iD Games Rating System Flaws

[Pure Hellspawn]

MODS: If this is in the wrong forum, sorry. I couldn't think of the best place to write this thread.


I reviewed the Monochrome Mapset very recently and found it sad it has a low rating; while it is true that a lot of maps are no good, there are also a couple of gems in the wad. Overall (if i combined everything) - I'd say 2.5 - 3 is a good score. However, there are a lot of maps I'd give a 4 and one I'd give a 5 (which is rare). Due to this, I decided to give the mapset of 5 instead of what I'd normally give (2 or maybe 3).


When someone is browsing through iDGames to search for a level to play - they may avoid the series due to the low rating. But are they sure as hell missing out!! They won't be able to paint the town red (the best map in the series). They won't be able to go through the temple of light and solve the mysterious puzzles. Map 23 is a short but very interesting (and dangerous) boss battle on UV.

I just think it's kind of unfair to the authors of those great maps as well as people looking for some good levels to play.

[kmxexii]

Pure Hellspawn said:

MODS: If this is in the wrong forum, sorry. I couldn't think of the best place to write this thread.


I reviewed the Monochrome Mapset very recently and found it sad it has a low rating; while it is true that a lot of maps are no good, there are also a couple of gems in the wad. Overall (if i combined everything) - I'd say 2.5 - 3 is a good score. However, there are a lot of maps I'd give a 4 and one I'd give a 5 (which is rare). Due to this, I decided to give the mapset of 5 instead of what I'd normally give (2 or maybe 3).


When someone is browsing through iDGames to search for a level to play - they may avoid the series due to the low rating. But are they sure as hell missing out!! They won't be able to paint the town red (the best map in the series). They won't be able to go through the temple of light and solve the mysterious puzzles. Map 23 is a short but very interesting (and dangerous) boss battle on UV.

I just think it's kind of unfair to the authors of those great maps as well as people looking for some good levels to play.

People who only play PWADs based on idgames ratings are Brandon D. Lade

[Memfis]

Yeah, ratings suck, personally I disabled the star pictures with AdBlock so that stupid numbers wouldn't affect my expectations in any way. This is what I see:

[Ribbiks]

I'm probably the wrong demographic but idgames usually isn't my source for wads anyways. I just make the download decision based on dw threads, with project description, maybe some screenshots.

I imagine I'm missing out on content that gets uploaded but never mentioned here on the forums though..

short version: ratings irrelevant, gimme a thread with pretty pictures instead :)

[Pure Hellspawn]

Ribbiks said:

I'm probably the wrong demographic but idgames usually isn't my source for wads anyways. I just make the download decision based on dw threads, with project description, maybe some screenshots.

I imagine I'm missing out on content that gets uploaded but never mentioned here on the forums though..

short version: ratings irrelevant, gimme a thread with pretty pictures instead :)

i've been doing this more than i use to - but threads do get old and go into the page that almost nobody looks at anymore.

[hex11]

Actual screenshots on /idgames would be cool. It wouldn't take very many, and they wouldn't need to be very big. Just a few in the 320x200 resolution would suffice to get an idea of what a given map looks like. That's pretty much what the WIP site is like. And yeah, it's true the /newstuff reviews have screenshots, but they're not linked from the /idgames pages, the screenshots vary tremendously in size/format, and many of the old PWADs don't have reviews anyway.

[Pure Hellspawn]

hex11 said:

Actual screenshots on /idgames would be cool. It wouldn't take very many, and they wouldn't need to be very big. Just a few in the 320x200 resolution would suffice to get an idea of what a given map looks like. That's pretty much what the WIP site is like. And yeah, it's true the /newstuff reviews have screenshots, but they're not linked from the /idgames pages, the screenshots vary tremendously in size/format, and many of the old PWADs don't have reviews anyway.

+1 to this. in addition, how about a link to /newstuff review (if any)?

[Obsidian]

Pure Hellspawn said:

Map 23 is a short but very interesting (and dangerous) boss battle on UV.

:3

[Xaser]

Maybe this is a tad elitist, but I'd actually love to see a setting somewhere that would make only the ratings/reviews by registered DW users show up on /idgames. The account link currently in place is great IMO and does a good bit to help balance out the spam reviews, but I wouldn't mind being able to go all the way with it.

[GreyGhost]

kmxexii said:

People who only play PWADs based on idgames ratings are Brandon D. Lade

Heh - the only person I know who up-voted a wad to 4 stars so he could play it. :D

[Grazza]

Xaser said:

Maybe this is a tad elitist, but I'd actually love to see a setting somewhere that would make only the ratings/reviews by registered DW users show up on /idgames.

In an ideal world, you'd be able to personalize your view a step further, by blacklisting (or whitelisting) any reviewers of your choice. Say, via a "ignore all reviews/votes by this person" button. This would also work to some degree for unnamed reviews, as the IP is logged.

But of course, implementing that would be a lot of unpaid work for someone who probably has better uses for their time.

[Scripten]

Just came up with an idea that would give a bit of help to the (serious) mappers around. I'm not sure what system the comments on idGames use, but allowing for threaded replies would let the creator of the wad interact with the community more directly and get much better, more specific feedback.

[Ribbiks]

some previous discussions:

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-general/64063-option-for-a-mod-maker-to-respond-on-id-games/

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/62048-oh-this-is-so-not-nice-idgames/

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/62872-feedback-trolls/

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/45766-public-rating-systems/

basically people complaining about the internet being the internet, the desired changes probably requiring more effort than they're worth, and ofc "can't handle criticism"

[Pure Hellspawn]

Xaser said:

Maybe this is a tad elitist, but I'd actually love to see a setting somewhere that would make only the ratings/reviews by registered DW users show up on /idgames. The account link currently in place is great IMO and does a good bit to help balance out the spam reviews, but I wouldn't mind being able to go all the way with it.

i like this idea. a lot.


@Ribbiks: One thing I learned over the years is that constructive criticism is a very good thing and anyone who wants to make high quality levels knows this.

@Obsidian: I loved that map. Very original.