Post by UPPAJUPP in Rating systems vs bad-faith actors

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If you don't like something, why play it? Or should we rate things 1/5 just based on our beliefs?

I made the post because of a campaign against one person that received so many "1/5 reviews", even on his straight-games, that he published the reviews... and the reason for the "1/5" votes was that some of his OTHER games contained gay themes. So while he had a lot of 4/5 and 5/5, a bunch of accounts added a lot of 1/5 just to try to force him to focus on straight games only.

But even so, I still don't think games should be rated 1/5 without playing them because of AI either. Because I know a lot of games get that too. For a new developer, that cannot draw and has no budget, having them use some AI art can still be a way for them to be creative. Like you could probably use to learn some free 3d-models too and make some visual novel by setting these models in different poses, BUT such developers do not give artist money either, they just don't get review bombed. In the end, the main problem is that the artists receives less money? (and sure.. that AI slop looks ugly, etc, etc). But in the end, these artists would not have gotten it from like 95% of these people anyway - the only difference is that these creators would just not have been able to be as creative and make their games.

But enough about AI, it was not the reason for this thread.

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Ratsnake Games13 days ago (1 edit)

"But even so, I still don't think games should be rated 1/5 without playing them because of AI either. "

Well, I do believe that it is entirely fair to give plagiarized stuff a low rating without playing it, because plagiarism is bad and artistically bankrupt. I also believe that it is fair to give a game a low rating without playing it if it is already clear from the screenshots and product page that it is lazy, effortless slop. Both of these rules apply whether AI has been involved or not, but these days, most slop is automated.

You're the one who brought this up as an example of invalid opinions that need to be algorithmically suppressed and as a similar level of injustice as brigading someone for being queer and making queer content. I believe it is fair that I get to argue why I do not see those things as remotely comparable.

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UPPAJUPP13 days ago(+1)

Sure, but other people can ALSO see that it is AI-generated. And they might not care about your 1/5 vote, they just want to know if the game is good or not? And these votes just makes that harder?

I agree that big companies using AI is bad and sad, but I personally do not care if a small kids first garage made game contains AI images.. as he just would not have hired an artist anyway.

I just don't agree with you that you should hand out a bunch of 1/5 without playing a game. Just don't vote? As those votes you are adding just doesn't help anyone? They can make people feel sad I guess, so if that is you goal? Like increase the sadness in the world? No artist will receive money from you adding that review. And if some people really like AI games, they will probably still play them, and then notice that AI games rated 3/5 is somehow better than regular games rated 4/5 and just start searching for more AI games - and just enforce their view that AI-games are clearly superior?

I still don't want to defend AI games though... but there are good uses. Like I have played a game from one developer that uses 3-d to generate his scenes, but added some AI use for generating books in bookshelves, to not have all of them look the same. And that was a fast and smart way to solve a problem, using modern tools. But I guess I should change my 5/5 rating to a 1/5 because of AI use, as that will surely help people in the world somehow. I mean he did use AI once, and no artist received any money - and his game is at least somewhat well known - yeah, he really should have a 1/5, even though the game was really great.

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Ratsnake Games12 days ago

> they just want to know if the game is good or not

And I rate those games 1/5 because I think the game is bad and want to let other people know about that. That's what ratings are for.

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redonihunter12 days ago

a bunch of accounts

I believe you meant: fake accounts, not bunch of accounts ;-)

Itch does remove those, but it can take very long. And for some ratings, they might disagree. Or just forgot in all the swamp of other issues they get requests about.

I agree that people should only rate games they are interested in. They need not necessarily have played them, but it's just lame to rate things for which you are not the target audience.

For those situations with few votes you should also not underestimate counter votes. People that might not have rated at all normally, but see the game having a bad average and deciding to give it a bump, because they think the game is (literally) underrated. It's also a reason why this downvoting business will might achive the opposite what people think it would. A situation with a bunch of most likely fake accounts is completly different though.

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