Game Review Scores, Comparing apples to electrical sockets Options

[rewells]

I've noticed other forums and reviewers in general moving away from giving scores to games when reviewing them. While within a community like ours where we are trying to help each other, giving bad scores can be counter-productive and discourage budding designers. But when my intention is to recommend a game to other people or when I'm reading a review, I like to see a number. I personally would not review a game that I would give below a 6; I'd give feedback instead. Nor would I play a game with a score below a 6, unless it's so bad it's good.

But then I run into the problem of comparing apples to electrical sockets. For instance, take Chain of Retribution, an epic JRPG and Tina of Stars, a Pac-Man inspired puzzle game. Both make me equally happy (I think - I'm still giddy over recently playing Tina), and I know the designers of each put a lot of effort into making the games, but after giving Chain of Retribution a 9/10, giving a numerical score to Tina seems unfair because the game's are so different, and I judge them by different criteria (for example, I can't criticize Tina for not having a complex plot because it doesn't need one, whereas Chain does merit criticism of it's plot because it is a plot-driven game). What do my other reviewers think? Do you like giving scores or no?

[Magical_RuNE_Kni...]

I don't know, I don't really like giving scores to people. I guess unless they really want one, or if the game blew my mind.
Personally, I kind of like a more personal approach? : ) Plus I feel like i am judging them from a number, percentage, not for who they are.
(Hehe, I think it carries off in the way I talk sometimes.)

But I kind of like negotiating and working with someone, and feeling more like a friend/ally.
Like someone they can feel relaxed, un-judged, un-ranked, unlabeled... open, honest, free with.

...It might also be because i know you are supposed to talk in first person when giving advice, though. And to make your opinion the central, independent clause of the sentence; 3rd person is good to use when you want to have an authoritarian or logos-based position.

If I was to give feedback and had to confront the person, I'd be using 1st person, detract attention away from them, and use external support. The subject would be you and nonthreatening, difficult to question, and subconsciously pressure the receiver to adapt to the group norms. But if I was submitting a report or something, I'd be using 3rd person and make statements. 3rd person distances you from the situation.
^this is why liars have a tendency to use 3rd person.

This post has been edited by Magical_RuNE_Knight2001: Jul 24 2012, 07:49 PM

[rewells]

Whoa, that was a lot of quick feedback. Thanks!

So I guess I really had two topics in one: A) How to compare games of different genres and The difference between a review and feedback.

For people who responded to "How to compare games of different genres": I agree with everyone and like the idea of "play/pass", but I personally wouldn't put the time into writing a full review of a game I wouldn't play :-) Which leads to the second topic...

"The difference between a review and feedback": The two have different audiences. If your goal is to help the designer out, you should always talk in first person. On our site, it's easy to do that, so the majority of everyone's posts are feedback.

Reviews on the other hand are directed at other gamers. I personally use first person in my reviews so I can make qualifications. I think of reviews as publicity, an honorable mention of sort. I've only reviewed three games but given feedback on dozens. Although I guess the problem there-in is that I'll never write a negative review, because I wouldn't review a game I didn't like. But when I write reviews, I send them to other forums in addition to this one (minus the RRR formatting) because my intention is to get other gamers to notice it.

This probably stems from my experiences with reviews - getting an official review from Penguin here at RRR made me really happy and inspired me to review Quick Quest (play it if you haven't!), then that led to me getting involved with the forums as a whole.