The System Wars Metagame Is Officially No More

I don't know if any of you have had the chance to have a look at the new System Wars Survival Guide yet, but if you have, you may have noticed one thing:

The System Wars Metagame is no longer there.

The System Wars Metagame has been a mainstay of System Wars for over a decade, since the forum first came into being. It was a way to try and quantify each system's library, and to try and reach some consensus over what system has the best games. The metagame existed by:

• Using Gamespot reviews for games;
• Assigning a grade value to scores (A for scores in the 7 range, AA for the 8 range, AAA for the 9 range, and AAAA for the elusive 10);
• Keeping track of all of these scores;
• Comparing which system had the most number of A, AA, AAA, and AAAA games

As an aside, the metagame also placed emphasis on exclusives as the most important component to a system's library.

As of right now, however, the metagame is no more.

Q: Why was the metagame scrapped?

If you go through the metagame description above, it's not hard to see why, really. Things have greatly changed now from what they were just ten years ago. Exclusives are increasingly rare, and their importance has been de-emphasized from before. Gamespot's scoring system has changed- from .1 increments to just integer increments, 1 to 10, a system that does not lend itself to the metagame, as we used to have it, on System Wars. Metacritic culture, and the rise of other review sources and outlets, all of which form an ecosystem of game reviews, so to speak, has solidified in the last decade, so that limiting our discussion to only Gamespot's reviews when it comes to any game just creates an unrepresentative echo chamber, and doesn't really offer us a representative picture of the game or its reception. Moreover, it leads to derailments in discussion, as posters start debating the value of Metacritic versus just sticking to one outlet's scores, and really, the value of game reviews in the first place.

All of this, plus the fact that the official spreadsheets are dead- they have not been updated in over two years. No one is keeping track of scores any more, making the metagame more of an old entity we pay lip service to than anything that actually has any functional, meaningful use in the context of System Wars today.

Q: But there are still hype threads?

Yes, we're still going to keep hype threads. But the hype threads are now going to be more of pre-release information and discussion threads, as well as a place where, yes, users can predict what scores (Gamespot, Metacritic, elsewhere) a game may end up scoring. They will no longer determine whether a game has 'flopped' or 'met hype.'

Q: So how do we compare games?

You compare them any way you want- you can use Gamespot scores, if you want to, sure, but if the other person is using Metacritic scores, they are also equally right to do so. One is no longer given any official sanction or preference over the other. Simply put, someone who says that The Last of Us or The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess were AAAE games rather than AAE ones on the basis of Metascores is no longer wrong. Metascores are now as valid in discussion as Gamespot scores.

Q: What if the other person and I can't see eye to eye on what metric to use?

Then it's your job to convince them, or theirs to convince you. A reminder: this is a discussion board. It's a discussion board where, by definition, differences of opinion are played up. It's a discussion board the very existence of which is predicated on people trying to convince the others that your opinions are right, and theirs, not necessarily so much. You think the other person is wrong by choosing Metacritic as their metric of choice, or Gamespot, maybe? Then you tell them why. Try and establish to them why your point of view may have validity. Discuss, and try to arrive at a consensus.

Q: This is anarchy!

Yeah, but isn't all of System Wars, really?

Q: So can we at least still try to track hype in hype threads?

Sure, if you want to try and track a game's hyped Gamespot score within its hype thread, you are free to do so. Just remember, it doesn't hold any 'official sanction' anymore- so if The Last of Us 2 scores an 8 after being hyped 10, it doesn't make that game a flop, I'm afraid.

Q: Has the definition of 'exclusive' changed?

Again, it depends.

Look, one of the reasons the metagame was scrapped was because of its rigidity and inflexibility in trying to apply one standard even where it may not fit. Absolute exclusivity, which the old metagame favored, is still the gold standard, of course. But it is no longer viable in the present day marketplace. Absolute exclusives really don' exist- even first party games are often shared with PCs and smartphones sometimes, now.

So what definition of exclusives are we using? That will depend on the context of the discussion, and that's the beauty of it. Calling Street Fighter V a PS4 exclusive in context of a PS4 vs Xbox One discussion is perfectly acceptable, as is calling ReCore an Xbox One exclusive. Discussing the value of soft exclusives like these in the context of the larger market is a discussion that is now welcomed, rather than before, where it was against the metagame, and therefore invalid.

Of course, an absolute exclusive is still the best, because no one can really argue against it- but soft exclusives are no longer grounds for derailed discussions or dismissal.

Q: So what changes?

Honestly? Not much. For all purposes, the metagame has been dead for a while now. We haven't been updating the spreadsheets for two years now, and discussions using Metascores have been a thing for a fair while now. Functionally, not much changes. All that has changed is that discussions that got derailed over the value of the metagame, or Gamespot reviews versus industry reviews represented by Metacritic at large, are now officially no longer off topic.

Also, games will no longer be officially determined as 'flops' on the basis of Gamespot scores. Their value as A(E), AA(E), AAA(E), and AAAA(E) is no longer tied to just Gamespot scores. You want to call Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze a AAE game on the basis of its Metascore? Go nuts!

Q: Are these changes retroactively applicable?

Yes. Rejoice, The Last of Us and Halo 5 are no longer flops.

Q: Will the metagame ever be back?

Maybe eventually, one day. We've been trying to overhaul it for the present day context for a while now, but the issue is we haven't been able to come up with anything. We got nothing. We've been drawing a blank, and it led us to the conclusion that the metagame, as it exists, may probably just be too steeped in the past to be properly translated to today.

We're going to continue to try and come up with ways to bring the metagame back, and if you want to join the conversation, you're free to post suggestions here, or message the mods with your ideas. We'll be sure to take them into account!

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That's it! Welcome to the New World Order, everybody!

TLOU will always be a flop in my heart

Nah, it exists.

The Flop of Us and Floplo 5: Guardians shall forever remain in our hearts!

@Blabadon: You just want TLOU to stay a flop. :p

Halo 5 will always be a flop in my heart.

TLOU is of course now a recognized TOP 4 GOAT

Can I get a HELL YEAHHH???

Wut.

inb4 people still use only GS scores to say games are flops.

TLOU still flopped.Suck it cows. *evil laugh*

· Posts cointaing just “inb4[something]” and any of its variants are considered spam, thus, can and will be moderated.

inb4 people don't read the new rules.

I hype this thread AAAAE

Man, really though. I thought it was well discussed long ago that going by GS scores are just more instant and satisfying than waiting for the trickle down of MC scores.

I mean, we're talking about hype and flops here. Nothing serious about it so I don't see the need for a more "accurate" consensus. It's fun to just instantly see a game miss the mark (or surpass it like Bayo 2) and rub it in peoples faces.

RIP, metagame.

Okie-dokie then.

Well, kinda hard to maintain when the vast majority of the userbase doesn't really play by the same rules or any rules, really.

People are still free to hype games and decide if it flopped or not depending on whichever score they pick (GS, MC, IGN, etc), but there won't be any "forever a flop in SW" status due to that, anymore.

@ConanTheStoner: There were multiple issues with all of that, though, which have to do with Gamespot's review standards, guidelines, and scale changing:

• The new scoring scale simply is not as conducive to a metagame as the old one was; the old 0.1 scoring scale lent itself far better to the metagame than the new one ever did. A game could have been hyped AAAE, and met the hype, and still have had loads of discussion either way about whether or not it met the hype, because maybe the consensus was 9.5 and above, and it only managed a 9.4. Even the 0.5 scale was better in this regard- an 8.5 is as much of an AAE as an 8 is, but, for example, The Last of Us could still be a lesser game than something like Fable 2, because it scored 0.5 less. That kind of fun was simply gone with the new scoring system- which may be a far better and more sensible way of scoring games than the older scales ever were, but it's not as fun for SW purposes;
• 10s are simply far more likely now. AAAAEs used to be rare as ****. Throughout the entirely of the PS2 generation, no game was given a 10, because they got 9.8 and 9.9 scores instead. Between 2008 to 2015, seven games received 10s, out of which four were in the last eighteen months. 10s are getting far more common, and the balance of the metagame has been tipped as a result;
• The metagame was already pretty much dead. Enforcing it was pointless lip service. Keeping it around was just having discussions devolve into 'no, this game is actually pretty good because the Metascore is 90,' 'no, it's terrible, Gamespot only gave it a 6.' Now that's gone, and we can discuss a game and its reception in the larger industry ecosystem as a whole, rather than within a pointless echo chamber.

Of course, none of this means that one can't do what you mentioned as an example- you are free to celebrate the Wii U and PS4 having exclusive AAAAEs to their name according to Gamespot scores, for example, and the Xbox One having none- nothing is stopping you from doing that at all. We can still keep the fun parts of the metagame around, discuss what a game may score, discuss it in context of its Gamespot hype and Gamespot score, and even compare which system has more 9/10 or 10/10 games on Gamespot compared to others. That's all still a thing. It's just lost the 'word of God' status that it used to have before, to make sure the conversation is open to more parameters of determining quality than just the one we used to have before, that's all.

Yeah, I know the rules are long abandoned and people are going to site whatever source they want to support an argument (TexasGoldRush), but it's still fun to just be like "Nope, sorry, flop, only GS counts." and watch a kid have a meltdown.

It's just that good cheap entertainment that you can (could) only find on SW.

And nothing of value was lost :P

@ConanTheStoner: You can still do that I suppose :P

Now every game is on the same level as Captain Toad.

Shame.

So we're getting rid of the last thing that made system wars unique? First you get rid of unions, then you got rid of the leveling system, and now we're losing the meta-game? Why do I need to come here anymore? This place is now the same as the IGN and Giant Bomb forums but with a smaller, less active community. Congrats mods/staff. You officially killed System Wars.

All I needed to know, good sir. I'll spread the word of god, even if nobody else adheres to it. Not like half of these fools read the rules anyways (I know I usually don't), so it should be smooth sailing.

Oh, now this is not going to work bro. Not at all.

Yay!

I would think the reason you'd go to a forum is for the community (regardless of its size), not some silly metagame.

The metagame has been dead since 2011 at the very least, this is just officially saying something everyone's known for years, now.

No more fun :-(

And lol at new kind of "exclusives".

The X1 just got its exclusives back

this just sounds like ppl got lazy in reminding noobs about how system wars really works lol

Aaaand system wars is officially dead to me. As with most of GS.

Yeah, that's pretty absurd. Exclusive, by definition, are games that are only on a single console.

Yeah I'm honestly surprised that this happened. Exclusive isn't a flexible term at all. Looks like we finally caved into accepting the silliest of fanboy logic. Now things like "console exclusive" and "Playstation family" have merit lol.

And with it, the heart and soul of SystemWars.

Why weren't the users here questioned on these changes?

Secret lemming conspiracy confirmed.

There will always be a little metagame in us all...

I thought the metagame was about the farm animals thing.

I didn't know this other metagame was even an official thing other than SW slang.

All good things must come to an end. Then again I'm still mad SWs bets were killed.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess still flopped.

You can never take that away from us. No moderator can take that away from us.

The silly meta-game is what made this place unique. Especially after all of the unions and account progression stuff was killed off. This board was specifically about debating systems and games. Losing the meta game and "exclusives" means there are no rules and no structure to the war. These "rule" changes are going to allow the most populated faction to run wild. The theme of this board made up for it's lacking community. I go to NeoGaf for intelligent video game discussion. I come here to tastefully debate other gamers without the fear of losing my account.

The meta-game was alive and well until The Last of Us imo. More and more users have been running to Metacritic to justify the purchase of their favorite titles when Gamespot flops them and one faction has been guilty of this all together.

Why not just close down System Wars? What purpose does this board serve now? There is now no way to determine right or wrong, flop or not, better or worse, more or less etc. What is the point of a war with no objectives or end game? Instead of dropping the rules maybe the community should have done a better job of enforcing them.

I don't know how you all think this is a good idea. And I especially don't understand how you think this will lead to anything other than the demise of System Wars. There is no point now. Silly or not, this place served a purpose. This is just another General Games Discussion board now and every rule change over the past 8 years has led to this outcome. And for what? So peoples feelings don't get hurt over their video game purchases?

The metagame isn't something Gamespot can control. It's a META game for ****'s sake. It's about the posters keeping it alive.

God, this website is getting really shitty.

First, I can't say carpet and towel, now I can't call someone a cow and talk about flops.

Who said that the meta game is no more? You, @charizard1605? Are you power tripping? Because the Meta game was never an official game from GS, and I'll rebel from you! You've become a defender of Sony and on an Xbox smear campaign! So Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

/sarcasm

Bullshit. The metagame will always exist. Doesn't matter if the brass recognize it or not. It's not something you can just say doesn't exist.

TLOU probably won't be in the top 4 if you include every generation of gaming, but maybe if you only include last gen. Certain games will always be a flop in my heart to.

@soulitane: GS isn't a community-driven website. People just come up with stuff and you better abide. Has been like this for ages now.

Yeah, it's not great.

it was a fun 9 3/4 years playing it. Well in reality 7 and a half. Like @charizard1605 said, it wasn't the "real" metagame anymore. No more flops or exceeding hype. Just games you liked or didn't. Pretty stupid idea trying to prove another's opinion of what they liked wrong. Its like trying to convince a gay person to be straight. You like what you like. RIP Metagame, indeed.

@foxhound_fox: You can totally call someone a cow you cow!

Oh dear, the PS4 and X1 will have "exclusives" again..

I never really liked the meta game, some of the rules were silly imo. As long fanboys continue to meltdown and rage system wars is pretty much the same. Though you could just start a fresh meta game in the future with updated rules that can't be minipulated in arguements.