Video Game Reviews and Scores

http://kotaku.com/the-problem-with-review-scores-part-v-1326561822

This blog post written by Jason Schreier talks about how scores affect gamers as a whole, and all of the odd and negative behavior that comes about as a result of a score based reviewing system. This post is written in the light of recent events related to the release of GTAV which is one of the fastest selling video games of all time.

I think that this blog post merits a read for any avid gamer. I have personally experienced the behavior that Jason Schreier talks about in his post, whether it was me exhibiting these things personally, or that it was someone around me. I have found that whenever I am looking to buy a specific game, that experience can change greatly based upon its score. Instead of researching the game properly it is much easier for me to simply look at its score and judge it based upon that. I have been very enthusiastic about buying a game before, however when I see that it has a low score and I’m not so keen on buying it any more. This also works in reverse, it is much easier for me to buy a game that has flashy advertising and a high score on some site like metacritic, without even knowing what the game really contains. By judging games based upon scores rather than research that I have done, I become a more passive consumer of video games, and less likely to have my own opinion. This is something that I have been actively trying to stop, by looking at various reviews of a game before I purchase it. I have also been trying to look at every review through my own lens, keeping in mind what kind of games I like. By doing these two simple things I am able to buy games that I will like and play much more often.

Overall, this was a very interesting read, and I think that the author has some pretty cool points.