Quoted from Aurich:Maybe it's not #1 for you, but for someone some game is #1, if they care about such things. I admit, I don't, but others clearly do.
I dunno who you or I or anyone else is to decide for them. Could be Alien. Could be the game their parents owned when they were a kid and they don't care if you don't like Flash.
And if you say "don't rate things a 10!" then ... what? 9 is the new 10? What's the max allowed? If you say no rating should be above 9 then it's just the same as a 10.
I have a friend who refused to rate his Uber or whatever else a 5 star, because he felt nobody was worth 5 stars. I think that's just being an asshole to people who get dinged if they don't get that 5 star rating. I always rate 5 stars, or I don't rate at all if I can't bring myself to do it. I've never felt vindictive enough about an Instacart worker to want their rating to suffer because I wanted 2 onions and they only got 1.
Thought about this for a while and have to agree.
Most of the ‘10’ ratings come with a one line comment like “best game ever!” or “played it at expo and it was really fun!”. Like many of you I really enjoy my daily ritual with Pinside and often write (fairly long) comments and ratings. So I get annoyed at one-liners, which I quickly label as lazy and pointless. I personally discount 10 ratings as well as anything under 7, but that does not mean someone should not give these ratings. I tend to rate high and I am long winded, which some find annoying.
Are my longer comments and non 10 ratings any more valuable or important than someone else’s? …No…
Do I read the ratings? Yes, but not so much any more, because they hardly change. So occasionally a new game explodes to the top- that generates a feeding frenzy which is fun. Yeah the trolls will come out, but that is ok- everyone gets their say and one vote.
Overall the ratings are entertaining and can be useful. I always read the comment sections (which is why I don’t like the one liners) and forums when looking to purchase a game or getting some confirmation for my bias buying after a purchase.
For me personally the top 100 are all good games that I enjoy. Aliens IMO definitely belongs in this group in spite of reliability problems (I have been lucky with mine in the home environment).
One game that has been trolled by the ratings (and pinball media) is Ultraman. This never reached #1 and never will. I stayed away from this game because of all of the negative comments regarding the game and Spooky. So I had a chance to play one and I was reluctant to even push the start button. So I played it and found it frustrating (difficult), non intuitive, and goofy. The in-lanes are fed by subways which drove me nuts! I saw two upper playfields which seemed gimmicky and the animations seemed so ridiculous compared to my GZ. So my preconceived bias was confirmed.
Then my adult son, who is a very good pinball player (he has wide variety collection of BW’s, JJP’s and he has played my stable of new Sterns), told me he was very pleasantly surprised by UM. WTF?
So I gave UM another go and ended up purchasing one. After spending time on it my opinion has totally changed. It is very different, challenging, and a lot of fun. Upper playfields are challenging and fun. The crossover shot from the top playfield is one of my favorite pinball shots. I have 25 other games and am playing this one a lot.
Today UM is ranked #136. Many of you may feel that is too high. The ratings are all over the place with many stars and flags. The comments are interesting and a fun read, which tend to tell the bigger picture. Spooky has sold (?almost all) a bunch of UM and Halloween games. I say take advantage of the poor rating and negativity and pick one up for $6k-best deal out there. Like my Alien, this game has been somewhat solid for me. I have had way more problems with my AIQ premium (finally working as designed and a great game).
Aliens? Not a steal on the market but prices are not sky rocketing. Build and reliability? At first glance seems good, but there are definitely some different and unusual hardware choices. Software? Yeah, initially glitchy and getting better. Upgrades are FAST. Fun game? Yes!
If you have gotten this far, congrats. Ratings for me are entertainment and I enjoy both positive and negative comments. The scale from 1 to 10 is arbitrary, but so is any other scale.
As far as enjoyment/purchase I try to explore games on my own trying to disregard outside opinions which can be a challenge.
Cheers!