Is KSP the greatest video game ever made?

[ImJake]

Since KSP is not even a completed game yet, I'd be hesitant to hold it up for the comparison of best game. But KSC is something special. It's an education game that is genuinely fun. Also, the size of the team making it compared to what it is is fairly impressive. In terms of gameplay hours, there are few games that I've played as long (Skyrim, AC:Brotherhood). But I don't think its the best game ever. There's way to objectively measure if its the best game, number of sales, ratings, how well it's aged, etc. It's not really the best at any of these. Subjectively speaking, KSP does seem to be the favorite game of a lot of people, so its pretty good at that, finding a special place in peoples hearts. I think the year it finally releases (2015 would be my guess), it'll be the best game of the year, and I think that it will age well, and we'll all have fond memories of it years from now as it inspires other games similar to it.

[StainX]

Since KSP , im rocket science addicted.

There is not more to say about that

[hellion13]

I've spent way too much money on the ability to play just this game, some $3800, building the pc, replacing burned up parts, losing said pc to random circumstances, and now going through it again to get another one. So Yes to the Question.

[michaelsteele3]

It's all about personal opinion.

[11of10]

It's a niche game... I barely managed to get a few of my friends to play it... of 3 of them, only one was persistant enough to land a Kerbal on the Mun and return him safely to the Kerbin. Other two found it hillariously entertaining to seek new ways of exploding stuff. None of them (to the best of my knowledge) play anymore.

Now, for me, it's next best thing to a dream come true (dream being that humanity followed on with interrest in space exploration after Apollo era)

It's the first time in, probably last 10 years that I have laboured to improve my computer, instead of just replacing it when it breaks.

Just so I could play KSP with RSS, and RO mods, without every a little bigger rocket crashing my game.

I learned a lot about orbital mechanics while playing it, and I've been space happy since about 4th year of age (thanks Mom!) and knew a lot about space exploration before I ever heard of KSP.

The entire thing is made of beauty and grandour. An original idea, made with obvious personal enthusiasm, not just grinded in some office building. I'm actually a little speechless :-)

Anyway, WAY TO GO SQUAD!

Edit: also, I'm very lonely when I'm on my KSP binge (which is now, with the recently clobbered together computer I mentioned up there) since I really have nobody to talk to about it.

Which sucks big time.

Edited October 29, 2014 by 11of10

[DepletedUraniumPenetrator]

"Objectively" seen, it isn't the greatest game. Objectively meaning here how many times it was sold, what ratings it received, what influence it had on pop culture, etc. But subjectively, for me personally, it is the greatest game ever made. I've been playing computer games my whole (short) life of 26 years, I've played first person shooters, real time strategy, adventure and role playing games, simulations, blablabla... I binge-played garrys mod when it was freshly released and loved it.

But nothing compares to KSP. It's basically the game I waited for my whole life! It combines so many aspects that I love in games: total freedom of choice, you can express your creativity, it gets really, really challenging at times, it never gets old and has a massive replayability value, and it has a striving, totally awesome modding community which leaves no desire unfullfilled. It was amazing many patches ago and I thought it couldn't be any better, but with every update the game gets more improved and there is no end in sight.

Although it most likely will always be a kind of niche-game and not interesting for many people (that is, people with short attention spans or no interest in the topic at all), everybody else will ultimately fall in love with it as soon as they try it out. Anyway, I knew from the first second I tried the demo that I love this game and propably will do so for the next couple of years to come. Thanks Squad for all your hard work, your brilliant ideas and that you guys followed your dream with some certain idealism.

It was well worth the blood, the sweat and the tears you may have shed on the way!

Edited October 29, 2014 by DepletedUraniumPenetrator

[Ten Key]

Is Kerbal Space Program the greatest game ever made? No. . .

But I had to think about it.

[Franklin]

It's a niche game... I barely managed to get a few of my friends to play it... of 3 of them, only one was persistant enough to land a Kerbal on the Mun and return him safely to the Kerbin. Other two found it hillariously entertaining to seek new ways of exploding stuff. None of them (to the best of my knowledge) play anymore.

Yeah, similar experiences here. A couple really took to the game, like me obviously, but most just sunk a few hours and moved on, never another mention. They'll mention DotA and BF4 regularly, though.

Which makes me worried from a product perspective, because Squad's gonna wanna appeal to as much of the gaming market as possible, so they'll simplify and arcadeify in hopes to draw in more customers, but as a result could push away their science-nerd core. That subtle phobia is the root of most of the bickering here.

[SkyRender]

I don't think you can really call anything the "greatest ever", if only for the fact that mankind is constantly trumping previous accomplishments. Maybe if you confine the list to a specific time period, but even then you'd need quantitative measures to have any sort of validity. All that aside, KSP is definitely my favorite game of all time at this moment in time, going by the qualitative measure that I've dedicated more time to it than any other game I own.

[Wallace]

Greatest Ever is quite a title to bandy around, and I think it would have to go to one of the true colossi of the gaming world, something like Ocarina of Time or Super Mario Bros, or Half Life. The true test of a great game is, will people still be talking about it in 10 years time, or 20 years time?

Space Invaders is 36 years old, Pacman is 34 years old, and Tetris is 30 years old, and people still play them today, they are still talked about and rated highly for their gameplay today, and almost anyone, gamer or not, you talk to would recognise them, whereas every other game of that era is long forgotten to anyone but nerds, that's the difference between a good game and a great game.

So, for KSP, greatness may be in it's future, but it has some way to go yet.

[Slam_Jones]

Based off of everything I've read and played, the concensus (at least for many many years) was that Deus Ex and Half-Life (the original) were both contending for "Greatest Game of All Time"

Never got into Deus Ex that much, but Half-Life was definitely one of the most well thought-out games I've played yet.

Based off sales alone, Minecraft is up there, but IMO that's kinda to be expected with something as unique and imitation-worthy as it is. It basically spawned an entire new genre of games... or at least made that genre popular for once.

[Geneborg]

Best ever? No...i mean...no, that wouldn't be fair to other great games i remember, and surely in statistical terms its not up there either.

BUT, its one of the few games that i want others to play, talk about, and to share. Its one of these open ended games that, also thanks to the modding community, can be reinvented alot of times, that i come back to after months of not playing it.

It wouldn't be half as fun for me if the only option would be STOCK gameplay, an important factor to consider. But the same goes for ElderScrollsGames, Civilization and other moddable games.

[Dilir]

KSP ranks into my top 5 if I account for playing time.

For records, i would put (with no order).

Civilization

Heroes of might and magic (3,4,5)

Total war

KSP

Baldur's gate

[cantab]

almost anyone, gamer or not, you talk to would recognise them, whereas every other game of that era is long forgotten to anyone but nerds, that's the difference between a good game and a great game.

That's merely the difference between a popular game and an obscure or niche one. And while many popular games are great, not all great games become popular.

[Franklin]

... while many popular games are great, not all great games become popular.

Wellll, that just boils down to personal interpretation.

If I think a game is great, but by-and-large nobody knows about it, objectively it's not a great game, otherwise those who've played it would've had no problem at all getting the word out and making it popular. Resistance to acceptance and all that.

Games become popular because they're enjoyed, they're enjoyed because they're good, ergo objectively a good game is a popular game. Subjectively though, people hate to believe that because they think what they enjoy makes something good, irrespective of what others think, which is a personal bias.

I mean I hate Tetris (I know, I know), but without a doubt it's considered one of "the best games" based purely on its global reception, historical perpetuation and cultural recognition.

[Jouni]

KSP certainly has the potential to become the best game ever. To realize it, Squad just needs to ignore the casual gamers, and focus on PhDs in the STEM fields as their main target audience.

The Civilization series wins by a huge margin on the number of hours played, but they're really drugs, not games.

Story-driven games can't really compete, because their replayability decreases significantly after a few hundred hours. The X-Com series (both the original and the reboot), the X-Wing series, the Baldur's Gate series, the Witcher series, Dragon Age: Origins, KOTOR, the Half-Life series, and a few others were great for a while, but they were all quickly replaced by other games.

Doom and Quake were once something completely different, but they've been superseded by a million other games with better technology.

VGA Planets was truly great in the 90s, but I no longer have time for games that require an hour or two every other day for years.

[Renegrade]

Well, one thing that prevents me from nominating KSP for 'greatest video game' is that the execution is falling well short of the concept.

The idea is awesome, without a doubt, but the game is plagued by bizarreness (stock aero? g0=9.82? fuel flow scales with pressure?), bugs, lack of career progression, some UI oddities, etc.

Hopefully as we get closer to release, more and more of these issues will be addressed, but until they are, it will remain a fantastic idea....with poor execution.

(Note that this isn't to say Squad hasn't done some things well, ex. the install process is actually very sane, unlike the vast majority of windows crapplications)

[chuangatronic]

Even if the game mechanics and polish don't even put KSP in the top 100 games of all time, I have to say it's the number one most inspirational and captivating game of all time.

When I was in college, I started playing KSP in the engineering labs... The ENTIRE electrical engineering department started playing KSP shortly after, students AND professors. The game appeals to people who love to tinker, design, and dream. The most amazing thing is that we really flexed our brains playing KSP. Just like an engineer in the field, we would make collaborative decisions on designs, provide feedback, and make improvements. No other game has offered that to me.

[Brethern]

Once the bugs are ironed out and the performance is enhanced, it's going to be in the top twenty games for enjoyment.

[Trentendegreth]

to expand on my previous post "yes...yes it is, 'nuff said" i have played a lot of games, both pc and console, not one game including World of Warcraft and Minecraft, has held my attention as long, sparked my imagination more, or taught me so much. "greatest game ever is, in my opinion, a subjective statement, to witch i respond when asked, with a resounding YES. two years of playing and im not even close to bored, im still learning. still having fun.

in essence i had more to say on "'nuff said"

lets not forget the greatest community online...that alone...

[Vallius]

Kerbal Space Program is the first game I've played that always keeps me learning and growing. It re-awakened my fascination with rocket science and spaceflight, and even inspired me to apply for engineering work in the aerospace industry (I'll let you guys know if I get the second interview with ATK). My accomplishments there aren't just level grinding or a high score--it's mastery of orbital mechanics! I can ride with Jebediah into the great unknown, and share his goofy smile even for routine missions. This is the only game I've played that I'll routinely pull out a calculator for to check my design (I know there's a mod for that, but I like making things hard), and have fun doing that.

One of the things I love about this game is that I'm not artificially a more capable engineer or pilot just because I've logged a lot of hours. Every Mun landing is just as dangerous as the last, unless I've personally improved my techniques a design. My rockets are just as capable of crashing as they were on day one (although SQUAD made the part connections more sturdy). If I do great things in this game, it's because I learned something.

I wouldn't call it the greatest game of all time for all people for one simple fact. It makes you think, and requires long term planning (so to speak) to get the most out of it. Not everyone wants that it a game. So I don't see it outperforming say--The Sims in terms of sales.

[Brethern]

lets not forget the greatest community online...that alone...

I retract the top twenty statement and change it to number 1.

[Engineer of Stuff]

Once the bugs are ironed out and the performance is enhanced, it's going to be in the top twenty games for enjoyment.

But the bugs are part of the KSP experience!

[Nahim]

But the bugs are part of the KSP experience!

Fear the kraken! Also is part of the real life NASA experience as well. (Mars)

[Rainbowtrout]

It's not the greatest. It has a small target audience, so in sales, it won't be. It hasn't built itself on a franchise, the most hype we have is for updates. Despite all the (ego inflates) great work us moderators do ('cause really, we do a hell of a lot) our community is, and always will be, just one youtuber playing the game, and if they have legions of undying fanboys, from being overwhelmed. I would like more people to play KSP. I want to go to ASDA and hear and see children pick up kerbal merchandise and say "Mum, this is from the greatest game ever, can I buy it?"

In my eyes, when children are genuinely excited about a game that has potential to expand the mind and in the long run, push humanity forward, that certainly makes something great.