Single Comment

I'm glad my tongue-in-cheek proposed worded descriptions amused some
people as they did me. While I agree that using words like 'beneath
contempt' to describe a variant may hurt people's feelings, I do think
there is a serious reason to use a number system that includes 1 through
10. I do not think that 1 through 5 allows as much flexibility in
analysis. A '4' in a 1 - 10 system is less harsh than 'Poor' in a 1 -
5 system. 

I think there is a serious purpose in having a rating system which allows
a certain depth of analysis. That is so we can list pages according to
their rating. This will allow visitors to the site, including ourselves,
to sort through variants according to apparent quality. Of course,
popularity will not always translate into quality, but at least we can
have some sorting mechanisms in place that will help guide us through an
increasingly prolific site. 

I would like to see all 10s rated together, all 9.4's rated together, all
5.32's rated together, etc (averages derived from cumulative ratings).
This would encourage people to really take seriously the art of critiquing
games. Does a game really deserve the rating of 10? People can go to the
page on which 10s are listed and say one way or the other, thus
influencing the way in which the games are listed.

I would also like to ask that we take seriously the idea of separate
rating systems for different aspects of games 'playability'
'originality' and 'appearance.' Again, the advantage is to evolve
sorting mechanisms (sorting according to playability, etc). It would also
help the designer to know what people did or didn't like about the
games.

I would also like to hear some feedback for a separate rating system in
place for Game Courier post-game analysis, so that people who have
actually played games can then have a chance to rate them. At the end of a
game, there could be an option, 'Do you want to rate this variant?'