Absolute Standards VS Relative Standards in Ratings
17 days 4 hours ago
| by:
JoelR
The following is personal opinion - you may not agree
I hate this crap about ratings in games.
With the new ratings winner being GTA IV it shows why I hate it...
GTA is given a "perfect" score and yet the game is not perfect.
Why? Well because it feels right or "they give games 10 that push the boundaries and revolutionize the industry".
A feeling does not determine what is perfect.Perfection does.
Honestly as a developer it pisses me off more than a little
If a game is not ranked against an absolute standard - what are we
developing towards than?
Viewpoint? A moving target if there ever was one.
Absolutes are things that can be aimed at...
feelings are much harder - every developer aims to create a good time
and many aim at technical as well as story perfection.
No score should ever be perfect as long as a single flaw is detected ever. I know this is an impossibility but it is a goal.
GTA deserves a high score! but a perfect one? no.
You ask my personal feelings on how ratings should be done?
- it should take into account technical excellence
- it should take into account editorial excellence
- it should take into account gameplay excellence
using a number rating system is bad as it implies that there are "perfect scores" possible so maybe a more neutral ratings system like
abominable bad mediocre good excellent
it doesn't imply perfection but it does say that something is done in a manner that excels over the competition.
If you really want to use a numeric system it should be based on absolutes and not on feelings and thus you should assign a number points to each section
2.5 to technical
2.5 to direction
5 to gameplay
______________
10 total
then you can deduct in areas where a game is flawed... and I would never expect higher then 9.9 as a perfect 10 again implies perfection.
Finally I question the motives and the ethical behaviour of most reviewers and of their companies....
If my company invited every journalist multiples of times to dances and dinners
and paid 80% of their normal yearly income to the companies that are reviewing my product I would be surprised if they didn't give me 100% ratings... that of course would not mean I deserve them, just that I bought em.
<< Back to JoelR's Blog -
Comments(8)