Let's Propose a New Hall of Greats Rule!

COUNTERSTRIKE! -- "But is the [core mechanic in a game from 20 years ago] as good as it is in [similar type of game that came out in the last 12 months]?!?" is a waste of time as an argument. No one would say that Babe Ruth doesn't belong in the Baseball Hall of Fame even though his alcoholic, hot dog-loving butt wouldn't make it on a D3 college team nowadays. Greats are Greats because of their immediate impact and lasting influence, not because they'll match up to every single standard for the rest of time. The rule -- If a presenter feels that someone is levying hollow criticism, they can shout "COUNTERSTRIKE!". Then, rather than having to defend their selection against that criticism or question, they get one sentence to explain why that criticism or question is dumb. Afterwards, the Allies decide by simple majority who is in the right. If the COUNTERSTRIKE fails, the presenter loses COUNTERSTRIKE powers and 3 werehogs. If the COUNTERSTRIKE succeeds, the COUNTERSTRICKEN is banned from the rest of the discussion and sentenced to standing in the corner facing the wall until the next presentation.

Andrew Silverman

Fantastic question. I'll do a simple majority because I didn't state otherwise, but you know I'm all about the supermajority in the future

Easy Allies

LEGITIMATE CRITICISM This is a bit intricate, so bear with me. The purpose of this system is to push ahead presented games that are truly high in quality, with the fewest Legitimate Criticisms. This system will start each nominated game with 8 additional votes. After each game is presented, there will be a 30 second preparation period, and then each of the non-presenting Allies will be given 5 seconds to name a Legitimate Criticism of the presented game. A Legitimate Criticism must be unique; it cannot be used by another Ally for that game. Every Legitimate Criticism will reduce the presented game's bonus vote by 1. If the 5 seconds elapses with no unique Legitimate Criticism, no votes will be deducted, and the next Ally will be polled. If you feel the Criticism is NOT Legitimate, you may CHALLENGE the Criticism. During a CHALLENGE, all Allies will vote if the Criticism is Legitimate. The Criticism needs 5 votes to be deemed Legitimate. Each Ally is only allowed ONE (1) CHALLENGE for the entire stream. It is recommended that you use your CHALLENGE for your own presented game, but you may use it on any Criticism presented, if you feel it is not Legitimate. Here is an example of how this works: Huber brings Resident Evil to the Hall of Greats. BranJo is polled, he submits "Tank Controls" as a Criticism. Huber CHALLENGES. Allies vote 7-1 that Tank Controls are NOT a Legitimate Criticism. Resident Evil still has 8 additional votes. The next Ally is then polled. Tank Controls will now no longer be accepted as a Legitimate Criticism for Resident Evil. Keep in mind that the additional votes are added to the total votes when voting into the Hall of Greats, but if nobody votes for your game, it does not prevent it from being banned for a year! Good luck everyone!

Foreverender

SOPHIE'S CHOICE In case of ties, a la 1st Hall of Greats Induction, no longer will patrons be voting as the tie breaker. This job MUST be left to a professional. The covers of the titles locked in a tie will be printed and placed on the floor. Atop the two pieces of paper sit equal amounts of Sophie's favourite snack. Whichever side's snack gets completely eaten by Sophie first gets inducted. P.S. Patrons have another job. Search "SAVE FACE" above.

D-Up Gaming

I forgot about this. Agreed.

TurboChickenMan

SUUUUIT UP! Self explanatory or at least a blazer, guys... RESPECT the Hall!

D-Up Gaming

DOUBLE DOWN If an ally who is not presenting feels passionate enough about a game someone else has proposed and has more to add, they can "double down" and volunteer to add their two cents on why it's a great candidate for the Hall of Greats. To make sure this doesn't inflate the show's time too much, you could give them a 1-2 minute time limit to make their point.

Javi Rodriguez

OBJECTION!!: Every Ally gets 1 chance to yell OBJECTION!! if they feel that a point that is discussed by the presenter is up for debate. The speech timer stops for 1-2 minutes and the Allies as a group debate on whether that point made by the presenter is valid or not. If the time is up when the Objector or any other Ally is making a point, they will have to shut it. However, if the 1-2 minutes is up when the presenter is addressing a point, they will be able to finish making their point without any other interuptions. Then, they are given a minute to recall back where they were in their speech and then it is resumed immediately. After using the OBJECTION!! that Ally is no longer able to use it for 6-8 sessions of Hall of Greats.

MODIFIED BASEBALL RULES: No more 1 point, 2 point, 3 point stuff. Each ally gets 3 votes to give to 3 different games (they can choose to not use all 4 if they don't deem 3 games worthy). Any game that gets support from more than 50% of the allies (5 out of 9) is entered into the hall. No more two games only stuff.

YES

Easy Allies

When the counter at the top says "106/133 Comments" or whatever, it's just not counting replies to other comments for some reason

Easy Allies

Do the Allies have the technical equipment to do an old fashioned 8-Player-Smash at Super Smash Brothers for Wii U?

Jan Hildebrandt

DAVID VS THE GOLIATHS - In addition to a candidate for Hall of Greats(GOLIATHS) each ally will also suggest a DAVID. The DAVID could be an indie title or some rather unrecognized game. Each ally writes their DAVID on a piece of paper and a single DAVID is randomly drawn from a hat. A thumbs up/down vote is then taken to determine if the DAVID is worthy of the GOLIATHS. If so the DAVID then competes against the Hall of Greats nominations( GOLIATHS). This could mean that the DAVID is a tenth entry and additional points are awarded to each ally to distribute or that the allies vote on a GOLIATH to replace with DAVID. I think this would allow for some games such as Journey to have a better chance of being represented in the Hall of Greats ceremony where it belongs ... some day.

SAVE FACE After every Hall of Greats Induction streams, allow patrons to "save" 1 or 2 games (your choice) that did not win via polls. At the end of the year, Allies come back for one more stream (also a suggestion for a End of the Year recap stream) to re-vote and induct one out of four or two out of eight of those "saved games". This gives a way for patrons to participate in the process without completely dictating the results to avoid trolling.

D-Up Gaming

TIE GOES TO THE HALL - If two or more games are tied for the most or second-most points, all tied games are admitted to the Hall of Greats without a run-off vote. If the tie is for first place, the game with the second-most total votes will still be admitted to the Hall of Greats. This eliminates the need to relitigate titles that will obviously make the cut upon resubmission, opening up more opportunities for other titles to be considered.

Matt Karwoski

Anyone else unable to load the like top 30 posts?

Olf Himself

GENRE/SYSTEM VOTE- I think it would be cool to have all the allies pick their favorite JRPG/GameCube game and battle it out to see what allies agree and disagree.

strawhatninja

PATRON PICK the patrons vote a game into the event so there are 10 games you guys vote on that night. The patrons can vote in a speech in support of the game as well.

VETO CARD, one Allie chosen at complete random have the power to use the veto card. This card allows the user to dethrone a voted game and have it go down the next most highly voted game. I.E Kirby wins the vote Jones uses the Veto Card and now Sonic wins.

EVERY GAME HAS A CHANCE: Because funk injustice. If a game fails to get into the Hall of Greats, it can apply again. Because if an ally believes it deserves recognition, it can be applied again.

Star Tsurugi

Q&A REFORM. Currently the timed aspect of q &a benefits the proposer to take one question and stall the answer out. I propose each ally has the right to one cross examination per candidate.

Sean Dupree

YES! THIS!

Alex Castellanos

euhm this !

Sven Van Lathem

DIFFERENT CONSOLE . Every HOG, an Ally can pick a game, however it should be a game from a different platform then the one he chose the previous time. For example, if Kyle chooses Uncharted 2 for this month, on the next Hall of Greats, he won't be able to choose any game that was playable on PS3.

Sven Van Lathem

THE TOMB OF EIGHTS- Rather than having the game with the least amount of votes be banned for a year, it becomes locked in THE TOMB OF EIGHTS. If a custom box is nessecary, I will make you guys one. Rather than being free after twelve months, being buried in the hallowed Tomb is permanent, adding much needed stakes and drama. Allies would have to think more carefully about what games they bring to the table and make better cases, lest their pick be doomed. Perhaps, irregularly (once the Tomb is full of at least nine), a special Hall of Greats can commence where games within the Tomb must compete against each other in order to rise from the grave and take their rightful place in the pantheon of EZA greats.

SEQUEL DREAM REPORT- after their pitch, each ally must spend X minute(s) talking about if their pick should/already has/will have a sequel, what they would like to see in a sequel, and/or why this version of the game is the great and not the sequle/spin off.

Matt Brookbank

THE PRESENTER OF THE GREATS -- AFTER the nominees have all had their time for discussion, but BEFORE the voting begins, the allies come to a decision on which presentation is declared the greatest, and the FOLLOWING Hall of Greats nominee from the greatest presenter gets a bonus two (or whatever is decided to be fair) points NEXT ceremony.

Mr M

EASY ALLIES BUYS THE WWW.HALLOFGREATS.COM DOMAIN TO MAKE ALL THIS OFFICIAL Not really a proposition or a rule suggestion, but that domain is available and it would make the Hall of Greats feel more official!

Adam Mullany

THE GAME CHANGING INNOVATOR VOTE: If a game can be considered a game changer or innovator amongst an already extremely strong line up, an ally may hold up a fist (instead of a number of fingers) to denote that they wish for that game to receive exception to any other voting and push it forward as a 3rd entry into the Hall of Greats. Should 50% or more of the allies present hold up a fist for one particular game, it will automatically be inserted into the H.O.G. without further question, however, this method may only be used once per ally during the voting and should less than 50% of the allies vote for the same game, the allies in question will have to present a 60 second argument as to why they voted this way. Should they manage to make a convincing argument amongst the rest of the group, the game will be revoted for as an exceptional insertion one final time.

Metal Gear Solid Super Metroid Super Mario 64 Street Fighter II Castlevania: Symphony of the Night The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Michael James Hudson-kohlmeyer

What's already in the hall? I know that super metroid 2 one was a sucky decision.

I don't really have any (serious) rule to propose, but I really think that this should remain a thing that only the nine Allies themselves have a say in. So in this regard I'm happy to see those vetos used so that there's no involvement from us in the form of a game suggestion or votes. This should remain in the garage 100 %.

Ville Ranto

Only one nomination can be in the final round if they are only available on one platform. i.e. Zelda and Mario can't be in the final round of votes, etc...

HALL ON DISPLAY Not a change to the voting etc. but think that each game in the hall should be displayed in the 'studio'. Perhaps framed box art with the date of induction. Could be displayed in a row high along the back wall like a stadium hangs championship banners. Then you could have an unveiling ceremony on a subsequent group stream night for the new inductees.

Aaron Gibson

That's nice. It wouldn't have to be a full playthrough or even a long stream, but just enough for the Ally to showcase the best moments / what makes this game One of the Greats in his opinion. I like the name of the rule, could be the name of those streams too!

Axel

AUDIENCE FAVOUR After presentations and before voting, a straw poll is conducted in the Twitch chat on who gave the best presentation of the night. If the game presented by the winner of this poll lands in the bottom two, it is saved from the one-year ban for that night, and the next lowest-ranking game receives the ban instead. If an Ally wins Audience Favour and chooses to present the same game again at the next Hall of the Greats, they forfeit inclusion in the Audience Favour poll for that night.

DaleBastion

TEST OF TIME : Nominated games must be 5 years old from the date of the world wide release. This will prevent new games to be nominated as they are still fresh from everyones memory. We should look back to the past and honor those who have been the pillar of this generation games.

King Poh

this would be cool though personally i think something like Ian "Playing them off"(Oscars) could be a bit funner.

Michael James Hudson-kohlmeyer

More just a question Kyle, but will the proposition just go through by a simple majority vote or a supermajority (like 67% a la Dumb Game Monday Hall of Fame)?

sirvorn

HANDS OF TIME Rather than yell "TIME!" when speech time expires, the timekeeper for each speech shall merely put their hand up, signalling the non-speaking Allies to vote. Until a majority of the non-speaking Allies (NOT including the timekeeper) raise their hands, the speech may continue. The timekeeper may still announce when time is running out prior to Hands of Time beginning. Reasoning: The ONLY major problem I have with the HoG proceedings is a tendency for speeches to end up rushed and/or cut off. This will allow them to flow better.

TurboChickenMan

Any game after 2013 gets a bonus 2 votes

Garrett Kuenzi

Lots of games are 5s, but few are Greats.

TurboChickenMan

Wouldn't Don or Huber win this every time?

TurboChickenMan

Similar (and less demanding) suggestion just above you.

TurboChickenMan

Yeah I noticed that on one comment last week!

GermanScientist

Agreed, though there isn't a ton of suspense currently, given we can all see the votes. But I'm sure there's quite a bit of blissful ignorance during this part. ^_^

TurboChickenMan

Do you have proof of that? The voting's always seemed well spread to me.

TurboChickenMan

There shouldn't be a rule for a new rule to be added every time. Only put in a fix when something needs fixing.

TurboChickenMan

it's tempting, but I think the fact that ONLY two games get in each time, as well as HoG only being quarterly, are big parts of the appeal. It's meant to be the all-time Academy Awards of Easy Allies, not just a Top 10.

TurboChickenMan

Has anyone else noticed that sometimes it appears that you "Liked" a bunch of comments even though you didn't? If this isn't just me, it could make this committee less affective.

Scott A. Ford

I haven't seen this be a problem within the HoG dynamics yet. Time will tell, though. We should be focused on finding a rule to fix a standing issue, not a potential one.

TurboChickenMan

PUT ON THE BRAKES: A franchise is limited to only one entry into the Hall of Greats per six months/two sessions (ex. if Final Fantasy 9 gets in this Tuesday Final Fantasy 7 can't be nominated for six months.) This is to give other franchises a chance to shine without taking the big boys out for too long a time.

THE BIGGEST HEART - It may not be one of the greats, but the Allies pick the presenter with the most heart so their game can be recognized in its own lane of excellence (a glorified participation ribbon, if you will). NOTE: THIS "RULE" WAS WRITTEN TO CELEBRATE DON'S BEAUTIFUL PRESENTATIONS.

M I K E Y M O

One of the great HoG dynamics is trying to get the other Allies to see the importance of your own pick. Highly doubtful it removes all bias, but It certainly adds lot of enthusiasm.

TurboChickenMan

SHOW OF GREATNESS, whatever game makes it in must have a let’s play done for it by the ally who nominated it when one year of it getting in

Mr.V

SAVING GRACE If, after the voting process, the third place vote is within ONLY one or two points of the second place game, the Ally who brought the game in third will be given ONE minute MAX to make a case to the Ally who presented the second place game. IF the Ally goes over, even by ONE SECOND, the pitch is invalidated and the results are final. IF the Ally stays under, the presenter of the second place game is given EQUAL time to rebuke. A final Yes/No vote with ALL Allies will take place for a switch (Allies can have their eyes remain open, if they so choose during this vote). If more Yes votes are tabulated, the third place game takes the place of the second. If more No votes carry the day, the initial voting stands. FINALLY, because the original second place game got in by initial voting, if the presenting Ally so chooses, they can elect to have said game brought back to the next Hall of Greats, with HALF of it's vote total GUARENTEED. For odd number of votes, 9 for example, the higher number will be granted so it would have 5 automatically, again if the presenting Ally chooses to have it back so it too can have a SAVING GRACE. However, this ONLY applies on the following Hall of Greats. So for example, if a game is switched out, another Hall of Greats presentation takes place, and then the following Hall of Greats is coming up, the Ally who lost out that nomination, cannot bring it back. I really hope that's not too complicated. The Hall of Greats should be something where entrants inducted must undergo a rigourous process. There are countless great games, but only a few can be "One of the Greats." tm

Brandon K Gann

GIVE ME SOME TIME: Once a year (so once in every 4 hall of greats) an Ally can say "Give me some time" and it will add an extra 2 minutes to either a presentation, question or rebuttal. I feel like there are often times where people get cut off and should be heard for whatever argument they are making/ replying to. In the presentation situation, if time runs out they can simply say " give me some time" and two minutes is added. In the question situation, a question is asked or cut off without an answer or the ability to finish the question. If the ally says "give me some time" then the question is finished and two minutes is added to the conversation. If the argument ends before the two minutes is up, the two minutes dissolves. Just like the question situation, the rebuttal situation is one where a question was asked but a proper response was not given due to time restraints. The presenter can say "Give me some time" and then two minutes is given to them to respond. No other questions are to be asked after the time request is asked. I apologize for my grammar because it's late but I think this is an easy rule and necessary. You could even use the song of time as the request!

Grazooka

SUGGESTION: When reading the results, announcing #3 kills the suspense right away. When you reach the top three, wouldn't it be better to announce the game that got the most votes next? Then you have two games going head to head for the #2 spot and the suspense would build up more.

the_finnish_ally

The actual speech should matter more!. So far it's been mostly irrelevant, because allies just vote the game they like instead of who brings best arguments or convincing passion.

I must unfortunately announce that The Group Stream Selection Council will veto this proposal as it is currently written. Our community is larger than our Group Stream live audience and the Hall of Greats is much too sacred to trust to Straw Poll

Easy Allies

Lovely idea but it needs an all caps title!

DaleBastion

I like this idea, however, I wonder if the limitation to one console means bigger chances of duplicate submissions.

Joseph Caruso

Interesting idea but you have to put the rule in all caps and then explain it in normal caps.

DaleBastion

I don't want a rule added all the time NO RULE

Ibrahim Sozer

EVERY HALL OF GREATS SHOULD BE THEMED AROUND A CONSOLE. For example, this upcoming week could be the N64 HOG. The reason I propose this is because it's harder to judge how games compare to each other if they span decades. I also think that this would help filter out repeat games. This also invites more obscure gems to shine on lesser discussed platforms.

Chris Leroux

TEST YOUR MIGHT at the beginning of the stream each ally writes down a tough but fair trivia question and throws into the pot of challenges. The question has to be about the nominees. For example "name the director of your nominee". Than the contents of this pot are shuffled and hidden from every ally. As soon as an ally has finished making his case for his nominee he may (but does not have to) stand up and say “ I want to test my might!”. He than pulls a question from the pot of challenges and has a minute to answer that question. If he succeeds the other allies have to bow to his prowess and his nominee automatically receives 2 votes….however should he answer incorrectly the other allies than have to exclaim their shock and his nominee loses 2 votes. L&R Alex_AI

Alex_AI

I find this tough not for proceeding games, but for preceding games which set an important standard others built upon.

Sam Sorensen

I don't necessarily agree, but the alternate title is so beautiful I have to throw it a like.

Samuel Cardwell

SALTY RUNBACK Any game that fails to be inducted into the Hall of Greats is still eligible to be presented in the subsequent voting session, however, only the ally who previously presented the game is allowed to present for it again. Beyond this subsequent voting session, any ally is allowed to present that game once again.

But wouldnt that make it possible for everyone give their own game 6 points?

Sorry about the “all caps”. Perils of phone typing at midnight. I just couldn’t miss out on both a chance to make rules and to espouse the wonders of Star Control 2. Seriously people, play it, it’s free.

LOVE AND RESPECT All allies must give the presenting ally a pat on the back, high five, or hug after they present.

FAMILY DISCOUNT - an ally can propose a game realted to a game already in the hall (eg MGS 3, Majoras Mask, etc) instead of promoting a new entrant. They must specify if their nomination is going in as family or on its own. If family, it will not be have to win 1st or 2nd in votes, instead it will get a simple yes/no vote (so 2 new standalone greats will still get in thriugh normal ranking). If more than 2 allies propose a "family" nominee, the allies must rank them and can only vote yes/no on the top 2.

Bradley Spies

YOU CANNOT VOTE FOR YOUR OWN GAME- pretty simple really. Let's spread these points out a bit more.

Michael Rymar

I think restricting the entire generation may be a bit much, as it could, in theory, eliminate two whole generations in a round of voting. The console itself is a great idea though!

NO COMPARISON: you may not mention the any other game during your presentation e.i. its the Dark Souls of _____. If you mention any game other than the one you are presenting , it loses 2 points. This will ensure games are added to the hall on their own merit alone, not in references to any other game.

COUCH CO-OP During the debate portion of each nomination, the ally presenting their game must be joined by at least one other ally (or just one ally) who volunteers to back them up on their game selection (separate from their own nomination) to help cover any points or aspects of the game the presenting ally might have forgotten or might overlook in the heat of the moment (Huber nerves). The backup ally should advocate for this game as strongly as they would for their own! Each ally must volunteer to back up at least one nomination.

Daniel Matos

Then you may have people tank one week to set up a dub

Brogan Trull

3rd PLACE IS STILL GREAT We are still in the early days of the Hall of the Greats discussing many games that will likely make it into the hall eventually. 1st and 2nd place automatically get in, but this rule would allow an extra round of voting where the allies decide if the 3rd place game also deserves to get in. The result must be unanimous. I think this rule would encourage more allies to bring their best games instead of personal favorites. If Metal Gear and Metroid get 1st and 2nd Street Fighter in 3rd still deserves to get in without having to wait till next time.

Ian Alexander

FRANCHISE FATIGUE: no one is allowed to bring a game that is in the same franchise as the most recent winners (eg if mario wins this one, mario skips the next)

Michael James Hudson-kohlmeyer

RULE SC2: THIS HOUSE SHALL NOMINATE AT EACH MEETING OF THE NOMINATING COMMITTEE, IN ADDITION TO ALL OTHER INDIVIDUALLY DESIGNATED NOMINEES, THE PC/3DO CLASSIC GAME “STAR CONTROL II” UNLESS AND UNTIL SAID GAME HAS BEEN ADMITTED INTO THE HALL OF GREATS IN ACCORDANCE WITH ALL THEN APPLICABLE ADMITTANCE RULES.

I think something like this has to be included in the speech time, otherwise people that don't make use of it have way too less time to showcase their point than the people that do.

Eisen

I like this because it gives the selection committee something consistent to do for hall of greats streams, great suggestion!

Elliette Kee

POINT ALLOCATION: How about instead of choosing 3, 2, or 1 point per person, we give each of the Allies 6 points total. This way, you can give a game 6 points, but can't vote for anything else, or choose to spread your points. (e.g. 2-2-2, 4-1-1, 3-3-0, etc.)

Alex Castellanos

GENERATION RULE Whatever generation the 2 most recent inductions were from cannot have an induction be made from in this round. This time around, since our last inductions were from PS1 and N64 respectively, the next inductions cannot be from the 5th generation of consoles. Alternatively, we can just make it that it can't be from those consoles. So, the next inductions cannot be from either the PS1 or N64.

Jeff Kendall

CHAT IS THE 10TH ALLY VOTE: At vote deliberation, a straw poll will be put up in twitch chat with all the game nominees the 9 main allies chose. Top 3 choices of the straw poll will be awarded the 3, 2 and 1 points as if chat was one cohesive person. This gives chat a chance to be apart of the decision but cannot heavily affect the outcome vs the 9 main allies.

YOU CANNOT VOTE FOR YOUR OWN GAME (basically to remove some bias and just not have to worry about how many point you will give your own game)

Michael James Hudson-kohlmeyer

AGE RECOGNITION CLAUSE Games released in the 90s seem to have a large amount of priority. This clause makes it to where the 2nd place game gets indicted into the hall of the greats if it was released during or after the year 2000. (The year chosen can be changed if community members find a better year), that way, games like Chrono Trigger or Mario 64 wont just be indicted automatically, leading to a boring show. Condition: The game MUST be in 2nd place. If the top two games are released before said date, only the 1st place game gets indicted.

PATREONS PICK The patreons all suggest a game to be included into the hall of greats and the game that gets the most likes gets discussed with the other allies on reasons it should and reasons it shouldn’t during the actual hall of greats and gets voted on etc..

CATCHING UP Any game that receives a 5/5 score from EasyAllies is automatically AND additionally brought to the ceremony by the reviewing Ally. I.E. if Ben gives a game a 5/5, he may bring that game in addition to a game of his choice. The Ally must defend it to the best of their ability.

Connor Rosine

THE DEMO/MOMENT For 5 minutes separate from the speech time, a presenter can either play or show a clip of the what they think is the best moment of their game. This could either be a story moment, a gameplay mechanic being show, etc. Spoiler Warnings will be needed. The allies can decided whether they can pull this off YouTube or if it must be recorded by the Ally themself.

THIS IS COOL Will it work though?

Arnesh Nagavalli

ANTI-HYPE BIAS CLAUSE: no game submitted for consideration can possess a release date less than two years prior to each Hall of Greats ceremony event. Alternate title: HOLD YOUR HUBER, HORSES

Steven Blomkamp

COMEBACK MECHANIC Allies that had a game disqualified for a year on the last Hall of Greats stream receives extra time for their speech to convince the other allies. Debate time remains the same. I was thinking of something around 20% extra time, nothing too ridiculous.

Eisen

How about the 4 games with the most votes get inducted?