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• Thread starter SunoffaBeach
• Start date Nov 3, 2008

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SunoffaBeach

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Sep 24, 2008 269 0 0 Most game magazines have a rating system with a range from 1-10 or 1-100. According to their guidelines, 1 means something like "epic fail", 5 means "mediocre" and 10 means "legendary". But from my personal experience, a 5/10 game is usually far less than mediocre. I mean, would you ever consider buying a 5/10 game? The real meaning of these numbers IMO is this: 1-6 = not worth my time 7 = mediocre 8 = good 9-10 = great So I end up having a x/4 rating system, which makes a lot more sense to me than having ratings of 56 or 72. But maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm overly critical. What does 5/10 or 50/100 mean for you?

Unknower

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Jun 4, 2008 865 0 0 Yeah, 50 means baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad. C

COR 2000

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Jun 30, 2008 1,441 0 0 Well, here's mine: 1-3=Bad/horrible 4-5=Average 6-7=Decent 8=Good 9=Great 10=Excellent And that's me. E

ElephantGuts

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Jul 9, 2008 3,520 0 0 Si, I agree. 7 is mediocre. 6s are bad, unless whoever did the rating fucked up, or maybe the game applies to some niche audience. Which is sort of interesting, that out of all those numbers, a game has to be in 3/10 of it to be decent. And you really only need 1 and 6 to rate bad games, 1 for obviously completely disgustingly horrible and 6 for more decent and maybe applicable for some people but mostly fail and could definetly be better. Any other low number, and you know what you're getting.

Eiseman

New member

Jul 23, 2008 387 0 0 I see the 10-point scale as something akin to a schoolwork grading system. By those standards, a 7/10, or 70%, would be considered the "average," and a 5/10 would be a rather embarrassing F.

L.B. Jeffries

New member

Nov 29, 2007 2,175 0 0 This is a 5 on the handy chart my editor handed me to go by when reviewing stuff: 5 - Average. There are worse games on the market, but this definitely could have been better. Several flaws mar gameplay, but overall there's some enjoyment to be had.

mintsauce

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Aug 18, 2008 197 0 0 I strongly disagree with the notion that 7/10 should reflect a mediocre game. It doesn't make sense. 5/10 is right in the middle of the 1-10 scale, so 5/10 should mean the game is very average indeed. If you bias towards the higher end of the scale, then both ends of it become meaningless. If 7/10 is average, what is a 4? Or a 3? How much worse is a 3 than a 4? And how much better is a 9 than an 8? The thing is, you're not going to buy a game that is completely average unless you're a real fan of the subject matter, so I suppose some magazines are hesitant to hand out 5/10 ratings because it makes games look so bad.

rossatdi

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Aug 27, 2008 2,542 0 0 For games very few people have the time and money to play lots (more than one a week is going to hit balance pretty hard for the gamer's typical demographic) so the odds of people picking a 5/10 to spend 10 hours and £40/$100 on is minimal compared to a small amount of money for 1.5 hours. I'm quite happy to watch a 5/10 film in the genre I like when I've got nothing better to do. I am not happy spending a good night out's worth of cash on something that won't be as good as a clever purchase. F

Fanboy

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Oct 20, 2008 831 0 0 5/10 means nothing without a review behind it.

SunoffaBeach

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Sep 24, 2008 269 0 0

mintsauce said: I strongly disagree with the notion that 7/10 should reflect a mediocre game. It doesn't make sense. 5/10 is right in the middle of the 1-10 scale, so 5/10 should mean the game is very average indeed. If you bias towards the higher end of the scale, then both ends of it become meaningless. If 7/10 is average, what is a 4? Or a 3? How much worse is a 3 than a 4? And how much better is a 9 than an 8? The thing is, you're not going to buy a game that is completely average unless you're a real fan of the subject matter, so I suppose some magazines are hesitant to hand out 5/10 ratings because it makes games look so bad. Click to expand...

That's more or less my point.

tendo82

Uncanny Valley Cave Dweller

Nov 30, 2007 1,283 0 0 Allow me to reveal to you the true interpretations of review scores. 9-10 = Decent. But because the editor had to play it in a locked room with a bunch of the developers breathing down his neck he gave it a 10. 8 = Incredible to shitty. An 8 can be a reflection of an incredibly innovative game that might have a couple of flaws, but because it was made by a smaller developer or the publisher risked less on the title, the editor feels entitled to give it a fair an accurate review. An 8 can also be indicative of a crappy triple A title that the publisher has resigned to failure. That said, they still spent a large amount of money on development not to mention gaming press lap dances and early previews of the game. So yes, the editor must still give it an 8. 7 = mediocre A truly crap game. It's the type of game that's so bad that even the gaming press must draw a line in the sand, less their publication lose all credibility. 1-6 = a game for your nephew This is reserved for games the mainstream consumer buys. Mainstream consumers don't read enthusiast publications nor do they care about reviews. Clever editorial blurring PR is useless on them, therefore the gaming press can give these games any score they like. Pent up frustration caused by giving 7's to Kane and Lynch usually gets worked out on these titles.

Geo Da Sponge

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May 14, 2008 2,611 0 0

rossatdi said: For games very few people have the time and money to play lots (more than one a week is going to hit balance pretty hard for the gamer's typical demographic) so the odds of people picking a 5/10 to spend 10 hours and £40/$100 on is minimal compared to a small amount of money for 1.5 hours. I'm quite happy to watch a 5/10 film in the genre I like when I've got nothing better to do. I am not happy spending a good night out's worth of cash on something that won't be as good as a clever purchase. Click to expand...

Good point. Most people aren't willing to spend $60 (or however much), and invest quite a lot of time on something they've deemed 'average'. However, it's not really average when every game gets better than 5/10.

Flour

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Mar 20, 2008 1,868 0 0

SunoffaBeach said:

mintsauce said: I strongly disagree with the notion that 7/10 should reflect a mediocre game. It doesn't make sense. 5/10 is right in the middle of the 1-10 scale, so 5/10 should mean the game is very average indeed. If you bias towards the higher end of the scale, then both ends of it become meaningless. If 7/10 is average, what is a 4? Or a 3? How much worse is a 3 than a 4? And how much better is a 9 than an 8? The thing is, you're not going to buy a game that is completely average unless you're a real fan of the subject matter, so I suppose some magazines are hesitant to hand out 5/10 ratings because it makes games look so bad. Click to expand...

That's more or less my point. Click to expand...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FourPointScale I ignore 'professional' reviews and think for myself. Heck, I use my own extremely strict rating system, and so far the highest scoring game has been Half Life 2(a 50/100, I'll explain if someone wants to know how I rate games)

Grampy_bone

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Mar 12, 2008 797 0 0 I think it was X-Play which defended their five point rating system by pointing out that anything 5/10 or lower means the same thing: garbage. It's popular to assume that reviews are bought and paid for by the publishers and the gaming press is little more than an arm of advertising. But the thing is, publishers don't determine review scores, readers do. Look at Halo 3. I doubt there is a single critic who will put that game on their top ten list of favorite games; hell they may not even put it on their favorite shooter list. But it did get universally high marks. Was this because Microsoft paid off every single review site across the entire internet and every print magazine in existence? No, of course not, they didn't have to. There was tremendous pressure from the fans for this game to receive a high score. You have the people who say stuff like "If this game doesn't get 11 out of 10 I'm going to kill ten puppies and burn down a church!" Stories of howling outrage from fans towards any site which 'dared' to give the game a 9.8. "IT DESERVES A TEN OH MY GOD HOW CAN THEY NOT GIVE IT A TEN LET'S KILL THEM ALL GARBALAFARBALAHAHAF!!!"

Retoru

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Aug 6, 2008 200 0 0 I look at game ratings like grades you'd get in school. A 5/10 is 50%, that's an F in any school system in the US. 6/10 would be a D, meaning it didn't fail, but it sure didn't try hard. 7/10 being your C grade, an average game. If you look at game ratings that way then it makes perfect sense for a 5/10 game to be a piece of shit, it got a failing grade. R

Rankao

New member

Mar 10, 2008 361 0 0 Just use this rating system and rate it like you want your children to get into a good college A 94%?100% B 86%?93% C 70%?85% F 69% and below A = Your got yourself a game worth buying B = It might be worth buying but it might take some work to enjoy (possible buy, defiantly rent/borrow) C = Its Mediocrity definitely worth renting or borrowing F = They obviously just made this game to piss customers off and marketing was the one who called all the shots. You noticed I skipped D, that's because if it isn't worth renting or borrowing its a failure.

tendo82

Uncanny Valley Cave Dweller

Nov 30, 2007 1,283 0 0

Rankao said: Just use this rating system and rate it like you want your children to get into a good college A 94%?100% B 86%?93% C 72%?85% F 71% and below Click to expand...

You're supposed to inflate the grades, not deflate them. R

Reaperman Wompa

New member

Aug 6, 2008 2,564 0 0 If it only gets a 5/10 or 50/100 then it's a crap game not even worth renting. Edit: Like others (for me). 90%-100%, buy, buy, buy. 89%-80% Consider buying, do I have enough money for it and (insert slightly better game) as well. 79%-70% Probably look at, depending on genre. 69%-60% If bored and practically free. 59%-50% Not worth the disc it's on. 49%-0% Epic fail, not worth looking at, even if bored out of skull, publishers trying to kill me with insanity at how the game got made.

some random guy

New member

Nov 4, 2007 131 0 0 Here's how it works with me: 1-2: Vile, disgusting and outragous. A disgrace to humanity. The development team should be burnt. 3-4: Bad, just bad. There may be some positive aspects but, overall, it's deeply flawed and just bad. 5: Playable but not enjoyable. Still deeply flawed and still bad. 6. Average. Mediocre. Certainly playable and possibly even enjoyable at points but it's far from great. 7: Good. Solid and interesting but also bland and forgetable. 8: Great. An enjoyable, memorable and well done experience but still with noticeable flaws. 9: Brilliant! Any noticeable flaws are minor. A very enjoyable and memorable experience. Certainly recommended. 10: Perfect or extremely close. A must have game. Any flaws are hardly noticeable.

SunoffaBeach

New member

Sep 24, 2008 269 0 0

harhol said: A game which is competent in all areas will always score higher than a game which is incredible in some areas but which doesn't tick all the right boxes. Click to expand...

...reminds me of our school system (Switzerland). It was a walk in the park for me because I was slightly above average in all areas. Others struggled despite being incredibly talented in some areas.

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