Suggestions regarding member ratings

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ccm00007 Posted: 04-25-2009 7:26 AM

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Hi. I've been using this website for a while, and there are a couple of things I would like to point out regarding the member rating system. It's a good system to have, but there are some things bugging me:

1) There are generally several ratings for a game provided by different users. The average rating can help get the general gist of a situation, but a lot of times people put the same rating for different reasons (like, say, "THIS GAME IS T3H 3P1C" versus "This game has a strong storyline, great controls, an epic mood, and great online multiplayer"). To know what truly reflects the opinion of users, I would like having a system to allow people to agree with a rating, sort of like what Gamespot has with its user reviews. That way, users that would not want to put a comment with a rating could simply click on some "agree with this rating" button. If goozex also wanted to specifically point out the favored ratings, there could be something like a star besides it, font of a different color for the name of the user...I dunno, just throwing this out there.

2) When a user changes his member rating for a game, it shows it as a completely new rating. I've had to change some of my member ratings due to characters getting cut off at the end (there's already been a thread on this though, so I won't go in detail about that), and thus my friends probably have their "my friends" board spammed with "ccm has rated this game x" due to trying to fix the member rating I put. Thus, I would suggest that a change would only appear as a "new" rating if the actual rating changes (in my case I was only changing the comment), to avoid situations like that.

So yeah, two suggestions that I didn't see after doing a search of threads already done. Not groundbreaking changes, but things that could really make things better, imo.

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Kameleon replied on 04-25-2009 5:51 PM

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I'm not entirely sure if your first suggestion has been suggested or not, but I do believe it has. At least what's been suggested that sounds similar to what your saying is to have a button like "Do you agree with this rating?" next to each rating that a user leaves, and depending on how many "yes" and "no" answers, a rating gets favorable and unfavorable.

As for the second suggestion, I agree with what you're saying. Though I've only had to go back and change what I said in a rating twice, I did find it pretty weird that it made it seem as though I had just barely rated it, when in fact I had rated the game months ago and wanted to fix some typos. It'd be nice if you went to edit the comments in a rating that it did not show up as a new rating, only if you changed the numbers you rated it.

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ccm00007 replied on 04-25-2009 6:08 PM

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Thank you for the reply. I didn't know the first one had already been suggested; indeed, what you mentioned sounds very similar, minus a couple of differences here and there. Sorry about that; I did a general search for threads about "member ratings" and that one apparently did not show. Thank you for mentioning it though.

And I'm glad you agree with the second one. Let's hope the powers that be consider it...if only for the sanity of those that have me as a friend.

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Kenny007 replied on 04-30-2009 10:21 AM

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I too think it had been suggested (#1 that is) but I agree with it, and hope something comes of it, since the Crispy reviews leave something to be desired (and haven't even been available most of the times I look!).

Join the Goozex Pokerstars Club!

GreenManGaming

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I-Weapon-X replied on 04-30-2009 10:24 AM

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Kenny007:

I too think it had been suggested (#1 that is) but I agree with it, and hope something comes of it, since the Crispy reviews leave something to be desired (and haven't even been available most of the times I look!).

soggier than you'd like?

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JurassicUtility replied on 05-01-2009 1:12 AM

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I can heartily get on board with suggestion #1.  I personally find opinions from a handful of people who decided to take a little bit of time out of their day to write a short, thoughtful review about why they liked a game far more helpful and convincing than any of the reviews you might find on IGN, GameSpot, or anybody gets paid to write reviews.  Such a scoring system would just work to filter out the overwhelming amount of crap reviews that do exist on this site.

Mine not excluded.

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Coras replied on 05-01-2009 2:36 AM

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I know that the agree/disagree system is not in place yet, and may never be, but taking it one step further, what if you could look at the stats of all the people you clicked you agree with?

Something like you agree with chris00011001010(or whatever the number) 20 times, click here to see his other reviews!

So that way you can pick games based on favorable rating or avoid games based on unfavorable rating from people who have similar tastes to you!

I know it is wayyyyyyyy out there, so I shall now return to 2013.

And no, the Earth did not blow up, but Andre the Giant DID come back from the dead.

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ccm00007 replied on 05-01-2009 7:29 AM

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Doesn't Goozex already have a "My ratings" section? It would be pretty cool to have a direct link to that on a user's member rating, but as it stands, it's only two clicks away, really (one on the profile name, one on the "My Ratings" tab). Still, interesting thought. :)

And wow, glad to see my suggestions are interesting some people. @jurassicutility: Yes, that was exactly why I was suggesting it. As someone who wrote reviews for some minor gaming websites before, I can see why they review games one way, but honestly, you don't buy a game based on objective criteria; you buy a game based on how much fun you'll have (reviewers absolutely bash the Dynasty Warriors games to death, yet I still buy and enjoy them, while I never bought a Madden game or a GTA game despite their high ratings because I just don't enjoy them). And that's why I like user reviews; not always fully objective, but those that take the time can talk about how much fun you have playing a game vs how much bells and whistles it manages to pull off, and for some series that have a limited fanbase, it allows for reviews that are made for the fans by the fans. For me, it's integral to my trading experience to do my research before getting a game. Thus, knowing whose opinions are most agreed upon may influence me in my choice to buy a game or not much more than a game's average on metacritic.