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I used to like review scores. I guess I still do. by Ice Cream Jonsey 10/10/2016, 8:52pm PDT
skip wrote:

"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.


I feel like numbers from a site with many reviewers (like this one) won't have any sort of consistency, but for a single person reviewing games it can mean something. Back when I was still passionate about this sort of thing, I feel like I could explain why X-COM is a 99% and Civilization II was a 97% to me. I think the 0-50 part of the scale is very important, and something can be a 47% and still do some cool things worth checking into in an age where all games eventually become $7.

I remember thinking the scores from PC Gamer had a sort of consistency, but then they gave Riven a 95% or something. (Maybe it was Myst, I can't find an original source.) And the reviewer that liked Myst or Riven was clearly not on the same page as the rest of the staff and it made everything that followed look dumb. It would have happened here too if we had scores. I'd give Duck Game a 95% and jeep would have given Dragon Age 2 a 17% and that would be difficult to reconcile (even though it's probably accurate nnnnnnyyyyyyahh).


"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!"


There's a game called Night Vigil on Steam. Looks like the guy that made it probably spent a year on it. A year of his life, maybe six months, maybe 18, but somewhere around there. Anyway, there isn't a single review. He got no feedback from it. It always amazes me when guys who write articles for a living, who got paid to do so and who -- as a group -- come out about how terrible comment sections are then go sad sack because there isn't stimulating social intercourse due the presence of a score. Fucker, the paycheck you got was your feedback. They want more discussion about their dashed-off review than what some actual games generate.


ICJ

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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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