It seems that every couple of months an article pops up on a games related site about the pros and cons of using review scores.  They usually contain the same list:  Our audience has a short attention span.  It helps us get on Metacritic, which in turn helps us to continue getting games from publishers.  People are just used to it.  Some people just want to see a score.

I’d like to think my mind is a little less clouded (or possibly more clouded) due to the fact that I don’t do this for a paycheck, I do it for fun.  Also I’m not trying to get early copies of games because I prefer writing about gaming culture rather than reviewing.  I do write and half operate another site, not game related, and also for fun, where I review sodas.  It’s extremely frustrating that after I spend my time explaining what I did and/or did not like about a certain beverage, I then I have to slap a number on it.      

The consensus seems to be that if a score isn’t there, then there will be no traffic to the review at all because most people want to just see a score and skip the reading.  Maybe folks just aren’t reading the review because there is a score.  Scores could be a hindrance.  Suppose a game gets a low score because the reviewer prefers deep stories and the game doesn’t have one.  Maybe a reader is looking at the review, sees the low score and moves on.  Now what if that reader isn’t one that cares too much about story and is just looking for some good game play?  It’s possible the text of the review may have said “hey, this game doesn’t have much of a story, but it’s really fun and plays well.”  The reader will never know because they saw the score and left it at that.  Force the reader to look at the review and things would be different.

So what is the solution?  Well, my first inclination is to have sites ask readers what they want.  Unfortunately, this isn’t always easy.  The world of internet gaming sites is one where discussions about any topic can turn into flame wars and general chaos.  Just looking at the discussions on other pages about some of the previously mentioned articles on dropping scores shows a high immaturity level and too few voices amongst the disorder actually trying to say something.

The one incident I always hear about when this topic is brought up is when CGW dropped scores that there was “backlash” from it.  I’m sure there is proof somewhere of this backlash, but it makes me wonder if it was really coming from the readers or somewhere else.

While Kotaku isn’t really a review site, it is nice to see them taking a stand against scores.  On titles I’m only slightly interested in, I find even myself just quickly looking at the score, but with Kotaku you’re really forced to read it.  Even though they break down the review into “loved” and “hated” sections, you’re still forced to read those.  That little bit of organization can actually help a reader get through a review they may otherwise have not cared about.

One thing is for certain, if review scores are to go away, it’s going to take the collective of all major gaming sites to agree, which may be impossible.  It’s also going to take us to voice our opinions, and when it comes down to it, the readers are what make sites successful.  Either way, this is one of those situations where the issue is going to keep coming up, which has to make you wonder if we’re being given hints that maybe those who write for these sites don’t like review scores either.