World of Warcraft: Forever's beta is now closed, meaning I can no longer appreciate the pretty god rays in Ashenvale. To soothe this yawning ache in my soul, however, Blizzard has released a fun little stats tracker to tide me over with the knowledge that I apparently jump in MMOs way more than I thought I did.

If you played the beta and sign in, you'll be given a full list of fun little stats including your hours played, where you spent the most time, what killed you the most and, crucially, how often you jumped.

I jumped 7,738 times. And considering I played the beta for 57 hours (putting me in the 69th percentile—nice), that means I averaged around 135 jumps an hour, which is… honestly a lot more than I thought I'd jumped. Now of course, jumping is a time-honoured tradition. Even in a game with a /wave emote, simply jumping around someone to acknowledge that you see them is a far more efficient means of communication.

It also makes you go faster when you're running somewhere. This is absolutely correct and not at all unsubstantiated, don't look it up.

The enemy that killed me the most was the Silithid Swarmer in the southern barrens, which I'm going to chalk down to those bastards being a touch overtuned rather than any skill failing on my part (I do not know why the minions it summons have so much health). I'm also heartbroken to find out that I spent the lion's share of my time in The Barrens, presumably killing lions. If you know anything about the absurdity (and sometimes obscenity) that takes place in Barrens Chat, you'll know why this news upsets me.

Anyway, I'll be able to jump a lot more when Forever goes live come November 4, where I'll be able to relive the experience of fighting 900 other players for a cactus apple on launch day once more. Though if my uncertainties about how its endgame's gonna shake out are true, I'll be thankful for the slower pace.

The Golden Joystick Awards' Ultimate Game of the Year voting is now open—celebrating its 44th consecutive year, the votes will remain open until 8 pm ET / 12 am GMT, October 30. It's a stacked roster of nominations this year—with some of our own favourites here at PC Gamer listed to take the crown.

Here's an official list of the nominations:

• 007 First Light
• Big Walk
• CONTROL Resonant
• Crimson Desert
• Dispatch
• Forza Horizon 6
• Phantom Blade: Zero
• Pokémon Pokopia
• PRAGMATA
• Resident Evil Requiem
• STAR WARS: Galactic Racer
• The Blood of Dawnwalker

Speaking personally, it's a tough one for me to pick—Crimson Desert is maybe the most technically impressive in terms of scope, releasing with not only a billion systems but also receiving massive updates over the course of the year. So many, in fact, I'm sort of wondering when anyone else at Pearl Abyss is gonna take a break.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer has devoured hours of my time, and I've been playing it so much I've developed a new callus on my thumb, whereas Dispatch was a short-but-sweet romp and one of my favourite superhero stories in recent memory.

The awards will be hosted by Alix WIlton Regan, the new voice of Lara Croft (and also the female protagonists in Veilguard and Inquisition), as well as a bevy of special guest appearances.

Regan says: "We’re celebrating the greatest games of the past 12 months—and, more importantly, the incredibly talented teams who made them happen. The people who put in thousands of hours creating virtual worlds for us to get hopelessly lost in. Get ready for an evening of special guests, spectacular games and plenty of silly jokes."

You can go ahead and cast your vote now at goldenjoysticks.com—the show itself'll be debuting on all major streaming platforms (YouTube, Twitch and X) on Wednesday, November 11, but you've only got until October 30 to get your votes in.