Do you realize how stupid this sounds when your choices are also most likely to be some of the most popular games of the year? Does anyone actually sit down and think before they post these comments?

PUBG? PUBG??

Well, regardless, I've cast my votes.

Feels bad not being able to vote for Mario AND Zelda in most of these categories.

I know. But you have to make the choice somehow. I chose on the count of my experiences with both games outside of the games themselves. Ultimately, nothing beats the launch of a fresh new console, together with one of the best games ever made. Hence, BotW.

So what is another game is popular and "released", that somehow makes it more fair over the other game that's currently available and popular?.

I already find their list filled with flaws, with them repeating the same small list of titles throughout multiple categories, as well as a tiny list for most anticipated. 

Overwatch still gets to be voted for, because it's still on ongoing multiplayer based game, same with R6 and the other games in that list.

Cuphead for best art direction.

Sometimes popularity votes can go in the wrong direction.

Lets take say these 3 games. Zelda, Mario, Persona

Now lets take 30 people and have them vote on GOTY. Persona get 11, Zelda 10 and Mario 9. Persona wins.

But lets breakdown those 30 peoples thoughts, or if they could vote in order, say their fav, sec, and third.

Person: 11 1st place -  0 2nd place - 19 3rd place

Zelda: 10 1st place - 15 2nd place - 6 3rd place

Mario: 9 1st place - 15 2nd place - 5 3rd place

Looking at that, it seems there were a lot of people that were stuck between do I vote Zelda or Mario, and thus because their votes got split. Persona wins, even though the majority of the people thought it was the worst of the 3 games listed. It's the same reason politicians hate independent candidates. It takes away from their voters.

I don't think I'm going to vote for much this year, it honestly seems so spammy and tiny in terms of games to choose from.

2015's list had more variety and more games from other companies, than this years list which largely revolves around Nintendo/Sony, with a few indie titles sprinkled and 1 MS game.

I mean, forcing is a strong word mate. It's not exactly a herculean task but I assume you mean them wanting your info and all that, that's pretty shifty. But if you barely have any info on FB then you got nothing to worry about.

OT: I want Cuphead to sweep every category it's in. It deserves it.

It doesn't matter if it's "officially released" or not. It's still a unique experience that people enjoyed specifically first in this year. Early Access is now just an excuse for smaller developers to take their time in developing their game while it earns profit. Whether or not you think that's scummy, it's still an experience that is out there, and it's not like it's a singleplayer game with the "true ending" missing or something. If you believe in subjectively, than i'm not even sure why you included that part of your comment .... since someone could just as easily say it's subjectively not.

And your last point is just dressing dancing around the salad. Popularity dictates what games people buy, what games people like, what games people even know fucking exist. Last year when Overwatch won people weren't going to the voting box and saying "Hm....I'll vote for this because it's the most popular!" It was the most voted because it possibly reached the most people and those people loved it. If they didn't love it those individuals would have just voted for something else. People didn't just pick it just to pick it. Your argument is bad because you act like people vote based on how popular the game is, but it's more like the games popularity allows them to vote for it in the first place. It's no different from any other game, it's smoke and mirrors. Zelda will probably get more votes than most games because it was the game more people experienced than say Hob, that doesn't mean Hob shouldn't be a nominee. If your argument is that PUBG shouldn't be an option in the first place, then all your doing is limiting what people vote for.