I watched over 100 hours of it so I decided buying it was fair even if I only play it once or twice every few months with some friends.

Ah, I see where the misunderstanding is happening here then. He has a negative view of Pokemon Go, so any association with it, would trigger a defensive remark. What I meant by that Pokemon Go comparison was that both games are/were hugely popular, with a big social aspect to them, however, both games were 'technical' bad, so I didn't get into or understand people's positive feelings towards them. (and just to be clear, i put technical in quotes, since this is all in my opinion, a lot of people really like the game, enough to make it their GoTY)

Side note, there is no duration for a 'Fad', since that term is just a derogatory word people use against things they do not like to imply that the thing, while popular, will quickly fad away once people realize that they are wrong for liking it.

To be clear I have no view whatsoever on Pokemon Go, and there was nothing 'defensive' about it.

It's just a comparison that doesn't work very well. Pokemon Go came in and blazed out in a couple months at best, this game has been going strong all year and shows no real slowing point yet. Furthermore it's going to be influencing what other shooters do for years to come most likely.

For better and probably worse on that last bit.

I have and have felt the physiological impact it can have on you as you close in on that chicken dinner. For those who haven't played it, it's the heart pounding feeling and heightened alertness that the crew describes as being in a horror movie. And I can see why people who haven't played it can't grasp how PUBG won GOTY if they haven't been affected that way as you can't feel it watching someone else play.

I'm not sure why this is but there seems to be a lot of hate directed at PUBG from people who admit they haven't even played it. I wonder why that is, is it because it's popular and the cool kids don't like the most popular games?

Yes. And it’s not a very good game.

@mike: No, I think it's just because it's been played a ton by the team (and others around the 'net). So if you're someone who doesn't like watching PUBG, I can see being resentful of all the praise and attention it's getting. It's "hogging" all your favorite personality's time. You've seen this with previous site darlings, Hitman and Mario Maker.

(For the record, I have played ~30 hours of PUBG, as stated earlier).

I watched quite a bit of it through Murder Island, and enjoyed it, but thought it was a game I wouldn't enjoy playing. Anyway, I picked up a code for it on xbox and played 1 game. The xbox version is completely broken atm, in fact it's unplayable, but it was enough for me to immediately pick it up on PC. Although I've been playing it alone, I think I would enjoy teaming up with others more, I just don't have any PUBG friends to play it with!

Got over 400 hours in it so far. Still feels fresh somehow.

About 200 hours in, switched to FPP servers as soon as they became available, currently in the top 2% by rating there in Duo's. Honestly I didn't think it would be a game I would like either, but I tried it and loved it. It gets my heart racing like no other game does. I watch a bit but it's not a preferred game to watch.

Got maybe a days worth of hours on the xbox and loving it. Mostly play solo expect on the weekend when me and my friends duo or squad up. Not really one for stealth or horror games but I sneak like a pro while scared out of my wits playing it in solo mode.

No, and I have pretty much never seen anyone play it. I've just seen snippets more or less and several minutes of the digital foundry videos. Setting aside the fact I don't personally play a lot of multiplayer unless my brother(s) want to occasionally do it, I haven't played it for several reasons. One, and I guess it doesn't entirely ruin the experience considering the game was on many goty lists, but it looks kind of broken, or just stiff and ugly, so it wouldn't necessarily feel good to play. I also don't have a good enough PC, so I'd be stuck with the One version and I'm not sure if that's worth it. Lastly, doesn't the game make you wait to jump back in after dying? I am not into that kind of multiplayer. I suppose that's what makes it tense, but that's not something I care for.

Yes. According to Steam, about 32 hours. Last time I played it was back in June apparently.

I'm of the opinion that it isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread. I saw various clips of that King of the Kill game long before PUBG. The sort of clips where crazy/silly moments happen. Later on I saw some PUBG and thought.. ehh maybe I'll be into it? So I bought it, played it a little bit, was into it for about a week-ish. Played once or twice with a friend. Got bored of the game because you just get killed by super players and it was lame. The weird revelation was that it reminded me of why I don't enjoy online shooters anymore. I used to play Counter-Strike a lot about 20 years ago. That was the fun thing to play with a couple friends. Over time it just became that cycle of.. Today, I keep dying instantly and this is the dumbest, most frustrating game ever. The next day, I'd be nailing headshots left and right and have a decent KD ratio. Back and forth. It wasn't fun getting mad all the time. I had the same ebb & flow of enthusiasm and loathing for PUBG and now that I was older and more experienced with games and life, I thought.. "Okay I've been here before, I'm done playing this" instead of torturing myself for months or years.

I also came across Dr Disrespect sometime during this and enjoyed that for a little while after I stopped playing. And then even watching someone very good at it got boring. Wish he would've played other stuff.

So that's where I'm at with PUBG. It isn't an original experince, nor do I think it's polished or very well executed. It's just the flavor-of-the-month so to speak and I think a lot of people are already bored of it. I am curious to see a AAA version of the Battle Royale format though.

Turns out I get my rocks off in really close racing though. To my amazement, I'm still playing GT Sport almost daily and because I'm running with some of the best people in the Americas, every race is like 30 mins of adrenaline and sweat (whipping a force feedback steering wheel around), not to mention the nice community aspect we have since we frequently race together and compete. Whether I win or not doesn't matter as much as just having a close fun race.

No, you just go into a new match and it takes about 30 seconds to get going again.

All the hubbub makes me keep thinking I need to try it, but...I just don't care about multiplayer shooters, even if the concept does sound interesting. I very, very rarely touch multiplayer in any game. I might get in one of these days.

I guess I might be more excited about it if I had friends willing to play it.

I'm not going to say why I think this, for brevity, but PUBG is the Multi-player game you play even if one is not into Multi-player. Has to do how it is set up and all, and solo is very fine.

I sunk an awe full lot of hours into PUGB, got my chicken dinners. I drifted away not because I was bored, but I wanted to get back into other games. And it is because of my experience doing so and seeing the differences, I became of opinion somewhat hostile to PUBG being rated as GB's number 1. Not emotional, just because of what many other games try to do and how they do it. I'm sure I would find PUGB just as addictive as before, and with different maps, may check it out for interest.

Or not

So I hear. I definitely want to give it a shot. It's just that every time I think I should, I start playing something else instead.

No. I don't have a PC that will run it. More than that, I just don't think it's for me. If I knew people who were playing it and they wanted to roll around in squads, I might've gotten sucked into it - and it would've been a good excuse to finally look into getting a new PC - but I don't really think I want to play it solo. Maybe because going solo makes it more about the competitive angle, and I've never been a huge fan of competitive multiplayer except when it's with/against people I know.

This was largely my experience. I never play multiplayer games, but I hopped on the initial craze with a few friends of mine. In the end, though, PUBG is just such a technical wreck (even on powerful PCs) that I felt like I was actively fighting the game to do well. Network lag, poor fps, rubberbanding, server outages, crashes, you name it. PUBG pushed me away from PUBG and back into playing other games. After I got my chicken dinners I just didn't feel the need to keep wrestling with the all the janky mess. I'm really surprised the duders stuck with it for so long and weren't put off by all the issues. Maybe their PCs and internet are much better than mine, who knows.

pubg was this year's hitman for me. i enjoyed watching other people play it rather than playing it myself.

Man, some people cant wait to be contrarian assholes huh.

Yeah, it was cool. I'd love to play more but I don't have the pc for it right now.

Speaking of which, I spent several weeks at the end of this year realizing that game just isn't for me. I did two of the elusive targets and played through a good bit of Paris and Sapienza's challenges but I just didn't get it. Glad to know I wasn't alone in that.

I can't deny that it's a cool game, I just don't think it's what I'm looking for.

I played it 40 minutes and I'm not sure if I will ever come back to it.

Yeah. Not a fan and wish I had realized that before my Steam refund window ran out. For me it struck a rather remarkable balance of being simultaneously incredibly stressful and incredibly boring. I've had far more fun watching the staff play.

@mundanesoul: exactly. pubg and hitman just have a definite quality that unfortunately does not inspire me to return them.

^^This. Just started playing it the other day. The game needs an objective besides surviving the longest. I get that people like its simplicity, but for me the game is too random and luck based for me to enjoy for long periods. Having said this, I'm willing to jump in here and there to see if I can get a chicken dinner, but I'm not gonna stress over it.