To celebrate the enduring influence of video games in the arts and in our wider culture, we’re asking players from around the world to help us decide the Most Influential Video Game of All Time.
‘Most influential game’ can mean different things to different people. Perhaps it’s a game that birthed a genre, one that defined an era, or one that set the standards for storytelling and interactivity. Perhaps it’s a game whose influence crosses into films, TV and music, which we still see today. It could even be a game that’s had a big influence on you, personally, changing the way you look at the world.
Whatever ‘influential’ means for you, we want to hear your choice. Need some inspiration? Some of the biggest names in games are having their say on our socials so follow us on @BAFTA socials to find out more.
You have until Thursday 20th March 5pm GMT to have your say.
If influential means influencing game design / the industry, inspiring other creators by demonstrating novel ideas, I’d probably have to say Doom or Half-Life. Doom really showed what an FPS could be and kicked off such a dominant genre. Half-Life introduced immersive storytelling that greatly influenced FPS and non-FPS games.
I’ve said before that I genuinely think FarmVille is in with a shout. The trends it started in terms of monetisation, user retention mechanics and analytics driven intrusive big data player behaviour analysis and behaviour prediction was extremely far-reaching, not just in the context of gaming. Not to mention how it got a whole new demographic into video games and showed corporations that games are not necessarily only for gamers. It is very much possible to reach your grandma’s wallet too. It heralded things like Candy Crush.
Shit you’ve got my vote, I was trying to think of the most influential game in a positive light but this is actually it and it’s depressing that it is.
Hopefully it wins its deserved title, it would make a loud statement that we’re aware of the scummy business practices that have subverted the gaming industry since corpo-ghouls realised it was profitable.
Personally, I’d either say World of Warcraft or Minecraft.
WoW was just such a massive phenomenon (and still is, tbh), basically everyone at least knew about it, and for so many people it basically became more of a second life than second life (old people joke), massively changing the life of these people (me being a part of it). It was basically the place where social outcasts could be social, which was huge. For me, and many others, it was all the friends they had.
And Minecraft… Well. It just wins “influential”. I’m not sure if I have to say much about it. WoW is just more influential for me personally, but I feel Minecraft just wins overall very easily.
Stuff like Doom or Mario Bros are great and all, and they were hugely influential, I just feel like their influence was less on a personal level and more of a media level. Like Doom and Mario Bros defined their genre, but it’s still “just” a genre, while I’m sure the games and resulting ones had effect on people, I just feel like they’re more of a “fun influential” more than a “meaningful influential”, idk if that makes sense.
These were the first two to come to mind for me as well. I hate what they’ve become, especially wow, but they were both clearly extremely influential.
Same for me :) can’t play them at all anymore, but influential is not related to that
WoW was just such a massive phenomenon (and still is, tbh), basically everyone at least knew about it, and for so many people it basically became more of a second life than second life (old people joke), massively changing the life of these people (me being a part of it). It was basically the place where social outcasts could be social, which was huge. For me, and many others, it was all the friends they had.
Its legacy now lives on in FFXIV.
I dunno about that. Wow has been eating good the last little bit while FFXIV is utterly stagnant in their own formula. I’d say FFXIV wins in social aspects (and definitely in “social” aspects ifyaknowwhatimean) but WoW is winning in the gameplay department.
Yep already heard much about that, I think much more popular in Asia. But yeah I think this MMO social aspect will live on through different games.
I’d say Super Mario Bros. Single handedly revived the video game industry. He’s more recognizable than Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, and Winnie the Pooh.
It’s a huge multimedia franchise and the de-facto video game that people think of when you mention games. It’s got to be SMB.
I’d go with Doom for essentially inventing the concept of a first person shooter
Wolfenstein 3d can out the year before and I believe was the first. Still id Software, just slightly predates Doom
If you want to get technical, the first was arguably 3D Monster Maze, released in 1981. There was also Battlezone, again 1981 - though it’s debatable whether it counts as an FPS.
A more accurate answer would be id’s own Catacomb 3D, from 1991.
Wolf 3D definitely wasn’t the first by any stretch
Oh cool, did not even know about Monster Maze or Catacomb 3d. I’ll have to check them out. Monster Maze looks more survival than shooter, bit still in that vein for sure.
You right, I forgot which one came first
Not that I don’t think Doom isn’t a good answer, mind you. There is a reason “Can you run Doom on that” is a thing
Oooo, thanks for sharing!
Probably gta. It’s one of those games that is still alive and people are waiting for more. Not like super mario bros.
Mario is at least an order of magnitude bigger than GTA, it’s not even close
Every new Mario game is the best selling game for Nintendo for a while. You’re just in the GTA, and not the Mario group.
you are just into mario group, not gta, because every new gta is best selling game for a while.
This is really a matter of perspective. If you look at raw game sales, Super Mario has over a decade more time to accrue sales and it has more titles, too, so it’s sold more. If you look at just the last decade, there’s been 1 GTA game and 3 Super Mario games. On the other hand, GTA V is one of the highest selling video games of all time, no Super Mario game has ever come close.
I’m in neither group…
