"Do you really need someone in authority giving you a simple yea or nay before you buy anything? Why don’t you roll over so they stamp on the other side of your face?"
-Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw (Professional Critic), Zero Punctuation, on video game reviews

For whatever reason, video gamers tend to, on the whole, place more stock in professional reviews of works than fans of any other medium. Only arguably second to news, reviews of the newest games are the main attraction of most gaming sites and magazines. In fact, review scores are just as likely to be used as personal opinions in Console Wars debates or to argue which of the newest Killer Apps is the best.

This is why Eight Point Eight situations occur with such startling regularity. Of course, while there's nothing wrong in placing some stock in the opinions of others, review scores shouldn't be regarded as authoritative, simply because reviewers are, like everyone else, human beings with their own personal tastes and preferences. Not to mention that reviewers are not exactly always trustworthy...

One could say there's some logic behind all this — after all, purchasing a fifty dollar game is a much riskier endeavor than buying a book or movie ticket, so it makes sense that many people might regard professional reviews higher than they should. However, over-reliance on reviews is just as common in areas where software piracy is ubiquitous. Another reason perhaps is that video games as a medium demand more time and attention from us than most other entertainment forms, so most of us need to be discriminatory in the games we play.

Also said to be a phenomenon among fans of live theater. Indeed, reviews can influence the act itself over time, replacing actors or modifying scenes slightly.

Examples

Professional Wrestling

Smart Marks following Dave Meltzer's (of the Wrestling Observer) reviews of matches. There are only a few instances (in the US, at least) where he gives a match a five-star rating.

New Media

In the IGN.com comments (and probably every other gaming web site) on reviews of games that have either not been publicly released yet or have JUST been released on that very day, you'll often see about a hundred comments' worth of arguments between people who "know" the game deserves more than the review score and people who "know" the game deserves either the score it got or lower. All this bickering from people who haven't even played (or come close to finishing) the game yet is an example of Eight Point Eight and Complaining About Shows You Dont Watch, but it seems to be rooted in a near-religious belief in this trope. People try to refute or defend the review as if it's a scientific experiment. One that they haven't done yet, to boot.
This troper uses Yahtzee's reviews as a misplaced standard, given his pessimistic tendencies this troper usually rates games one bar above what he does. For example: If Yahtzee thinks it's bad, its really mediocre; if Yahtzee thinks it's mediocre, it's probably good etc.
- And if it's Portal?
  - Then it's one step below Jesus.

Punch Punch Punch Uh Oh

« Professional Wrestling »

Ricky Morton

Video Game Remake

« Videogame Culture »

The Ridill

This wiki is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.