I have no side to take, but it's sorta hilarious seeing people saying the award mean nothing when it's starfield that win it, and on the other hand congratulate Baldur's Gate for winning another GOTY. Truly the Schrodinger Award.
Games you liked winning awards is something to celebrate. Games you don't like winning awards is proof that awards are a joke and should be ignored. Just how things work.
I think the ship builder fits all of that despite your wording. It was new, it was fun, it achieved awesome results. The amount of interesting ships people built was crazy. It plays a pretty big part of the game, and finishing some unique skills out there was cool.
Possibly killing off your spouse or main companion was wild. I can't recall having the possibility happen in a game like this before. That messed me up for a bit.
The looping gameplay with insane universes was innovative. A bit tedious to achieve but still neat
At best I can agree it's not the most innovative, but bit apparently some people did. I think hifirush or Shadow of doubt should be there. But that's just me.
To be fair, "game of the year" feels like it's meant to measure popularity, while "most innovative" sounds like it shouls measure how innovative a game is, which is perhaps why the two awards get such different reactions.
Well tbf as well, innovative is as subjective as game of the year, what seems to be innovative to some might not be one for another. It's hard to define "innovation" because it's simply a process of putting in change on an established thing. Try google "innovative product of (year)" and you might see a tons of "isn't it just x but y" product.
In my case i haven't played Starfield nor Baldur's Gate 3 so i wouldn't know whether they deserve the award or not, if people think it does, hey, more power to them. Steam Award is a popularity contest voted by people anyway, taking it seriously is missing the point.
Not saying you did. I'm saying while 'innovative' might be subjective, it's hard to see how it actually could deserve the 'most innovative' title when practically nobody would agree to that claim. It's fairly obvious the vote had little to do with the actual game.
Even if they think it is, looking at todays online environment, i understand why it's not an open statement. I remember the game is well received on launch, then it slowly slip to mixed and negative a month or so later, i shaped my opinion based on this.
For comparison, No Man Sky won Innovative Award by GDC for the launch version.
I don't really take award seriously, less so with Steam Award. Watching people react to it is still funny though, ngl.