Recently a new ratings system for games was proposed on another website, I took a little of that framework and adjusted it for my own reviews. It is simple and still in it’s “new idea” phase, as I didn’t want to complicate things (too much). It’s also open for discussion and if anyone has an idea or a pro/con to throw in, let me know. It is still in its “Beta” phases as only I came up with this system as I was writing a review for a game.
Clarification: This is fashioned after a POINT BUYING system as in some games, not the traditional percetage grading process. A C is not 70% a C means you only won 6 points. Again, this is in Beta, if you would rather me adopt a percentage scale then we will go back to the old way of rating games, by numbers.
Rating scores much like the grade system used in most schools.
A: Exceptional, best in its class
B: Very Good
C: Acceptable
D: Decent
F: Fail (not fail, fail, epic fail. Just fail.)
How points are awarded
· 2 Full points: Exceptional Score, really nailed the category.
· 1 Full: Passing points
· ½ points :Acceptable
· 0 points :Miss
The Categories
1. Graphics: contains UI, Avatar design (including character creation, movement and animations) Rated on 0-2 points.
2. Gameplay and Mechanics: Exactly how you play the game, details your impact on the environment and the environments impact on you.: Contains Questing, grinding, leveling, character progression and any gear or weaponry acquired ingame and the basic all around fun factor. This is the biggest category and most important to pass in. Rated on 0-2 points.
3. Community: The other people you will be playing with, simplest yet important category; this is only for MMO’s and multiplayer games. Rated on 0-2 points.
4. Customer Service: Self explanatory means if you have a problem how is the company going to handle it. Rated on 0-2 points.
5. Cost and Accessibility: How do you acquire the game, ease of installation/uninstallation and down-loadable or not. Whether a box is involved, how easy/hard it is to find the software and how much it’ll cost you. Also any and all item shop ratings go here too, rated on cost effectiveness of the item shop and the currency conversion. Example: for $10 you get 10 doodads and it cost $1.00 per doodad for a thingamabob; not cost effective. I will also rate a monthly subscription based on price. Rated on 0-2 points.
Amendment: I will also add in time played and link my Bartles score to let you know what type of preference I have in games. These ideas were submitted by Membrain of TOG.com, thanks Membrain!
Example:
“New MMO on the Block” by mmoware.com
Playtime: 50 hours
Graphics: 1
Gameplay: 1
Community: 2
Customer Service: 1
C & A: 2 (it was a free download that worked and the game had no item shop, not realistic but hey, you never know)
Calculated points: 7
GPA or Game Point Average: B- (not a percentage score!)
Bartles Player Profile:
How I got that: I count up from the bottom in 2’s, each category can only have a maximum of 2 points total. So “New MMO” landed halfway through B, this system alleviates all A pluses but also gives an easier shot in getting a higher grade as well as missing the mark with half a point; you’ll see it works.
It’s either an A (best score evah) or A- still up there but not best score evah. An F- is just the lowest of the low, score of 0 in all categories and almost impossible to get unless your game turns out to be malware of some sort. Then you get the F-hammer!
The best thing about it, a game can be re-reviewed and old points do apply. This is an open system because sometimes things change in mmo’s and I don’t think a hard and fast 1-10 system works for malleable games such as MMORPG’s. Companies can make improvements and in rare cases screw things up. So I left it an average based system, open for nips, tucks and constructive criticism. This system also makes it REALLY hard for a game to get an F, it has to be really bad or unplayable to receive that score. And there are games that warrant it, but not usually. Unlike Stradden’s scoring system, if you fail, you fail; no such thing as an F+.
Let me know the first game I’ll be using it on is DDO Unlimited.
Play safe,
Ink
How about this.
1. I’d play it.
0. I’d not.
Because that’s boring. I like to under the hood of everything, I like to know the “why” as well as the “what” about a game.
Except that 70% (7/10) is a C- on a grading scale, not B-.
Which, contrary to the gist of your your post, will cause most games to fall in the F (Fail <60%) region…where they belong.
Wolf: This is my personal system. I am not using the percentage scoring system as in college or grammar school.
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This is a POINT BUY system graded on 5 topics that can earn anywhere from 0-10 points.
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For your info: 1 point is not 10%, it is simply 1 point for the category. I am trying to step away from the traditional percentage grading process.
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And I feel that just because something only made it 60% of the way doesn’t mean it fails. That always made me wonder why knowing almost 3/4 of the required information was bad.