"Adjusted" total review ratings.

[Eagle_of_Fire]

Let's be frank here, I believe we can all agree that many reviews on about any game in existence should simply not even exist. I myself continually thumb down a dozain or so reviews every time I look at any game just because they are one liners with literally no explanation about why they actually rate or downrate a game at all. Or sometimes it is whiners who can't understand why the game don't run on their pathetic rig even tho they don't even have the minimum requirements...

I'm also mildly annoyed by the fact that Steam removed the meaning of the thumb down button without actually removing the thumb down button. Like we can't understand that they kept it there just to shut people off and for the placebo effect...

So my suggestion would be to have a new personal (additional) rating, which would be exactly the same to what we have right now but would exclude any reviews you personally rated down. This would be private so it would not interfere with any other user, would not be public or be seen by the public at large at all AND would be meant as an addition to the current system which mean that you would always see the current official rating next to your own personal adjusted rating.

Doing so would add a personal tool which in my opinion would help quite a lot to figure out the "real" rating of a game. A rating which is more on par with your own personal point of view and personality, rather than on par with review bombing and with people who actually should not even have the right to post an actual review because of such the bottom barrel quality level in which they are posted in.

[Radene]

Meh. User reviews are nothing more than opinions. There's no difference between a steam review and some guy on YouTube talking about a game.

Opinions.

[Spawn of Totoro]

The thumbs down does function, it just doesn't display a number. Downvotes still push reviews down the list.

[Eagle_of_Fire]

Originally posted by Spawn of Totoro:

The thumbs down does function, it just doesn't display a number. Downvotes still push reviews down the list.

While it is nice to know, it still don't actually do or achieve anything.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Originally posted by Eagle_of_Fire:

While it is nice to know, it still don't actually do or achieve anything.

It does. It's purpose is to put helpful reviews at the top and push unhelpful reviews down. That is the same reason it existed to begin with. The only difference is that people don't get to see the number.

Likely due to people complaining about others downvoting their reviews for reasons not even related to the review (eg: argue with someone in the forum, the downvote your reviews out of spite).

[Eagle_of_Fire]

Originally posted by Spawn of Totoro:

Originally posted by Eagle_of_Fire:

While it is nice to know, it still don't actually do or achieve anything.

It does. It's purpose is to put helpful reviews at the top and push unhelpful reviews down. That is the same reason it existed to begin with. The only difference that people don't get to see the number.

Likely due to people complaining about others downvoting their reviews for reasons not even related to the review (eg: argue with someone in the forum, the downvote your reviews out of spite).

I completely understand that but I meant in relation to this discussion. My idea is directly proportional to the total amount of reviews, especially since when you only have a small amount of reviews you should never really trust the end results of such as system as precision always come in with a high number of targets when dealing with mathematical averages. Especially since most of the time I specifically bring up negative reviews just to see what people with negative reviews have to say. Sometimes you notice a trend which don't apply to you or you find silly and then you try to ignore them but you never get a real clear picture.

That adjusted rating would help a lot for this. Turning, let's say, a 70% rating into an 85% because of negative review bombing or for the opposite turning a 95% rating into a 75% would be very telling and helpful as a _personal_ tool and help you decide if a game is a good choice for you to pick. Or not.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Originally posted by Eagle_of_Fire:

I completely understand that but I meant in relation to this discussion.

Was simply pointing out the error in your statement and correcting it the misconception of it.

As for the suggestion it's self:
I don't see it being useful and it would more likely confuse people then it would help them as it would create many different ratings per a user, but that is just my opinion on the matter.

The overall number should be the same for everyone, otherwise trolls would downvote all the positive reviews, screenshot it and claim the game was overwhelmingly negative and that the one shows in the store is false.

[Eagle_of_Fire]

There is already many different ratings per game. This is only one tool more which you could use or ignore.

It is like when they added those two elongated fins to hammer ages ago. I'm sure it confused the heck of the first clueless users but it didn't stop them from keeping that addition since those who actually know how to use it know you use that part of the happen to remove nails with it...

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by Eagle_of_Fire:

That adjusted rating would help a lot for this. Turning, let's say, a 70% rating into an 85% because of negative review bombing or for the opposite turning a 95% rating into a 75% would be very telling and helpful as a _personal_ tool and help you decide if a game is a good choice for you to pick. Or not.

For that to work, you have to read and rate every review. Otherwise the number still isn't "real".

It sounds more like a justification tool than a personal helpful tool. Though justification can be seen as helpful, I guess.
Why does the rating matter so much?

[Eagle_of_Fire]

I'm not sure I understand your question. For me ratings is the first step of knowing if a game is actually good enough to even look at. I'd never waste time considering a 50% game unless it is extremely niche in exactly what I know I love to play. Ratings are flimsy in their precision but extremes rarely miss the point unless they are fiddled with. Which is exactly what this would or could adjust.

Also... If you don't bother with ratings in the first place then I doubt such a person would even notice this is there. Those who do bother with ratings tho will use every tool in their swiss knife at that particular moment.

[Eagle_of_Fire]

Nevermind this idea now. With the new system systematically removing reviews from the total score, the whole review thing is totally meaningless now. I regret even thinking and discussing about it.