So here I sit, opening these Bethesda game sites, getting bombbarded by their "pat on the back" self
promotions and "atta-boy" reasons of why people should buy their games as opposed to their competitors, A.K.A....." Look at at the awards we won....buy our games!!!"
I, out of curiosity, go to the source of these awards wondering how they came about their conclusions, and what I usually get is a list of games ( of which I haven't played ) being compared to any given TES game. At this point, the only action I feel like taking, is stop buying Bethesda games, and go buy their competitors, just to make my own conclusions. I wonder....how many other gamers think about this?
In Bethesdas defense, open any other game site, and you'll pretty-much get the same kind of self promotions. I don't buy games based on the awards they get from other for-profit organizations.
How about this, and I'll use TES as the trial : On the front of each game page, in bold print, write the opinions of run-of-the-mill gamers....pros and cons. Honesty is the best policy...and advertising!
Being financially invested, it upsets me that Bethesda has not yet, to date, fully repaired ANY of its software games, when it fully has the capabilities to do so. That being said, I am also being hypocritical,
to the affect that if I'm not happy as a gamer, I'll get my money back as an investor...and then some.
If it feels like I'm being tough on Beth', think of it as tough love, as I firmly believe that they do indeed have some of the BEST professionals in the industry; although, I don't believe they're always thinking for the fans they have/create.
In regards to those who do indeed buy games based on "awards"; well, a famous quote comes to mind..." a svcker is born every minute.".

I don't care what other people think about any TES game. I know what I think and that's all that matters to me.

There are only a handful of awards that are worth even mentioning; the rest are essentially "for sale", or created by the developing or distributing company solely for the purpose of awarding their games an honor, and therefore meaningless. By the way, I'm willing to bestow my very own "Greatest Game of the Year" award for a modest price......

I suspect that there is some percentage of the potential buyers who can be swayed by such tactics, but also suspect that it's a prettty small fraction. Still, if you're printing a cover or box anyway, and tacking some "award" on it for next to no extra cost gets you a couple thousand extra sales, why not include it?

When I saw the topic title, I was under the impression that it referred to something like "Achievements", which is something even MORE meaningless: "I play this game better or more intensively than all but the other 8000 players who got the exact same achievement" (ignoring that there are probably another 20,000 players who played offline and did the same thing without the achievement).

The gaming industry could really use a unified awards thing like movies and music have. Having every single game out there just be able to put "Game of the Year" on the box is pretty obnoxious. I guess it probably moves units, though. The only one who would benefit from only having one award would be the single game that won that award. This way, the whole industry gets to. I guarantee there have been plenty of children and moms and grandmas (and probably plenty gamers) who have been convinced to buy a game because it was labeled "Game of the Year."

I wonder if TES would keep releasing GOTY editions even if they didn't win one from anybody...