ForumsGamesHow to rate a game correctly

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Soltis
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Soltis
29 posts
Nomad

I've spent a lot of time playing games on AG, and to put it bluntly, most games I encounter have ratings wildly out of proportion to their actual quality. In a few cases a game is rated too low, but usually it's the opposite: people appear to rate games based on what other people have rated them, nearly as much as their own opinion -- or they simply don't want to give any game a "bad" rating.

Here are some general thoughts and pointers:

1. A game author may not like getting a low rating, but it's important to rate games accurately -- for two reasons. First, so other players know what to expect; second, so the author knows if they need to try harder in order to produce a good game.

2. Other people's opinions are not yours. All a 9.5 rating means, is that the game has a 9.5 rating; don't be afraid to rate a game a 6 or 5 just because everyone else didn't.

3. Every rating number has its own meaning - the entire spectrum, from 1 to 10, should be used when appropriate.

4. Most games should get between 4 and 7 in ratings -- 1-3 should be reserved for spectacular failures, and 8-9 should be used sparingly.

5. You should never rate a game a 10 unless you've thought about it pretty hard, first - if the "10" rating is to have any meaning, it should be extremely uncommon; I don't think I've ever given a 10; I've given a couple 9.5s, but there are always flaws.

6. Once in a while, a game is simply so creative you want to give it credit for being so original; I suggest rating it like usual, and then adding no more than 1 to the resulting rating... even creativity needs to be balanced by discipline and skill.

Anyway, to help people give better ratings, I've provided a number-by-number breakdown of possible ratings and when they should be used:

1 - AWFUL: unplayable, impossible to enjoy, or even tolerate; games which are so buggy you can't even play a minute or two might qualify, too.

2 - Terrible: nobody in their right mind would enjoy it; comparable to watching paint dry for sheer entertainment value.

3 - Bad: boring, annoying, repetitive; terribly balanced; severely buggy, etc.

4 - Mediocre: amateurish, tedious, or suffers serious balance issues; you wouldn't say it's out right bad, but you wouldn't say it's anywhere near good.

5 - Average: no crushingly bad flaws, but nothing impressive - a good way to waste time, but nothing more.

6 - Above average: fun, but with flaws; there may be balance issues, bugs, or implementation issues of a good idea. This should be the highest rating a game gets if it has even one serious complaint.

7 - Good: no serious complaints or bugs; above-average enjoyability, or an unusually creative game concept.

8 - Great: a great idea, with good implementation; there may be minor issues, but nothing that would stop a reasonable player from having a great time.

9 - Amazing: not quite perfect, but a masterpiece. No real issues; the only problems should be extremely slight, or subjective (matters of opinion).

10 - Perfect: flawless; absolutely no complaints whatsoever, and game play slightly more addictive than crack.

  • 88 Replies
Soltis
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Soltis
29 posts
Nomad

Haku:

That's a terrible idea; it might (in theory) average out to the same thing, but it destroys a great amount of granularity, detail, and nuance -- you don't just want to know if someone "loved it" or "hated it"; you also need to know who was neutral, who "kinda liked it", etc.

It is true that every rating's impact is minute, but that's the point! If you have, or try to exert, more control over the rating than you really warrant, by exaggerating your opinion, than you are skewing the ratings just as surely as Milos' policy of never rating below a 5.

Haku1234567890
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Haku1234567890
1,720 posts
Nomad

If game ratings is 5 and i think it deserves more I give it 10 and if I think it deserves less I give it 0,5

Haku1234567890
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Haku1234567890
1,720 posts
Nomad

Read a starfish story.


yea, thats exactly what am I talking about
Soltis
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Soltis
29 posts
Nomad

Haku:

Once again, you're distorting the rating system by exaggerating your own opinion; if you don't actually care about doing the right thing, then I can't exactly stop you, but if you want to be a part of the solution, as opposed to a part of the problem, then do it correctly.

Milos
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Milos
848 posts
Peasant

You are completely missing the point of the rating system, if you never rate below 5 -- in essence, your parlance of ratings simply reduces to "5 = sucks; 10 = rocks", and that means you're wantonly skewing the ratings much higher than they deserve.


I don't know any game, which I have played, that deserves rating below 5 judging by your criteria. And yes I do rate higher, to compensate for those that give 0.5 and comment "this sux!!" and because I feel bad for the author that made a game and gets a disappointing rating, if he/she wants to know what is wrong with the game that's why comments are there for.

Ratings aren't about mutual back-scratching contests, or "feel-good" pseudo-feedback: they're a way to communicate to the author if they did a good job or not, and you are completely sabotaging the process if you don't communicate openly, honestly, and fairly -- even when the fair rating is a poor one.


Wow, man! I just realized that I haven't took this flash gaming seriously. I'm sabotaging open and honest communication with my pseudo-feedbacks because I'm not perceiving the game objectively. Welcome to teh interwebz.
Maybe this thread was intended to become a sticky in the Newcomers like those others threads with guidelines.
Soltis
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Soltis
29 posts
Nomad

Milos:

Stay civil or get out - you're pretty much advocating falsified ratings and then trying to justify it with "oh it's just the internet", which can only be described as disingenuous and/or deplorable.

Also, ad hominem attacks regarding my motivation for posting this are borderline trolling, not to mention irrelevant and pointless.

My motivation was that I saw a problem, and I posted the solution to it... if you have a problem with fixing problems when you see them, then I suggest you find yourself a different place to reside on the internet -- I can think of a few places where trolls and space-wasting posters are not only accepted, but valued, and I'm sure you can find them if you look hard enough.

Milos
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Milos
848 posts
Peasant

Also, ad hominem attacks regarding my motivation for posting this are borderline trolling, not to mention irrelevant and pointless.


http://trollcats.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/deflection_trollcat.jpg

Chill out, I find emphasized eloquence in your posts funny and because few of us posted their opinions about rating and you said that all of those are wrong made me answer like that. You think that rating a game is serious and I think that it is taken lightly because it doesn't deserve much contemplation. Maybe we should get thumbs up/down like YouTube, rating reflects popularity of the game anyway.

Stay civil or get out


K. I'm out.
madbullman
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madbullman
124 posts
Nomad

Hmmm...
i think everyone shold rate like he want but anyway thanks

Haku1234567890
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Haku1234567890
1,720 posts
Nomad

Once again, you're distorting the rating system by exaggerating your own opinion; if you don't actually care about doing the right thing, then I can't exactly stop you, but if you want to be a part of the solution, as opposed to a part of the problem, then do it correctly.


please think about it twice
for example game has rating 6 and 4000 votes and you think it deserves 5, rating it five would make it 5,99975.. and rating it 0,5 would make it 5,99862.. which is closer to rate you wanted it to have, but still you change it just a little bit
M00CH
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M00CH
101 posts
Nomad

Authors might like to receive low ratings on their games, they would because they know they would be doing bad and wouldn't keep submitting the same type of game. So then they would change the way the game is, and woo a better rating.

Soltis
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Soltis
29 posts
Nomad

M00CH: Exactly!

If I was a game author and my game wasn't any fun, I'd WANT it to get a 2-4 rating; then I'd know to STOP what I was doing and try something else.

Soltis
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Soltis
29 posts
Nomad

Oh, crap -- I've been posting on some other forums that use actual HTML tags instead of BBCode... so yeah, gonna repost that in a sec.

Flagging my other post so it can get deleted, hopefully.

Haku: The point is that you are not in control of the game's final rating.

Your job is to post your very own opinion and nothing else.

The game's final rating, in a perfect world, is the average of your honest opinion and everyone else's honest opinion; the point is not for your "4" to suddenly change the game's overall rating to a "4".

tyler85cali
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tyler85cali
1 posts
Nomad

While the original post has many valid points, and is fairly accurate...the virtual world surrounding sites like this consists of way too many trolls for this advice to be followed. Anyone that would read this post, and rate games accordingly, likely already does so. Great post, i just think its targetted to the wrong audience.

Freakenstein
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Freakenstein
9,508 posts
Jester

I'm pretty sure the thread would have been better if you went into detail about which areas of the game to govern how the game should be rated (graphics, sound, gameplay, etc.). Discussing the varying areas of the game, how they tied well in with the rest of the categories, coupled with things they need to be improved upon not only gives the author a good idea on what to tweak in further reasons, but are also grounds for a strong review and possibly a merit if spotted by a moderator.

If you made a second section about these two areas, with additional help from veteran users, I'm sure a mod may consider stickying the thread if it is insightful enough

Soltis
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Soltis
29 posts
Nomad

Tyler:

This post is directed at people who simply haven't thought very hard about ratings, but aren't actually trying to do it <i>wrong</i> or cause trouble -- already one or two people seem to have thought it was useful to them, and those are the kind of people I'm trying to reach.

The only approach for trolls and other trouble makers is to ban them; no amount of words will do any good.

Freakenstein:

I kept the guide general because a lot of what you're suggesting I specify is too subjective; what I consider important in a game may differ substantially from others' opinions, and the abstract notion of overall quality vs enjoyability vs (lack of) bugs is the essential aspect of a good rating.

If you're suggesting I make a more general guide that covers both ratings and reviews, then you just might be onto something -- being able to sensibly relate different areas of gameplay to one another and to the mode by which one articulates their opinion could also be a useful resource for newbies.

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