Thread: MUD Reviews
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Old 02-17-2008, 10:56 AM   #67
Valg
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Re: MUD Reviews

I agree with the problem of rating gamesmanship, but your system does assume that all games are roughly of equal quality. It is possible that Game X does all things badly or well.

Still, this could be covered in the introductory paragraph, and/or by an overall rating. If a game gets a 2/10 overall, it's pretty clear that I didn't think much of it, though your system would force me to identify at least a few redeeming features. (For example, a largely stock MUD based on a mature codebase might still have very high stability, and responsive staff.) This should lead to slightly more mature reviewing, and it's a standard sort of format for movie reviews, etc.

My larger concern is that you're going to have a very hard time coming up with a list of characteristics that apply to all games. 'Roleplaying' or 'PvP' might either be the core concept a game is built around, or something that isn't possible, or actively discouraged. It is unfair to rate a game 'unsatisfactory' or whatever if the game wasn't designed to include the feature in question, but it is equally unfair to omit those categories if it's the main purpose of the game.
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