• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Can we move to 5 star system for game scores finally, pretty please

A

Arthea

Member
Lemme explain myself.
I really think that 10/10 and similar score systems simply don't work, now we are at the point where this system is plain ridiculous and serves no purpose:

I think we all have seen this diagram by now

wQqQPHS.png
Click to expand...

do you know why it is so funny? because it's true!


now what makes 5 point/stars system superior? it covers every instance we need to stress and it works.
unplayable game 0/5
barely playable, broken 1/5
not a good game, but has its moments 2/5
a good game 3/5
outstanding 4/5
must play 5/5

everything in between can be covered by decimals, like if a game is not that much broken or buggy, we can give it 1.8/5.

see, simple?

so why oh why are we stuck with system that doesn't work for years now?
 
J

jesu

Member
It's the way people read review scores that make the first pic what it is.
The same people will ruin your 5 star scale too.

I've seen plenty of websites explain how their 1 to 10 scale works, but it's usually ignored, hence the first pic.
If they explain how the 5 star scale works, that will be ignored too and anything below a 4 will be shit sux too.
 
R

retroman

Member
How about:

- thumbs up
- thumbs down
- Superman 64

Real answer: I don't think scores are necessary. Just put a nice summary of the good and bad aspects of a game in the form of bullet points at the end of a review.
 
J

jiggles

Banned
Nothing should get lower than 1 star. No half-stars. No "empty stars" for below-fives showing it was 2-out-of-five or whatever.

It is not a point system. It is not a scale. It is a classification system.
 
K

kinoki

Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promise only; pain we obey.
My hope is that we can fold game scores into the metric system so that we can finally find an objective way to measure a game. Let's say that 1 star equals 1 square Joule, for example. That way we can measure it without anyone needing to play it in order to find out if it's good or not.
 
2

2+2=5

The Amiga Brotherhood
Arthea said:
Lemme explain myself.
I really think that 10/10 and similar score systems simply don't work, now we are at the point where this system is plain ridiculous and serves no purpose:

I think we all have seen this diagram by now



do you know why it is so funny? because it's true!


now what makes 5 point/stars system superior? it covers every instance we need to stress and it works.
unplayable game 0/5
barely playable, broken 1/5
not a good game, but has its moments 2/5
a good game 3/5
outstanding 4/5
must play 5/5

everything in between can be covered by decimals, like if a game is not that much broken or buggy, we can give it 1.8/5.

see, simple?

so why oh why are we stuck with system that doesn't work for years now?
Click to expand...

Please op don't be so naive, it's the same as complaining for metacritic scores, metacritic and the 10 point scales don't give scores, people do, the same people that give shitty scores with the 10 point scale will give shitty scores with every scale, if you want better scores you need better reviewers.
 
T

tapedeck

Do I win a prize for talking about my penis on the Internet???
How about no. You'd get a sea of 3/5s and 4/5s that would be even more indistinguishable from each other than the 7s and 8s we get now.
 
Nikodemos

Nikodemos

Member
SomedayTheFire said:
Best scale is Don't buy/Wait/Buy.The absolute best thing for reviews is to just do away with scores altogether.
Click to expand...
This will get eventually turned into No Buy/Buy in Bundle/Buy on 75%/Buy on 30%/Buy.

Reviewers will add extra granularity to everything.

Edit: I've noticed it conforms to a 5-star system.

jiggles said:
Nothing should get lower than 1 star. No half-stars. No "empty stars" for below-fives showing it was 2-out-of-five or whatever.

It is not a point system. It is not a scale. It is a classification system.
Click to expand...
Also yes.
 
A

Arthea

Member
jesu said:
It's the way people read review scores that make the first pic what it is.
The same people will ruin your 5 star scale too.

I've seen plenty of websites explain how their 1 to 10 scale works, but it's usually ignored, hence the first pic.
If they explain how the 5 star scale works, that will be ignored too and anything below a 4 will be shit sux too.
Click to expand...

but that's my point! we use only small part of 10 scale already, so why not move to 5 star system officially? It's a high time, we put up with this nonsense long enough, imho


tim.mbp said:
Why would I want to play a game that's fits either of these two categories?
Click to expand...

you wouldn't, but such games still are being released, thankfully not that many of them, but we need to cover this, as it is our reality
 
P

Pantaghana

Member
The same score has different meaning to different people, making them extremely arbitrary and almost worthless, so can we stop using scores in general? Please?
 
J

jiggles

Banned
tapedeck said:
How about no. You'd get a sea of 3/5s and 4/5s that would be even more indistinguishable from each other than the 7s and 8s we get now.
Click to expand...

Why do ratings need to be distinguishable from one another? The point in the rating is to quantify how much the reviewer liked it, not to provide some insecure fanboys ammunition for their X>Y arguments.
 
H

Haganeren

Member
Explanation will always be better than score. What if God Hand had a "No Buy" score ? Isn't that stupid ? The only way to determine if the reviewers have good argument is through a well made conclusion. Maybe the game wasn't up to the reviewers taste (if he talks about absurd universe), maybe the game have hidden depht (talking about being too difficult)

That's thinkg which basically mean "ok, i will have to search other opinion on the game" for me. Score in all their form don't mean anything.
 
T

Tertullian

Member
Five-point and five-star scales do tend not to cluster every game at the very top of the scale, or at least not as much as 10-point scales do. That remains true even when there are half-points. I wonder why that is. Maybe because they resemble a school grade scale less? A 3 star review, or 3/5, just doesn't feel like an outright condemnation like a 6/10 is.
 
tkscz

tkscz

Member
scores are pretty arbitrary as it's just the person's opinion. You should read the review and see what you agree and disagree with. If a reviewer says a game is good but you disagreed with what he said was good (which to you were bad things) then you know the game isn't for you and vice-versa.
 
K

Krooner

Member
If you do a five point system and allow decimals then how is it really any different from a ten point system? And if you introduce that arbitrary scale, (3.7, 4.2, 1.1) then we might as well go back to percentages.

I agree the 5 point system is the best of a bad bunch, but I really feel that the body of the review should tell you all you need to know... Obviously that would mean gamers have to actually READ the reviews, which I understand is big ask.
 
C

Cyrano

Member
Arthea said:
Lemme explain myself.
I really think that 10/10 and similar score systems simply don't work, now we are at the point where this system is plain ridiculous and serves no purpose:

I think we all have seen this diagram by now



do you know why it is so funny? because it's true!


now what makes 5 point/stars system superior? it covers every instance we need to stress and it works.
unplayable game 0/5
barely playable, broken 1/5
not a good game, but has its moments 2/5
a good game 3/5
outstanding 4/5
must play 5/5

everything in between can be covered by decimals, like if a game is not that much broken or buggy, we can give it 1.8/5.

see, simple?

so why oh why are we stuck with system that doesn't work for years now?
Click to expand...
When Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes, and all the sites that aggregate scores change, so will review scores. Until then, you'll get the largely unusable mess you have now.

(they won't ever change the system though because it's what has made them so successful in the first place)

Circle of Life (Dumb Review Score system)

More Review Scores -> Ad Revenues -> Review Score Aggregator -> Ad Revenues -> More Review Scores -> Ad Revenues -> Review Score Aggregator
 
C

collige

Banned
A five star system with half point decimals is exactly the same as a 10 point system. Your OP makes no sense whatsoever.
 
S

SatoAilDarko

Member
I hate the five star system.

On all starfronts everything becomes 3 and half stars if it's kind of bad and 5 if it's just a solid game.

Peopl think in terms of 100% in a lot of things. That's why people ask stuff such as pain on a score of 1-10.
 
V

Venom.

Member
With review scores it's about finding a balance:

1) So that a number can give an immediate indication of the quality of a title (Kotaku had 2 good & bad).

2) For there to be enough range in possible scores to give a more specific indication of the quality ballpark (EDGE uses the 1-10).

3) To not give an excessively high range of scores that makes the scores lack consistency or ability to be understood universally (IGN 100 point system it's difficult for a reader/viewer to differentiate between a 6.2 and 6.5).


1-5 system works and fulfils the categories above, it's used in many newspaper reviews. With a score out of ten there is more nuance without going into IGN extremes. For me the 1-10 score is perfect.
 
S

SomedayTheFire

Member
Nikodemos said:
This will get eventually turned into No Buy/Buy in Bundle/Buy on 75%/Buy on 30%/Buy.

Reviewers will add extra granularity to everything.

Edit: I've noticed it conforms to a 5-star system.


Also yes.
Click to expand...
I mean if I had my way there would be no scores for reviews but a three or two point scale seems the best. 5 point is better than 10 but it'll still fall into the same traps as 10 point.
 
R

retroman

Member
I think the bullet point summary system I described earlier is the way to go, because it communicates far better than a score if a game would be to the liking of the reader.

I don't think it's an entirely original idea either. If I recall correctly, some old 80's/90's magazines used both bullet points and a score at the end of a review. The only difference is that I would do away with the scores altogether, so the focus is on the bullet points instead of a stupid number.
 
Stilton Disco

Stilton Disco

Member
The 5 star system is functional identical to a 1-10 rating scale but with larger gradients. Any flaws you find with one system will persist if changing to the other.

The huge backlash people have over both numerical scores and aggregate sites that compile them honestly seems ridiculous to me, and strikes as a somewhat childish backlash against cases where people feel games aren't getting the average score they personally feel they deserve, rather than any legitimate criticism of numerical ratings systems to judge broad product quality, regardless of whether it's 10 points, or 5 stars, or 100%.

Sure, the use of metacritic by publishers to hold bonuses to ransom, and the site itself giving preferential treatment to slcertain reviews over others is bollocks, but that's it's own flat, not the fault of the rating scale itself.
 
B

BGBW

Maturity, bitches.
Imagine trying to see the different between 0.7 of a star and 0.8. That would be a fraction of a millimetre based on the size star ratings are usually printed at.
 
D

Dennis

Banned
No, we can't.

The 10/10 system is perfect. It is just that most are too immature to use it correctly.

The problem with 5/5 is that the top score is too common which leaves no room for that exceptional 10 out of 10 game. 5 out of 5 is just going to be too common.

The EDGE scoring system is perfect.
 
A

Arthea

Member
The argument about most games being in 3-5 star system has no ground, of course it will be, devs don't make bad games on purpose, at least most of them, and because of that of course most of games are good. That's not the point of this thread.


collige said:
A five star system with half point decimals is exactly the same as a 10 point system. Your OP makes no sense whatsoever.
Click to expand...

unless you insist that 5=10 it is not the same at all, you still have only five stars, period, and a game with let's say 2.5 stars, is still a 2 star game, as 4.7 - 4 star game.
I don't think decimals are needed, I more had in mind that people who want can use decimals.


Cyrano said:
When Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes, and all the sites that aggregate scores change, so will review scores. Until then, you'll get the largely unusable mess you have now.

(they won't ever change the system though because it's what has made them so successful in the first place)

Circle of Life (Dumb Review Score system)

More Review Scores -> Ad Revenues -> Review Score Aggregator -> Ad Revenues -> More Review Scores -> Ad Revenues -> Review Score Aggregator
Click to expand...

isn't that other way around? aggregate sties use review scores of review sites, if all used 5 star system, aggregate sties would be forced to use it.
 
H

Hibiki Kurosawa

Member
Yeah, that would be better. A letter grade system with no plus or minus would be even better. Or even better yet, no score so that people actually read reviews.
 
dr_rus

dr_rus

Member
Most people are already using 1 star rating system so I don't really see the problem. Any rating can be converted to a 10 star rating or x/100% percent rating.
 
W

Wiped89

Member
The 10 point system only fails when journalism outfits fail to use it properly.

Edge gets it right. With Edge, 5/10 is average and 10/10 means it is spectacular - not necessarily perfect, but spectacular.

What really annoys me is 0-100% scales. Because magazines which use them never use the whole scale. The Official Nintendo Magazine rated Super Mario Galaxy and Smash Bros Melee 96% for example. Cos they are afraid to use the entire scale. Stupid.
 
SmokedMeat

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
So under a five star system...
0-3 stars= Garbage
4 stars= good
5 stars= awesome

It'd be no different then a ten point scale.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

I don’t understand why more reviewers don’t use a 5 star system
2
50
2K
Holammer replied
  • Poll
Which review scoring system do you think is the best?
2
83
2K
Black_Mamba replied
PS Store Adds a New Five-Star Rating System to Score Your PS5, PS4 Games
News Platform 2
74
4K
Fake replied
Enotria: The Last Song launches August 21 on PC and PS5 | Xbox Series version will be published at a later date
45
3K
sendit replied
Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora’s User Scores Are Higher Than Any Recent ‘Far Cry’ Or ‘Assassin’s Creed’
Opinion Analysis 2
60
4K
mckmas8808 replied
Top Bottom