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Why are gamers so interested in review scores?

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I've almost never heard anyone talking about MC movie scores, or really taking IMDB 's score seriously, or anyone really giving a shit about what rolling stone's score is giving an album. Not to mention books. When it comes to reviews, it's mostly about the reviewer 's opinions, not the score.

What makes the review scores so irresistible?

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Nothing to me. I don't know how many games/movies/albums there have been that got horrible scores on their respective review catalogues that I absolutely loved. Also there have been some that got the best scores in the history of that media that I hated. Reviews and scores hold no value. It's all pure opinion. If a person hates FPS games they're not going to give Doom a very good score. I have several LJN games, and I love them. And we all know how LJN is perceived by the majority of the gaming world. I might be interested in a few opinions by people who have actually put actual time into playing said game. Such as people here at the forum. But someone who makes a living giving a 30 second review, holds no worth or validity when it comes to what they have to say or what score they give something.

Edited by The Blackangel
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Before gamers invest time and money into a game they want to know what others think and ultimately if the game is any good according to other people. It’s only natural. Especially if I am about to buy an expensive game - I want to know that the game will be worth it.

Edited by ARx182
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2 hours ago, The Blackangel said:

The only way to know if a game is worth it is to play it. The world may hate it, but that should have no affect on whether you give it a shot or not.

Like I said, I have (and love) several LJN games.

That depends on you as a person. Personally I procrastinate when spending a lot of money on a game, so user reviews play a part in my decision of buying/not buying the game. Sure, the world may hate it and you may love it, but if the world hates it, it says something about the game.

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Everyone has their own tastes or preferences and unfortunately, you can't please everybody. Generally, when I'm looking to purchase a video game that I'm interested in, I'll read various reliable written and visual reviews across the internet and make my own mind up based on the information. You are right, it's definitely not about the score. Gamers opinions are more important. 

If there's a trial or demo version, there's no harm in trying it before buying the title. This is far better than your decision being influenced solely on reviews. 

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7 hours ago, Alexander. said:

Everyone has their own tastes or preferences and unfortunately, you can't please everybody. Generally, when I'm looking to purchase a video game that I'm interested in, I'll read various reliable written and visual reviews across the internet and make my own mind up based on the information. You are right, it's definitely not about the score. Gamers opinions are more important. 

If there's a trial or demo version, there's no harm in trying it before buying the title. This is far better than your decision being influenced solely on reviews. 

Other gamers opinions shouldn't even be in the mix. For example I hate GTA games. They are completely pointless to me. If I was a well known reviewer, would my review and opinion matter? Because I guarantee it wouldn't be a good one. The same goes for COD and similar games. Nothing good to say there either. But then again I could go on for hours about how great FF8 is. Which until FF13 came out, was the most disliked entry in the entire series. Or I could rave nonstop about snowboarding games. Do those reviews change anyone's mind here? I highly doubt it.

But you are right on one thing. If there's a demo you can get on, then that's the best way to see if you will like a game or not.

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6 hours ago, The Blackangel said:

If there's a demo you can get on, then that's the best way to see if you will like a game or not.

Watching gameplay videos is another idea, although the trick is to manage to avoid spoilers along the way.

I’ve also often figured out if I will like a game by reading what the developers have said about their creative process, interestingly enough.

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On 6/19/2020 at 5:29 PM, The Blackangel said:

Other gamers opinions shouldn't even be in the mix. For example I hate GTA games. They are completely pointless to me. If I was a well known reviewer, would my review and opinion matter? Because I guarantee it wouldn't be a good one.

That's why I read the opinion of the majority. Of course, every game like with anything else that involves reviews, will have bad reviews, but if the majority of the reviews are good, the game is most likely good unless you have a different taste of gaming to everyone else.

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One issue that bothers me about reviews is the money involved. Game companies have money. They can buy positive reviews from well known reviewers to get more sales for their games. We all know it has happened before. And it will continue to happen. We may never know who specifically is doing it, but there's no denying that it happens. So there's no way of knowing if those reviews are honest or scripted for the money.

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16 hours ago, The Blackangel said:

One issue that bothers me about reviews is the money involved. Game companies have money. They can buy positive reviews from well known reviewers to get more sales for their games. We all know it has happened before. And it will continue to happen. We may never know who specifically is doing it, but there's no denying that it happens. So there's no way of knowing if those reviews are honest or scripted for the money.

That is a problem, but its also why I look at multiple reviews and see what a common flaw might be or why one is mentioning something the others aren't.

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I do not think you should take these reviews so seriously as they are not anything more than another persons subjective opinion. What you may dislike, I may in fact enjoy and vice versa. I think the safest option is to play a demo version of the game to see how you feel and if you like the game play. That is what I do. Then if this is still insufficient I will check out some videos of game play on YouTube because you can actually see the game being played and make up your own mind, before a potentially expensive investment.

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