# Most popular/best selling video game? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 30, 2000, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-best-selling-video-game/24205 "2000-06-30T20:11:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2000, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-best-selling-video-game/24205/21 "2000-07-04T17:26:07Z")
Re: Myst/Riven: How is something a game, when it’s not possible to lose? You basically just wander around in a well-rendered world until you win: While not exactly a movie or slide-show, it’s closer to being one than it is to being a game. Text games, by contrast, are, in fact, games: It’s possible to get eaten by a Grue, for instance, or otherwise “lose”. GuanoLad, I haven’t seen that edition of GBoWR, but I have to wonder how they rationalize TombRaider being the most popular… I can name a half-dozen that I know are more common. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2000, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-best-selling-video-game/24205/22 "2000-07-04T18:31:52Z")
- - - Myst/Riven are slow-paced games, which one may or may not prefer. However they are also easy to learn to play, and are nice to look at (for a while, anyway), two qualities most PC games fail to achieve. Most hardcore gamers don’t mind complicated gameplay, but !normal! people get discouraged quickly with the annoying combination of too-many-controls coupled with fast-action (see my rant about Rainbow Six). Many PC games have too many controls for even a slow-paced game, _for a typical person_. - MC ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2000, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-best-selling-video-game/24205/23 "2000-07-04T19:05:04Z")
Guys, Myst is a computer game. It’s a software program used for its own intrinic entertainment value. If we decided it wasn’t a “Game” we’d have to say SimCity wasn’t a “Game,” since it technically has no win/loss criteria. (Yes, I know it comes with scenarios.) Still; what’s the best-selling computer game of all time? Does anyone really know? I’ll believe Pac-Man is the most popular and famous game ever, but that’s primarily because of ARCADE machines, not home computer or gaming system sales. What PC game, to be more specific, has independently sold the most copies? Is it Myst? ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2000, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-best-selling-video-game/24205/24 "2000-07-04T23:44:48Z")
Yes Sim City is a game. Modelng, whether it is a dinosaur skeleton set, or a city, is a game. In a sim City game, you have to balance between a funky town with optimal placement of residents, commercial and industrial areas. RPG games make you think about alloting equipment to you characters, and can teach you about tactics as well. I for one don’t think that you have to be inspired by Columbine to make a good game. ---
**Author:** ![cumberbunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/db5fbb/32.png) [@cumberbunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cumberbunk)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2000, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-best-selling-video-game/24205/25 "2000-07-05T02:50:04Z")
Well we should also take into account Japan. Those are some RPG lovin’ fans over there. I’ve read reports of 2,000,000 preorders for Final Fantasy 9. The dang thing isn’t even out yet and it already has a tone of games beat. YIKES! ---
**Author:** ![Niggle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Niggle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Niggle)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2000, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-best-selling-video-game/24205/26 "2000-07-05T03:52:13Z")
\ Just to slightly continue the hijack… I _make_ video games for a living, and Riven and myst are among my favorite games. It’s just a different approach to gaming - one where you have to use your brains rather than your reflexes. \ -niggle > [@](#): > > Can we please stop the Myst/Riven-bashing? I disagree that they’re not “real” games. Just because they’re a different genre of game than Pac-Man or Tekken or whatever doesn’t mean they suck and that “serious” gamers wouldn’t play them. The games sold well, so they count just as much. > > And yes, I own both, and I enjoyed playing both. > > \ \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2000, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-best-selling-video-game/24205/27 "2000-07-05T06:37:33Z")
I’m not criticizing Myst for the brain/reflexes thing (heck, FreeCell and chess neither one require any reflexes, and they’re both games)-- For that matter, I’m not criticizing Myst at all. It can be fun and entertaining, but that does not a game make. By that definition of “game”, most screensavers are games! In Myst, at least so far as I’ve seen (feel free to correct me), at any given point in the game, there’s only one action that you can take that will further the plot of the game, in one direction or another. Yes, it may take a little while to figure out what the proper action is, but there’s no real choice in making it-- You might as well just be clicking the “advance” button in a slide show. It’s a beautiful and entertaining slide show, but it’s a slide show. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-best-selling-video-game/24205/28 "2000-07-06T09:37:47Z")
The way I see it is this- if it challenges you, it’s a game. If there’s a sense of accomplishment at having progressed in it somehow, it’s a game. It does us absolutely no good to interject things like “It’s boring” and “It’s not a real game”. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-best-selling-video-game/24205/29 "2000-07-06T16:11:16Z")
I enjoyed Myst. I also enjoyed Riven, and FFVIII (played it with my niece, and made fun of the characters), and Diablo, and so on _ad nauseum_. I enjoyed Asteroids in its day, too. I even have it installed on my computer now. I hated Pac-Man. I hated it for its very ubiquity. Yes, it was so popular and common that I came to detest it. The miserable game was _everywhere!_ I would have to agree that it’s probably the most popular/best selling ever in arcade games. I’m not sure about consoles, though. Maybe we should divide this into separate categories–console vs computer makes sense, but the arcade market is very different, and should probably be considered separately. Given the topic drift, maybe this should head over to IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-best-selling-video-game/24205/30 "2000-07-06T22:29:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Balance \* > \*\* > Given the topic drift, maybe this should head over to IMHO. \*\* Funny you should mention that. I’ve been trying to send this thread to IMHO for a couple of days now, but I’ve always been on the boards when they were busy and I was hesitant to move a large thread. I’ll give it a try now. ---
**Author:** ![HomeSlice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/9d8465/32.png) [@HomeSlice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HomeSlice)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2000, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-best-selling-video-game/24205/31 "2000-07-07T03:14:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Openfist \* > \*\*River City Ransom- Best Game Ever! > > One guy wants to get laid, the other guy wants to kick ass. So you go around beating down gangs! > > As I say again…Best Game Ever! > > \*\* Holy Crap! I had that game on NES and loved it!!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-popular-best-selling-video-game/24205.md?page=1)