It happens constantly. A much, or somewhat, or not at all anticipated game comes out and gets branded with a review score in the 6-7.9 range. Those anticipating the game or those who have somehow played it and liked it freak out decrying the poor score. The Editors counter with some version of "read the scale you babies, 6 means 'okay' and 7 means 'good', so it's actually a good score!" (sometimes readers aren't called babies but it's usually implied). In the next podcast the Editors joke to themselves; asking "when will readers get it?!?!".
It happens constantly. And it always seems like nonsense. Are readers really that wrong to consider 6s and 7s bad scores? Sure, the scale says they mean "okay" and "good" but why do I (and so many others) have this nagging feeling that 7 really means kinda crappy 6 really does mean bad? Surely we can't be that off. So I looked at the numbers and guess what? We're not.
To save myself time while still proving a point I looked at a random but limited selection of reviews. That is I looked at all X-Box 360 games (including DLC and XBLA games) reviewed in the last 6 month. Happily there are exactly 50 such game things (which makes the math that is to come much easier and cleaner). Anyway here's how it breaks down:
- 0 games scored in the 10s.
- 8 games scored in the 9s.
- 15 games scored in the 8s.
- 10 games scored in the 7s.
- 5 games scored in the 6s.
- 5 games scored in the 5s.
- 6 games scored in the 4s.
- 1 games scored in the 2s with nothing getting in the 1s or 3s.
All the sudden considering 7 a not so good score and 6 a flat out bad score doesn't look so crazy. Consider these fun facts:
- 46% of games score 8 or higher.
- Only 14% of games are considered "Bad" or worse.
- 30% of all games score in the 8s.
What this means is that if a game gets a 7, 46% of all games, nearly half, are better than it. A 7 game is in the bottom half all games. A 6 game is in the bottom third of all games. Since when is the bottom half or the bottom third of anything considered good?
Considered another way, just think about the results in terms of raw numbers. Say you went about playing games in order of their apparent goodness. In the last six months, just on the 360, you'd have to play 23 games before you exhausted the 8s and 9s. In a field of 50 is saying something is the 24th game you should play really an endorsement of any kind? If you wanted to dip all the way down to the 6s you'd have crack open your 34th game!
Obviously this rough analysis is a little simplistic. People have different tastes and therefore would skip genres they don't like and maybe be drawn to more obscure games. But the fact remains that IGN scores are weighted upward with more 8s and 9s than 7s and 6s. So next time a Editor smugly admonishes you for not understanding the review scale you can feel safe in the knowledge that you, not they, understand what "good" really means.