When I was rating stuff, I used a 7-point “abhor to adore” scale:
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I think the five star system should be a five point scale (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) not a ten point scale (1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, etc.). This is my only demand.
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I love this idea. The negative numbers really make it feel so much more impactful. I will be thinking in these terms from now on.
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this is a very old video by a good guy who makes better videos now and it still sticks in my mind
basically boils down to “do i like it more or less than x or y”
I think you need to have a lot of other qualifiers there (words are good!) but I think this comparitive analysis is better than a rigid and abstract number line
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Going to challenge myself to see if I can explain not only a rating system out of 10, but characterize all of them, and also cite examples from my Backloggd page. Backloggd essentially uses a score out of 10, since it’s just out of 5 stars with 0.5 increments, and I do feel that each rating has a different meaning, to me.
A recurring theme I’m finding as I have been writing this is that I think it is possible to make at least a sloppy but not totally unclear separation between something’s objective qualities and characteristics, and one’s subjective preferences and inclinations.
0: Irredeemable garbage, not even unplayable exactly but this is where one must put games that commit some kind of moral transgression, and, quite literally, the makers should be ashamed and/or put on some kind of list or forced to attend some kind of rehabilitative program or kept away from the rest of society in some way. Barely a real score and reserved exclusively for things like Custer’s Revenge, and other sexual violence simulators, Hatred, Overwatch 2 (just kidding on that last one).
1: Games which are barely functional as games, and/or also things which come close to committing some kind of moral transgression but are unfortunately considered socially accepted and so continue despite their obvious enabling of literal exploitation, or their outright contempt for the player. I’m thinking of things like those fuckin’ games on PSN that exist just so people can farm platinum trophies for some reason, Steam asset flips, Facebook reel advertised mobile games with predatory monetization and timers and near nonexistent gameplay, IRL slot machines, Overwatch 2 (ok promise that’s the last time I use that joke).
2: This is a more lugubrious area where something might have a half put together core gameplay and a little more than a minimum amount of effort put into it, but just in a way that is sloppy or tedious or vapid or insubstantial. However I might also put fully featured games here out of pure subjective haterdom, if they personally disgusted me or left me feeling empty and disappointed for purely personal reasons. Then again they might also end up as a 1 for that kind of reason. On the former I’d put Asura’s Wrath and Carrion here, games that clearly had something going for them but were either obviously shipped unfinished, or just conceptually not very well fleshed out and tedious overall, respectively. As for personal haterdom, I gave The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom this score already, because they made me wait 6 goddamned years for a game that both didn’t fix but practically leaned into everything I disliked about Breath of the Wild. Also truth be told I gave Final Fantasy XV and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword a score of 1, though I can admit they probably objectively deserve a 2. Just not in my house
3: Another lugubrious area but one where the redeemable quality here and there are more substantial. You don’t need to write paragraphs just to explain either why there’s something about it that saves it from a lower score, or, why personal preference means you dislike it more than it deserves. Kinda like, I really did not enjoy it but I was at least engaged enough to bother finishing it. I put Ori and the Blind Forest here. Maybe with that it’s kinda like the kind of game you did finish but even if it’s understood the sequel is better, you’re not gonna bother, 'cause it needs to be a different game before you feel it’s really worth your time.
4: I still say a 4 is a game that I didn’t really enjoy that much, but, there are now redeemable qualities beyond the “here and there” I mentioned earlier. Kinda like, this had potential that went somewhere between partially and majorly unrealized, or strong good things about it were outweighed by other major disappointments. I can’t believe I’m mentioning the series again but the only game I’ve given this score on Backloggd is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Like, Breath of the Wild’s open world and freeform structure is dragged down to this score kicking and screaming by its tedious weapon economy, awful feeling melee combat, and lack of dungeons. Kinda like, I played it, probably finished it, and though I didn’t regret playing it I didn’t really enjoy myself either, or certain aspects were just too disappointing to ignore. Breath of the Wild for me feels perfect here because I distinctly remembering playing it and not hating it but still thinking “ok maybe I’ll feel satisfied by the end because something that will make this all worth it will happen” and then just feeling left with bitterness when, shocker, the end of the game was as shallow feeling to me as the rest of it. This can truly be an inky black, unhappy kind score, unlike a 3 or a 2, which allows one to delight in the catharsis of haterdom…
5: The most mysterious score of all. A game I truly cannot decide if I like or not. This is the only score on Backloggd I haven’t given to any game, I guess because I’m someone who just tends to have strong opinions about everything, and can be fairly decisive about how I feel about something, so the idea of fence-sitting for me just means I need to think about it a little more to see if it will slide down to a 4 or get bumped up to a 6.
6: Unlike the 4, this is a game that ultimately I feel has more positive qualities than negative ones. Could also be a better game that I’m just not into out of personal preferences, but whose more objective qualities are substantial and undeniable. Unlike the 4 this is a game I will put down and feel that though it was far from perfect, I did enjoy the experience overall, I just might never go back for more. I also feel that, weirdly, a 6 is the kind of game I will quickly choose to not play more of, knowing that it’s not my thing, but I know I can respect it, or I trust that other people who said it was amazing weren’t lying. Something like, I’m not gonna enjoy this if I keep playing it but I’ll monetarily support this kind of thing. Or perhaps also, I’ll hope that the direct sequel will be better. For a host of noncommital yet still positive reasons, I gave games like Animal Well, 1000xRESIST, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Before the Green Moon, Bayonetta, and The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures this score, and I’ll leave it to the reader to decide which games elicited which of the aforementioned feelings in me.
7: I know that the mystique of this score gets spoken about with some fervor around here, but, I don’t know if I find that the 7/10 is that mysterious of a thing in how I think of numerical scores out of 10. The way I’ll describe it today is that it’s the kind of score where there is much more of a cohesion and convergence between a game’s objective strengths and qualities, and one’s subjective response or impression of it. A kinda skungy game that truth be told deserves more like a 4 might get a 6 out of personal affection or pure iconoclasm, but a 7 out of 10, and all games past this point for that matter, is a game that is just objectively good. A kind of game where it would make one look foolish or at least selfishly motivated trying to say it’s bad. Like, if you see someone in a random Facebook group trashing a 7 out of 10 as if it was a blight on the face of the earth, you can safely find a meme that shows a diner lady placing a plate of food on to a table in the foreground, and the caption says “here is the attention you ordered.” And the issue isn’t just that they’re saying it’s trash but because in doing so they’re intentionally trying to dismiss that there is anything separating a criticism that is about a subjective position, and an objective, descriptive assessment of its characteristics, and that the volume at which they express their opinion is enough to render objectivity meaningless. This is arrogance manifest. A 7 out of 10 might have boring sections or tedious mechanics or ugly graphics, but it has many things about it that are solid, and most people who play it are gonna have a solidly good time for the entirety of their playtime, or will appreciate its heights and easily forgive its lows. Mind you, some games that are objectively excellent can get bumped down to a 7 out of personal preferences rubbing up against something, or even lower if something truly offends or repulses you about it. The conscientious critic must always be clear about why a game that has a lot of objective strengths and has a lot of craft applied to its creation is getting anything lower than a 7, you feel me? Like, I know Breath of the Wild, or even Tears of the Kingdom, aren’t objectively the scores I gave them. Which is why I try to usually couch any excoriations I fling at them with the clear framing of personal preference or perspective. You don’t even need to justify haterdom if it is strong enough even, like, I might give that one Call of Duty game a 1 without even playing it just because it has a digital recreation of Ronald Reagan. Anyway, an interesting game I gave this score to on Backloggd is Vanquish, because it was so solidly and straightforwardly good, but nothing about it really wowed me or felt truly remarkable, beyond those captivating glimmers within it of that Mikami schmoney touch, and it satisfied but did not captivate. Dragon Quest V is another one where I feel just personally begrudged against some of its mechanics, because most of that game is quite remarkable. Finally a game that I think in my heart is really a 6 but which got a 7 from me is Disgaea 5, a series of games that I think are delicious trash, and ones I never bother finishing. Dark Souls II is also hilariously 7 out of 10 for reasons we don’t have time to get into.
8: Again this is a furthering of the confluence of the subjective response and the objective qualities of something. It’s something that isn’t perfect but has a good deal of excellence within it, that anyone will be able to perceive, and most will be able to appreciate and respect, even if they don’t necessarily vibe with it for subjective reasons. Again, if someone is publicly saying an 8/10 is trash without qualifying that as their personal perspective on it, they are just straight up lying, but the guy doing it with the 7 out of 10 might just be like a dumb guy. Someone doing it with an 8 out of 10, though, is probably more of a mixture of dumb and personally motivated in some way. You feel me? It’s that kind of thing. Like, I think to give Dragon Quest VIII anything less than an 8 out of 10, the score I gave it, is just having to ignore the text and the actual object. You gotta ignore the orchestrated score and the lengthy but fairly well paced story. You gotta ignore the charm of the player characters. And you can absolutely say this or that about Dragon Quest VIII rubbed me the wrong way, and that’s totally fine, it can be a 6 out of 10 score, to you. It’s just at this point not quite as possible to say the rest of it is trash just because you don’t like other things about it. I gave two other Dragon Quest games this score (IV and VI) but truly VIII coincidentally seems like the best baseline for the score of 8 out of 10, you feel me? At the same time, for a game that isn’t totally objectively an 8 out of 10 to be elevated to an 8 up from anything lower than a 7, that’s a pretty strong and strongly subjective stance to take. We’re getting to nostalgia goggles territory, or feeling like your very niche or particular tastes were catered to. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon isn’t an 8 out of 10 game objectively, but I gave it that out of my boundless affection for it. Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes got an 8 from me, higher than the original game, 'cause I am a sucker for everything it represents and attempted to do, and I don’t care if anyone else says it’s bad.
9: Once more this is where a game’s objective level of craft or polish or pure fun is undeniable. Only a handful of things or small areas of lack hold it back from all-time greatness. This is the echelon where, again, I’ll use the example of unprincipled criticism, is either irredeemably dumb to call it trash, or purely personally motivated, not a more equal mix of the two. Like, the kind of dismissals of the 9 out of 10 kind of game will be at the level of “there’s a black protagonist” or “a woman in it did things other than pander to my perversions.” You REALLY have to qualify every low score of a 9 out of 10 with clear and principled statements, if not even justifications at this point, to give a low score to a 9 out of 10. 9 out of 10s are always GOTY contenders, if not a GOTY. This is also kinda the area where it’s very very difficult to justify elevating something to this score which is truly mediocre purely out of personal preference. For example I think if I were to be honest Breath of Fire III is an 8 out of 10, but I gave it a 9, because it is a game that has been with me for most of my life at this point, and I was so satisfied finally actually playing all of the back half of it recently, being able to see it somehow met my high expectations that had been built up for years. Some more objectively 9 out of 10 games are, like, idk, Ocarina of Time, or Metal Gear Solid 2. Death Stranding even. Armored Core 6.
10: Pinnacle of the craft. Something timeless, significant, if it doesn’t win GOTY it is the fault of the twisted perversions of the academy. You are no longer politically motivated trying to disparage a 10 in an unprincipled way. You are definitely just stupid. You might not like a 10 out of 10 but now it is down almost purely to preference, or perhaps even accessibility (like literally you cannot play it for whatever reason). Games one deeply loves, that resonated, that inspired obsession, something that makes your brain buzz and puts you into a days long trance of pure intellectual stimulation. They don’t need to be perfect–nothing is perfect–but to you they are or were a perfect experience. Something you will never forget playing the first time, or will endlessly replay, to recapture at least some of that first time. Something that comforted you when you were afflicted, can get 10 out of 10. But even those had to have something special about them, since, even if you were in a state of emotional vulnerability when something touched you, you were smart, and you have good taste, you were simply perceiving something that was there. Some flash if not inferno of brilliance from the minds of a gang of chain smoking Japanese uncles or a weird RPG maker kid and his funny little white doggy avatar who you would have bet is from the midwest but is apparently from New Hampshire. Final Fantasy X, GOD HAND, Factorio, Suzerain, Darkest Dungeon, Pathologic 2, and so on.
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This is great and tracks with how I internalize ratings from a pure numerical standpoint. I always interpreted a LAMESTREAM GAME MEDIA 7/10 as being something potentially special, but when dealing with a personal rating that special 7 would translate into a 9+. Ex: John Woo Presents: Stranglehold
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This sounded like a fun exercise, so I’m going to try. And just for the sake of doing it a little differently, and because, if there were a spectrum between brief writers and thorough writers, I would place myself towards the brief end of that spectrum (no value judgments either way, only a matter of style and preference of expression), I am going for one sentence, an example and nothing else.
- This game is morally reprehensible. Custer’s Revenge
- This game offends my intelligence. Postal 3
- This game has at least one thing that is interesting to do. Sonic CD
- This game made me feel at least one good or interesting feeling. E.V.O: The Search for Eden
- This game has an interesting idea but doesn’t execute on it well. Overboard!
- This game is fine. Solatorobo: Red The Hunter
- This game is ambitious but fails utterly. Bloodrayne
- This game is ambitious and kinda works. Cargo! - The Quest for Gravity
- This game is less daring than a 7, but is buttery smooth to play. Woody Woodpecker Racing
- This game means something to me and it will forever. Sakura Wars: So Long My Love
- This game is perfect. Resonance of Fate.
I think something I learned about myself when writing this is that I don’t always relate a numerical score to the quality of the game at all.
This doesn’t 100% line up with my Backloggd, mostly because I only put games there that I complete. I also restrict myself to a five point scale, so I had to think about stuff like “what’s a 2, but like, a good 2?”. But! It should line up close enough.
Anyway, yeah, that was fun.
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This one gives the impression of fitting a curve to points in n-dimensional space. I like it.
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Thanks for preserving all my typos for all t[o]me!
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Abhor - repugnant filth. This could be something morally reprehensible as mentioned above, but I would also include games that are literally dangerous, like something that includes images known to induce seizure, laser technology that causes eye damage, electrocution risks, etc. Hatred, Cyberpunk 2077 pre-release with seizure light patterns, Polybius (lol)
Hate - Games that are barely or non-functional, unplayably bad, or subsist on predatory practices. Gross mobile games, Atari 2600 games
Dislike - Games that just aren’t for me, but I can see someone else enjoying. Games with nad or unpleasant mechanics, grating sounds, bad gameplay. Games that give me motion sickness. Games that are really, really dull. Fez, Resident Evil Village, Return of the Obra Dinn, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, Star Fox Zero
Conflicted - Games I really want to like, or games that I like at first but fall off of. Games that fall apart in the second half. Games with glaring mechanical issues but not enough for me to stop playing. Games that aren’t “good” but are still intruiging. Comix Zone, Mortal Kombat 4, Child of Light, Hylics 2
Like - Games that are mechanically sound, and plesant to play. I like something about one or two of the themes/art/story/music/gameplay, but others could use some improvement. The Last of Us, Gears 5, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
Love - Games that are great. Some 10/10 games could fall here if they don’t resonate with me as strongly as I’d like. Super Mario Bros. 3, Astro-Bot, God of War 2018, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Adore - Games that were made for me. Mechanically wonderful, great music/themes/art. Games I can’t stop thinking about. Nine Sols, Doom 2016, Papers, Please, Metal Slug X, NieR Automata
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This isn’t how I rate things on Backloggd, but I like the idea of the rating criterion being “how long did I think about this game after I finished playing it?”
0 - the rest of my life (thinking about how terrible it is)
1 - forget about it immediately and move on
2 - thought about it some more throughout the rest of the day
3 - still had some memories of the game a week later
4 - spent the next month recommending this to people, GOTY contender
5 - the rest of my life (but good this time)
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This is how I would use stars to rate games.
- White dwarf - it’s just a little game. Might be good to someone, but it doesn’t have the stellar mass to be more than it is
- Main sequence - your run of the mill game. It’s the 7 out of 10 that has its fans. There is a lot of life that can grow around these.
- Subgiant - perhaps it’s an exemplary example of an otherwise niche genre; perhaps it’s a pretty good mainstream game. Any recommendations have a “but” attached to them.
- Giant - this is the good stuff in games. Big in ideas or execution.
- Bright Giant - I may play one once a year or so. Uncommon in the gaming sky, it’s the sort of game you keep returning to as a great game
- Supergiant - so. much. gravity. It creates a genre or vitally alters how I perceive it.
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I encourage everyone posting their rating systems to give examples for each rating….i will do my own shortly
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Sleepy pass at this (to be refined over coffee later):
0 - “cozy/wholesome”
1 - bad/broken/offensive games (ex: Star Wars fallen order, final fantasy xv)
2 - bland/“does not spark joy”/busy work (open world 3d zeldas, most western RPGs)
3 - cool/silver linings (sonic games, most JRPGs)
4 - tasty/greasy/guilty fun/easy to love (john woo presents: stranglehold, beetle adventure racing, RollerCoaster Tycoon)
5 - firing on all cylinders (yakuza games, mainline marios, bloodborne, earthbound, the good final fantasys)
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every game is like this when you’re as talented as I am
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I do not rate games. I rank them via god’s intended method:
Constructing a poset (partially-ordered set) of all games as a directed acyclic graph. Then slowly defining the total order via definitive one vs one comparisons and/or the merging of previous definitive orderings of subsets of games into this one.
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sounds a little lazy but as long as it works for you!
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That’s the key insight. It doesn’t!
but i do it anyway. or did while cohost (dot org) was still extant.
The definitive ranking when I put it on hiatus. But it’s meaningless in its current temporary home without the listing of ~5000 individual comparisons.
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At first I thought you had a show of some kind and your cohost died, and that made you lose motivation (understandably).
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