Jimquisition: Review Scores Are Not Evil

Jimothy Sterling

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Apr 18, 2011
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Review Scores Are Not Evil

When Jim Sterling isn't busy being the voice of a generation, he's a videogame reviewer -- one that's constantly told to abolish review scores. This is a silly request, hinging on the belief that review scores are an evil we simply endure.

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Legion

Were it so easy
Oct 2, 2008
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I wish you'd went into more detail about why you like them, you mentioned they were fun and you liked debating them, but didn't really go into the reasons.

Personally I don't mind review scores. I just dislike the way 5/10 should mean average, but most people tend to think 7/10 is average and everything below that is bad. Obviously like you said, that's peoples problem, not the scores themselves.
 

Waffle_Man

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Oct 14, 2010
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You're not responsible for our emotional well being?

That makes me feel so sad and I blame you.

:mad:
 

an annoyed writer

Exalted Lady of The Meep :3
Jun 21, 2012
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Funny that you mention assassinations over review scores. In the Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage DLC for Borderlands 2, there's a mission where Mr. Torgue hires you as a hitman to take out a game reviewer he particularly dislikes over a review score. Jim, it's already happened.
 

Invadergray

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Oct 17, 2011
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Something flashed by me real quick in that video. I couldn't figure out what it was but now I get this weird feeling that Konami is ruled by a cadre of whining crybaby crying baby crybabies who cry like babies because they are babies who cry and also they smell of shit.
 

Domogo

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Aug 7, 2012
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As much as I agree I believe that Whilam De Foe needed to have some input into this argument!
 

KiloFox

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Aug 16, 2011
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i like the new gloves. they match the suit and make you look spiffy.
you don't wear enough Red for the red gloves to work in the same way.

anyway. i'm so-so on review scored... i don't really like how an 8 is seen as BAD. an 8 is simply 80%. it's still a B grade, and even without taking BS school grades into account it means you did 80% of stuff great! (making a 50% just "average" or "Decent") the scores themselves arn't bad, but rather it's the way that some people VIEW them that's really bad.
 

SonOfVoorhees

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Aug 3, 2011
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I always found that funny when the true fanboys whine that a game they like got a low score of 8/10. lol
 

Kuomon

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Nov 17, 2009
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I personally don't mind review scores, but we are definitely better off in an industry that does not universally embrace them. Otherwise, people might start thinking you can quantify things like fun and dread.
 

Lvl 64 Klutz

Crowsplosion!
Apr 8, 2008
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Legion said:
I wish you'd went into more detail about why you like them, you mentioned they were fun and you liked debating them, but didn't really go into the reasons.

Personally I don't mind review scores. I just dislike the way 5/10 should mean average, but most people tend to think 7/10 is average and everything below that is bad. Obviously like you said, that's peoples problem, not the scores themselves.
It depends on how you look at the 10 point grading scale. If you look at it like an academic grade, then 7/10 *should* be the average/mediocre game. That's how most reviewers see it, even. Just look here on the Escapist where 2 and a half stars is usually accompanied by a "don't bother" recommendation and anything below that is pretty much considered garbage.
 

T3hSource

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Mar 5, 2012
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I view scores mostly as an arbitrarily number attached to the end that's supposed to represent to reviewer's opinion.I do admit that I scroll down to check that number and see what the general impression was- good/meh/bad and then I have the option to read on or move on depending on my interest.As for scoreless reviews I just look at the last paragraph which should summarize the general impression towards the game.
 

Kuth

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Jan 14, 2009
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Scores, no problem with them. Now Metacritic can die in the pits of 8th level hell for the damage that has done.

For some reason, people are mixing the hate of Metacritic with scores. That is a very bad idea to muddle up on your stance. Many of us know that Metacritic have costed people jobs, not intentionally, but companies have relied on using it and thus have seen it as a way to see how well their product will or will not do.

Scores of an individual and the text for why that score exist, is fine. Throwing several different scores formats, and trying to find an average, along with customer scores is idiotic. It makes little to no sense and it's hard for people figure out or analyze why one game got mostly 8/7 score and some twat gave it a 2/5 stars.
 
Aug 31, 2012
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I half expected him to break into a Dr. Strangelove routine at the end, maybe that would have been too unoriginal, a subtle nod was maybe enough, if that's what it was.
 

Scars Unseen

^ ^ v v < > < > B A
May 7, 2009
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Presentation: 7
Graphics: 8
Audio: i
Jim: 6.0221415 x 10[sup]23[/sup]

Final Score(not an average): frog
 

ZZoMBiE13

Ate My Neighbors
Oct 10, 2007
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More and more I feel like these videos are focusing on information or events that I've not been privy to. Not sure if I'm becoming less informed, or if Jim is focusing on more esoteric topics. But whatever. It's still usually entertaining regardless.
 

DustyDrB

Made of ticky tacky
Jan 19, 2010
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I really hate the over-emphasis and reliance [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.393040-Halo-4-gets-a-2-10?page=1] on scores by gamers. I hate that some people think that just because there's a number means its objective. I hate how Metacritic turn everything into a 100 point system (especially when the scale was a star system which the reviewers detail what each score means). And I hate how Metacritic gives some sites more weight than others (this recently became an issue with a factually incorrect Gamespot review of Natural Selection 2. They ended up re-doing the review, but the original score stuck because that's Metacritic's policy). I hate that bonuses, such as in the case of Obsidian's Fallout: New Vegas, are sometimes tied to the Metacritic score. Are these the fault of the reviewer? No. It's just a broken system. Individually the scoring isn't so bad. But Metacritic's "opinion stew" (that's really what aggregated scores are) has too much sway these days. But the blame for these really does fall on the gamers and publishers who are too damn obsessed with it. If I hear one more person whining that a reviewer is just "trying to drag down the Metacritic average", I will...well I won't murder anyone. But I will sigh, shake my head and perhaps even write a perturbed reply! I'll do it, I swear!

Me? I do ignore the score and focus on the written review. There are a handful of reviewers (Destructoid has three of them: Jim, Jonathan, and Conrad) who "I get". Even if my opinion doesn't always align with theirs (though it fairly often does in the end), I have a good feel for their biases and what they emphasize. So I can read about what they didn't like and then think, "Yeah that really would bug me too" or "Meh, not as big a deal to me". This method works wonders for me.