Forum Overview :: Reviews
 
Trends in reviews by skip 10/08/2016, 10:16pm PDT
No scores
I'm really hating how Noo Game Journalism is still having long-term effects on game reviews. Forget the social justice stuff for a minute. If that's your site's main metric, that's fine. There's sites that grade games by how they cater to the disabled and/or Christian and that's great too. No. What I hate is the trend to remove scores from reviews. I noticed this in the board gaming world as newer reviewers ramble on about their toddlers/latest movie watched/irrelevant anecdote for four paragraphs before even mentioning the game. Or they're cracking lame jokes in skits and it's impossible to figure out if the game is any good, under what circumstances, and if there's better alternatives because that UNIMPORTANT shit is buried at minute 19 in their 23 minute video. But hey, they got to use that funny duck costume and talk in a Scottish accent, lol!

"How should we score an excellent game with severe networking issues?" Eurogamer asked rhetorically. "A flawlessly polished game with a hackneyed design? A brilliantly tuned multiplayer experience with dreadful storytelling? If you expect the score to encompass every aspect of a game, the task becomes an exercise in futility. Add an inflated understanding of the scoring scale in many quarters—whereby 7/10 and even sometimes 8/10 are construed as disappointing scores—and you have a recipe for mixed messages."


If you shitheads hadn't devalued what a 7 means we wouldn't even be having this conversation. The only reason more sites haven't done it is because of Metacritic.

Against all of those arguments, pro-score editors can point to one simple fact: readers overall seem to like reviews that have scores.


Yeah, no shit readers like something that reviewers don't. I don't have all the fucking time in the world to read rambling Wot I Think pieces or watch some skits to figure out if a game is good or not. Most reviewers are marginal gamers, forget about writers. What sort of gibbering moron would think getting rid of scores is a good idea?

"When I read through the comments on an IGN review, for example, all I see is people talking about the score," outspoken scoring critic and Kotaku News Editor Jason Schreier told Ars. "Compare that to, say, comments on an [unscored] review from Kotaku or Rock Paper Shotgun, and it's night and day. I think a lot of people really do want to read and talk about good criticism; we've just created an atmosphere where numbers drive the conversation instead. We can fix that!"

For Schreier, sites deciding to finally drop review scores is a burgeoning trend that's been a long time coming. "[Scores] strip the nuance from video game criticism, forcing reviewers to stuff games into neat little boxes labeled 'good' and 'bad,'" Schreier said. "Sometimes that's OK—Aliens: Colonial Marines, for example, is pretty clearly a Bad Video Game—but many games are way too interesting to sum up so simply."

"Take Destiny, for example," he continued. "Destiny is both brilliant and infuriating, both simple and complex, both polished and unfinished... It's one of 2014's most interesting games. It's something we'll be discussing for years to come. And it's a major disservice for gaming outlets to assign it 6s and 7s as if its merits and flaws can be summed up with a single 'average' number."

.....
Despite the decision of Eurogamer and others, gaming review scores don't seem in danger of going totally extinct any time soon. But Kotaku's Schreier thinks that a world without review scores would be one with "healthier, stronger video game criticism and far more interesting discussions... Review scores poison the well for discussion, inviting unhealthy comparisons (which is better, Hearthstone or The Last of Us?) and fostering an environment where readers don't talk about what's written in a review, only the number next to it."


Quoted everything he said because it's all just so fucking amazing. Seriously this is all I want:

- Videos under 15 minutes. Make it easy to skip to the end to get summary thoughts/score.
- Formatting for videos/written reviews is consistent and I can always find a summary statement/score at the beginning or end.
- Make your grading rubric obvious, easy to find, and consistent
- Text clearly discusses the game and you are limited to 1 sentence discussing a relevant anecdote. Two if it's necessary to understand your perspective.
NEXT REPLY QUOTE
 
Trends in reviews by skip 10/08/2016, 10:16pm PDT NEW
    Agree to the bullet points by Who reviews the reviewers? 10/08/2016, 11:20pm PDT NEW
    Unhealthy Comparisons by James Burke 10/08/2016, 11:57pm PDT NEW
        Are you left handed? NT by Mysterio 10/09/2016, 7:44am PDT NEW
            I haven't had to use either hand since I built my robot, S.H.O.P.V.A.C by James Burke 10/09/2016, 3:03pm PDT NEW
                We should "blank bump" to support posts that we like. I'll start. NT by Mysterio 10/10/2016, 7:57am PDT NEW
    I used to like review scores. I guess I still do. by Ice Cream Jonsey 10/10/2016, 8:52pm PDT NEW
        Re: I used to like review scores. I guess I still do. by Mischief Maker 10/10/2016, 9:15pm PDT NEW
            The comptetive multiplayer really drags you in by imagine party babyz 10/10/2016, 10:06pm PDT NEW
            Re: I used to like review scores. I guess I still do. by Ice Cream Jonsey 10/11/2016, 3:53pm PDT NEW
                Bouncing Babies wins based on NT by narrative driven action, CGA 10/11/2016, 9:39pm PDT NEW
        There still should be a way to account for multiple reviewers on a site by skip 10/11/2016, 9:37am PDT NEW
        But they don't USE THE WHOLE SCALE like I do! DOES ANYONE STILL CARE ABOUT ME? NT by Tom Chick 10/11/2016, 9:45pm PDT NEW
            No. Shouldn't you be working on your Kickstarter episodes? NT by Everyone 10/11/2016, 9:58pm PDT NEW
                October's MY month, I'm busy jizzing about horror movies no one's seen! NT by Tom Chick 10/11/2016, 11:01pm PDT NEW
    Polygon declares scores are for babies by It's pretty bad 10/02/2018, 5:03pm PDT NEW
        "We'll post less words, by less people, and mostly through listicles by because funding was cut" 10/02/2018, 10:31pm PDT NEW
        Oh man. Every single sentence makes me want to bitch-slap the writer by blackwater 10/03/2018, 5:12pm PDT NEW
        Polygon is in a weird place and is undergoing an identity crisis by IPB 05/04/2020, 3:43pm PDT NEW
            I don't understand how they got famous. by Ice Cream Jonsey 05/04/2020, 6:02pm PDT NEW
                Me. Look at this blue check, motherfuckers NT by Ben Kuchera 05/04/2020, 10:03pm PDT NEW
                Only famous in their citation circle by Hecteyes 05/05/2020, 11:22pm PDT NEW
 
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