Score-bitching pissing you off too?

[iloveannie]

Am I the only one (I know I'm not) who tires when the threads become a spiral of score-based flames. Does it bother you if a game scores 1, and that is 1, point higher or lower than what you would have marked it yourself?

Are the 200 to 1000 words preceding it that worthless? Every month the same arguments, the same whingers, "...but it should have been a 7.00001 not a 7.000005." Are you going to buy a game who's genre you dislike just because it scores well?

And the mags in question are GamesTM, Edge and NTSC-UK. Now really, how many people actually read them? They probably have the lowest readership of all the games mags. They are for us nerds. Not the mass-market-Matrix-buying-gamers.

Just because we are dedicated to our hobby (you bunch of sad bastards) does not nessecitate (can't spell that word) our hand-flapping score policy. If we are informed individuals we should be championing the removal of scores altogether. Just as our ilk within other interest/hobby forums (ones that we perhaps hold little or no interest for) should be doing.

Regards,
iloveannie (man does that tag get me some stick on XBLive)

PS: Edge's 10s deserved it

[PeteJ]

Yes it can be annoying, but it can also be interesting if handled correctly.

The debate about Edge's review of InitialD on these forums was good I thought. Wasn't so much about the score itself, more about the scope of the game (from a world perspective, taking in consideration of arcade popularity) in which the reviewer seemingly ignored.

(May have been gamesTM and not Edge, I don't remember)

[marcus]

Bitching about scores without first reading the review is what pisses me off, and we see it every month to some extent without fail, hence my hated of "score" threads in general ft:

[Rabasaurus]

The one thing that gets me about score bitching is that the people who do it think that because they think the game is worth a 9 then it IS worth a 9 and that their opinion is fact. But people keep forgetting that its only an opinion.

And people bitching about EDGE scores also seem to forget that EDGE work off a scale of 5 being average, not a 7 being average.

[marcus]

And people bitching about EDGE scores also seem to forget that EDGE work off a scale of 5 being average, not a 7 being average.

As do we. This causes a lot of problems, particularly with overseas visitors whereby the general feeling is that an average score should be 7/10 rather than 5. I see numerous complaints on forums such as Gaming Age, GameFAQs and GameRankings about scores for various reviews of ours in particular, and often it is reflective of that outlook.

[quexex]

In a word yes! I'd add more comments to this but I basically agree with everything so far, a score is the opinion of the wrtier(s) of each review you either agree or yuo don't there's no point going on about it as it's only your opinion...

I personally have got wuite used to Edge's review system in particular although I do feel that the overall score is as important as the text in the review as sometimes it can be hard to tell what the reviewers conclusion is, take the latest R-type final review in edge if you read the text without the score you may feel that the game isn't that great, however the score helps you realise that if you like that kind of thing then this is for you! So for me it's scores and reviewers text, although I'd prefer a Famitsu style system where you get a good cross section of players to give a 'out of ten' review.

Cheers

Quexex

[Geoff D]

Discussion about scores is fine by me - but with emphasis on the word 'discussion'

It's aggravating when there's a long queue of posts that read -

'SC2 should have got a 9'
'Initial D should have got a 10'
'Viewtiful Joe should have got 309'

Reasoned argument is great - plucking an abstract score out of your head is dull.

[Xexex]

Bitching about scores without first reading the review is what pisses me off, and we see it every month to some extent without fail, hence my hated of "score" threads in general ft:

If you hate "score threads", as do many people here, why don't just just ignore them? Maybe there should be two "Edge" threads and two "GamesTM" threads a month:

• Discussion of scores
  Discussion of content

Then those that do want to talk about the scores can do so without the monthly "it's only a number!!!" brigade.

Tim (tm)

[quexex]

Bitching about scores without first reading the review is what pisses me off, and we see it every month to some extent without fail, hence my hated of "score" threads in general ft:

If you hate "score threads", as do many people here, why don't just just ignore them? Maybe there should be two "Edge" threads and two "GamesTM" threads a month:

• Discussion of scores
  Discussion of content

Then those that do want to talk about the scores can do so without the monthly "it's only a number!!!" brigade.

Tim (tm)

I Do as they are generally dull...

[marcus]

Crossover would be inevitable, whilst there really isnt any need for two threads for each magazine when one should suffice. We extend the offical threads to Edge and GamesTM because both magazines are popular to readers of NTSC-uk and it makes sense to congregate the resultant posts into one thread rather than have numerous threads around the forum. By making the old "score" threads more rounded "official" ones Im hoping that it will also encourage debate on other areas of the magazines, like Edges features for example, and less focus on the scores themselves.

With respect to the posters in these threads, thankfully I feel that most people do actually comment on the review itself as well (at least, after the initial batch of magazines arrive at peoples doors) so our "score" threads are not perhaps as bad as others I see elsewhere, there are of course always the odd exceptions however but for the most part its not too bad.

[Max M]

To be fair, many of us don't even have the magazines yet when the score threads are posted (As they're usually made by subscribers) so we can't discuss the text straight away, but I think most people here do comment on the text once they've had a chance to read through them.

[Ady]

These threads are precisely why scores should be done away with in Edge at least.

It gets tiring hearing the same whining because Edge 'only' gave someone's favourite game 7/10.

I sometimes don't agree with all the scores but don't lost sleep over them or feel the need to start feeble conspisracy theories.

[Olympichero]

Well I suppose in a way you have a point, who cares what number somebody gives to a game, its your perception on it is what matters the most. So instead of trying to justify them giving the game a score more suitable to you, you should just play it and enjoy it for what you think it is regardless of score.

On the other hand, some people rely on reviews to tell them what games are good and what games aren't. Therefore people need to know about different peoples opinions on a game because they might find one closer to their own.
A similar thing happened with me and RRV, after the underwhelming reviews it recieved I decided against buying it but after hearing some people on this board praising it and saying it is good I picked it up and found I actually quite enjoyed it.

So...in a way you're right but in another way you're wrong

[Che Musashi]

I'd give this thread a 5.

[Burai]

In a word yes! I'd add more comments to this but I basically agree with everything so far, a score is the opinion of the wrtier(s) of each review you either agree or yuo don't there's no point going on about it as it's only your opinion...

Bull****.

I don't read reviews to see if people agree with me or to see how some underpaid hack has put a game I like (or not) into clever words.

I read them to see whether I should buy games or not. And if they sell you a lemon, or undersell a quality game, then people should be allowed to say that they disagree.

Reviews are not art, reviews are not expression. They are a buyers guide first and foremost and should they entertain in the meantime, then that's just a bonus of having someone who can write entertaining prose writing game critique.