Build a Better Review System, Templates might help -- but they just as easily hinder Options

[ZarroTsu]

Wanting to write reviews, I decided I'd use the strategy discussed by one Yatzee Croshaw here.

The problem is that, because I don't give an "overall rating", this kind of review is rejected from the forum.

What reason is there for there to be an "overall rating"? Isn't it suppose to be what I think of the game? Giving it an overall rating because that fits your format is fine. But forcing me to follow this strategy isn't asking for what I think of the game; it's asking me for what you WANT me to think of the game. And that defeats the purpose of writing in general.

Moreover, their presence from a reader perspective is solely to ignore the rest of the review and judge the game on a given number. Some here might say they don't do this, but often times even they are guilty of it. Even I do it. But if these numbers don't exist, then it compels me to actually read the review. So...


Generic forum discussion question for the reasoning impaired:
Why do "Overall Ratings" exist? Are they there to help, or are they there to defeat the purpose of writing a review when you could just write a number?



This post has been edited by ZarroTsu: Oct 4 2012, 02:51 PM

[The Welsh Paddy]

I don't see why an 'Overall Rating' should matter too much, but... It would only take a few seconds to give one, so what's the big deal about not giving an overall rating?

Say you give the story a 8/10, graphics 5/10, sound 6/10 and gameplay a 3/10, then the overall rating would be a 5.5/10. It's easy to find out the average of all the ratings you've given per category.

If yer not sure how to figure out the average of a sum, then you need to add up each rating and then divide it between the amount of ratings... if you get what I mean. In the example I gave, it's 8 + 5 + 6 + 3 divided by 4, because there are four numbers.

This post has been edited by The Welsh Paddy: Oct 4 2012, 11:24 PM

[X-M-O]

I don't see why an 'Overall Rating' should matter too much, but... It would only take a few seconds to give one, so what's the big deal about not giving an overall rating?

Say you give the story a 8/10, graphics 5/10, sound 6/10 and gameplay a 3/10, then the overall rating would be a 5.5/10. It's easy to find out the average of all the ratings you've given per category.

If yer not sure how to figure out the average of a sum, then you need to add up each rating and then divide it between the amount of ratings... if you get what I mean. In the example I gave, it's 8 + 5 + 6 + 3 divided by 4, because there are four numbers.

At current, we haven't had any reviews give ratings to each category/aspect of the game (such as story/graphics/etc.), we've only had them give an overall rating without giving individual ratings.
So what you're suggesting is basically number 3 from the list I mentioned above:

3 - More than one subject-based rating requirement (same as above, but would require more than one aspect of the game to be given a 1 to 10 rating).

And that makes sense, I just wanted to clarify. =]


Also, I think Shaddoval is implying we have a mixture of overall rating and #3.
Am I correct in assuming that?