Mod Ratings Diatribe

[Jonz84]

Seriously, why is it that most, of not all mods, are rated 10.0/10.0. It doesn't matter if the mod is complete crap or the textures just look god-awful etc. More than likely it's been given a 10. People, if the mod sucks, rate it as such and give some constructive criticism. I'm sure you won't hurt their feelings. Oh, and don't even get me started on the freakin' mods that are getting rated a 10 and they haven't even been released yet.

 

*EDIT: As Skree000 puts it, far too many mods are getting pushed under the carpet due to unfair ratings.

Make sure as reviewers you are rating fairly, and accurately, so as to weed out the crap and encourage the good.

[Sin911]

I only download mods I'm pretty sure I will enjoy to begin with. So there aren't very many mods that I get that would have very low ratings. I think this is part of the reason that most mods have high ratings. Not completely, but at least in part.

[jaysus]

sounds reasonable

[Skree000]

i only pay attention to ratings if they are below 6 and have more than 5 votes, as well as ratings above 9 (but they must have more than 50-100 votes)

 

People are too eager to give 10 to something they are excited about.

 

 

Ratings are superficial and only contribute in ego-boosting. There are a ****-ton of AWESOME mods lurking in the shadows that receive almost no limelight, MEANWHILE the 'top 50' get more and more popular, leaving the new up and coming mods with little to no chance to compete.

[LinkesAuge]

I don't see the risk with the top50 "dominating" the mod ranking. Look at some recently released mods that made it into no time into the top50 (my very own mod is such a case).

 

Personaly i'm anyways for a "kudos" like system in which you can just give a mod "thumbs up" ending the dreaded discussion if a mod deserves a 8, 9 or 10.. Ratings are a very problematic thing especially in the internet.

[TGBlank]

True, it doesnt take much time for people to realize 90% of the mods have 9.xx rating, so they just go category/search/sort by downloads/sort by size.

Most mods with 9.xxs do tend to 'work as intended', they do what they say in the title and the description (unless they're in alpha/beta state).

[Waterdrop]

There are also a bunch of people with different computer types, Fallout mod preferances, personalities, and compatable or incompatible mods already installed. And sometimes the lil kids come on as trolls or flamers and just hurt good ratings for mods, etc. A bit off topic here, but a realistic and detailed description would really refine the rating systems. I could make a list of pet pevs that are seen about a mods "self-hype", failing got lack mention that it overwrites vanilia versions, etc.

Ratings of 20+ish or more tend to fade out the unrealisitic reviews under the accurate ones though. Guess It will always be a gamble on most mod content with less than 5-10 reviews unless its possible to refine the system a bit.

Agreeing with above replies, I would think people want to make sure they are getting a good mod so they go for the many reviewed 9.5 - 10 rated content. I mean when I first join thats what I did for the first few (dozen..s) of mods :P

[Relativelybest]

I think that trying to measure the quality of a mod by a numeric standard is the wrong approach in the first place.

 

As for "rate it as crap if it is crap", my personal experience is if you give people something and ask what they think of it, there will always be a certain number of people who think it's the best thing since forever no matter how awful it actually is.

[sumoftwosins]

I think the big kicker is mod ratings are very different from other ratings out there. Movie ratings... Critic reviewers have the responsibility to review all the movies out there, so naturally they are going to get stuck reviewing something in a genre they don't like.

 

Here however, you are normally only commenting on the mods you are interested in... same as user reviews for movies. There is always a better score from average people than from actual professionals. Everyone is generous here, especially when it comes to mod ratings. Why? Because the person making the mod is being generous. The bottom line is that I can't give a bad rating to anyone who has taken serious time out of their personal life to help improve my gameplay experience.... for free that is.

 

I hate to see people give ratings because they don't like the concept of a mod. Though I think ratings should be divided into categories.

 

Respect Rating - this can be the one you use to always give a 10 to anyone you think has worked hard and you are thankful.

Delivery - this can be the rating on how well the modder delivered what they said they would.

Support - how long does it take for the modder to respond to issues.

 

Anyhow, for anyone out there that likes to give out harsh ratings please remember we as a modding community are not paid professionals. We can complain all we like about the actual DLC's because we trade real money for a good experience. There are many of us here who have jobs, school, kids, and whatever else there may be... Good ratings and respectful comments help keep our spirits up during projects.

 

I could probably say that if everyone had given me a bad rating then I probably wouldn't have released the patches and so forth. Whats the point of devoting days on something if no one else appreciates it. That isn't the case, but something to remember.

[dimon99]

Current ratings system doesn't work. With 9.5 average across whole database it is obvious it doesn't. Best (and easy) solution would be to change it to "thumb up" system - which proved itself as very effective and FAIR in image share sections on both TEC and FO3 Nexus. So it gonna be like this- you like the mod/idea - you can show your support with thumb up. You NOTICED that mod - it is INTERESTING to you. You, for ANY reason don't like mod- you plain IGNORE it - ignored mods will die quite naturally on their own no matter how high they are rated.

 

Whole purpose of ratings is to help user find interesting or useful stuff - you go and try to find anything based on ratings... Only useful search option is by downloads - it indicates much better what's "interesting" atm. Plus never forget that current system supposed to work as "you rate after you tried it". And people just don't follow that rule for most part.

 

Plus, simple "thumb up" system will effectively kill all and any trolling - and that's very important. Some of the best modders pulled their stuff off Nexus-all because of trolls and trashers. I know a LOT of people, who plain refuse to put their stuff on Nexus because of trolls. And that's a good stuff. I rather tired of answering all PM's regarding "where can I get this and that" . Oh,well, I'll shut up now,hehe.