@vunacar Hahaha, I was thinking the same thing. The ultimate parody - the dying and overhyped GW2 GOTY. I guess the GameSpot staff is the remaining player base.

What a joke. A MMORPG finally gets some marginal improvements leading nowhere and since we are supposed to pretend they can compete with single player games they come up with this. This fast dying game is ultimately as stagnant as the ones before it thanks to the mmorpg limitations that can't be circumvented. This is just laughable, any MMORPG with minor improvements would obviously get it this year - and this crap game is still dying fast, the hype is already over, the stagnation exposed. This award is nothing but a handout to a game that got an insane amount of hype by throwing in some single player components and executing them about as well as a MMORPG could. It is so easy to get attention and positivity now that the stagnant MMORPG genre hardly gets new games and the critics want to remain positive to the genre.

While I understand that very few new games of this kind are being released, making the fanboys desperate about the scraps they get, this and the best RPG award this year is just a parody. Make an own genre for this because the quality differences increase with every year and it's literally impossible for MMO's to catch up thanks to their nature. Throw in the few games being made and let them "win" their increasingly silly little category, and stop considering them for any game of the year awards. If this continues some inane MMORPG will get it again in a few years because it's time for a MMORPG to get it again, actual quality be damned. I am fine with the gaming press' need to hype up every minor invention (read: imitation), but when it goes this far it goes too far.

The most awkward part of it all is that the game is, surprise surprise, already dying. This is a lesson they can't wrap their heads around either, people play mmorpg's 90 percent for the other people and 10 percent for the content. There can always only be a few dominant mmorpg's since popularity is everything here, and we all know a 2004 title still controls the market and can do so indefnitely because it more or less did what could be done with this genre. Which also ensures every partial imitation in the few new titles is hyped up.

Let me finish by saying I have no problems with people playing MMORPG's, I have been known to do it myself when i feel the need to socialize online and it's better than Facebook. But pretending this is serious gaming just because people get addicted to being with other people - give me a break. I'll refrain from going into an in depth discussion with the fanboys, I win too easily and that's no fun - now that I think about it it's almost like a MMORPG. Finally, have fun doing whatever you want with your life and play the games you enjoy, but to the gaming press: please stop giving CPR to this genre because we are supposed to pretend it's keeping up - it's not.

@ggregd @da_post_office It's social gaming (just check the social gaming entry on the ever-reliable wikipedia, I promise I didn't write it) and all the limitations that entail. The common thread is that you mostly play it to be with other people/socialize, this does not mean that all social games are equal but the game content is always secondary. OK, not always, there are always people that will genuinely enjoy something just as long as it has been created, but you get my point. It's just not a worthy winner. The VGA Awards got it right this year, with no disasters like this and a well-deserved win for Mass Effect 3. Abandoning the commentary field now since I have said my piece; I'll be nice and let the GW2 fanboys celebrate.

@da_post_office I have no problems with people liking MMO's but since they due to their very nature always will be behind (and the gap increases) it's just not win material™. They have very little room for evolution thanks to the inherent limitations and I am extremely familiar with all the so-called innovations in GW2, none of which really deliver and honestly could not deliver. Trying to provide a different experience that shapes the world in a meaningful way for players would basically mean having to provide the depth of a single player rpg to everyone of them and have the results intertwine. The truth is they can't provide this to even a single player, this has nothing to do with "prejudice". I am well aware that social gamers need to feel like real gamers and it's understandable and fine, but giving a truly crap game this reward over genuine masterpieces - that's less so.

Far Cry 3 and Borderlands 2 may be slightly better, but Halo 4 is so good that I have no real problems with this. All three games show how far shooters have come.

Almost impossible to choose between Dishonored and Darksiders II - both games are fantastic. A worthy winner, at least. Sleeping Dogs is an amazing game as well.

@Ncsoftlover I am extremely glad they can't provide the GW2 "experience" and deliver actual immersion instead. And MMO experiences have more in common with facebook than gaming anyway. It's not that great a chat app either with extreme censorship ensuring streamlined snorefests.

Horrible choice. The so-called "innovations" in GW2 were done better in single player rpg's a decade ago and social gamers getting all excited that they get some watered down hardcore gaming content is always awkward. If this travesty becomes PC game of the year award as well, it's too much; I have dire suspicions since it's the only pc exclusive on the list and it beat ME3 already, and since it's up against four good games there as well the crap entry may strike again. But really, you have four great rpg's, two (ME3 and dragon's dogma) that are fairly amazing, and you let the victory go to... Guild Wars 2? Not enough facepalms to give.