play locally with friends and family should be a plus to what the game already offers. Not a side category and a pity mention (and almost seen as a negative as far as the other categories go!). Why gaming is still primarily shown as one tennage/young adult male playing alone in his bedroom (either online or offline) is beyond me.

Just my thoughts and opinions, I could be wrong.

Edit: "tennage" instead of "teenage" was a typo but I'm going to keep it in as it makes a point about the so called teenagers online being mostly ten years old

Edit: The problem here isn't the fact that they are all Nintendo. That's just something I picked up on. The problem is platformers/rhythm/puzzle/party games are being shunned and cheaply being grouped as family friendly games. Yes, Nintendo happens to make these games the most and are generally of a high quality, but there are many other examples out there even from this year. Me pointing out the fact that they were all Nintendo was just trying to find something in common with all these games.

 

[Kenzodielocke]

It's to give Nintendo an award.

Edit: This is not a serious post, fyi.

 

[Shining Star]

It's basically best AAA game where you don't kill things.

 

[Glio]

The Game Awards is for "true hardcore gamers" so it's no surprise.

 

[Earthed]

This is literally how Nintendo positions itself though.

 

[Dyle]

I'm not sure what else you would nominate this year, the only other game this year that particularly fits the category is CTR

 

[WestEgg]

It's to give Nintendo an award.

Edit: This is not a serious post, fyi.

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Because Fire Emblem got robbed, they had to do it somehow

 

[hrœrekr]

Agreed. Meanwhile, other categories like Action/Adventure are too broad. They could have a better genre division.

 

[Jakke_Koala]

No Concrete Genie? :o

 

[Dennis8K]

If they didn't get their own category they would get few awards because of the dominance of violent games.

 

[Deleted member 17402]

I'm sure Call of Duty brings the siblings together!

 

[mnz]

Where else were they supposed to put the 5 non-murder games?

 

[Deleted member 873]

The Game Awards is for "true hardcore gamers" so it's no surprise.

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This.

The show yesterday being what it was just proves that.

 

[Aaron D.]

Family-friendly entertainment is a term that's been in rotation for decades.

And just looking at the TGA opening sizzle reel, feels like every single clip was some kind of violent gaming experience. The antithesis of family-friendly.

I think it's great to showcase awesome titles that are appropriate for everyone. Try not to get hung up on the word "family". It's just shorthand for all-ages.

 

[Waluigilicious]

This is literally how Nintendo positions itself though.

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Absolutely. But by having this category they are grouping games that have nothing in common with eachother as far as genres and play styles go, as if they don't belong with the "big boys".

I'm not sure what else you would nominate this year, the only other game this year that particularly fits the category is CTR

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My point wasn't that these all happened to be Nintendo. They could have chucked Just Dance, CTR or whatever in there and I would have said the same thing. These games have nothing in common with each other, other than as if to say "they don't belong elsewhere because they are kid friendly, and/or are focused on local play as opposed to online".

 

[SoulBrothaNum2]

Maybe i'm wrong here but it feels like games in general kind of left the children behind a bit?

Or maybe because all the games i played as a kid were cute sprites that bled and died so it still felt appropriate for me to play??

 

[dang0]

Eh, while it is a bit odd, there's value in rewarding games that can be played with people of all ages.

 

[Raijinto]

They know that violent and homogenous games already dominate so this is about the best they can do to ensure at least one award doesn't have that problem.

I don't have a problem with it, they are good games after all.

 

[BlackJace]

Expected MK11 here tbh

 

[Waluigilicious]

Eh, while it is a bit odd, there's value in rewarding games that can be played with people of all ages.

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Reward them by putting them in other categories where they belong through genre, not delegating them to their own as if being able to be played by all ages means they can't be in the same list as other games.

Very brave of them to give Smash Ultimate the fighting game award and not just chucking them into the family game list too(!)

 

[Leviathan]

Absolutely. But by having this category they are grouping games that have nothing in common with eachother as far as genres and play styles go, as if they don't belong with the "big boys".



My point wasn't that these all happened to be Nintendo. They could have chucked Just Dance, CTR or whatever in there and I would have said the same thing. These games have nothing in common with each other, other than as if to say "they don't belong elsewhere because they are kid friendly, and/or are focused on local play as opposed to online".

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They share an ability to be played by families with children of all ages without the older kids having to nervously explain to their parents that it's not always that violent or that sexy.

The unifying traits that do not stand out to you do stand out to a different type of gamer.

 

[The Unsent]

To be honest, I found the whole show condescending from what I saw. Just advents and sometimes Geoff has to bring up awards. I know he cared about the thing but unfortunately it looked very cynical. I know it was a lot of ask Mads to show up, but just saying saying he won at award, so quickly, really came across as tacky when he's such a respected actor. Maybe the whole endeavour is just flawed. I just left on in the background, I couldn't bare the whole thing. Like last year the clip of playing RDR 2 music and Roger Clark picking up his award, like he was really proud, it came across as flattering there.

 

[ghostcrew]

I would say that Ring Fit Adventure being in the Family category seemed a little odd. It stuck out a bit compared to the other nominees.

 

[Lua]

The whole thing is condescending towards anything that isn't photorealistic story driven games marketed towards male crowd. It's just how it is on these things. No matter how good a cutsy game like say, captain toad is, it will never win against games on those genres, and you know i'm telling the truth. Some genres are lesser, some games are lesser, that's how a lot of gaming crowd thinks and it shows every year. Visual novels, racing games, "cute" games will never win, so they just do category to fit those.

 

[tokkun]

Reward them by putting them in other categories where they belong through genre, not delegating them to their own as if being able to be played by all ages means they can't be in the same list as other games.

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Smash was in the game-of-the-year category. What more do you want?

 

[IronicSonic]

Best E for everyone game that isn't sport games award goes to...!

 

[Ramsay]

Typically, TGAs (and other end-of-year awards) do seem to have a heavy (although probably unconscious) bias against Nintendo. Remember when Galaxy 2 wasn't even nominated for GOTY in the 2010 Spike VGAs?

 

[Lego Killer Moth]

The whole thing is condescending towards anything that isn't photorealistic story driven games marketed towards male crowd. It's just how it is on these things. No matter how good a cutsy game like say, captain toad is, it will never win against games on those genres, and you know i'm telling the truth. Some genres are lesser, some games are lesser, that's how a lot of gaming crowd thinks and it shows every year. Visual novels, racing games, "cute" games will never win, so they just do category to fit those.

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Story driven? I don't know about that, they seem really dedicated to worshipping Fortnite, Apex, and LoL.

 

[Tron1]

 

[RadzPrower]

As a gaming parent, I'd agree with those nominations...except maybe Ring Fit Adventure...can't really see my 7-year-old playing that.

These are all games that, while wildly different genres are all games that are family-friendly in presentation, but also in appeal. My son and I play Smash all the time and he loved playing through Luigi's Mansion, as did I.

People will argue that "this is so Nintendo gets an award", but they received a couple of other awards and have actually done really well in past years...they just didn't have a lot of big contenders in terms of "awards" this year because there wasn't an equivalent to BotW or Odyssey. Good games, but nothing big enough to garner those levels of attention.

 

[Deleted member 11985]

There's nothing hard to understand about this at all. It's basically the best E rated game category, except it's titled "family friendly."

Which game in particular are you upset about? Are you mad that Luigi's Mansion wasn't in a best horror category?

 

[ffdgh]

Eh I'm glad Luigi got a win. Ring fit does kinda stick out though lol.

 

[Sacul64]

I would say that Ring Fit Adventure being in the Family category seemed a little odd. It stuck out a bit compared to the other nominees.

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Well see it was made by Nintendo so it got put in the VGAs Nintendo category.

 

[Viale]

LM3 could have maybe been in action/adventure considering how broad it is. But I don't think any of the other games (besides smash which did appear in multiple categories including goty) would have made the nomination cut off personally. The family friendly moniker just means "all-ages" game. I dont think they have any sort of weird trouble with including them in other categories as well.

 

[Armite]

I would say that Ring Fit Adventure being in the Family category seemed a little odd. It stuck out a bit compared to the other nominees.

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That definitely felt the most out of place among the rest, yeah.

 

[Damn Silly]

It's like Games For Impact. Cannae have them competing against the "real games" now.

 

[Dardan Sandiego]

I thought it was very revealing of the implicit biases the "prestige segment" of the gaming industry has.

 

[LuigiMario]

I feel like it'd be better served and less condescending if they had catagories like "Best Platformer" and "Best Local Multiplayer Game." There's enough of those that release in a year to justify it and they could give some indies more spotlight. Luigi's Mansion 3 should have been in the "best action/adventure" catagory, it fits that genre and probably is more deserving of that slot than Link's Awakening or Borderlands 3. Game awards have a heavy bias towards single player narrative games though so it's not incredibly surprising that Nintendo seems to regularly get snubbed despite releasing some of the highest quality games every year.

 

[Nocturnowl]

I would say that Ring Fit Adventure being in the Family category seemed a little odd. It stuck out a bit compared to the other nominees.

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I don't know a family that doesn't get the kids together with the parents for family squat time when they get back from school

 

[Cactuar]

Had zero problem with it. If not for that category four of those five games don't get mentioned at all. Family recognition is better than no recognition. I mean, are you denying that Nintendo makes family friendly games?

 

[rawhide]

It's almost as if the entire event is a hollow farce.

 

[Greywaren]

It's a bit upsetting that it seems to be a special category for "non/less violent games", essentially. But if you take a look at the announcements, ALL of them were violent games, so take that as you will.

 

[Glio]

Had zero problem with it. If not for that category four of those five games don't get mentioned at all. Family recognition is better than no recognition. I mean, are you denying that Nintendo makes family friendly games?

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And it wouldn't be better to have more award-winning genres like "Platformers."

 

[Kongroo]

All of those games are family appropriate. Most games aren't. It's an easy concept to grasp tbh.

 

[Waluigilicious]

Had zero problem with it. If not for that category four of those five games don't get mentioned at all. Family recognition is better than no recognition. I mean, are you denying that Nintendo makes family friendly games?

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Hit the nail on the head! That there is the problem. "Our categories are not broad enough and/or favour certain types of games/genres so here is a pity vote for the thousands of other people watching"

 

[Graven]

Fast and Furious will win this category next year.

 

[Asbsand]

I still prefer this to Geoff's suggestion that we should move on to "Crafts" instead of categories. YUCK.

Because that would be the extreme "5 AAA and artistically significant games that released this year Awards"

 

[Clark Zuckerberg]

I feel like you’re looking for a problem OP. These games are good, but the reason they’re family games is because anyone in you family can play them without being concerned with any real violence, nudity or swearing. As in “fun for the whole family” type of movies. Most of those games are not as popular as you think outside of Nintendo hardcore fans (of which there are many don’t get me wrong).

 

[Lant_War]

They're games that people from all ages can enjoy

 

[Cactuar]

Hit the nail on the head! That there is the problem. "Our categories are not broad enough and/or favour certain types of games/genres so here is a pity vote for the thousands of other people watching"

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I didn't see it that way at all. You feel some type of way because they were all Nintendo games so you are assuming this is some relegation for Nintendo. Concrete Genie could have just as easily had been in that category, as well as Astro Bot last year. Not to mention a Nintendo game was nominated for Game of the Year.