Comments/Ratings for a Single Item

Joe Joyce wrote

First, maybe separate the ratings into 3 groups: author rating, verified raters, unverified raters, then show them in order of best rating to worst rating.

There won't actually be unverified raters, because each rating will be keyed to the userid. This prevents ballot stuffing, and it allows raters to change their ratings. I plan to include inventor ratings in the header when they are available, along with figures on the other ratings.

Second, use both types of words for rating. I can see rating a game excellent, but not a favorite, or a game average, but a favorite.

I don't want to overcomplicate things. One of my main goals with a new rating system is to make it easy to use. One possibility is to integrate the new and old rating systems, such that if someone rates a game as Poor or BelowAverage in a comment, it gets recorded as a Dislike, and if someone rates a game as Good or Excellent, it gets recorded as a Like. But a user would still be free to change his ratings in the new system, even favoriting a game he has rated as average in a comment.

Third, group games by both clustering and category. Dimensionality would be one obvious category, as would size, but I would suggest adding a few groupings and categories that aren't differentiated here.

Since this information is already in the database, and ratings will be keyed to ItemIDs, it should be a simple matter to compare the ratings for groups of related games.

The purpose of all this is to direct people to games they might like quickly. We have around a thousand presets now, and a few times that in total variants. If this is to be useful, we should offer patrons a useable search mechanism. Is that possible with the resources we have?

Here are a few things I plan on adding: 1) People who like this game also like these games. 2) Given your likes and favorites, here are other games you may like.

Ben Reiniger wrote:

I'm a little worried about rating games when they are themed or experimental: for instance, my only game is 4D, so probably not a good candidate for frequent play, but (IMO of course) it is a very good setup as far as 4D games go. Should it get rated in the former sense or the latter? Maybe the frequency of play question will serve this purpose too, but maybe there should be a third rating? (So 'good game', 'interesting', and 'often played'?)

Yes, the frequency of play question should serve this purpose. It will help separate dislikes from people who are just prejudiced against 4D games without playing your particular game from dislikes by people who have actually played it. In general, ratings from people who have played a game will matter more than ratings from people who have not played a game. That should help protect niche games from being underrated.

haha, someone rating their own game is exactly like parents rating their
own kids, and no one knows a child best like their parents, but everyone
else just smiles.

Just to give a heads up on what's going to be happening soon, I am
currently working on a login system. I want to get this in place before I
set up the ratings system. At present, you need to enter your userid and
password together each time you need to confirm your identity here. With
the login system, you will be able to log in once and be automatically
recognized without having to enter your password again. I have the CVP
login working already, but I'm also adding OpenID login. This will let you
login with your Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, or MyOpenID accounts, as
well as through any other OpenID provider by directly typing in your
OpenID. I think I know how to make it work now, but I still need the time
to work on it. When you use either login, it will store cookies used to
recognize you. One cookie will tell who you are, and another will be an
encrypted string used to verify the accuracy of the first cookie. You will
be able to connect an OpenID with your CVP account, which will let you
directly login to your CVP account through an OpenID provider. This will
come in handy if you forget your CVP password, but it will normally be
faster to login to your CVP account directly. Another use I plan to make of
OpenID is to make registration faster. If you login with an OpenID, you
will be able to register without email authentication. As I envision things
working, you will be able to use an OpenID or a CVP userid to post
comments, but you will need a CVP account to rate games, vote in polls, or
play games on Game Courier.

Here is a progress report. I have written a script for using OpenID
authentication to sign up for a CVP account, and I am writing this from an
account I just created with it. But there are still some kinks to work out
before making it public.