Metacritic = Yet another bogus "review" site. They deleted my negative review.

[flexy]

I left a negative review for Cities:Skylines on Metacritic yesterday since it is my honest opinion that the game is very boring. There is simply not much happening and the graphics, at times, look very dated.

This is my opinion and I don't expect anyone to share it.

BUT: What is amazing is that my opinion was deleted from Metacritic. A site where in the past I assumed is unbiased where users can leave opinions and reviews.

OBVIOUSLY NOT.

When they delete negative reviews, the Metacritic score obviously cannot be trusted any more. It's just another bought site with fake/bogus scores.

A game like Cities:Skylines gets an amazing score like 9.6 <--- how many people left criticism or negative opinions and how many had been deleted to keep up the artificial good score? Now you know HOW and WHY games get such amazing scores, because someone is rigging results.

 

[cbrunny]

I've seen metacritic delete reviews in the past. I think they delete them when they think the review is not a real review. From what I've seen, usually short reviews are quickly removed.

 

[Dankk]

MetaCritic is hot garbage. How do they decide which reviews are included in the professional aggregate, and which aren't? Howcome I've seen so many lousy no-name reviewers counted into the score, while other more credible sites are forgotten? And why do they think it's acceptable to take any kind of ratings system and convert it into an 100-point scale? Do they realize that a 5-star rating scale shouldn't be converted to a percentage? And what's the point of using such a massive scale in the first place? What's the difference between an 81 and an 82? What about 82 and 83?

Adam Sessler shares similar view points and tore apart Metacritic a few years ago during a conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QsXrswJ-yM

To me, it's acceptable for getting a very vague idea on how good a game is, but nothing beyond that. It should never be a deciding factor for whether you play a game or not. I stopped going there years ago.

 

[darkewaffle]

If "the game is very boring. There is simply not much happening and the graphics, at times, look very dated." was the entirety of your 'review', it doesn't really have much business being counted as anything more than an opinion. If they remove poorly formed or unthoughtful reviews I'm perfectly ok with that.

 

[imaheadcase]

Why would you think they would keep a review like that? Of course they deleted it, it servers no purpose to someone looking into the game.

Thats like saying Fords suck because they don't look like Dodges in a review.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

I left a negative review for Cities:Skylines on Metacritic yesterday since it is my honest opinion that the game is very boring. There is simply not much happening and the graphics, at times, look very dated.

This is my opinion and I don't expect anyone to share it.

BUT: What is amazing is that my opinion was deleted from Metacritic. A site where in the past I assumed is unbiased where users can leave opinions and reviews.

OBVIOUSLY NOT.

When they delete negative reviews, the Metacritic score obviously cannot be trusted any more. It's just another bought site with fake/bogus scores.

A game like Cities:Skylines gets an amazing score like 9.6 <--- how many people left criticism or negative opinions and how many had been deleted to keep up the artificial good score? Now you know HOW and WHY games get such amazing scores, because someone is rigging results.

Flexy, if it was anything like your "review" in the Cities: Skylines thread:

My review:

meh, yawn, Zzz

I'm not surprised, it should be deleted.

That being said, Metacritic = lulz.

 

[sweenish]

ROFL at you for thinking metacritic was ever legitimate in the first place.

They cherry pick their critic review sites, and users just flood with 1's and 10's. It always has been, and always will be worthless outside of a very broad idea.

 

[el-Capitan]

@SLU Aequitas

Haha. Brilliant.

I do check metacritic to hear if anything is ballpark - its the first stage of research.

 

[Aikouka]

Flexy, if it was anything like your "review" in the Cities: Skylines thread

I'm not surprised, it should be deleted.

:biggrin: I was going to say the same thing.

 

[Patre]

Metacritic's tactics are very similar to what the big prescription drug companies do when testing out patients on these drugs.
The results of patients that get suicidal, depressed, altered mental status or other drastic effects etc....are omitted while being labled as "non compliant", and only the positive results are used as they bring in the dollars.
Money is the root of all evil.

 

[Red Hawk]

Review bombing is a thing on Metacritic user reviews. Deleting reviews is probably Metacritic's response to it, at best you got caught in the crossfire but if SLU Aequitas is telling the truth then you kind of deserved it. Evolve holding at 4.4 on Metacritic user reviews indicates to me that there's no major rigging of user reviews going on.

Honestly I think a simple thumbs up/down rating system would work best for user reviews. If you dislike a game, then fine, but it prevents people from unjustly tipping the average to look like it's horrible (or tipping it too far up to look like it's phenomenal.)

 

[flexy]

Well I did not submit a review like my comment in the thread...I said that nothing exciting in the game happens and that I found it boring.
While certainly not a candidate for the literature nobel prize it is an opinion which COULD help someone who is unsure whether to get the game. Many OTHER reviews I see there are also not exactly master pieces of literature. I wonder whether they delete positive reviews too when they only have two or three lines. Possibly not.

>>
Truly beautiful game and an experience that is fully appreciated from my point of view. The next Sim City 4 deluxemade by Paradox. Thank you, I am sincerely grateful!
>>

Is THIS supposed to be a "proper" review? See...

As for most of the "raving" reviews, pretty much anyone raves about this game but hardly anyone says WHY. I agree with the other negative review there that the GUI is clunky (I found it awkward and confusing at times), the graphics sometimes "meh"....and the game overall "meh" as I said in the thread. It's hard to explain. In the old Sim City games when you built a city it was sort-of fun to watch and see what's going on. Here in this game I don't have this feeling. It feels more "sterile". I was also turned off trying to build my first two cities...and then after a few minutes it turned into sort-of "lay proper pipes and power lines" since the ENTIRE focus shifted on giving my houses electricity and water. There is something about the game that disappointed me based on raving previews...or I missed something...or it's simply not my type of game. (Although I always liked the old SimCity games)

 

[Midwayman]

Meh. Its like any review site. They need to have a system to prune fake reviews. That means false positives sometimes.

 

[norseamd]

To me, it's acceptable for getting a very vague idea on how good a game is, but nothing beyond that. It should never be a deciding factor for whether you play a game or not. I stopped going there years ago.

Actually I only ever go there to find reviews not to actually make decisions based off what Metacritic in particular says.

 

[norseamd]

"the game is very boring. There is simply not much happening and the graphics, at times, look very dated."

My review:

meh, yawn, Zzz

Totally different.

 

[norseamd]

While certainly not a candidate for the literature nobel prize it is an opinion which COULD help someone who is unsure whether to get the game. Many OTHER reviews I see there are also not exactly master pieces of literature. I wonder whether they delete positive reviews too when they only have two or three lines. Possibly not.

You know Paradox is seeming more and more like a terrible company to me. Games full of DLC and they pull some shady stuff in the Steam sale.

 

[Dankk]

You know Paradox is seeming more and more like a terrible company to me. Games full of DLC and they pull some shady stuff in the Steam sale.

How is Paradox, as a company, relevant to this discussion? They have no control over what happens on Metacritic.

 

[norseamd]

How is Paradox, as a company, relevant to this discussion? They have no control over what happens on Metacritic.

Game industry corruption. Hey it can and does actually go on.

 

[maevinj]

So just for farts and burps, why don't you go post your same review again and see if it deleted??

 

[clok1966]

You let ordinary people review, you get wankers and real reviews, there is no way to tell which is which, that is why its a review, not a spec sheet. You use them as a GUIDES, read many and learn who you agree with and who you don't.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Metacritic is a joke. The user reviews even more so. It's just solid 1's from the trolls, and solid 10's from the fanboys. Nothing inbetween.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Review bombing is a thing on Metacritic user reviews. Deleting reviews is probably Metacritic's response to it, at best you got caught in the crossfire but if SLU Aequitas is telling the truth then you kind of deserved it. Evolve holding at 4.4 on Metacritic user reviews indicates to met that there's no major rigging of user reviews going on.

Honestly I think a simple thumbs up/down rating system would work best for user reviews. If you dislike a game, then fine, but it prevents people from unjustly tipping the average to look like it's horrible (or tipping it too far up to look like it's phenomenal.)

Even a thumbs up/down system will be abused.

They're better off removing ratings entirely and just have peoples opinions, and it has to be at least 100 words to stop trolls. (most trolls are lazy)

 

[Midwayman]

Even a thumbs up/down system will be abused.

They're better off removing ratings entirely and just have peoples opinions, and it has to be at least 100 words to stop trolls. (most trolls are lazy)

You could just reject reviews that are misspelled. That would stop most trolls.

 

[zinfamous]

If "the game is very boring. There is simply not much happening and the graphics, at times, look very dated." was the entirety of your 'review', it doesn't really have much business being counted as anything more than an opinion. If they remove poorly formed or unthoughtful reviews I'm perfectly ok with that.

exactly

 

[zinfamous]

Well I did not submit a review like my comment in the thread...I said that nothing exciting in the game happens and that I found it boring.
While certainly not a candidate for the literature nobel prize it is an opinion which COULD help someone who is unsure whether to get the game.

that wouldn't help anyone. If that is all you said, you offered no details into what you mean by "boring." "Boring" is entirely subjective, so you have to explain yourself.

This has nothing to do with quality writing, but everything to do with forming a cogent review. Yes, you offered an opinion, but you seem to mistake an opinion as the same thing as a review.

No wonder it was deleted.