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I found the "Best family game" category at Game Awards a little strange and condescending
- Thread starter Waluigilicious
- Start date
By "family" they include games for mom and dad too. Which are few and far inbetween
I mean these are all family games, and it's good to recognise family games that are high quality.
Nintendo's games are always considered to be for kids and families. If you're a gamer who plays them without these, then you need to be aware of this fact. And expect to be ridiculed for it.
I've been doing this for 15 years kids. I've seen and heard and been bullied for this shit. I just stopped caring.
I've been doing this for 15 years kids. I've seen and heard and been bullied for this shit. I just stopped caring.
A family game to me is something a family can enjoy together on the couch. Ring Fit doesn't really seem like that at all although I haven't played it myself. Not really sure what the category wants to communicate tbh. Games suited for kids? In that case I'm not 100% sure about Ring Fit either. And why not toss in Crash Team Racing with the Nintendo games in that case? It was better received than Yoshi.
All categories suck big time, but quarantine categories like this one, "games for impact", and, to a lesser extent, the RPG/strategy/sports categories suck the most. The hierarchy is super transparent.
Why do you keep repeating that? Them being family friendly entertainment is exactly what they have in common.
Similarly, these games have "nothing in common with each other as far as genres and play styles go".
One's an open world stumbling simulator, one's a rhythm game / top down rogue like, one's an action adventure hack-and-slash, one's a JRPG and one's a rez-like psychedelic trip to poppy electronic music.
But they all have a great score / music. That's the whole point of these categories.
There's genre awards and then there's awards for things unrelated to the game's genre, and both are valid.
It was a bad decision, as the only thing the games have in common is that they were published by Nintendo:
-LM3 is a adventure/puzzle game
-MM2 is a platforming/community game
-Smash is a party/fighting game
Maybe Ring Fit is the one that is more oriented to be appealing for people that rarely plays videogames, but the whole category felt like an excuse to not list Nintendo games in their respective categories. It was like "ok Nintendo has released a ton of good games this year but we can't put several Nintendo games on all the awards so we will make a Nintendo award".
-LM3 is a adventure/puzzle game
-MM2 is a platforming/community game
-Smash is a party/fighting game
Maybe Ring Fit is the one that is more oriented to be appealing for people that rarely plays videogames, but the whole category felt like an excuse to not list Nintendo games in their respective categories. It was like "ok Nintendo has released a ton of good games this year but we can't put several Nintendo games on all the awards so we will make a Nintendo award".
OP
OP
Why do you keep repeating that? Them being family friendly entertainment is exactly what they have in common.
Similarly, these games have "nothing in common with each other as far as genres and play styles go".
One's an open world stumbling simulator, one's a rhythm game / top down rogue like, one's an action adventure hack-and-slash, one's a JRPG and one's a rez-like psychedelic trip to poppy electronic music.
But they all have a great score / music. That's the whole point of these categories.
There's genre awards and then there's awards for things unrelated to the game's genre, and both are valid.
I totally get your point and am on board with categories like best music and best art direction. However, I still am not sure how Ring Fit, Luigis Mansion and Smash Bros are "family friendly" in the same way? It's not as simple as judging music or art style. The only thing in common here, as far as "family friendly" goes, is the fact that they have no blood. I can't see how else they are common. One has online play and up to 8 player (Smash), one is primarily single player but 2 player has been implemented because that is something Nintendo tries to push with Switch joycon (Luigi's Mansion), and the other is Ring Fit.
I'm sorry but I think this category existing is very shallow and says a lot.
Family friendly is too broad as a category. At least Action Adventure describes something about the gameplay. There is combat and exploration. Family friendly is a content rating. You don't have awards for "best T game" for example.
TGA already is too biased to AAA games. They really should consider broadening their categories as a whole and perhaps letting some of the smaller guys get a chance. Like does Activision need another award for Call of Duty? I think CoD can afford to not be nominated for once. Doesn't make it a lesser game.
TGA already is too biased to AAA games. They really should consider broadening their categories as a whole and perhaps letting some of the smaller guys get a chance. Like does Activision need another award for Call of Duty? I think CoD can afford to not be nominated for once. Doesn't make it a lesser game.
This kind of furthers OPs point though. Out of all the Nintendo games this past year, the only one that got a Game of the Year nomination is the one where their characters beat the shit out of each other.
What they have in common is that they are all family friendly. It's not that hard.
Like best foreign film at the Academy Awards. What do they all share in common? They aren't in English. The John Newberry Medal is given to the "most distinguished" childrens book. What do the books have in common? They are for kids. But the nominees could cover a wide variety of genres, topics, styles, etc.
It's not that big of a deal and I think people are reading too much into things.
Yeah having a category for: best action game and best action/adventure game makes no sense.
bad take when games like gris, disco Elysium and death stranding won awards
I feel like the important part of this sentence isn't "Beat the shit out of each other", but "their characters". Smash Bros features 75 damn characters from Nintendo and beyond. Just getting them all into one game is a massive achievement on its own.
But the same can be said about lots of AAA games that have no mature content and are quite easy. It's a broad term that has no real meaning, and yeah, the "Foreing film" award is also really embarassing at this point. It's lazy, and as I said in my post, I feel like most of these game should have been nominated to a "real" award, but TGA rarely nominates the same company more than once for a single cathegory. They want to make everyone happy, and in this case as Nintendo has released a lot of big games this year they decided to create a random award to at least mention the games.
In that category it's about music. So you can say "which one of these games has the best music". For the family friendly category are you supposed to judge which one is better for the whole family? Is it just the best game award for games that happen to be for the whole family? The critique is obviously that these games aren't viewed as valuable enough to be included in other categories hence the condescension. One of those games (ring fit) isn't even a family friendly game. I love it but really don't like people watching me exercise and it doesn't seem like a great choice for my young kids to play.Why do you keep repeating that? Them being family friendly entertainment is exactly what they have in common.
Similarly, these games have "nothing in common with each other as far as genres and play styles go".
One's an open world stumbling simulator, one's a rhythm game / top down rogue like, one's an action adventure hack-and-slash, one's a JRPG and one's a rez-like psychedelic trip to poppy electronic music.
But they all have a great score / music. That's the whole point of these categories.
There's genre awards and then there's awards for things unrelated to the game's genre, and both are valid.
Ring Fit and Luigi's Mansion were good enough this year to be in other categories if the categories were created more thoughtfully. But in the end this is mainly just advertising so it's not a huge deal I guess. I am also glad to see Nintendo and these non-violent games get at least some recognition.
The best family game category has been there since The Game Awards started. It wasn't just created this year to throw Nintendo a bone. Granted, a Nintendo usually wins (they make great games!), but last year Overcooked won.
What games do you think were snubbed for the category?
the awards are dumb, and the categories are dumb.
honestly i find it pretty hard to take the awards part of the game awards seriously. it's fun to see who wins and developers getting some time on the stage, but i don't really care for the process or the way categories are set up.
honestly i find it pretty hard to take the awards part of the game awards seriously. it's fun to see who wins and developers getting some time on the stage, but i don't really care for the process or the way categories are set up.
You're right, my bad. My point was that the games should be nominated to their "genre" awards, as I said, the only "family game" I see in the list is Ring Fit. But it's not like the other categories were well thought either, so it's a general thing with TGA.
I don't think they only share what they lack - i.e. blood and violence.
But also that all of them are as fun, if not more fun to play with others around.
They have kid friendly difficulty settings and/or assist modes.
They're light on story and as such easy to pick up, even for kids who can't (or don't wanna) read a lot.
They allow for local coop or local competitive play.
Like, they're "great to play with your kids".
Just because those attributes don't really feel that graspable to some people doesn't mean they're non-existent or unworthy of a category. Like when a friend asked me which games to 'bundle' with the Switch his nephews are getting for Christmas, these 5 were among the list of games i named, for the above reasons.
Making a "family game" is much harder than just not having guns or gore, it's about creating an experience that is fun for people of all ages and often multiple people at the same time. And that's as much of an artistic/design achievement as a great soundtrack or great art direction , if you ask me.
OP
OP
Best Sports/Racing Game:
- Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (Beenox/Activision)
- DiRT Rally 2.0 (Codemasters)
- eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 (PES Productions/Konami)
- F1 2019 (Codemasters)
- FIFA 20 (EA Sports)
I see no reason why they could not put Ring Fit under sports. A game should be praised for doing something different, not relegated into its own category. I'm honestly surprised that they have the courage to put Smash under fighting game.
Best Multiplayer Game
- Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
- Borderlands 3 (Gearbox/2K)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
- Tetris 99 (Arika/Nintendo)
- Tom Clancy's The Division 2 (Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft)
I don't see the word "online" before multiplayer in this category. They need to either name these categories properly or be more inclusive. Forget other games that haven't made it onto this list, if Smash isn't a best multiplayer nominee, I don't know what is.
- Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (Beenox/Activision)
- DiRT Rally 2.0 (Codemasters)
- eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 (PES Productions/Konami)
- F1 2019 (Codemasters)
- FIFA 20 (EA Sports)
I see no reason why they could not put Ring Fit under sports. A game should be praised for doing something different, not relegated into its own category. I'm honestly surprised that they have the courage to put Smash under fighting game.
Best Multiplayer Game
- Apex Legends (Respawn/EA)
- Borderlands 3 (Gearbox/2K)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
- Tetris 99 (Arika/Nintendo)
- Tom Clancy's The Division 2 (Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft)
I don't see the word "online" before multiplayer in this category. They need to either name these categories properly or be more inclusive. Forget other games that haven't made it onto this list, if Smash isn't a best multiplayer nominee, I don't know what is.
The overall best game was Japanese. The game that cleaned up with four awards doesn't have combat.
You joke friend, but I actually do play this game alongside my 3 1/2-year-old who does her best to "play along."
Problem is she wants to fight the dragon again and again and I tell her daddy's body is going to be broken if we do that.
At least three of the games nominated have specific co-op modes or features that make it easier for a parent to play with their child. The winner, Luigis Mansion 3, was celebrated by a few parents I listen to on podcasts for this very feature. So the games are designed around the idea of a family playing together. Not many developers aside from Nintendo are doing this stuff. It doesn't apply to me, but I think it's super rad.
Family friendly isn't a game genre. It's just to say game all ages could enjoy together. It's not a big deal. If you have an issue point it towards the industry putting art pieces and violent games on a level above everything else.
It's not clear (to me at least) what you're referring to with this.
My 3 year old son and I love playing together as well. He loves doing the exercises and copying me.
Well shiiiit, I stand corrected
The best family category predates the Game awards. This category exists in other awards if you look back. It's a tacit admission that the gaming industry is really bad at making AAA products geared towards all ages.
Now the fact that Nintendo has dominated the noms this year is just a sign of how much the gaming industry has regressed even further in this area though I am strongly adamant Sony's and PixelOpus' Concrete Genie should have been there over bloody Yoshi.
I think you're the one seeing it as a condescending "pity" award. For most people it's just an award just anything else.
I'm not seeing what you're seeing here. These games would not stand a chance in their respective category, so you either have the family friendly category or you don't, and I really don't see the harm in having it included.
OP feels the category was condescending to Nintendo. It's ridiculous.
Yeah age rating should not be a category. Just the fact that it is, shows an embarrassing bias. And you could argue that games for older players have more possibility to say profound things about human nature and society, but they kill that argument dead in its tracks by having a separate games for impact category, leading to the uncovering of a new embarrassing bias. That this whole thing is a validation for adolescent male gamers. The type who buy the Doritos and Monster energy drink the advertisers are focused at.
Uh the only reason why I think it's weird is because CTR Remake isn't in there.
And you know what I play with my wife and our 5 1/2 year old? NSMB (Wii and U), DK Returns and Tropical Freeze, Mario Kart 8, Rayman, CTR, Knack 2, Horizon Chase, Yoshi's WW and the likes. How is "family friendly" a bad thing? And that's out of probably around 600+ games we have available at home.
And you know what I play with my wife and our 5 1/2 year old? NSMB (Wii and U), DK Returns and Tropical Freeze, Mario Kart 8, Rayman, CTR, Knack 2, Horizon Chase, Yoshi's WW and the likes. How is "family friendly" a bad thing? And that's out of probably around 600+ games we have available at home.
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OP
OP
Not sure where you got that from? I find it condescending to me, my close friends and what I assume to be thousands of other gamers. My taste isn't simply "games with no violence" and it's insulting that games I like are shown to be that and mostly only that. Some of my favourite games aren't even published by Nintendo. My point here wasn't that these were all Nintendo. My point was that that's all they happened to have in common, besides being kid friendly. I would have made this exact same topic if Just Dance, Crash or other games like Spyro or Sonic or whatever were in the list. I am in no way defending Nintendo. Not sure why you saw it that way?
OP
OP
Platformer (Super Mario Maker 2, Bloodstained, Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair, Shovel Knight King of Cards, Yoshi Crafted World etc)
Local Multiplayer (Smash Bros, Crash Team Racing, Jackbox Party Pack 6 etc)
Rhythm/Puzzle (Tetris 99, Taiko no Tatsujin etc)
Yes, Nintendo happens to make the most games in the genres I'm interested in, but even as seen above half of the games I've listed aren't Nintendo, and I'm sure there's plenty more I don't even know about. Grouping all the above as simply "family friendly" is cheap in my opinion.
And being a bit more brave and putting Luigi's Mansion into adventure or Ring Fit into sports. It's almost ironic that the one game that actually gets you moving isn't included.
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Oh no, gamers are insulted!
There were many games that didn't focus on violence that were highlighted this year at the awards. Just because a game doesn't focus on violence, doesn't mean it's an all-ages game. See Disco Elysium or Gris. I don't understand how this is difficult for you.
I don't think it is condescending. There aren't many family-oriented games on the non-Nintendo platforms. They DO exist, but they're not many. Nintendo has consistently put out the best ones in the category, so it makes sense that all the nominees are Nintendo. Smash is something families can play together as it's fairly simple to teach someone the controls, yet hardcore gamers love it for obvious reasons.