Is a 5-Point Scoring System Enough For Games?

Post by **racketboy** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 4:18 pm

For the upcoming game database and review system, I currently have it set up to accept star ratings from 0-5.
Average scores would have decimal points.
(My goal is to have it act like Amazon.com's rating system)

Does this seem sufficient to you?

Post by **GSZX1337** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 4:28 pm

A game review system should have 10 points consisting of decimals (ie. 1.1,1.2,1.3, etc.). A five point system makes it too easy to get a five. Just look at GameSpy.

Post by **Mozgus** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 4:35 pm

GSZX1337 wrote:A five point system makes it too easy to get a five. Just look at GameSpy.

Whats wrong with that? 5 stars means that they couldn't find any major faults with it. That's what it means to me anyway.

Post by **racketboy** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 5:09 pm

Another tactic I was thinking of is as follows:

There are two ways you can rate a game:
- You can give a quick score via 5-star system on the main game page (like on Amazon.com)
- You can also write a more in-depth review that allows a 10 or 100-point scale for not only an overall score, but also for different categories like gameplay, graphics, etc.

The full reviews can be weighted a bit heavier in the game's average score since chances are that more thought was given to the scores.

Does that sound better?
Any other ideas to tweak the concept?

Post by **Jubal** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:04 pm

I would prefer a score out of 100 or 10 with decimals

Post by **dudex77** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:17 pm

Mozgus wrote:
GSZX1337 wrote:A five point system makes it too easy to get a five. Just look at GameSpy.
Whats wrong with that? 5 stars means that they couldn't find any major faults with it. That's what it means to me anyway.

5 out of 5 means it's perfect and unless the game is in fact perfect (Jet Set Radio) it doesn't deserve the score.

Post by **racketboy** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:21 pm

dudex77 wrote: 5 out of 5 means it's perfect and unless the game is in fact perfect (Jet Set Radio) it doesn't deserve the score.

Post by **Bev** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:41 pm

dudex77 wrote:5 out of 5 means it's perfect and unless the game is in fact perfect (Jet Set Radio) it doesn't deserve the score.

The problem is that different sources regard scoring in different ways. Personally I think it's much too difficult to define a game as perfect (especially within a topic so subjective), so I agree with the scoring system in the way Mozgus mentioned.

Anyway, I really like the way Amazon does ratings so five points sounds good to me.

Post by **Mozgus** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:53 pm

dudex77 wrote:5 means it's perfect and unless the game is in fact perfect (Jet Set Radio) it doesn't deserve the score.

No it doesn't. 10.0 means a game is perfect. 5 stars means a game has no real flaws. Mathematically, 5 stars could stand for anything above an 8.0. This isn't complicated. Anyway, scores are fucking lame. We don't need them.

Post by **racketboy** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 6:56 pm

Mozgus wrote:
dudex77 wrote:5 means it's perfect and unless the game is in fact perfect (Jet Set Radio) it doesn't deserve the score.
No it doesn't. 10.0 means a game is perfect. 5 stars means a game has no real flaws. Mathematically, 5 stars could stand for anything above an 8.0. This isn't complicated. Anyway, scores are fucking lame. We don't need them.

I think scores are helpful, but not to be taken as the final authority.
I like to take lists of games and sort by score use as a starting point of what games to get. Since score are relative, I won't buy them in order of score, but instead look for games withing that sorted list that might be of interest to me.