Does the Number of Hits determine the "Best" Website???

ubarose wrote:

There is a gigantic bias going on here. Our bias is totally out there. It's in the name of the site.

Also, the stars are recommendations not rating. It's a measure of how strongly you would recommend the game to a fellow member of Fortress: Ameritrash. This is possible because the site has a gigantic bias. We are also a very small community, so over time we have gotten to know each other's specific tastes. Four mini reviews from people whose tastes I know, is much more helpful than 13,000 "votes" of people I don't know.

Yeah, fair enough. I have friends recommend games to be all the time, but I find I'm often disappointed. However, I've yet to be disappointed by a game that 10,000 people who have similar tastes as me like as well. Some earlier poster said by this logic that I would then tend to think Monopoly is the best game ever, this analogy is flawed too cuz I'm not basing it on the population's interests, i'm basing it on BGG's population ratings which I find are very much in line with my own. Monopoly is VERY poorly reviewed on BGG and for good reason, it's like the worst game ever.

And like I said, cuz it's a pretty deep database, if I KNOW that I hate wargames, I'll discount wargame or chit-like mechanics when looking at their lists so I don't accidentally buy Paths of Glory or something.

I don't discriminate like that though cuz if I did that, I'd miss out on Twilight Struggle which is one of the very best games I've ever played and I don't consider it a wargame at all. (I used to play wargames and I hates them).

But Ubarose, I totally get what you're saying. If you have faith and VERY similar interests to what your friends and peers think, then yeah you can just go with what they say. For me, I used to do that and got stuck with games like Age of Wonders 2, Axis and Allies and other sub-par fare that I don't really like.


I will say this though, even though I strongly prefer BGG for the game recommendations, discussion here is deeper. Although I hate to say it, I find people act like adults on BGG and have respect for one another whereas here I keep seeing open hostility over some really basic stuff. I actually recently left a gaming site because it had deevolved into that. I guess if this place is more of the same I probably won't last and that's fine but I'm hoping people's love for games here overpowers their need to act like alphamales on the boards.


Aarontu, yeah at least here you get into some real discussions. I wrote a couple complaints about a couple of games there and some fanboys were quick to jump on me. Although I expect that if I started showering praise for how much I like Puerto Rico or Agricola on this site, I would get equally lampooned.
But you're right, Aarontu, that your likes and dislikes need to be similar to most of BGG's population if you're gonna use their ratings. I happen to really like Puerto Rico but if I didn't, I would obviously probably not use the site cuz everyone loves that game there. In the same way if I went to the ToysRUs discussion forum and I see Monopoly is the best reviewed game there, I wouldn't use their recommendations at all.


As for the other discussion on what amount of BIAS is present on the gaming sites, yeah obviously F:AT has more simply from having a small population. I agree that BGG seems to have some bias in the boards but I don't see how you can say that their ratings have BIAS given the huge voting bloc. Bias would be filtered out at those high numbers. I really do think that the large large majority of them think that Puerto Rico is a great game. I don't think they have a bias in voting it high simply cuz it's a Euro. There are lots of Euros games that have poor ratings on that site.


Anyway, interesting discussion regardless. For me, I'll always use BGG for ratings and on what new games seem to have a LOT of good buzz. And I'll use F:AT to have fun and talk about everything (games, movies, video games, coffee, you name it)

I have to say, from lurking around here since the beginning, that I've often felt like a fly on the wall of the boys' locker room.

It's been quite....fascinating.

I agree that the useful geeklists on BGG have been few and far between for some time now. I still, and always will, use BGG for looking at pictures of the games and for the user generated content such as the Bonaparte at Marengo period map and Mr Skeletor's excellent Arkham Horror flowchart.

It is also handy to record my plays of kids games. Because if you ask kids, especially little kids, if they liked a game they always say "Yes! Let's play again!" So I have to gauge how much they really like a game based on how often they request it.

ubarose wrote:

Alpha males are hot.

this is true. Just look at my avatar!

Schweig! wrote:
"I only still post on TOS because I can. I bet you would do the same."
How much? (And none of this GeekGold rubbish either.)

Black Barney wrote:
"I find people act like adults on BGG and have respect for one another"
At the Biomass Gasification Group maybe; at T.O.S. a significant number obviously don't.
(And why are you calling everyone "cuz"? are you implying inbreeding? )

Meanwhile, back on topic: the*mad*gamer wrote:
"Does the Number of Hits determine the "Best" Website???"
If T.O.S. is the 'best website' and your question is changed to "Does the Number of Shits determine the "Best" Website???" then the answer is yes.

SusanR wrote:

I have to say, from lurking around here since the beginning, that I've often felt like a fly on the wall of the boys' locker room.

It's been quite....fascinating.

This is actually closer to people sitting on a back porch drinking beer and chewing the fat than sitting in a boys' locker room. Trust me on that one.

--Mike L.

Steve, if you're trying to say that quantity != quality, just say it, man.

--Mike L.

Notahandle wrote:

Schweig! wrote:
"I only still post on TOS because I can. I bet you would do the same."
How much? (And none of this GeekGold rubbish either.)

About 1 or 2 posts a day. For geekgold I wrote a single session report and uploadeded a few pictures I found around the web. If I gather a considerable amount I tip it off to other users, so they can buy an avatar or other stuff.