"Is every superhero someone's favorite?"

I dug up a forum thread debating that question on a random Google search. Reading it further, there was the implication that superheroes who were nobody's favorite could be safely neglected (or unceremoniously killed) without ticking off anyone. The problem with that view came into sharp relief when someone commented:

"Aunt May is nobody's favorite character."

"Perhaps not," I thought, "but I wouldn't enjoy Spiderman as much without her."

The notion of a single favorite is artificial, based off an assumption our preferences aren't swayed by our mood or situation. It reduces ourselves to a one-dimensional stereotype who always prefers the same thing. It's why you see many Top 10 lists rebel against simple rankings by having multiple ties or refusing to rank them at all: why should you be asked to choose between two things that are similarly important in different situations? It loses the nuance of why we choose what we choose. It's better to ask why we chose them, what roles they fill in our lives.

For example, take my current favorite games:

• D&D: Socialization, Storytelling
• League of Legends: Competition, Time-Waster
• Pokemon: Creativity & Expression, Competition
• FTL: Multitasking Distraction, Challenge
• Luftrausers: Quick Distraction, Challenge
• Dark Souls 2: Challenge, Exploration, Competition

And let's flip it around to see which roles they fulfill:

• Socialization & Storytelling: D&D
• Competition: League of Legends
• Creativity: Pokemon
• Side Distraction: FTL
• Quick Distraction: Luftrausers
• Challenge: Dark Souls 2

Each of them is my favorite for completely different reasons. Each fulfills some role in my life the others don't. I would be hard-pressed to choose a single one as my favorite because they are equally important to depending on the situation. I like League of Legends, but I can't play it when I only have a few minutes to spare or I'm chatting with a friend; I go with Luftrausers or FTL for those situations.

If I chose a "favorite game" out of them, it would say less about the quality of said game and more about which want/need I value most. A good example of this is Zoe Quinn's Top Games of 2013 list; people got salty at her for including a bunch of free web games instead of the AAA fan favorites, even when she admitted up front her wants were different: "I’ve been more and more pressed for time and haven’t been able to sit down and marathon the 60+ hour long games that I fell in love with as a kid." The AAA games she excluded are still great games, but they're horrible at fulfilling her current wants: a quick game you can blast through in an hour or two that still leaves an impression. (This difference in wants is also at the core of Length vs Price vs Quality debates; people's answers to that depends on their situation.)

So here's a question for you: rather than ask what your current favorite game is, what are your current favorite games? And which want/desire does each fulfill that your other favorites can't do as well?