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[Christian Knudsen]

I don't know about you, but whether or not the reviewer liked it is mostly secondary when I read reviews. I'm interested in whether or not I'll like it based on what the reviewer has to say about it. And you can't get that from only a score.

(I'm not against scores, though!)

[Zaphos]

Look, I know for a fact why scores exist.  It's not for discussion.  It's for purchasing.

Every single customer I had (that wasn't a mother) knew the score on any given game.  "Yeah that game was actually pretty good," I'd say.  "Oh really?  Because it only got a 7 out of 10 on GameSpot."

Like, how the fuck am I supposed to argue with that?  Trust me, those scores are used *heavily* by many consumers.  Some of them didn't care, but most of them bought games blindly based on score.

I don't know ... I think people often decide well in advance of a review whether they're going to buy a game -- especially for the AAA titles -- and then they just latch on to the review that matches their pre-formed opinion.  So yes, they'll be aware of the numbers, but unless there are literally no good numbers or no bad numbers I don't know how much it actually affects them.

See also this:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/26223/Analyst_Review_Scores_Least_Important_Factor_For_Game_Purchases.php

[ஒழுக்கின்மை]

i can certainly believe that genre is the most important factor. i'd rather play even a bad srpg or jrpg than the best fps game ever made.

[Aquin]

Yeah for people that care about genre conventions, I certainly agree there.  I had customers that were rabid JRPG fans that wouldn't be caught dead playing any other genre.

And no Zaphos.  I had some people who were like "the game only got a 7?  Damn, I thought it looked good.  Ah screw it, I'll buy something else then.  What'd this game get here?"

I was regularly asked for GameSpot review scores.  It got to the point where I just started posting the information next to the register.  I'd say the customers who changed their minds based on the score was evenly split with the ones that bought it regardless.

[Rob Lach]

Now that this thread has somehow turned into a score discussion, I've been thinking about scoring and I've thought about such a system:

It has 2 parts

1. Buy, Try, Forget
- Self explanatory

2. Appeal
- Now for an appeal score, there is a list of genres or types of games or some other classification, and the review puts on a scale of 0-5 how much would such game appeal to fans of a certain genre and include the top 3 or 4 scores.

So for an example:

Grant Theft Auto 3

Appeals to:
4/5 - Driving
4/5 - Action
4/5 - Adventure
3/5 - Shooter

Verdict: Buy It

[JackieJay]

I don't know about you, but whether or not the reviewer liked it is mostly secondary when I read reviews. I'm interested in whether or not I'll like it based on what the reviewer has to say about it. And you can't get that from only a score.

(I'm not against scores, though!)

I don't judge a game based on the reviewers's opinion on it either, but a lot of people do, I was just trying to build up on what Aquin said.

Pierog: I think that's system wouldn't work most of the time because some games specially sport titles couldn't be rated that way. GTA is one of the few examples that would work, but that's only because it blends several genres at once.
However I like ign's rating systme

[Perrin]

I know journalists for a handful of outlets such as Eurogamer and they really don't get much in the way of bribes. I always think people are too quick to claim conspiracy with review scores.

The fancy free trips and such tend to be for preview events where the game doesn't end up with score just a bit of a write up about how good the game could potentially be and then standard practice is to get someone who didn't just meet the developers to write the review.

The ad money for scores thing also typically misses the point that reviewers are either freelance or salaried and aren't really getting a cut of that ad money so what do they care.

What I've heard (again from EG) is that for example if a game is going to get a low score and the company has ads with them all over the page they might give them some warning, but not offer to change the score.

I'm not saying all sites are equally honourable but I know here in the UK places like Eurogamer and Edge aren't on the take and I really doubt sites like 1up are again knowing some of the personalities who've worked there over the years.