{"id":1150,"date":"2015-11-05T11:26:49","date_gmt":"2015-11-05T16:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/?p=1150"},"modified":"2015-11-06T09:46:04","modified_gmt":"2015-11-06T14:46:04","slug":"vcg-anthology-developers-cite-the-best-pc-games-of-all-time-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/archives\/1150\/vcg-anthology-developers-cite-the-best-pc-games-of-all-time-2008","title":{"rendered":"[ VC&G Anthology ]<\/span> Developers Cite The Greatest PC Games of All Time (2009)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"10
\n10 DAYS OF VINTAGE: Day 4<\/small><\/p>\n

In early 2009, I undertook my most ambitious slideshow up to that point: The Ten Greatest PC Games of All Time<\/a> for PCWorld.com.<\/p>\n

After playing dozens of games, reading opinions on forums and blogs across the Internet, and consulting every previously published list of greatest PC games I could find, I made a rough list of about 50 games. Then I stuck them in a spreadsheet and rated them based on various criteria.<\/p>\n

During the process, I also surveyed several well-known PC game developers (and Dan Bricklin) for their nominations of Greatest PC Games. I did the best I could, and of course, the result reflected one man’s opinion. Here’s what I came up with:<\/p>\n

#10: TradeWars 2002<\/em>
\n#9: Myst<\/em>
\n#8: The Sims<\/em>
\n#7: StarCraft<\/em>
\n#6: Rogue: The Adventure Game<\/em>
\n#5: M.U.L.E.<\/em>
\n#4: SimCity<\/em>
\n#3: Sid Meier’s Civilization<\/em>
\n#2: Doom<\/em>
\n#1: World of Warcraft<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It pissed everybody off, of course.<\/p>\n

(Well, just about everybody. Fellow journalist Jenn Frank and her mom liked it<\/a>. But that was about it.)<\/p>\n

\"VC&G<\/a>Editors who had not been consulted were livid that I was apparently speaking on behalf of PC World with such an important-sounding list (not my intention), and people all around the U.S. were upset that I didn’t include Half-Life<\/em> or X-Com: UFO Defense<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, readers in the UK cried for blood and shouted, “Where is Tomb Raider<\/em>??!!” I just scratched my head on that one — apparently it’s a national classic over there.<\/p>\n

It didn’t help that my editor had changed the title to “The 10 Best PC Games Ever.” After about two dozen angry comments, I got my editor to change it back to “greatest” — the difference being that I was going after influential and culturally important games — not necessarily the “best” games to play today. (I also regretted not making a title slide for that slideshow for the first time, so it always says “best” on there.)<\/p>\n

The piece got syndicated on MSN and everywhere else, so the title change didn’t propagate there. Hate seethed at me from all corners of the globe. I honestly don’t enjoy making people upset, but man, it was fun to watch people go apeshit over a slideshow.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Giving a Voice to the Underdogs<\/h3>\n

\"TradeWarsDespite the criticism, there were some great things about the whole episode. The list became notable for the fact that I included a BBS door game, TradeWars 2002<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

BBS door games had never been recognized in a mainstream capacity before, so it was a fairly big deal. The original creator of TradeWars 2002<\/em>, Gary Martin, commented and said that my list made that day “a day to be remembered.” The maintainer of TW2002<\/em>, John Pritchett, was so pleased and simultaneously flabbergasted that he emailed me and said (I’m paraphrasing here), “Tell me straight: Did you really think TradeWars 2002<\/em> was good enough, or did you just put it on there for the heck of it?”<\/p>\n

I’ll say it again: Yes, TW2002<\/em> is good enough. People still play it religiously every day, and it’s a freakin’ text game written for BBSes in 1990. That’s a good game!<\/p>\n

I also included the original Rogue<\/em>, another old (and highly influential) game people play all the time, which got me some kudos. And M.U.L.E.<\/em> was an unusual choice at the time, but most people recognize it as a classic, so it was not controversial.<\/p>\n

\"MYSTBut best of all, I delighted in including Myst — one of the most important and influential PC games of the early ’90s<\/a> — despite the fact that Al Lowe (creator of Leisure Suit Larry<\/em>) wrote me an email about how much he specifically hated it. But I love Myst (…and I also love Al Lowe, but hey).<\/p>\n

If I did the list again today, I’d keep the roster mostly the same, but I would put Minecraft<\/em> in the number one spot. Of course, no one would let me make a list like this again without consulting other editors at the publication. But things were different in 2009.<\/p>\n

Game Developers Weigh In<\/h3>\n

So after all that controversy back then, a number of people wondered if I had really contacted veteran game developers (I did!), and if so, they wanted to see what they actually said.<\/p>\n

Well, here you go — over six years later, I’m finally brave enough to revisit this topic and share what the developers nominated to be on the list. Their choices did indeed influence me, and I put all of their nominations on my spreadsheet. Of course, the final list came down to how I subjectively rated the games based on different criteria.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\"----------\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Remember, all these developer picks were made in January 2009.<\/strong><\/center><\/p>\n

\"Tim
\nPhoto: GamerHubTV<\/small><\/p>\n

Tim Sweeney<\/strong><\/big><\/font><\/p>\n

Tim Sweeney<\/a> is perhaps best known for being the founder and CEO of Epic Games. He pioneered shareware concepts in the 1990s while developing ZZT<\/em><\/a> and Jill of the Jungle<\/em> and publishing many other games. After that, he co-developed Unreal Engine, which powers many of the industry’s most popular games.<\/p>\n

Tim’s List:<\/strong><\/p>\n