Final Fantasy 7. The game that proves that popularity and name recognition have absolutely nothing to do with quality. I’m not saying that FF7 is a bad game… but it’s definitely not a great one. Yet as much as people talk about it, you’d think that it was the best game ever made.
BYOND Ranking is a neat feature, but it has the potential to be dangerous. If new and old BYONDers alike begin to associate a game’s worth with its rank, we’re going to be in trouble. Quality games may not receive the recognition and the player base that they deserve. Good games might get pushed aside by mediocre piles of crap that let you reach experience level 343 and change your character class 8 times… 9 times if you donate $5.
Most BYONDers don’t know a quality game when they see it. If it doesn’t allow them to reach SSJ3 in the first ten minutes of playtime, they’re done. If they can’t bribe or beg their way into GM status, then why play for more than a week? Perhaps this is why “OMFG ICON CHATERZZZZ” games are near the top of the list right now.
Granted, once the Free Trial Membership is up, all of the duplicate “voting keys” people have been using will go away and stop cluttering the system. Many of the people who will be buying BYOND memberships will be the more dedicated players who actually have some taste. Still, the BYOND Ranking system will never be a reliable indicator of game quality.
I never cared for popularity contests in grade school, or gave them much thought. These rankings are no different. Anyone who brags about the BYOND rank of his or her game can pretty much be classified as a douche bag immediately. Seriously. No one cares that your game is #1. You don’t win a prize, and you definitely haven’t earned bragging rights.
Overall, the BYOND Ranking system is best used as a guide. Odds are that there will be at least a few quality games near the top; check them out. However, don’t make the mistake of disregarding a game just because it’s not in the top 100. Let’s all work to avoid the day that a game like MLASS is deemed unworthy of DBZ Zeta 6718 due to a ranking number.
ID:977
 Jun 14 2005, 3:15 pm
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BYOND Ranking is definitely public recognition... but quality has nothing to do with it.
Even before people started using alternate keys to vote, there were several "Icon Chatterz" games and crappy fan games in the top ten. The majority of popular games on BYOND aren't the good ones... all that you have to do to see that is make a list of the games currently live on the hub. Popularity contest, not quality contest. If this were the Olympics, 99% of the competitors wouldn't make it past the qualifying round. | |
"Seriously. No one cares that your game is #1. You don’t win a prize, and you definitely haven’t earned bragging rights. "
I care. :*( | |
Silk I'm not actually going to do anything with this membership but I just signed up to let you know that I am way too cool to comment on anyone else's livejournal... er... BYOND Blog other than yours.
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Hahaha... Thanks Robin, just knowing that I have a comment from you on my BYOND Blog makes the whole thing worthwhile!
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CRAP! I typed up a nice answer to your post, but I lost it....
Oh well. I agree, the day a DBZ game is preferred to MLAAS, something is wrong. Of course, the real problem I see is something like this happening: "Pay $15 for a BYOND membership and rank my game as #1 and you can get a free GM for as long as my game is in your #1 spot!" *sigh* And you know something like that is going to happen. Of course, I think having a rank in the top 100 is something to brag about, and having a game in the top 10 is definately something to brag about. I prefer quality over popularity, but I'm sure a good mix will happen with time. | |
Definetly looks like the ranking system is being mis-used. Notice all the recent members between Druid Metool and L33t Robin? Every single one of them has made no effort with interests or friends and only put up one favorite game, Icon Fantasy.
The least they could do is not be complete retards when doing such idiocy by spreading out their account creation or actually make a effort to make it look more than only a ballot filler for Icon Fantasy by using it more fully. Edit: For future reference once the recent members list scrolls along enough, the people i'm talking about are: Love Goddess, Lila, Hht, Mei, Shang | |
"Pay $15 for a BYOND membership and rank my game as #1 and you can get a free GM for as long as my game is in your #1 spot!"
And what is wrong with that? The fangame isn't making any money...but it'd mean that the DBZ "scourge" would be funding Dantom! Finally Zeta rips would be the saviour of BYOND, the thing that keeps it running. Bring on the GM for Membership, I say! | |
As usual, you are wrong on alot of things, No one Is gonna like a game becoese the rank says It's good. The other people that posted to you are correct, the system will be pretty dependable after the free membership, not to mention, the #1 spot will almost always be correct, due to how many people need to vote on It(It's correct now). DBZ games will never reach the top 100, but however as much as I hate to say, I do agree with Jamesburrow, when he siad: "Pay $15 for a BYOND membership and rank my game as #1 and you can get a free GM for as long as my game is in your #1 spot!". I don't see It becomeing too big of a problem, becoese It's 15$, and alot of the people on Byond are kids, so they would need their parents permission, not to mention paying 15$ to be a GM of more then likely a verey crappy game Is crazy.
PS. On a personal note: I highly doubt any games developed by any one else then Kajika, should be taken serousely, becoese the few other developers capable of makeing a great game, have little to no devotion to their creation. | |
As usual, I have no idea who you are although I'm sure that you've probably been banned from at least one of my games... hence the hostility.
The example that you gave about Jamesburrow proves my point about BYOND ranks: They aren't reliable. How will the #1 spot be correct if people like Jamesburrow bribe votes? Thank you for proving yourself wrong so that I don't have to. | |
People aren't gonna sub, just to vote, and get GM. That's why I don't see It becomeing too big of a problem.
PS. No you didn't ban me, Infact I never had a problem with you. The reason for the hostility, Is becoese of your dishonorable acts. You develope DWO, and when It's(According to your words) a month's work away from release of 1.90, you not only delay It for a year, and a half, but then you scrap the whole project. | |
Yeah its rigged in the sence that you can just get all your multi-keys free accounts and vote for the same lame DBZ game that everyone hates, yet its on the first page of games...and is never up...and has no coding...its jewed in that sence.
so Ignore it and it'll go away, like pests. | |
Your forgetting that once July hits ranks will be seroius. Unless you buy more then one membership. Thats 15 bucks for the first key, another 15 bucks...
Do you really wanna buy like 5 memberships? just to get a rank up for a game? | |
Thank you Crzylme for agreeing to my statement, there Is no way people are gonna pay 15$, just to vote.
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I take it people are missing this part.
"Granted, once the Free Trial Membership is up, all of the duplicate “voting keys” people have been using will go away and stop cluttering the system. Many of the people who will be buying BYOND memberships will be the more dedicated players who actually have some taste. Still, the BYOND Ranking system will never be a reliable indicator of game quality." | |
<3 sarmy
and <3 silk | |
Sarm: "I take it people are missing this part."
lol. I've learned that most BYONDer's ability to read is worse than their ability to write. Oh well. And Zoltor: I'm going to answer your accusations about how dishonorable I am for cancelling DWO in a post later tonight. I'm tired of hearing this from people. | |
I agree completely with SilkWizard, therefore I will not even be participating in this voting system. If you think of all the other voting systems out there, such as MTV, you'd see how wrong voting systems are.
BYOND doesn't need to be turned into a popularity contest. It would be better to allow players to come to their own conclusions on games rather than having their opinions corrupted by 'mainstream BYOND.' Anything based on opinion alone has no truth to it. It's all just based on how people perceive what is before them. Perceptions aren't true, thus this voting system is flawed. I'm not saying people aren't allowed to have opinions, but by having them so upfront it defeats the purpose because now people are going to be saying they like specific games because they're number 1 or 2 on the list. | |
uR jUsT jEaLoUs bEcUz DUAL MONSTER ONLIEN RULEZZZzzzzzzzZZZzzzzzZZZ!!!!!!!!111
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But I disagree about ranking. If most people who play a game say it's a good game/their favorite, whatever, then odds are it's a pretty good game. Doesn't mean any individual person will like it, but it's still a good indicator.
And having a top game is something to be proud of once the kinks get worked out. It's a public recognition of a quality product. It doesn't mean their aren't good games that aren't popular yet, of course. It just is what it is- an indicator of the number of people willing to vote for that game!
Worrying about ranks somehow seems kinda like wanting to give all Olympic athlete participation ribbons instead of medals to the top performers :-)
Oh, and fix your CSS; your bottom box on the right side is FUBAR.