The results of our public vote for the most influential video game are in. Find out where big names like Baldur's Gate 3, Super Mario Bros, Tetris and Shenmue came on the list.

Video games’ influence on popular culture has never been more prevalent. Their effect is visible and audible in today’s music, across the world of TV and cinema, and on the catwalk. Even your favourite language-learning and fitness apps feature progression systems and rewards popularised by games. To reflect the medium’s universal impact, ahead of the 21st BAFTA Games Awards, we asked the public a provocative question : what is the most influential video game of all time?

As more than one responder said, it’s unfair to have to choose just one. Do you pick the pioneers that shaped the early days of the medium, the innovators that were ahead of their time, the ones that proved formative to your own creative journey, or simply the ones that made you most emotional? As might be expected, among the extraordinary number of responses we received was a staggering variety of games — ranging from titles that launched the industry to contemporary giants released mere months ago. The top ten alone spans multiple genres, from platformers to shooters, sandbox adventures to simulations.

So, without further ado, here are the public’s top 21: each of which, it’s fair to say, has had a seismic impact on games and those who play them…

the list, from most influential to least
  1. Shenmue
  2. DOOM
  3. Super Mario Bros
  4. Half Life
  5. Ocarina of Time
  6. Minecraft
  7. Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
  8. Super Mario 64
  9. Half Life 2
  10. The Sims
  11. Tetris
  12. Tomb Raider
  13. Pong
  14. Metal Gear Solid
  15. World of Warcraft
  16. Baldur’s Gate 3
  17. Final Fantasy VII
  18. Dark Souls
  19. GTA 3
  20. Skyrim
  21. GTA
  • PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat
    14·
    2 days ago

    Zero Punctuation as usual gets to the heart of the matter very effectively: https://youtu.be/g4Dw0Z2Dsts

    That’s for Shenmue 3. He actually made a separate video reviewing the original, but that one covers more of the history and context. TL;DR It has a devoted cult following of people who basically want a very specific type of gaming experience, but the specific game that was the first to give it to them just objectively is not very good at all as an interactive video game, which is why it has never been all that popular outside that little following. Some people trace to Shenmue the lineage of huge cinematic games that emphasize narrative, which I guess could be valid, but even a super-charitable reading shouldn’t put it anywhere near the coveted number 1 spot.

    Oh, you know what happened? I just realized, I hadn’t even read the introductory material and realized it was from a public survey. It’s a “first past the post” problem. Plenty of people had various lists of games they felt passionate about (and you can tell where the boundary is where “I played this game recently and I love it now so it is my favorite” started to distort the placement of some recent games), but anyone who had Shenmue anywhere on their list put it as the number 1 spot. And so, it won by bad voting algorithm. I can almost guarantee that each respondent was only allowed a single choice for most influential game.

    I actually think the list, with some exceptions, is remarkably accurate. It definitely isn’t perfect. There are also some big omissions, notably in old PC games that had a big influence or fleshed out new genres that have mutated since then, or gone extinct or something. I think they’re just outside of too many people’s memory at this point.

    Off the top of my head:

    • Ultima or Dungeon Master
    • King’s Quest or Monkey Island
    • Civilization
    • Battlefield 1942
    • Halo or Goldeneye
    • Counterstrike
    • Warcraft 2
    • Zelda 1
    • chameleon@fedia.io
      2·
      1 day ago

      It was just a two question + your name form: type-in your #1 pick but also why. Full-on first past the post, single vote only, no option to name other games. Pretty flawed methodology overall.

      That said, I will admit that I did put in Shenmue and while I didn’t expect it to get #1, I hoped it’d be top 3 at the very least. I really do trace more or less every successful strongly story based open world game of the 2000s back to a combination of Shenmue and Half-Life. Shenmue’s story didn’t have a super wide appeal and would be completely uninteresting to most teenagers at the time (which was still the main gaming audience), but the method of storytelling is top-notch, and its open world just felt far more genuine than anything predating it. Meanwhile, Half-Life did an excellent job at telling a story that looks boring but is actually very interesting, and did so in an engaging, if not particularly open world way.

    • Coelacanth@feddit.nu
      3·
      2 days ago

      Oh, you know what happened? I just realized, I hadn’t even read the introductory material and realized it was from a public survey. It’s a “first past the post” problem.

      First past the post is remarkably shit isn’t it. I think your analysis is completely right.