Thread: The 57th Parallel Analyzes: Hate out of Ten

Upon my times as a reviewer and a journalist, I have noticed that people are curious of why I don’t have an “out of ten” or “out of five” review numerical set. I, along with most other reviewers without one, have learned not to do that because our fans have a tendency to hate on the reviewer for their answer with a number. I call that the “Hate out of Ten” Syndrome. Now this might sound kind of weird because this is a personal hatred and not many other games journalists have felt this before either, but not a lot of reviewers like people who hate the reviewer for that specific reason.

The idea of personal opinion has never actually met those who hate on the review conclusions. Not only that but all gamers have been alienated to believe that all games deserve the love and respect no matter how badly it was made. All of the alienated gamers bitch and complain if their favorite game isn’t getting a ten out of ten or at least a nine out of ten. Long ago, I saw a review of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. He gave it an eight out of ten respectively and said, “There were faults in the game itself but not enough to make me stop playing.” The sad thing was, I respected his answer (despite the fact that I would’ve given it a lower score) and thumbed up the page to find out at the rest of the readers thumbed down in anger that Modern Warfare 3 wasn’t considered perfect in everyone’s eyes.

It’s never the right thing to go against those who think a little more critically of a game. These critics understand that the industry is now big and all of these big games coming out show them that they need to get higher expectations. The beauty of this is that no game could ever amount to everyone’s tastes in gaming and those who don’t understand that have Hate out of Ten Syndrome. No person could ever convince me to like a certain game because I have already played it, all the way to its full potential and was still not convinced that this game deserved its hype.

Another problem is some games have actually been pushed under the rug when faced with bad reviews. Deus Ex: Human Revolution almost wouldn’t have been made because of some reviews on website of the original game, Deus Ex. Websites, like Metacritic, have too much hold on what games ship and what don’t when they shouldn’t have any say at all and it’s not because their voice has too much power but because publishers believe that a certain game didn’t do well because of the review on Metacritic. This has to stop.

To best understand how the out of ten system, know this: eight out of ten is still good for a game. It’s not a lingering perfect but good nonetheless. Seven out of ten also have some kind of work to it but not all games must live up to the expectation of critics and the ones with hate out of ten syndrome need to be cured soon or thrown into a volcano. There should never be a number of an answer to whether or not someone likes a reviewer and his beliefs on a certain standpoint in gaming. God, I hope someone considers my volcano idea.

I can be very critical of games. I believe that I am more critical when I am expecting more out of a game. Like when a game has been talked about forever and then it comes out. Since I have heard so much about the game, I expect it to be wonderful. Maybe that is why I hated Duke Nukem? Not really sure.

I agree that 8 is good for a game. I would even by games rated by many as 7. Anything under that is usually a sign for me to stay away. Unless the game just sounds good and it has a bad rating. I have been burned by this before and I am sure I will be burned again.

We all have different taste. It is important to realize that. I respect everyone's opinions and take them all into consideration.

Originally Posted by angie828

I can be very critical of games. I believe that I am more critical when I am expecting more out of a game. Like when a game has been talked about forever and then it comes out. Since I have heard so much about the game, I expect it to be wonderful. Maybe that is why I hated Duke Nukem? Not really sure.

I agree that 8 is good for a game. I would even by games rated by many as 7. Anything under that is usually a sign for me to stay away. Unless the game just sounds good and it has a bad rating. I have been burned by this before and I am sure I will be burned again.

We all have different taste. It is important to realize that. I respect everyone's opinions and take them all into consideration.

Yea but I hate how people review and their fans get pissy saying, "You are a faggot for not giving it at least a 9. I am no longer going to watch/read your reviews and you sir have lost my respect." It makes me want to slap them all.

I can see how you feel about that. But I would just shrug it off. Who cares that they say that. We are all entitled to our own opinions.

And they may hate a game you really like. It is not worth getting upset over. We all have different tastes. If we all liked that same things this world would be pretty boring.

And you can not rate all games high. If you did, then what would you rate the excellent ones?

Originally Posted by angie828

I can see how you feel about that. But I would just shrug it off. Who cares that they say that. We are all entitled to our own opinions.

And they may hate a game you really like. It is not worth getting upset over. We all have different tastes. If we all liked that same things this world would be pretty boring.

And you can not rate all games high. If you did, then what would you rate the excellent ones?

I understand your reasoning but we don't want the principle, the idea of them doing it, is the scary thing because then that means it won't stop. No one in life will have critique. Having a different opinion and showing critique is two different concepts in my eyes.