What I don't like is the leap of faith required to jump into an mmo. Its hype vs reality. The only real question is this, do the good points outweigh the bad in the users experience. i.e. is it fun for the user, and is this user like or not like me ?
The concept of a ratings system for games contributed to by players (not just reviewers) I like but leaves a bit to be desired. This is one that I find is ok although the weighting per category I think could use some adjustment.
How I would go about it is have the user decide the weighting for each component when they go to view the rating, and the ability to sort the ratings to the scores given by people who weight things the same as the viewer. e.g. in the following gameplay for me is worth 40% weighting, not 20, in most titles.
It should remove bias to a large extent in the results as you can recalculate based on your own weighting. You also need a Time played before rating section.
My Game Point Average Rating System (ver 1.0) | MMORPG Games & MMO News - MMOCrunch
Quote:
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.
Example:
“New MMO on the Block” by mmoware.com
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!)
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Thats what I dont like about all mmos, too much guesswork before you part with your hard-earned.
Currently I have Aion at 7.5, I rarely rate anything less than 4 or more than 7 using this sort of system. No it isn't perfect. And my recent experience is limited. And yes I am the enthusiastic type.
The fact the community I mix with is TOG and that NCSoft publish it creates a bias of about 1.5 points up.