Reviews - Do You Prefer 5, 10, 100 Point Scoring, Or No Scoring, & What Does Each Mean To You?

[BooneIronshield]

Hello everyone, first of all I'm sorry if this has been asked before and I just overlooked it or if this isn't the correct area to post this. I put it here as opposed to one of the gaming sections since review scoring systems are not limited to just video games.

 

Review scores are incredibly subjective since they're essentially just assigning a numerical value to a personal opinion but I've been thinking about the scoring system more and more lately. Using a 10 point score as an example I've seen people who think 5 is average and I've seen others who think 5 is absolutely horrible, even though numerically speaking 5 is average. Then I've seen others who think anything less than an 8 or 9 means the game/movie/whatever is complete crap.

 

So I'm wondering, what do you think equals a good score or an average score or even a bad score?

Edited February 16, 2016 by BooneIronshield

[Dr_Mayus]

I hate all numbered scores and would prefer reviews spoke for themselves and not relied on a random number.

 

The thing is most people really don't know what a number means. They think a 7/10 is a bad score but they forget that a 5/10 is an Average game, 6/10 is above average and a 7/10 is greatly above average. 10/10s are stupid because no game is perfect and 9/10 means it is near perfect.

 

If you did away with a Number score then people would be forced to actually read a review and then make up their minds based on the facts that the reviewer mentioned if the game is something they would like to play or not.

[BooneIronshield]

I hate all numbered scores and would prefer reviews spoke for themselves and not relied on a random number.

 

The thing is most people really don't know what a number means. They think a 7/10 is a bad score but they forget that a 5/10 is an Average game, 6/10 is above average and a 7/10 is greatly above average. 10/10s are stupid because no game is perfect and 9/10 means it is near perfect.

 

If you did away with a Number score then people would be forced to actually read a review and then make up their minds based on the facts that the reviewer mentioned if the game is something they would like to play or not.

 

Yeah, that's a very good point really (no pun intended). I imagine that depending on how the reviewer felt about the game, say it's something in their favorite franchise for example, they might be more biased when assigning a numerical value but the written part of their review could give a more telling, and sometimes different picture, than the number does.

Edited February 16, 2016 by BooneIronshield

[slash]

going to echo the trinity of green, i am not a fan of scoring games with numbers in reviews. this is why kotaku has become my favorite site when it comes to game reviews. they don't score games, they talk about each games' merits and setbacks on an individual basis without causing inevitable comparisons to other sites. numbers may not necessarily mean the same thing between different outlets either. a 7 from gamespot could be "good" while a 7 from dishrag polygon could mean "okay". sorry to answer your question by choosing an answer outside the box, but i truly do feel like game reviews would benefit so much if they just took that number score away. people would then actually spend more time to read the review in its entirety and spend less time bickering like children why one site gave a game a 6 when another gave it an 8. 

Edited February 16, 2016 by slash

[BooneIronshield]

going to echo the trinity of green, i am not a fan of scoring games with numbers in reviews. this is why kotaku has become my favorite site when it comes to game reviews. they don't score games, they talk about each games' merits and setbacks on an individual basis without causing inevitable comparisons to other games. numbers may not necessarily mean the same thing between different outlets either. a 7 from gamespot could be "good" while a 7 from dishrag polygon could mean "okay". sorry to answer your question by choosing an answer outside the box, but i truly do feel like game reviews would benefit so much if they just took that number score away. people would then actually spend more time to read the review in its entirety and spend less time bickering like children why one site gave a game a 6 when another gave it an 8. 

 

lol no worries. You both made very good points about no scoring, so I edited the title appropriately, and your posts are exactly what I was looking for.

 

I suppose a reviewer just stating about whether or not they'd recommend a game, or whether they'd buy at full price or wait for a sale would probably be a better option. 

[rusty1027]

It depends on who's reviewing. Personally, I feel that what the user gets to rate something, let's say with something like Metacritic user ratings, the most naturally behavior for most people is to give everything they like a 10 and everything they don't like a 0. Professional reviewers should use a scale that represents their views of a game with the most honest and exact score value they can possibly give. Most people should only be given "yay or nay" review power, so that every game doesn't get a bunch of inaccurate "10/10 MASTERPIECE GOTYAY" and "0/10 horrible abomination of mankind the devs should die" reviews from unprofessional reviewers.

[Xionx]

i prefer Pro and contra lists at the and of a review. It is a better way than pure numbers.  Like Pro graphics are stunning , contra Frame drops when to many enemys are on screen . etc .....

 

But this system is not perfect either , because some reviewer think they HAVE to find negative points .... and than they get picky !.  Like : the wittness has not enough action .... -> which is BS contra point on a game that never supposed to have action . I only read very rarley Reviews, like Fallout 4 i know even with good reviews it is most of the time just overrated or overhyped the first few weeks.

[damon8r351]

Number reviews used to be meaningful until I started seeing professional game reviewers pan the shit out of a game, then I scroll to the bottom and see they rate it a 7 out of 10.

[bladesoframen]

I personally like numeric reviews if they put the number into categories, so it gives a quick summary of what they thought of the game.

 

My biggest problems with reviews is that they're rarely catered to me. For example, take a niche game like Neptunia VII and have reviewed by a Western reviewer. In general, the reviewer should reflect the expected general sentiment of the audience, and since in general western gamers don't like japanese tropes, ps3 lvl graphics on the ps4, limited saving locations, and much more, how can the reviewer possibly give it a high score? Is the reviewer even looking for the things I look for in the game? Same can probably said about almost every other niche game.

 

As a result, I found I the best results when I just gleam over summaries and see if a game matches up to what I want or not want from a game. (Or I find a person who actually has similar taste and ask them for recommendations)

[Satoshi Ookami]

I don't care about reviews at all but... I prefer 40 point system

[TheYuriG]

I like reviews that keep it 100.

[viech54]

The thing is most people really don't know what a number means. They think a 7/10 is a bad score but they forget that a 5/10 is an Average game, 6/10 is above average and a 7/10 is greatly above average. 10/10s are stupid because no game is perfect and 9/10 means it is near perfect.

10/10 doesn't mean the game's perfect (not to me, at least), as you said, perfect games don't exist, but some games exist that are just that good that I'm willing to ignore all flaws and give them the perfect score.

That said, I rarely read reviews, what good does it do to get the opinion of someone I don't even know (and I don't know most reviewers)? Are this person's tastes in games similar to my own? If not, reviews by someone like that are utterly useless to me.

I prefer watching videos about a game from a third party (that has no connection to the developer/publisher) that show the game how it really is.

 

But to answer the question, I prefer the 10 point system.

[LastPisTolman]

i prefer a twenty point scale (allows for .5s), anything greater than that is far too granular with anything less not having enough room to differentiate from other like products.

 

In an ideal world everyone would read the actual opinion that precedes the score, but that isn't a feasible reality.  Speaking for myself, and I'm sure this will ring true for others; I don't have the time to read every review of a game that I'm interested in.

 

How many different outlets there are, and how many opinions are cast, you could spend more time researching a game than actually playing it.  

 

Having a score is a great alternative, and also a necessary evil as everyone craves a binary answer to whether a film or game is good, why Netflix has a five star system for example, we all need fast answers to save us time - both in judging the product as worthy of our time or skipping it entirely.

 

If people weighted a score according to their own preference, the score would bear more weight for them.  For example, I love JRPGs so a review of 7/10 would be closer to 9/10.  

 

A score is also a good draw to provoke further reading, Racing games don't entertain me as much so I won't partake in every great racing game, but rather only dip my toes in to the pinnacle.  If a 10/10 racing game arrived, that would pique my interest enough to read what makes it so special.

[DrBloodmoney]

I like a 2 point score.

Play/Don't play.

Thats all i need.

[LittleLamb121]

Now I never read reviews, but at the end of the day, I understand why we need some form of a final judgement, because unfortunately people just don't have time to read every review. If I had to pick based on the question, I'd say a 5 point scoring system is preferred.

 

But in all honesty, if we could just chalk it up to whether a person would suggest to either play or not play, that'd be even better. Maybe with a super short summary of why they picked that? That'd be so much better than numbers, which are open to interpretation. 

[BooneIronshield]

Thank you all for the responses. It's been interesting seeing what each person prefers and why. It sounds like having a score, a pro/con summary and just a general recommendation of either buy or don't buy would probably satisfy the most people. I wonder if any sites actually do that, if so then it would be interesting to see how they incorporate the different methods.

[DEMON]

I hate all numbered scores and would prefer reviews spoke for themselves and not relied on a random number.

 

The thing is most people really don't know what a number means. They think a 7/10 is a bad score but they forget that a 5/10 is an Average game, 6/10 is above average and a 7/10 is greatly above average. 10/10s are stupid because no game is perfect and 9/10 means it is near perfect.

 

If you did away with a Number score then people would be forced to actually read a review and then make up their minds based on the facts that the reviewer mentioned if the game is something they would like to play or not.

 

This was how I did my reviews, I got quite a lot of hate from giving DmC 5/10, I don't think the people even bothered reading the review or researching how the site does it's scores.  5/10 is Average to me.. not bad like they were complaining about.  And if they had took to reading the review like they should have, they would have known I wasn't being extremely harsh on the game.

 

This how I see it.  1-2 = Unplayable to Bad, 3-4 = Bad to Eh (meaning game was okay but not a whole lot to it), 5 = Average, 6 = Good, 7-9 = Great, 10 = Excellent (saying this as there is no such thing as a perfect game - but 10s are reserved to games that I found to be really enjoyable, lots of replay value, felt connected to the characters).

 

What is the point in having a review system if you are just going to use low and high numbers?  So many big companies use them like this which makes a lot of people think when they see a 5/10 being given that the game must be terrible.  I take the numbers quite literally.

 

So yea, maybe in my situation with DmC review and there being a gang out there that took hate to it (DmC fanboys.. not DMC fans), that probably does put a lot of sites off going by the scoreboards the right way now.  I didn't really give a shit the hate the review got, they didn't take the time to read it.

 

I prefer 1-10.  Although, you know what? I haven't read/watched a review in ages.  A site's opinion means nothing to me, if I'm going to enjoy the game, I'm going to enjoy it.  A 2/10 to one person could be a 8-10/10 to someone else.  Reviewers can be biased and they can't help it sometimes.  When I did reviews I tried to be unbiased as possible.  Only reason I give DmC a proper review, I actually looked for the good features in that game so I wasn't constant hating on it in the review (personally I would have give it a 2/10).  But for a game I really enjoyed, I find a hard time giving it anything lower than a 8/10.  Personally though, when I was doing reviews, I didn't want to score.  It was just the way the site worked.

 

Thank you all for the responses. It's been interesting seeing what each person prefers and why. It sounds like having a score, a pro/con summary and just a general recommendation of either buy or don't buy would probably satisfy the most people. I wonder if any sites actually do that, if so then it would be interesting to see how they incorporate the different methods.

 

I can't remember really, but Screw Attack's video reviews were like this.  At the end they would have done a "Buy It", "Rent It", "Don't Buy" thing (can't remember the last rating's real name, but it was just like "Stay the hell away from this game, don't even rent!" kind of deal.

Edited February 16, 2016 by DEMON

[Dr_Mayus]

10/10 doesn't mean the game's perfect (not to me, at least), as you said, perfect games don't exist, but some games exist that are just that good that I'm willing to ignore all flaws and give them the perfect score.

That said, I rarely read reviews, what good does it do to get the opinion of someone I don't even know (and I don't know most reviewers)? Are this person's tastes in games similar to my own? If not, reviews by someone like that are utterly useless to me.

I prefer watching videos about a game from a third party (that has no connection to the developer/publisher) that show the game how it really is.

 

But to answer the question, I prefer the 10 point system.

Then you shouldn't need a score. If you think a game is great despite a few flaws that should come across in the reviewers writing and that should be enough. Slapping a random number on it doesn't do anything (and it is random if 10/10 doesn't mean flawless)