Software Ratings

[Magnulus]

Well, not entirely true. In the top ten, there are a few with eight and seven ratings, but I also see that your Nethack now has a FIVE, which has to be the work of bombers, because I voted 9, and there've only been five votes since.

Yeah, I guess it's a bit of a loss as long as the amount of regular voters is this low and there's no membership regulation apart from maybe the admins the IPs of each member.

 

[Orkie]

I would like to know who is so bored that they sit around doing this all day. The voting system seems to serve no purpose whatsoever if people will go out of their way to mess it up.

 

[Parkydr]

All may not be lost, all my ports have gone down to 4/10, but with only a few votes - I don't see evidence of large numbers of fake ids. If enough people gave their honest opinions the scores would go back to more realistic values and a single low vote wouldn't skew the score so much. At the moment it is probably the work of one or two people giving very low scores.

 

[jmetal88]

Oh wow. I didn't even know that Malvado had been ported to the 2X yet (though it makes sense since fenix has), so the new system has already helped me out! I'm horrible at the game, but it's so addicting to me, and I love it!

 

[Parkydr]

Oh? What happened?

I was obviously curious about what would happen with this experiment so I have been watching the ratings a bit. With the small number of votes (something I unfortunately don't expect to change), it is too easy to bomb a high rated program especially with multiple accounts by giving it zero ratings. I assume this is done just to be annoying as a bit of anonymous vandalism. But as a result, there's only one program at the moment with a rating above 6.

This isn't being sour about my own programs being rated lowly (in fact two of them are at this moment in the top ten). It does mean that when a new program comes out and its author or early fans (who like the program) give it a high rating, it will go right to the top until the bombers come out and send it down and out of the running. This is exactly the same as the problem before the system changed.

Not a big deal of course.

I think it's time to scrap the ratings, it's not just vandalism or people voting for new games. There are a couple of files that keep coming back towards the top of the list and even the source code was there at one point.

What we really need are proper reviews, not just an arbitrary score.

 

[DavidBeoulve]

I agree with that.

 

[Dzz]

I agree with that.

Yup. It's a pity but the system is worse than nothing.

 

[Magnulus]

I can't claim to have articulated that same idea in my head, but my mind has idly drifted around a wish for a website with proper reviews. Fine, one-man reviews tend to be coloured by a subjective point of view, but if you have a few reviewers who all have a distinctive taste in gaming, you'd find a reviewer you tend to agree with, and that person's thumbs up could mean more to you than a thousand anonymous people going "OMFG ROXXORS!!!11"

So what if the file archive site "employed" a few reviewers? They'd get free versions of the commercial releases and they could all submit their take on any game in the archive. I think that could work out nicely.

(of course, no idea like this would be complete without me volunteering to help with reviews, but that's just how I am. I have done a few reviews for a Norwegian website, so it wouldn't be new to me.)

 

[digitaljez]

This board has a review section for the GP32. I have wondered why the GP2X does not also have one. It could be divided into sections : emulators, roms, home-brew - whatever. Responses to the review would then help to give a more rounded viewpoint.
If the reviews took the form of a poll people could rate the review and so give the reader an idea of how valuable it is as a guide.

 

[semyaza]

Yes I can see the problem. I used to subscribe to Transgaming's WineX/Cedega for running Windows games in Linux. The problem with the voting system is if one person likes rts and not FPS, and another likes FPS and not RTS they would vote the one they didnt like down. Which is stupid as they shouldnt rate it if they dont like it really. A review system is better. I wouldnt mind doing it for free but I am not much of a writer...see I have not put a paragraph in yet .

I think maybe find some willing reviewers and find out what games they like best and get them to review those types of game they like. That way you get a proper perspective...I think that's what games magx do anyway, PC zone for example. No point in getting a MMORPG hater playing WoW.

Dzz's website has a nice layout for this

 

[ste_167]

I've always found Zophar's Domain to be informative when downloading PC emulators. In the same way, I find the descriptions on the Gp2x File Archive to be more useful than the ratings.

However, I understand it's not as straightforward with the homebrew games though, as multiple opinions become more important. This is where a ratings system comes in useful.

 

[oneandoneis2]

Just wondering: if the GP2X cradle or some other 2-way communication hardware between GP2X and PC became widespread, could a little application be written to run in the background, and keep a log of what applications you use, and for how much time?

If so, that log could be uploaded when the GP2X was connected to an Internet PC, and you'd get a pretty good idea of what games are *really* currently popular. . .

 

[Paradox]

theres a problem with the archive too. it never saves my login, which is really annoying.

 

[dsd28]

Just wondering: if the GP2X cradle or some other 2-way communication hardware between GP2X and PC became widespread, could a little application be written to run in the background, and keep a log of what applications you use, and for how much time?

If so, that log could be uploaded when the GP2X was connected to an Internet PC, and you'd get a pretty good idea of what games are *really* currently popular. . .

Sounds like spyware!! :blink: h34r:

 

[oneandoneis2]

No, because it'd be optional to install it & you could set it to only report as much or as little as you wanted - not something that sneakily gets loaded in as a firmware upgrade and reports all your MP3s to the RIAA

 

[ste_167]

Is that all the Squidge hack removed?

 

[nickspoon]

The rating system does suck, KK2X has gone from 6 to 4, then to 8, then down to 3. What the hell?

I'm for scrapping it altogether, and doing a GP2X review section instead. Split into homebrew games, commercial, utilities, emulators, I'd say. You can't do worse than what we have now, after all

 

[Magnulus]

One could always just start a review site and see what kind of response one gets... Hmmm... *ponders*
Shit, I'm doing too much already. If I try to do a review site as well, people will DEFINITELY think I'm big-headed.

 

[Yono]

Since we're talking about the archive site. Sometimes it displays 3 comments but lists 6. How do you view all of the comments?

 

[Magnulus]

I heard that if you try to leave a comment while you're not logged in, it still records that attempt in the sum.