New Trend, Rating Down Mods

[Baelkin]

What bothers me about the rating system, this site, and Bethesda modding in general, is what friggin' wimps so many people are. If someone gives a crummy mod a 5, maybe it's because it's a crummy mod?

 

Sigh. Everyone is a special snowflake and can do no wrong, I guess.

 

I think this is also a fair point - if you actually don't like a mod and/or it's poorly executed, then I think you as a user should rate it accordingly, but only after actually having tried the mod out thoroughly - If you haven't bothered downloading it and using it you shouldn't be able to rate it in my opinion.

 

The main problem probably also lies in the fact that there is no set definition of what a rating of "10" consitutes. Does 10 mean "does what it says on the package, I didn't like it but because I respect the work put into it I give it 10" or does 10 mean "doesn't quite do what it says on the package, but I really liked it and it was fun to use so I give it a 10"? I can't count the amount of times I've stood in both situations and had to make up my mind whether to rate something based on its technical merits or whether I actually found the product good.

 

Another thing I've thought a bit about is why don't more people give 5's, 6's or 7's for actually mediocre content? I mean, the extremely basic reskins I have made of the surgical mask and oracle hood were 5'ers at best (not really technically challenging, working partly as intended but a lot of people seemed to dig them) and yet they have gotten above average ratings despite them being the most simplistic garbage I could imagine. Even a bag full of angry cats could make them given the instructions I found on doing it.

 

At any extent, I think the current rating system is usable, as long as you leave a comment as to why you gave it a good rating. People can then judge from those comments rather than an arbitrary number without any significany meaning. If people are stupid enough to only pick what mods to use based on rating or popularity rather than look around for something they are interested in, then... well... then it looks bleak for humanity in general.

 

That being said, a more fine-grained rating system (where different aspects of the mod could be rated, as proposed in an earlier post in the thread, would help crop away "false" downratings from competing modders who've misunderstood the point of modding) would certainly make it easier to find the really good mods, but presently I don't think it's such a huge problem as to require a fix in the immediate future.

[veliv]

Heh, I think bigger problem with mods is people rating the 10 without even trying them. While it shows the players support, it really f*#@s up the rating system. The average rating should be 5 after all.

[SickleYield]

I don't leave ratings turned on any more. Every comment that indicated the rating would be negative was from someone complaining based on their aesthetic opinion of my screenshots, not on having actually downloaded the mod and found a problem with it. That's not constructive and it's annoying.

 

People who actually find REAL problems - as in, problems with the way the mod functions or with its ability to deliver what it promises - have not hesitated to PM me. These are the people who actually want to use the mod and thus want it to get better, not who want it to fail because it's not identical to another one that they prefer.

 

Unfortunately I've seen a couple of people who do use UF3 or RMF3 behave similarly toward others' mods. I don't like this attitude and it doesn't come from me, and if any body modders should be reading this, I'm sorry for it. I probably disagree with your aesthetics but I have every respect for your talents and abilities (particularly those which I lack).

[JimboUK]

I view mods in much the same way I do gifts, if someone gives me a gift the last thing I'll do is criticise them (unless its likely to break peoples game). This makes the ratings system a bit useless for me, anything less than a 10 and I feel like I'm being ungrateful, maybe it's a bit silly but I'm sure I'm not the only one. I see criticising films and the like was mentioned, I don't think it's the same thing. If a company has taken my money in return for a substandard product then I have every right to complain, with mods the maker offers his/her talents for free, it just plain rude to complain.

[Circuitous]

I view mods in much the same way I do gifts, if someone gives me a gift the last thing I'll do is criticise them (unless its likely to break peoples game). This makes the ratings system a bit useless for me, anything less than a 10 and I feel like I'm being ungrateful, maybe it's a bit silly but I'm sure I'm not the only one. I see criticising films and the like was mentioned, I don't think it's the same thing. If a company has taken my money in return for a substandard product then I have every right to complain, with mods the maker offers his/her talents for free, it just plain rude to complain.

 

On the other side of the coin, I feel like giving a 10 to anything that doesn't deserve to be the number one mod on the site or the entire internet is lying.

 

If it's not absolute a-class work, it's obviously not worth a 10, but anything less and the assumption is that I'm being rude or, God forbid, trolling.

 

You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. The only way out is to use the "does what it says on the tin" excuse and dole out 10s like Mardi Gras beads.

 

So, I'm very happy to hear the vote system is getting an overhaul. No offense to Alexscorpion, but his sniper gear is NOT the best mod on this site. Not even close.

[Yossarian22]

So, I'm very happy to hear the vote system is getting an overhaul. No offense to Alexscorpion, but his sniper gear is NOT the best mod on this site. Not even close.

 

I personally agree with that and dont see why it should be better than the Dragunov Sniper Rifle. I actually prefer the Dragunov in its visual. But Alexscorpion did still a very good job and nobody has the rights to give a 5 or such, coz he dont think this mod should be Nr.1, everybody can create a personal top 50 site on his own blog or whatever. What is or what is not Nr. 1 or Nr. 10 dosn't really matter, but as I said, some people take it as mod sports and thats really the wrong way it goes, coz we are no teams fighting about nr.1 against each other, but a community, that want make F3 better and help and support each other.

 

So, this rating system is already broken up, thats the problem. For example sniper gear would be worth a 8 for me, but I am not going to rate it, coz it would take the mod down like 5-7 places. Its just stupid, that a single rating can have such a major impact on the total rank. So, if a mod is in the top 20, then everything less than 10 is to understand as a critism, coz it take down the mod a lot. Beside the general overhaul of the system, there must be also another regulation to make total votes much more important than single votes.

[w00teh]

I tend to rate mods comparatively to others tbh...

 

Of course the whole "does what it intends do" does come into play, but i don't think that say a mod that just edits a vanilla item with more stats would deserve to be say on par with Alex's Sniper Rifles. Obviously the latter had more work put into it and in most respects is a better mod.

[junin]

For the most part I think that mods on this and other sites are over rated. Many people just look at the screenshots and go OOOO OH AAAH and give a mod a 10 without playing it. Then there is the people on the other side of the spectrum who downgrade a mod and vote low out of jealousy or ignorance. They don’t read the read me and do something wrong and go nuts and vote 1. It’s all very black and white, love it or hate it. You rarely see mods with average scores of 5, 6, or 7. That’s why I really don’t give crap about ratings as a Modder or s a player. When I look at a mod I’m considering to download I pay more attention to the comments. And then I look closely at the comment made by sane mature people not the lunatics or the 13 year olds, no offence against 13 year olds. I was once 13, but I’m 36 now and I think our tastes may vary. That said, I think people are entitled to their opinions and those opinions should be respected. And if you’re going to have a rating system where people are encouraged to vote and give their opinions, then all opinions should be heard even the opinions of people with bad taste. Deceptive warrior used alexscorpin’s sniper rifle as an example and a good example it is. Most people will agree that his mod is awesome. So if some guy who doesn’t like snipers comes along and gives it a low rating who cares? I don’t and I don’t think Alex would either if he did he’d be a fool. He should know how good his own work is.