Reply: Abalone:: Reviews:: Re: Pushing Abalone Off my Shelf

by JrStrange

Roger_Jay wrote:

JrStrange wrote:

Roger_Jay wrote:

JrStrange wrote:

Roger_Jay wrote:

You really have a strange way of reviewing games.... (after that one)

To say that there is no replay value in Abalone is like saying that there is no replay value in Reversi.

I have played many games of Abalone and they rarely ended in stalemate. There is a lot of replayability and strategy in Abalone, you just did not bother finding out about them and base your judgment on hearsay.

As for you "malus" of 35, why bother rating different aspects of the game separately if it is to rate it again and differently at the end? It really does not make any sense.

Scoring of that review: 3, Malus -2: 1/10.

~J

PS: and having your girlfriend liking your review is a bit pathetic incongruous (that's the word I was looking for...)
Edit: fixed link

In a comment to my review of Agricola I stated:

The bonus section is (as are all board game rating systems) completely arbitrary. It's the section that I used to modify the score that I feel the game deserves by my estimation.

I see that some people find flaw in my rating system, but to these people I will reiterate what I've said before: This system, along with anyone else's, is entirely down to personal decisions regarding what makes a game good or bad by your own estimation.

It's flattering that you're displaying a little jealous towards my girlfriend, but it's also a little embarrassing. Ha ha.

Thanks for your input.

:D

The problem with your system is that it is flawed, and as such your review is flawed and it distorts the rating of the game you review and mislead people who want to invest in the game.

The same problem occurred in your review of Agricola, a game that I don't like myself and score 6/10 (this to clarify that this is not an Abalone Fanboy response!).

Imagine you are a teacher and you are marking a student paper. There is three questions, each have been answered by the student to some degree of satisfaction against pre-set criteria. The student score 65% but then you think that for some reasons that nobody but you knows, he does not deserved this mark (maybe he has been naughty and got too cosy with your girlfriend ;) ) so you decide to slash the mark in half!

But on what is this decision based? Either you have objective criteria other than those against which you have already marked the game or you need to include in the 100 marks a number of marks for your personal enjoyment of the game.

But you cannot in any case set up a marking system, and just plainly ignore the end results and modify it to make it fit your bias.

Actually, you can but then don't bother with the individual criteria, just say that well, you played Abalone, thought it was an interesting game but don't like it and subjectively mark it 3/10.

Another alternative is to give two marks, one for the game and one for how you feel about it.

That way people know where you come from and give due attention to your review.

~J

The difference in marking a students exams and rating a game, as I've explained multiple times, is that rating a game is entirely arbitrary. If I were grading a student's paper I am so confident that I wouldn't be judging his opinions as much as his correct responses.

What I'm saying here is that your critique of my rating system is just as flawed as my system, if there is a flaw in either. You don't like the system? Great. To say that it's wrong for me to analyse the game by any means or methods I see fit? Ridiculous.

I can't imagine how dull a life a person must lead to be so focused on how a random stranger half a world away feels.

you are missing the point... which is not that I don't like your rating system, but that is worthless, even by accepting it is arbitrary, as was demonstrated by other in the Agricola thread.

My own game reviews are as arbitrary as yours, because like you I assess a game againts various criteria which are not that dissimilar to yours, but I distinguish between what I feel about the game from the rating I applied to the different criteria. Your approach nullify your own rating.

As Bruce below above better puts it: "So your individual ratings are reasonable, the sum is not and your magic bonus is just an illustration of the disconnect."

And don't worry, that will not stop me sleeping! I have made my point and don't think I can add to it.

~J

Yet you keep making the same moot point again and again. It's okay, though. I've long ago accepted that opinions are like assholes, and the ones that you want to hear the least from you'll always end up hearing the most from. Ha ha! Good day.