[QUOTE="thepwninator"] And I still stand by my emphasis on reference points. The games most people look at averages for are within the 75-95% range, and, because this is a (relatively) small frame of reference, most people compare those scores to those of other games they've played before.colecoavenger
Review sources come and go all the time. They change their scales, go out of business, redesignate what a score means. New sources start up all time time, too. Just like Gamespot used to consider a 10 "perfect" but now it's "prime". So can you look at GTA IV the same way as Ocarina of Time? Your logic would only hold if every source reviewed the same games and kept the same standards throughout its existence. And I still maintain that followers of specific sites hold true to the scales of said sites. That's why people went nuts on Gamespot when EDGE gave Killzone a 7. And if a Gamespot user goes to Gamerankings and sees a game with a score that Gamespot defines as below average, that game isn't going to be treated fairly regardless of if it's close to the real world average.1. In most expected probability distributions for a product like game reviews, a mean average from a sample of 30+ reviews is more likely to represent a proxy for how most people will react than a single review. This is because any single review could be an outlier.
2. Related to number 1, the aggregators also show you the individual components that made up the average. Therefore, it is relatively easy to spot the standard deviation and the general shape of the distribution. We do this intuitively without having to know anything about statistics just by scanning the scores, are they mostly the same with a few outliers...or are they all over the map?
3. Related to number 2, based upon your experience you can generally judge certain sites to be more or less reflective of your general standards. Therefore, you can focus on the 3,4,5 or whatever sites that you trust the most.
4. All the comments you have made about the potential shortcomings of an aggregate score also exist for any single site/score + more, BUT
5. The reasons/merits of why we stick with GS scores are 3 fold: this is GS and it enhances a sense of community, a single benchmark reduces the bickering (compared to the inevitable extra bickering if multiple benchmarks are used), a single benchmark triggers at a singular moment in time (when the review is posted).
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