"Over-rating", what's with it?

[Pink Gregory]

Reading the 'Unpopular Opinions' thread, I'm reading a lot of "X game is overrated" statements.

This got me thinking, outside of the mainstream gaming press (which...well, one has to take with a pinch of salt), I've never been affected by stuff being 'overrated'. I certainly wouldn't count opinions going towards an objective rating; so a game resonated with someone else but didn't resonate with you, does that make it overrated?

I'm sure that, somewhere on the internet, every game that's ever been moderately popular has been decried as 'overrated'.

Does 'overrating' mean anything to you? Why?

STIMULATING DISCUSSION GO.

 

[Full]

If a game has a boat-load of opinions that are more positive than yours, than I guess you could say that it's overrated in your opinion. It doesn't hold much weight personally. Sure I'd love if Original Indie Game #4 got more money and attention than the next Blockbuster EA Shooter, but you don't really know if you would like either of those until you've played them. It's the same for anything else, really, not just entertainment.

However, if you're being purely objective, there's no such thing as either over-rated or under-ated.

 

[Cabisco]

It does mean quite a lot to me. It's not so much people building up a game too much for me only to find it lacking, it's the over protective, foaming at the lips and will shout and moan at anyone who deems it second best attitude that gets me.

To use an example that was repeatedly found in the 'unpopular' thread, Half Life. I think it's overated, it's a good game and yes fun but the way people go on about it you expect it to be so much more. Which in itself is fine, it's when people dare question that the problems being (and the overating truely kicks in). In my time on this forum I've seen threads insulting so many people for believing 'halo' is better, 'bioshock' is better, 'mass effect' better, 'oblivion' better. And how those members go about trashing people for daring to suggest they prefer a game (and it does boil down to 'your a moron because you like a game more than the one I do') and perhaps enjoy it more.

Thats the overrated part, the stupid part that I suspect most people are talking about. With those games like Half Life you almost suspect to be verbally assualted by suggesting it's not amazing. I guess overeacting would of been a better choice of words.

 

[Zeh Don]

There are two kinds of over-rated in my opinion - one is ok, the other is not.

The first kind is for something old, like Super Mario Bros. or the original Halo. Taken in the context of their release years, those games were absolutely jaw dropping and were lauded with praise. Super Mario Bros. in particular basically saved the fledging games industry, which was reeling from the previous video game crash.
Today, people sort of look down their nose at them - Halo in particular. "It's not THAT good - totally over-rated". Sure, compared to the games we have now they might be, but they deserve their reputations because of the time they were released and their impact on the industry.
I think this kind of "over-rated" is ok, because if you didn't play the original Halo back-when, it doesn't really hold up now. It's basically nostalgia, and an understanding of what it did for the industry, that makes it over-rated. Halo: Combat Evolved isn't the best game ever made - it's downright repetitive. But we treat it with a sense of reverence, because of what it did and when it did it. And that's ok.

The second kind is for something that's merely popular, like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. And this type of over-rated isn't ok. The over-rated nature of Call of Duty leads the rest of the industry to follow suit; they want the large sales Call of Duty pulls in year after year, so they make their games more like Call of Duty. We've lost literally dozens of franchises to this type of "me too" attitude, all because Call of Duty is over-rated.
Is it good? It was. Modern Warfare is, honestly, a bloody good game. Everything since then has gotten progressively worse - yet it gets solid reviews every year and maintains strong sales numbers. And then the yearly backlash starts, where people realise "Hey - this is a piece of shit! It just takes a little while for all the problems to really surface!". Meanwhile, we loose another franchise because their developers want to be like the "highly acclaimed" Call of Duty series.

Edit: Ok, sorry for the wall of text.

 

[Sp3ratus]

To me, the word over-rated is just the latest buzzword for people to make their opinion seem more "legit", just like the word objective, which have been thrown around so casually on these forums that it has lost all meaning, has become.

Calling a game over-rated feels to me like saying that the opinion of someone who liked x or y game and gave it their recommendation is worth very little and is an incorrect opinion. It's really tiresome and I wish people would think a little more about what they want to say with the word, before posting it willy-nilly.

 

[Vegosiux]

I do prefer to use the word "overhyped" when I'm talking about a game I believe is getting more attention and aggressive wasp defenders than it really deserves.

 

[DoPo]

To me, the word over-rated is just the latest buzzword

Yup, certainly seems so. I'm not even sure what it means. It sounds like when somebody says "X is overrated" they say "is liked more than it deserves, so stop liking it as much" which makes no sense. Alternatively, they might mean "X deserves less credit than it's given to it" but I have yet to see anybody use it properly - take that Obsidian thread [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.396253-Why-people-give-Obsidian-a-little-to-much-credit-IMO] for example. Even when the TC states "get too much credit" as the premise, he fails to follow through - listing things Obsidian are not given credit for by anybody. Games are buggy? Nobody says they aren't. There is no merit given where there shouldn't be. Games are boring? Others find find them interesting. So-o, some people like them, he doesn't, therefore, others shouldn't or something? The justification is absolutely meaningless. Or just go to any thread about how overrated something is - chances are, every single person who claims so, has a justification similar to that, i.e., not applicable.

We should just start banning some words from the vocabulary of gamers, as they (the gamers) can't seem to even agree what it means to start using it properly and consistently. "Entitled" is another word for that banned list. And "artistic integrity".

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I think a lot of people let nostalgia weigh on these "overrated" judgements. The more games you play, the more experience you accumulate and the less impressive or original the new games seem (tropes and cliches considered). The other thing is letting the hype inflate a game so much that when you actually play it, it doesn't live up to it and so you consider it "overrated".

 

[King Billi]

Overrated applies to any game that gets more attention and praise than I personally believe it deserves.

It's a very stupid and pointless thing to worry about really, then again it's also MY problem to deal with.

Because in the end the game is still probably as great at it ever was and worthy or all the praise its received, the opinion of those vocal few who disagree won't ever change that fact. If YOU like it then what the hell else matters?

I guess I'd just like to take this moment then to apologise ahead of time the next time I happen to complain that game X or Y is overrated... Just so you can understand It's nothing personal, its just that the urge to express ones opinion can become quite forceful sometimes can't it?

 

[lacktheknack]

What I really think: "This game is really good, I thoroughly enjoyed playing it. You should play it too."



<on shift today: Salesman Neurons>



<approved, sending to voicebox>

"Seriously, best thing I've ever played. You HAVE to play this, it will change how you look at games."

We all want people to like what we like, and we're more likely to get that if we convince them to play a game with high expectations. If you sell it hard enough, the other guy will justify inadequacies of the game to themselves, up to a point.

Once you've crossed that point, then you get the "overrated" backlash.

 

[Souplex]

It means something.
Everything has an objective quality. Doesn't mean you'll like it though.
For example, I do not like God Of War, but I understand that it is still good. Just not for me.
Pokeymanns on the other hand, is objectively bad, yet very popular. It's rating is better than its quality.

 

[Something Amyss]

Many games couldn't live up to the hype if they were crafted by the hands of our sweet Lord and saviour Ronald Reagan.

That's overrated.

Pokeymanns on the other hand, is objectively bad, yet very popular. It's rating is better than its quality.

Could you explain how it's objectively bad, then?

 

[Legion]

Generally speaking "overrated" things only bother me if I am forced to endure them or discussions about them. In that sense overrated is just another way of saying "I do not think this subject deserves the amount of attention it is getting."

Otherwise it is just "I do not like this as much as a lot of other people do."

To be honest it's a pretty pointless thing to say. Underrated is more relevant as it's normally discussing something that has been overlooked or missed because of something more popular at the time, as opposed to something that people did not like.

 

[shrekfan246]

I've seen so many things be called overrated now that it no longer has any effect on me. Same with 'dumbed down'. Buzz-words, the whole lot of them, and I won't engage in a philosophical debate about video games with anyone who uses them to seriously describe whatever game we're discussing.

 

[Souplex]

Many games couldn't live up to the hype if they were crafted by the hands of our sweet Lord and saviour Ronald Reagan.

That's overrated.

Pokeymanns on the other hand, is objectively bad, yet very popular. It's rating is better than its quality.

Could you explain how it's objectively bad, then?

Mechanically, it's quite dull. It's taking a turn based RPG and distilling it down to it's barest, essence. Have higher stats or have a type advantage. No strategy whatsoever.
It's also a terribly grind-y game, and grinding is never good.
The story was never particularly good, but you can have a good game without a good story. (See: most anything made by Nintendo)

 

[Loonyyy]

It's the horrible, terrifying moment, where you realise that your tastes are different to those of others, and that has caused them to rate or revere something more than you would. Or at least, you think they like it more than you do, because how you determine how much they like it is also subjective.

 

[mohit9206]

when you call a game overrated its a personal thing coz no two gamers will feel the same about a game.
like for example i thought skyrim was overrated but i didnt enjoy it as much as i had hoped to. but someone else may have really enjoyed it to the max. so its just a matter of personal opinion

 

[blackrave]

Reading the 'Unpopular Opinions' thread, I'm reading a lot of "X game is overrated" statements.

This got me thinking, outside of the mainstream gaming press (which...well, one has to take with a pinch of salt), I've never been affected by stuff being 'overrated'. I certainly wouldn't count opinions going towards an objective rating; so a game resonated with someone else but didn't resonate with you, does that make it overrated?

I'm sure that, somewhere on the internet, every game that's ever been moderately popular has been decried as 'overrated'.

Does 'overrating' mean anything to you? Why?

STIMULATING DISCUSSION GO.

Wait who said that X is overrated?
If anything it is seriously underrated
I admit that X3:Reunion had much technical problems, but all X3 games were awesome (I never played X2 or X)
So when X4 comes out (or rather "if") I can bet it will also be few patches away from being perfect
But who cares- screen shots of X4 looks great and I'm sure it will also be fairly modable (like X3)