You guys got me in trouble! :O

[pabswikk]

RPS has been my go to spot for reviews for the better part of three years now, so it's hard for me to remember that not giving games numbered ratings is an oddity within the review industry. Recently I began reviewing games for my student newspaper, naturally declining within my reviews to give an actual rating as I had by this point subconsciously began to believe that the rest of the world also read RPS.

I was shocked when my editors got in contact saying things like 'It's good, but next time could you put a rating between 1 and 5 stars' and 'Your article is nice, but without a rating it lacks direction'. The nerve! I have , in protest, obstinately posted my Skyrim review without a rating, throwing caution to the wind. Take that society!

tl;dr RPS broke me.

[Wolfenswan]

Well in the conservative sense the RPS reviews aren't so much reviews but the personal thoughts of someone who played the game. And yes that is a strange/absurd distinction to make but there you go. If you "review" any medium people expect ratings, scores, thumbs or smileys. Why not suggest that you'd prefer to write a personal column on games rather than fill a review section. Or give them a 3 pages spreadsheet the next time that's nothing but a giant and insane calculation of a 1 out of 10 score. The scoring table of one of the worst german games magazine might help in giving you a general sense of direction. (That's a review for the Nintendo DSI but it isn't much different for games)

[pabswikk]

Well in the conservative sense the RPS reviews aren't so much reviews but the personal thoughts of someone who played the game. And yes that is a strange/absurd distinction to make but there you go. If you write "reviews" for any medium people expect ratings, scores, thumbs or smileys. Why not suggest that you'd prefer to write a personal column on games rather than fill a review section. Or give them a 3 pages spreadsheet the next time that's nothing but a giant and insane calculation of a 1 out of 10 score. The scoring table of one of the worst german games magazine might help in giving you a general sense of direction. (That's a review for the Nintendo DSI but it isn't much different for games)

I think that scoring table just destroyed my retinas. I'm not even sure I understand the final score.

[Estel]

I definitely don't understand that table. It looks like they've scored Nintendo's telephone number? So confused.

[Wolfenswan]

I definitely don't understand that table. It looks like they've scored Nintendo's telephone number? So confused.

Their scoring system is based on the german grading system (from 1 being an A to 6 being a F) and yes they did. The hotline got a B+ because it's not that expensive and in German and that B+ influences 2% of the total score. And so on.

[westyfield]

Write your normal review, then give it a score in the form of a Chernoff Face.

[Rii]

I definitely don't understand that table. It looks like they've scored Nintendo's telephone number?

Almost snorted (iced) coffee up my nose at that.

[Estel]

I noticed that 1 was the low score, but I only just noticed the left hand column which shows the relative importance of each component in the final score. Two percent of the game's score is based on the price of the telephone helpline!? They apparently didn't think much of the Warranty either.

[BobsLawnService]

Wow, you Germans really do over-engineer everything.

[Nalano]

Well in the conservative sense the RPS reviews aren't so much reviews but the personal thoughts of someone who played the game.

What the hell is a review except the thoughts of someone who played the game?

[DigitalSignalX]

I would comply to make the editors happy, but make sure you hide it in the middle of the review somewhere, using words not short form numbers. That way "halotards" still have to actually read the article to get your score instead of bouncing to the big "4/5" or whatever to either dismiss you or agree and continue reading.

[The JG Man]

What the hell is a review except the thoughts of someone who played the game?

That was my thought. Some use more 'official' wording, but that's about it. I did a review of Portal 2 for my student paper. I said on the whole it was good, but had some thematic flaws I didn't like (we won't get into why I don't think Portal 2 is perfect, that's besides the point). I didn't put down a rating because I thought my words conveyed the point strong enough. In the end they asked for a rating, gave it 5/5, it was down as 4. Clearly forgot my score...and this is why numerical rating systems suck.

I liked Kotaku's reviewing method before they went stupid, which was a list of positives and negatives and then a general conclusion. Why they got rid of that is beyond me. Then again, why they went to their new format is also beyond me.

What I'm saying is, RPS is right.

[duff]

Review scores aren't necessarily bad, the problem is that people seem to pay more attention to them rather than what is actually being said.

[c-Row]

I definitely don't understand that table. It looks like they've scored Nintendo's telephone number? So confused.

Longer numbers are harder to remember and therefore result in a lower score, obviously.

[Rii]

Wow, you Germans really do over-engineer everything.

"Upon shifty foundations they balanced ingenious ladders to reach the stars."