Poll: Perfection DOES NOT exist!!!

[Skoosh]

Do you argue with your teacher when you make 100% on an essay? Do you say "oh no, this isn't an absolutely perfect essay, please drop my grade a couple points"? Do you think it's wrong for a teacher to give any essays 100%, A+?

I've said it a few times now, but I'll say it again: 10/10 doesn't mean perfection. It's absolutely loving the game, it's like saying it is among your favorites. Everything it should do, it did, and it went kept going, doing more. If you like the genre, you should most definitely play it. It means it's so good, there's no real arguing which 10/10 is better. Yes, people overuse 10/10, but that doesn't mean the score shouldn't exist.

A quick score like that is a handy tool. No, it isn't a substitute for a full review, but it does make for a useful quick summary, helps for aggregators and such. It allows you do see a quick "terrible, bad, okay, good, awesome" level for what they thought. Oh, and I'm really sick of people saying how objectively there can't blah blah REVIEWS AREN'T SUPPOSE TO BE OBJECTIVE. You find a reviewer with opinions similar to your own, then read his reviews to help judge whether or not you'll enjoy it. Both art and entertainment are subjective, so of course reviews are subjective too.

 

[SinorKirby]

So, I am wondering if 10/10 scores bug you?

Yes they do. The review scale today is inflated dramatically.

This is how it should work:
10 = Perfect game, few, if any, of these games exist.
9/9.5 = Amazing game, near perfect, extremely rare.
8/8.5 = Great game, flaws are rare, really uncommon but nowhere near as rare as 9's/10's.
7/7.5 = Good game, few flaws, rating should be uncommon but not hard to find like 8's-10's.
6/6.5 = Slightly above average game. Some flaws, but the game is still fun and enjoyable underneath them. This should be what most games get.
5/5.5 = Average game. Not much else to say besides that. This does not mean these games aren't worth your money, however.
1-4.5 = Bad games. The higher the score, the more playable they are but these should generally be avoided.

This is how it actually works:
10 = Amazing game, near perfect, really uncommon.
8-9.5 = Great game, flaws are rare, almost every big title today gets this rating, even if it doesn't deserve it.
1-7.5 = Bad games. The higher the score, the more playable they are but these should generally be avoided.

It's a really skewed system, and we need to get past it.

 

[DSK-]

I don't think it's about the numerical scores or rankings, it's just about the actual content of the review itself. The one review that I strongly disagreed with from the 'Scapist was the Dragon Age 2 review. There were a few things that were said which were not true from my personal experience and perspective when playing. I must admit I forgot what exactly I had against the review, I simply remember not agreeing with it and vowing never to trust a review from here again.

I think if reviewers can divide what they think about and what they love about a game with solid, cold and hard facts about the gameplay and the like, reviews would be a lot more informative. By all means, give your own personal opinion, I like knowing the thought processes going on in someones' head when they say what is good and why. Just try and be a bit diplomatic about it and look at it from the other perspective and comment on it if it's appropriately positive or negative :/

 

[DarkRyter]

I am tired of seeing reviewers give 10/10 or 100/100. Nothing can be done to absolute perfection, there will always be a glitch, messed up texture, bug in the AI, plot hole, or maybe a teeny tiny voice acting issue or a nonsensical response from an NPC or your character.

Now before someone goes off about reading the review vs looking at numbers, let me just say.....

The numerical score should be a representation of the written review and giving something 100% implies there is ABSOLUTLY NOTHING in the game that could possibly be better or fixed.

So, I am wondering if 10/10 scores bug you?

10/10 does not mean perfection. Every major review site points out that perfect scores do not indicate a flawless title.

10.0 - Masterpiece
The pinnacle of gaming, a masterpiece may not be flawless, but it is so exceptional that it is hard to imagine a game being better. At the time of its release, this game is the not just the best the system can offer, but better than we could have expected.

Those scores aren't meant to be grades. They're a numerical representation of how much a reviewer likes a game. And a 10/10 simply means the highest level of enjoyment and recommendation.

 

[razer17]

I am tired of seeing reviewers give 10/10 or 100/100. Nothing can be done to absolute perfection, there will always be a glitch, messed up texture, bug in the AI, plot hole, or maybe a teeny tiny voice acting issue or a nonsensical response from an NPC or your character.

Now before someone goes off about reading the review vs looking at numbers, let me just say.....

The numerical score should be a representation of the written review and giving something 100% implies there is ABSOLUTLY NOTHING in the game that could possibly be better or fixed.

So, I am wondering if 10/10 scores bug you?

Yes, there is no such thing as perfection, when something is viewed objectively. Reviews are subjective, so they don't fit into that anyway. However, the main point is that a 10/10 doesn't mean perfect, it just means that it's subjectively as good as it gets. There's no point having a scale if you can't use the top end.

 

[aei_haruko]

I am tired of seeing reviewers give 10/10 or 100/100. Nothing can be done to absolute perfection, there will always be a glitch, messed up texture, bug in the AI, plot hole, or maybe a teeny tiny voice acting issue or a nonsensical response from an NPC or your character.

Now before someone goes off about reading the review vs looking at numbers, let me just say.....

The numerical score should be a representation of the written review and giving something 100% implies there is ABSOLUTLY NOTHING in the game that could possibly be better or fixed.

So, I am wondering if 10/10 scores bug you?

I wouldnt say it nugs me, I just think many reviewers go
" wow, what a great game, altough i didnt like that one little bit, what an outright amazing experiance" I'm pretty sure that they dont want to give a 9.9 score, because it would be like them giving a 7.8 score, which really is getting pretty specific, and for an industry which makes games, is a bit too much. It'd be like if a food critic went " yes, even though this food was amazingly tasty, I remember that my plate wasnt colerful enough' Who wants to sound that uptight? so they say " 10/10" because it's easy, and because they liked so much of it they were willing to overlook the flaws. To me, I would downright deplore a critic who made it their mission to not rate a 10/10 because to me, that be like trying to find the lack of color on a plate, and thatd suck because I would've enjoyed a nice meal

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

While I agree that review scores are inflated, this whole "tens are impossible" thing is bullshit. If we never gave out a perfect tens, people would treat 9.9 as the best possible score and therefore perfect, and we'd be right back where we started.

People just need to stop investing so much in scores and read the damn review. Just because one game gets a 10 and another gets a 9.5 doesn't mean the former is better, it's called opinions.

 

[BishopofAges]

100/100 and 10/10 don't bug me as much because when it does happen I timestamp it, and say 'yes it was probably the best it could be, for that time.' I also do not get wrapped up in reviews, if a specific reviewer died and went to heaven over a game, thats nice, and it is probably a good call that I ought to give the game a shot, but by no means does 10/10 or 100/100 mean perfection.

Yes, thats the score you hope to get on your tests and quests in life, but how often does it mean to YOU that you are perfect in that field and can do no wrong? It doesn't. The misconception of a 'scoring' system is that people believe perfection can be achieved, but the idea of perfection is infact terribly sad and depressing, it means no more can be done, no innovation, no new discovery, no nothing. So for that reason a 'scoring' system is designed to say that 100/100 or 10/10 is in 'the highest percentile' not to say 'perfect' by any means.

So to answer the original statment, no. I do not get angry with perfect scoring, it either means its a great game that I should play or that the reviewer is in the company's backpocket (usually defined by other reviewers saying the game is terrible).

 

[renegade7]

To me it just represents excellence and just being a cut above the rest.

 

[Daffy F]

This thread made

Spoiler: This

spring to mind.
Seems relevant about game review scores.

 

[MarsProbe]

A 10/10 (or 5/5 or whatever) score doesn't really annoy me, just as long as there is a decent rationale in the actual review to justify the score. The review must also mention the games bad points (because there are always bad points, no exceptions). What really gets me is when a reviewer actually comes out and says that a game is perfect.

I saw a video once in which some game types were going through their favourite games of that year. One of them was a Mario game, Super Mario Maternity Ward Adventure 3D or something like that (ok, it was Super Mario Galaxy). It's no surprise as to which game ended up being their winner of the group. They then went on to explain the reasoning behind the result as all the other games had their own little "caveats" that stopped them from being, well, perfect.

Super Mario Galaxy however, had absolutely nothing wrong with it. It was a genuine, 100% perfect game with not a single flaw to be found anywhere in the entire production. You'd think the game was forged by the gods themselves, not just another games company. Nonsense.

 

[Nenad]

Torment is perfect.

edit: But maybe it exists if you define it like this: "Perfection is the best realistically possible outcome at a given time?" Hmmm?

 

[MammothBlade]

If reviewers have to use scores, let it be a grade system. AAA, AA, A, B, C, D, E, F. It gives an approximation of the game's quality and play value, without resorting to nitpicking over little details.

 

[everythingbeeps]

TC you're right.

Perfection doesn't exist.

Therefore you should do what the rest of us rational folks do and stop reading 10/10 or 100/100 reviews as if the scores mean "perfection".

They don't. A 10/10 review doesn't mean the game's perfect. It just means it's one of the best in recent memory.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

What's the point of having a scale where certain scores are off limits?

100/100 doesn't necessarily imply perfection anyway. Review scores aren't (and never were) a science. They aren't the result of a complex formula. They're a simple representation of the extent that a reviewer recommends(or doesn't)the product that they've spent time with.

I say "product", because I've noticed that nobody gets nerd-rage over a film being given 5 stars.

Why are we acting like 10's are being handed out all over the place anyway? They aren't...

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

No. We know that perfection is impossible and reviewers no it, so if we don't have our heads up our asses we can view a rating of 100 as indicative of the idea that the game is excellent and has nothing meaningful wrong with it.

 

[Phlakes]

...The only problem here is that you're taking it too literally. It doesn't mean the game is perfect. It never has. Ever. By anyone. Ever.

Consider this. If no game ever got a 10, we would be using a 1-9 scale. You know what the 9 would be in that? Exactly what a 10 is now.

 

[DustyDrB]

A perfect score doesn't mean a perfect game. If you think that way, you're just wrong.
So change your thinking.