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Article View: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic
Article #90

Re: Doom is NOT Dead; The Rating System is Skewed

#90
From: ji... Chainsaw Jim
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 1994 17:48
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The Top 100 list does NOT reflect the intent of the voters.  The rating
system is influenced by of how steadily a game can attract new players.
A given voter can rate a given game not more than 26 times.  After 26
weeks, his VOTES ARE IGNORED BY THE VOTING SYSTEM.

When did doom plunge on the list?  About 26 weeks after it's introduction!  

egg...@physics.ubc.ca (Sebastian Eggert) writes:
>Finally:  Doom is DEAD.
>
>This weekend the TOP100 games chart, compiled by the readers
>of the internet has declared the strategy game: UFO, Enemy Unknown
>as the highest rated game above Doom.

The chart is compiled by jojo, not the "readers of the internet."  I
contacted jojo a week ago regarding his voting system.  His reply was
that if a game cannot consistently attract new players, then it is not
much of a game.  I have a problem with this reasoning.  Take the extreme
case.  Suppose, for example, the Game-To-End-All-Games is released tomorrow.
It is played exclusively by everyone.  Twenty-six weeks from now, it
will have a rating of 0 on jojo's list.

(Note:  I am not saying Doom is the GTEAG.  I am not saying a GTEAGs will
ever exist - I am using an extreme, fictitious case to demonstrate a point.)

I have no doubt jojo has put a lot of work into maintaining it.
It contains a lot of important information, and is a great
contribution to the gaming community.  I for one, thank jojo greatly.
However, I don't feel the list is rating exactly what it presumes to,
at least not in this case.  Many systems exhibit bizarre behavior
in extreme cases.  Doom's rating suffers unnaturally for this reason.

> That means that  the highly
>celebrated "Doom" was the number one for only 28 weeks (compared to
>Civilization which was number one for 44 weeks and is still number 3).

Civilization is a commercial game.  The retail nature of its distribution
gears it toward a more steady introduction of new players.  Doom was
available to everybody on week 1.  Doom SKYROCKETED on the first list that
reflected its votes.  It plunged about 26 weeks later.

>Soon, Doom will drop even further since it has only a limited
>replay value for most people.

But you bring up an interesting point.  Are we measuring the worth
of the game, or the worth of the game to _most_ people?  Doom's replay
value increases incredibly with the availability of external missions
(i.e., PWADs).

Either way, the list is not a good indication of Doom's replay value,
nor it's current popularity.  It's votes are being ignored.

>It was a good game, but the best game yet?  Most people don't think so.

Did you interview everybody personally?  Wow, I'm impressed!  Or are you
implying that X-Com is the best game EVER because it is at the top of the
list.

>But Doom has also an advantage:  it is shareware and therefore more
>accessible for voters.

True, this is a great advantage.  But this immediate accessibility also
caused Doom's rating to plunge around week 26.  Remove the restriction
and Doom is still the most popular game on the internet.
-- 
==============================================================================
ji...@point.cs.uwm.edu       DOOM: Forget Disney World ... I'm goin' to Hell!
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From: ji...@point.cs.uwm.edu (Chainsaw Jim)
Newsgroups: alt.games.doom,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic,comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.misc
Subject: Re: Doom is NOT Dead; The Rating System is Skewed
Date: 19 Jul 1994 17:48:39 GMT
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