Deep down, we all know that user-created ratings for games can't be trusted. There are too many maniacs who give games perfect 10s and too many angry noobs that give games 0s. The reviews aren't very descriptive of a game either. Most reviews just say "I like it" or "It's boring" or something vauge like that. Once in a blue moon someone actually examines a game and makes a well thought out review of it with a fair score. But it doesn't make up for all the other contaminations of a game's rating.
But this doesn't happen for movies and video games. Well actually they do, but most people who just want to see how good a movie or game is simply reads a review about it in the newspaper, magazine, gaming site etc. Can't there be something like this for flash games. Sure they're less "important" and "non-profitable" so they probably won't get gaming websites dedicated to rating flash games (which is actually a really good idea). I suggest armorgames makes a system where people can see the game's user rating, but also the rating people who actually give honest reviews gives it. This position could be determined based on how many armor points a user has. Or maybe all reviews that are longer than 100 words or so can be placed in a special comment viewing section. I don't know which methods would be possible or not, but a method that resolves my complaints has to exist somewhere. I hope other people have suggestions as well
How about just AP for forum posts, merits, and games submitted?
A lot of people create an account because they wanted to rate or comment on a game. And the second they see that those first comments or rating gives them gives them these strange "Armor Points" they'll continue to rate and comment (possibly in a good way). So I believe points for those should be kept to keep people from sticking around (even though we don't always like them to :P)
Still Plokkey...don't you think that getting AP by clicking a button that would be the same worth as writing out 2 forum posts...is a little TOO biased? Or rather, uneven?
Still Plokkey...don't you think that getting AP by clicking a button that would be the same worth as writing out 2 forum posts...is a little TOO biased? Or rather, uneven?
I don't think anybody wants to go through the process of suggesting it again. o_o
Still... if writing a good well-thought of comment/review on a game would have a slightly higher point value then, say..., a simple comment on a forum, it would mean that the whole ranking system has to be turned upside down and re-invented... :S
And yes... EVERY PERSON on the planet is biased in his/her opinion, simply because every person has other things he/she experienced in his/her life thus creating his/her character, thus creating his/her ideas and values... If I think red is a great colour will result in a lot of people agreeing with me, but also a lot of people dis-agreeing with me... With this I mean... when someone writes a comment/review it all depends on how the person reading it will react to it. He/she likes it when he/she has the same ideas/values and dislikes it when he/she has the opposite ideas/values...
People... 'eople are biased'... always!
(and I'm sorry for the continuing 'he/she' statements... :P *giggles*)
Honest opinion of rating a game would come to fruition if and only if the AP for rating would be 0. Knowing that there would be no incentive for rating a game, there would be no .1 second rate (maybe even before they started the pre-loader! *gasp*), and those that cared about rating would be the ones that would take the time to rate the game, you know, guys that would actually play the game through at least halfway before rating it honestly.
AND AGAIN I HAVE TO BUMP THIS BECAUSE OF MY INSANE OCD.
Are you okay then...? :S Let me help you with it... *bump* =D
Honest opinion of rating a game would come to fruition if and only if the AP for rating would be 0. ... and those that cared about rating would be the ones that would take the time to rate the game, you know, guys that would actually play the game through at least halfway before rating it honestly.
See, that's the problem if you ask me! A lot of people don't even play the game through (at least till halfway) resulting in comments/reviews that say 'I think this and that is bad and you should add that and this' and then... people who DO play it through notice that it actually is in the game, but is not noticed after 2 minutes of playing... know what I mean? :/ (I may have shown a pathway into the cave but got lost in the directions myself there! hahaha)
But at least those on-liner comments are being removed by the mods, leaving only the 'real' comments for people to read, right?
the title bothers me more and more. It should say solving the unbiased game rating problem since the users that spam vote aren't really voicing their real feelings for the game.
Simple solution -- take off AP for it.
As for reviews the only suggestion I found plausible was extending the wait time.
I know and so am I! It's the hope I have that enough people use their common sense to rate the game properly... but I also know that that's a utopia...
the title bothers me more and more. It should say solving the unbiased game rating problem since the users that spam vote aren't really voicing their real feelings for the game. Simple solution -- take off AP for it. As for reviews the only suggestion I found plausible was extending the wait time.
I must agree with that, maybe they should combine the rating with the reviews, linking them together. This way, when a mod deletes a 'fake-review', the 'fake-rating' given with it will dissappear together with a simple 'nice'-review someone gives in order to gain AP?
Then people would only receive AP when they make a proper review of a game instead of simply rate every game on Armor to gain a lot of points and I've seen that with a lot of users! They have a high number of game rating but only a 10th of the number of comments made... That gets me suspicious of what their intentions are... :/
I haven't been around long enough to be aware of the earlier discussion(s) referred to, but it seems like a few basics are left out: if you want to play the games, you can do so without rating or anything. In fact, if you do not bother to sign up with AG, you can't comment or rate anyway. You may still enjoy the game, though. By registering, people are actually claiming some level respect because they are rating and commenting and therefore add something for other users. However, for WHICH other users? Those who want to find and play nice games, will (like me) play every new game that is put on the site. They do not care about ratings and comments. Those who want to play nice games without looking for them, are still likely to try several popular games from the genre they prefer (at the moment).
Keep in mind that rates are subjective by definition. I will like different games to a different extent than most other people. Even if I agree with someone on one game, we are very unlikely to like every single game to a more or less equal extent. After playing the game, everyone will have a different opinion of it. People who play and get stuck rightaway will be frustrated and may vent it with a poor rating and a highly negative comment. They may miss certain features, but since they got stuck before they saw them, who can blame them? Other people may love a certain series of games or a certain author and score them consistently higher. These ratings are likely to cancel each other out to some extent. The same goes for those who score zeroes and tens. These extreme scores do not influence the average that much anyway.
I also noticed that the average scores on AG are usually very consistent with my own findings, give or take a little. Doesn't that mean they are still pretty fair? I think ratings aren't the problem.
The real problem lies with the comments ONLY. Mods and admins will have to clear up a lot of rubbish to take care of this problem, OR they just give merits to those comments that deserve them. So if you are looking to bypass the spammers' opinions, just look at the merited comments and the average rating for a game. Problem solved and everyone can vent their frustrations as much as they want to.
In the end, the only thing that remains unfair is the amount of APs collected by spammers. But if you actually care that much about APs, aren't you just being jealous in all honesty? APs are nothing but an activity counter on AG. It demands some respect from other people on AG, but since they can see the number of merits you have on your profile, you can't really fool them. Outside of AG, these points aren't worth a thing.
Let's be frank: we all signed up to get some respect from our number of APs. But let's be tolerant to those who make the top 100 with spamming. They will grow tired of it and they offer us a good challenge in topping them in the long run :-)
(I could have posted this in 6 comments, gaining 6 APs! Oh no! ;-) )
Tolerant of people breaking the rules, huh? :b it is kindof unfair to let by those when the people who actually do it following the rules have no chance at reaching the breaker's level.
Your own findings with rating may be very skewed compared to another's.
