Poll: Is "average" a five or a seven?
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I don't trust game reviews.
But when i vote at imdb or anything, i'll use this guide:
10 - A Masterpiece, Genuinely Groundbreaking
Something you didn't think was possible before. Not only is it essentially flawless, but it genuinely sets a new standard. A vote of 10 should be rare and reserved for very, very special movies. Please consider whether a lower score might be a better match of your impressions before voting a 10.
9 - Outstanding, a Must Have
Not just something you'd recommend to anyone, but a piece of content that you consider an absolutely mandatory piece of any movie shelf. Highly influential; many movie makers will mimic it and they are right to do so.
8 - Excellent, Recommended to Anyone
There's a lot new. It can be an influential movie. If it is a niche movie, you still would recommend it to anyone because you had so much fun or you found it to be so impressive. This is the kind of stuff that makes movies such a great thing to watch.
7 - Very Good, Deserves a Look
Some elements of this content are unique and you enjoyed it without substantial reservations. But you might be able to imagine some others having complaints or just not enjoying it as much. Still, you think most people should at least take a look at the movie description and voter comments to see if it sounds appealing.
6 - Good, Qualified Recommendation
It does a few things well but maybe it's a bit routine. Or, perhaps you found it enjoyable and something that you're generally positive about, but also found that it has enough drawbacks that it's not something you can recommend without a caveat. It's a good movie, but it's a little hard to find superlatives for it.
5 - Fair, Solid yet Unremarkable
It's not that it's bad, it's just not that good. Maybe parts of the movie are great, but other aspects of it bring it down. Or, perhaps the whole thing is just thoroughly average. It's not that you feel cheated with your time, but you can think of similar, better movies. You wouldn't discourage anyone from playing/using it, but you wouldn't go out of your way to recommend it either.
4 - Some Merit, Requires Improvements
There is something good in this movie, even briefly enjoyable, but it is buried under other plot problems. While you might briefly consider giving it a positive recommendation, you just can't unless some serious work is put into it.
3 - Poor Execution, Potential Unrealized
The producer clearly set out to try to do something interesting, and may have had a good idea or two. But s/he failed to produce a product that is enjoyable or useful at this point.
2 - Very Little Appeal
There really isn't much positive that you can say about this. The ideas are poor, the execution is poor...everything about this is poor. What separates this from a vote of 1 is that the producer had some interest in making something enjoyable--it's just that they failed to do this.
1 - Not Recommended to Anyone
There's just absolutely nothing redeeming about this movie. Perhaps the producer was intentionally trying to annoy, insult, or upset you. Or maybe you wouldn't call this a movie at all. Please note that 1's should be even more rarely awarded than 10's--use them with extreme caution.
Stolen from a NWN forum and modified to fit movies..
But when i vote at imdb or anything, i'll use this guide:
10 - A Masterpiece, Genuinely Groundbreaking
Something you didn't think was possible before. Not only is it essentially flawless, but it genuinely sets a new standard. A vote of 10 should be rare and reserved for very, very special movies. Please consider whether a lower score might be a better match of your impressions before voting a 10.
9 - Outstanding, a Must Have
Not just something you'd recommend to anyone, but a piece of content that you consider an absolutely mandatory piece of any movie shelf. Highly influential; many movie makers will mimic it and they are right to do so.
8 - Excellent, Recommended to Anyone
There's a lot new. It can be an influential movie. If it is a niche movie, you still would recommend it to anyone because you had so much fun or you found it to be so impressive. This is the kind of stuff that makes movies such a great thing to watch.
7 - Very Good, Deserves a Look
Some elements of this content are unique and you enjoyed it without substantial reservations. But you might be able to imagine some others having complaints or just not enjoying it as much. Still, you think most people should at least take a look at the movie description and voter comments to see if it sounds appealing.
6 - Good, Qualified Recommendation
It does a few things well but maybe it's a bit routine. Or, perhaps you found it enjoyable and something that you're generally positive about, but also found that it has enough drawbacks that it's not something you can recommend without a caveat. It's a good movie, but it's a little hard to find superlatives for it.
5 - Fair, Solid yet Unremarkable
It's not that it's bad, it's just not that good. Maybe parts of the movie are great, but other aspects of it bring it down. Or, perhaps the whole thing is just thoroughly average. It's not that you feel cheated with your time, but you can think of similar, better movies. You wouldn't discourage anyone from playing/using it, but you wouldn't go out of your way to recommend it either.
4 - Some Merit, Requires Improvements
There is something good in this movie, even briefly enjoyable, but it is buried under other plot problems. While you might briefly consider giving it a positive recommendation, you just can't unless some serious work is put into it.
3 - Poor Execution, Potential Unrealized
The producer clearly set out to try to do something interesting, and may have had a good idea or two. But s/he failed to produce a product that is enjoyable or useful at this point.
2 - Very Little Appeal
There really isn't much positive that you can say about this. The ideas are poor, the execution is poor...everything about this is poor. What separates this from a vote of 1 is that the producer had some interest in making something enjoyable--it's just that they failed to do this.
1 - Not Recommended to Anyone
There's just absolutely nothing redeeming about this movie. Perhaps the producer was intentionally trying to annoy, insult, or upset you. Or maybe you wouldn't call this a movie at all. Please note that 1's should be even more rarely awarded than 10's--use them with extreme caution.
Stolen from a NWN forum and modified to fit movies..
It should be 5, but ratings tend to get skewed between a combination of reviewers just pulling numbers out of their asses most of the time and the majority of publications not wanting to draw the ire of publishers and their readership by giving genuinely average but popular games low scores. When I did video game reviews for my school newspaper, whenever I gave a game the equivalent of a 6 or 7 (we used a 1-to-5 star system, but we could cut them in half, so it was really the same as a 1-to-10 system), I'd have to make it a point to stress that this actually meant above average in order to avoid confusion. When reading other people's reviews, I simply try to ignore whatever score they gave and just focus on their words, because I know it'll most likely be inflated.
That's what I thought too, Meester Deckhardt.MrDeckard said:
But... lets not give them ideas, eh?
Well, I think we can all agree that 5 should be the score for an average game, but reviews don't really work like that. Personally, I tend to pretty much ignore the score at the end of a review and focus on what it actually says about the game. If they mention some features I like the sound of, or some criticisms that would drastically change my enjoyment of the game, I take those into account. I also tend to watch the Zero Punctuation relating to a game, as I think it's helpful to know what is bad about a game, and where better to hear that?
Sorry, I went slightly off-topic. Basically, 5 should be average, but 7 tends to be average in most reviews. Hence, numerical scores are essentially worthless, as they are never an accurate representation of the reviewer's feelings on the game.
Sorry, I went slightly off-topic. Basically, 5 should be average, but 7 tends to be average in most reviews. Hence, numerical scores are essentially worthless, as they are never an accurate representation of the reviewer's feelings on the game.
Yes, it's like the school system - they're both wrong.
5/10 is average. That is what it literally means: it's exactly halfway between the worst game and the best game. This stuff about how 7/10 'should be average'... No, it shouldn't, WHY should it? That doesn't even make sense, you can't just change how statistics work to your liking.
5/10 is average. That is what it literally means: it's exactly halfway between the worst game and the best game. This stuff about how 7/10 'should be average'... No, it shouldn't, WHY should it? That doesn't even make sense, you can't just change how statistics work to your liking.
Well a 5 is average, but 7 is "I'd so her sober" so it needs more attention. Average don't get papa's att... oh game review scores?
I don't read game reviews, they never accurately portray a game and I don't care about other people's opinions. However, like with girls, 5 is average, but no one wants to have a simply average game so 7 becomes the desired number.
I don't read game reviews, they never accurately portray a game and I don't care about other people's opinions. However, like with girls, 5 is average, but no one wants to have a simply average game so 7 becomes the desired number.
It always irks me that people base the average on the school system scores. It really doesnt make any sense. The reason 70% is a pass is that they want you to be able to answer 70% of the questions to be able to say you know the subject. But a review isnt a test, its a rating of quality. So 5 would be average.
The problem ive always had with review scores is that theres no set guideline for whats good, whats poor, and what is average. Some people go for the 4 point scale, some people dont, which makes metascores kind of useless.
The problem ive always had with review scores is that theres no set guideline for whats good, whats poor, and what is average. Some people go for the 4 point scale, some people dont, which makes metascores kind of useless.
It depends on how you view the numbers.
If you were to get a 50% on a paper/test/academic bribery exam you would fail. If you got a 75% you'd get something in the C range with a margin of error depending on who's running things.
75%, 7.5/10, 3.75/5 are all about halfway up the good half of the scorechart, meaning the average of good.
If you were to get a 50% on a paper/test/academic bribery exam you would fail. If you got a 75% you'd get something in the C range with a margin of error depending on who's running things.
75%, 7.5/10, 3.75/5 are all about halfway up the good half of the scorechart, meaning the average of good.
The heart of the matter is whether or not 5/10 should be defined as average. Using that approach then if the industry becomes really, really good at what they do and the vast majority of the games produced are excellent then the average game will be a 5/10 despite each game being an entirely worthwhile experience. If not, the average game will score in the eight through ten range. Today, if it's true the average review score is around seven, that means reviewers aren't using this approach because if they were the average score would be a 5/10 by definition. If the average score is a 7/10 that either means that the scores are innacurate or that the average game is a good game. I imagine that the issue here is that reviewers don't define 5/10 to be average while the larger gaming community does. Frequently the complaint is made that gaming today is derivative with little innovation in the industry. When reviewers give 7/10 scores to games that are the target of this criticism gamers cry that the scores are over bloated. The games are enjoyable which matters to the professional reviewers but at the same time they add little new which matters to the larger community. Many would like to see reviewers go harder on games that lack innovation in order to push the industry to innovate. They perceive these games as boring, not because they were poorly made but because the things they've done have been done better before. Basically, the larger community views the professional reviewers of being content with stagnation. (To be clear, I'm not arguing the medium is stagnant, I'm merely observing that's something a lot of people believe.) They find the fact that a lack of innovation means a boring experience compelling reason to define 5/10 as average because doing so takes into account the amount of innovation currently in the industry and as such discourages people from buying games that lack innovation.
Those are my thoughts on the matter. I hope they made sense and that I didn't come across as rambling.
Those are my thoughts on the matter. I hope they made sense and that I didn't come across as rambling.
That's the way I like to go about it.Denamic said:
I don't know about you guys, but I'm always a little weary of a review that tries to represent the product as a number. I guess this would work with things like TV or Toaster oven which ideally never has variations on what it's supposed to do, but with movies and video games, mediums that are meant to be enjoyed and experienced, I just can't shake the feeling that the person reviewing has no idea how to convey a complex opinion and would rather dole out numbers to be filed at the North American Bureau of Video Game Entertainment Experiences.
I don't think average is the right word. Everything under 5 is a degree of awfulness, everything above is at least good enough. That doesn't mean the actual average is 5.
I'll explain how it really should work:
1-2 Don't ever spend money on these titles. Just don't you stupid person.
3-4 Bad, you will only spend money on titles here if you also eat crayons.
5-6 Average, run of the mill, a time killer.
7-8 These are good games. You will kill time here. Even play them again at some point.
9 Brilliant, classic, you need this.
10 Should almost never be awarded, it means damned near perfection. If it's on/also on PC it must be that greatest of things, mod friendly (should be on console to... really it should). It must also not suffer from that most horrible, disfiguring and in every way incapacitating of diseases; GFWL (or one of those anti-2nd-hand deals or need to be always online... disgusting). That means not even Mass Effect can earn a 10/10.
Now 7 is average score given I guess.
1-2 Don't ever spend money on these titles. Just don't you stupid person.
3-4 Bad, you will only spend money on titles here if you also eat crayons.
5-6 Average, run of the mill, a time killer.
7-8 These are good games. You will kill time here. Even play them again at some point.
9 Brilliant, classic, you need this.
10 Should almost never be awarded, it means damned near perfection. If it's on/also on PC it must be that greatest of things, mod friendly (should be on console to... really it should). It must also not suffer from that most horrible, disfiguring and in every way incapacitating of diseases; GFWL (or one of those anti-2nd-hand deals or need to be always online... disgusting). That means not even Mass Effect can earn a 10/10.
Now 7 is average score given I guess.