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为什么说电子游戏的评价分数毫无意义

发布时间:2016-08-11 10:45:22 Tags:,,,,

作者:Josh Bycer

关于电子游戏主要存在3大争论:主机vsPC,游戏是一种艺术吗,7至9的评价分。一开始游戏评价便是这个产业必不可少的一部分,所有人都会尝试着去评价每一款游戏。而当我最近在思考这一问题时我想要解释一下为什么分数并不适合电子游戏。

SuperMario(from gamasutra)

SuperMario(from gamasutra)

客观的vs主观的:

电子游戏与任何产品一样:它们也带有主观和客观的部分,所以评价亦是如此。不管你如何写评价,你的内容一定会包含主观想法与客观想法。

评价的某些部分可能是100%客观的:就像你不能因为自己只想要驾驶部分的内容而去抱怨一款FPS游戏是糟糕的。如此说来游戏评价的很多客观部分都是基于技术方面:控制是否足够灵敏,摄像机系统是否可行等等。你也可以客观地指出游戏中存在一些主要漏洞或技术问题。如果一款游戏失去了游戏的可能性,那么它所获得的分数就会是0分。

而主观评价则是来自评价则的游戏体验,这是很难进行量化的。与其它产品一样,我们可以基于构成产品的标准化元素对其进行客观的评价。就像我们很容易去评价一辆汽车的驾驶性能或操纵性能,并且我们拥有一个适合所有汽车的衡量标准。

客观元素是任何产品所拥有的标准功能,这也是每件产品都必须把握的内容。

如果你拥有一件不能清洁的清洁产品,那么有关它的一切便失去了意义。

关于电子游戏的评价,我们必须转向主观元素才能真正去评价游戏,但这也存在问题。

你该如何去量化平台部分或者游戏是如何有效处理重玩性的?答案是你不可能做到这点。

质量范围:

你会从消费者那听到这样的话:“为什么每一款游戏的得分都是7至9分?为什么评价者不使用整个评分范围?因为当提到判断一款游戏的质量时7至9分的评级是毫无意义的。

从很大程度来看游戏开发者都不希望创造出一款糟糕的游戏。如果你是从糟糕的控制和设计开始并尝试着去销售你所创造的内容,你便会非常辛苦。有一些较不知名的独立开发者尝试着创造能够快速赚到钱的内容,但结果却证实了我的看法。

优秀的游戏就是优秀的,而糟糕的游戏也是糟糕的。这便是为什么许多评价者只会使用较高的分数(及7至9分)或较低分数(1或4分),因为这些游戏的区别非常极端化。没有人会给《BMX XXX》9分的评级就和没人会给《黑暗之魂》1分的评级一样。如果做出这样的评级,评价者也就等同于侮辱了自己评价者的身份。

我知道有人会说这两款游戏是完全不同的你并不能客观地对它们进行比较,而这就是关键。当我们尝试着量化游戏时,所有的一切也就分崩离析了。

数值评分系统对于游戏评价者或网址来说其实是形同虚设的。

如果7至9分意味着你喜欢一款游戏,那你们该如何将其量化成数字呢?更准确地说:你该如何衡量自己对于一款电子游戏的喜欢?我们是否能够想出一些新单词?例如“这款游戏很棒,这款游戏更棒,而这款游戏最棒。”

任何想要为一款游戏分配一个量化数字的尝试都是失败的,因为评价者只能使用一种衡量方式,那就是:“他们是否喜欢游戏:喜欢或不喜欢。”

大拇指朝上或朝下?

尝试着合理化数字系统只会引出更多问题。有些网站表示一款7分游戏是带有问题的优秀游戏,那么怎样的游戏才能拥有8分的成绩?它们是否也具有问题?你是否会因为某款游戏而获得更多乐趣?

另一方面,一款2分游戏是否会比一款3分游戏更让你沮丧。不要让我打开那些尝试着使用小数去进一步扩大这一范围的网站。然后你便可以基于独特性去评判游戏。但事实上基于独特性去评判游戏是一种糟糕的质量评判方式。

然后我们将面对一个更大的问题:怎样的游戏才算10分游戏呢?10分是游戏评价中最最主观的元素。

让我们将所有人都带到同一个水平线上:不存在完美的电子游戏。

甚至是最出色的游戏也带有一些问题;你甚至无需对其吹毛求疵便能够发现这些问题。你可以说10分的游戏符合任何标准,但是这些标准又是什么呢?

你不能告诉我是故事感动了你,因为这是非常主观的说法。你不能说游戏玩法非常吸引人,因为这也是主观的。以下是我向所有正在阅读本文的游戏评价者所提出的问题:你将如何客观去评价一款10分游戏?答案很明显:你不可能做到这点。

如果你不能找到基于数字去评价某些内容的客观方法,那么该系统从本质看来便是有问题的。除此之外每一个网站上总是有许多游戏评价者,而这也会进一步混淆你的系统,因为一个人的7分对于其他人来说可能是8分。

这就像是Siskel和Ebert经典的大拇指朝上或朝下的评价系统。它撇去了任何对于评价的客观性偏见并专注于评价者的观点。就像你可以喜欢一部电影,但当你发现它具有一定的缺陷时你也可以选择不去推荐它;你可以讨厌一部电影,但同时你也可以发现它有许多值得赞赏的内容。

没有分数:

当我在创建Game-Wisdom频道时,我便清楚自己不想为游戏设定任何数字评级。在今天我更是意识到分数对于任何电子游戏的衡量都是无意义的。因为有关电子游戏的数字评级将涉及各种抽象和主观元素。

我知道最后有人会说:电子游戏分数也曾用于评定开发者和工作室的奖金。

但是在我看来这是用于破裂实践的破裂系统,只会让所有相关之人陷入更糟糕的情境中。

这时候你们可能会认为Game-Wisdom将不会出现在Metacritic上。我一直声称网站不应该使用游戏评价,但现在我知道这是不可能的事。因为有些网站会将其作为提高名气的方式,还有些网站则将其当成了系统的组成部分。也许我会想办法去引进一个全新系统。而或许从今以后所有游戏系统都将以阐述性舞蹈的方式表现出来也不一定。

本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转发,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Why Video Game Scores are Useless

by Josh Bycer

There are 3 big debates that always seem to come up with video games: Console vs. PC, are games art, and 7-9 review scores. Reviewing games has been a part of the industry since its inception, and everyone has tried to figure out a way to review games. Thinking about it lately, I’ve come to the point to finally explain why scores don’t work with video games.

Objective vs. Subjective:

Video games are like any product: They have subjective and objective parts to them, and so do reviews. No matter how you write a review, there will always be a combination of both in a review.

Some parts of reviews have to be 100% objective: You can’t have a complaint in a review that a FPS was bad because you wanted driving sections for instance. With that said, a lot of objective parts of a game review are on the technical side: Are the controls responsive, does the camera system work and so on. You can also objectively point out that there are major bugs or technical issues in a game. If a game literally can’t be played, then it’s pretty much a 0 out of 10.

Where the subjective part comes in is how the reviewer experiences the game, and this is impossible to quantify. With other products, we can objectively rate them based on the standardized elements that make up the product. It’s easy to rate a car on drivability or steering and have a measurement that works across every car.

The objective elements are the standard features of any product, and the ones that every product must get right.

If you have a cleaning product that doesn’t clean, then anything else about it is a moot point.

With video games reviews, we have to turn to the subjective elements to truly rate a game, but this is not without problem.

How would you quantify platforming sections or how well the game handles replayability? The answer is you can’t, and why the numerical scale is fundamentally broken.

The Range of Quality:

You hear this from consumers, “Why does every game get a 7-9? Why don’t more reviewers use the whole scale?” The reason is that the 7-9 rating is meaningless when it comes to judging the quality of a game and is a safe bet.

For the most part, a game developer doesn’t set out to make a bad game. It’s horrible business to start with taking broken controls and poor design and try to sell it. There are cases of less than reputable indie devs trying to make a quick buck, but that actually proves my point.

A good game is a good game, just as a bad game is a bad game. This is why many reviewers either use the high end of the scale (7-9) or the low end (1-4), because the difference is that polarizing. No one would give a game like BMX XXX a 9 out of 10, just as no one would give Dark Souls a 1 out of 10. Either one of those scores for the respective games would ruin anyone who would call themselves a game reviewer.

I know someone is about to say that both those games are completely different and you can’t compare them objectively, and THAT’S THE POINT. When we start trying to quantify games, the whole thing just falls apart.

The numerical rating system is just a posturing system for game reviewers or sites.

If 7-9 means that you like a game, how do you quantify that down into a number? More specifically: How do you measure how much you like a video game? Do we come up with new words? “This game is good, this one is gooder and this one is goodest.”

Any attempt at assigning a quantifiable number to a game doesn’t work, as there is only one measurement that a reviewer can use, “Did they like it: Yes or No?”

Thumbs Up or Down?

Trying to rationalize the numerical system just leads to more problems. Some sites say that a 7 out of 10 game is a good game with issues, but then what makes an 8 out of 10 game? Are there still issues? Did you smile more playing one game than the other?

On the flip side: Did a 2 out of 10 game make you feel sadder than a 3 out of 10? Don’t get me started on sites that try and use decimals to further inflate their range.Then you have some places that judge a game on uniqueness. You can have a game with never before seen gameplay that is horrible, just as how there are amazing refinements of existing game mechanics. Not only that, but judging a game on uniqueness is a poor judge of quality.

And then we have the big one: What is a 10 out of 10 game? The 10 out of 10 score is the most subjective element there is when it comes to game reviews.

Let’s get everyone on the same page about this: There is no perfect video game.

Even the best games ever made had some kind of problem with them; you don’t even need to nitpick to find them. You can say that a 10 out of 10 game worked on every level, but what are those levels?

You can’t tell me that the story moved you, because that’s subjective. You can’t say that the gameplay was compelling, because that’s also subjective. Here’s my question to every game reviewer reading this: How would you objectively rate a game a 10 out of 10? The answer of course is obvious: You can’t.

If you can’t find an objective measurement to numerically rate something, then the system is inherently flawed. Another wrench in the works are sites that have multiple game reviewers. This further confuses your system, as one person’s seven is another’s eight and so on.

This is the subtle genius of the classic Siskel and Ebert Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down rating system. It removes any preconceptions of objectiveness with a review and focuses on the reviewer’s opinion. You can like a movie but find enough flaws not to recommend it; just as you can hate a movie, but find that there are enough good parts to it.

No Scoring:

When I started Game-Wisdom, I knew from the start that I didn’t want to open up the can of worms of numerical ratings for games. Today, I realize that numerical scoring is just pointless for any accurate measurement of a video game. There are just too many abstract and subjective elements of a video game to be able to accurately assign a numerical value on a review.

One last topic that I know someone will mention: That video game scores are used to measure bonuses for developers and studios.

In my opinion, we have a case of a broken system used for a broken practice that has made things worse for everyone all around.

For people who are trying to fight against corruption in the Game Industry, that makes up a sizable part of it.

At this point you can pretty much guess that Game-Wisdom won’t be appearing on Metacritic any time soon. I would urge sites to not use game reviews, but at this point, I know that’s not going to happen. Some sites use it as a boost to their popularity or reputation, while others are just a part of the system. Maybe I’ll try to usher in a new rating system. Henceforth, all game reviews will be in the form of an interpretative dance.(SOURCE:GAMASUTRA)

 


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