I recently made the following post under the "Comments? Evaluations?" topic in the Epic Character Builds forum.

Quote: Posted 07/06/05 20:32:51 (GMT) -- pulse cap

OK, it feels totally weird posting in a sticky, but here goes...

About the rating system I think I have an idea. I'm not quite sure what the moderator "interface" looks like but supposedly if you could make a PHP/mySQL or perhaps even javascript "moderator bot" then you could let people post ratings to the build topics using a post consisting only of "rating 8" or something such. The bot, which should be able to run off another server, would then at set intervals check new posts to see if they have that structure. Whenever it finds one it would add it to a mySQL database, make a new post with the average rating, and finally remove the "rating 8" post as well as the previous post containging average rating. Might not be doable, but it's an idea.

I should probably have posted it here instead and now that I do I'm hoping for some feedback on it. If people like the idea of this I'd gladly have a go at writing the code for it, though I can't promise I would succeed.

Just how interested are people in the whole rating idea?
Do you think this would be a viable way to create a rating system?
Would any of the mods be willing to put time into getting the system started?
Would Bioware be likely to have objections about using a bot to moderate the forum or the increased traffic this system could lead to? Personally, I don't like the idea of a rating system like that because it would be virtually meaningless. For one, different builds are posted for different reasons. Some are the best at one specific thing, some are meant to be fairly strong at a variety of things but with very few weaknesses, and some are just interesting and fun builds because they're different but not uber. There's really nothing constant to really rate the builds against.

Secondly, even if you did come up with guidelines, there's no way to make people use it. Basically, you run into the same problem that the nwvault rating system has, where all the scores are inflated to such a degree because of all the "your module r0xx0rs so 10" votes that they, and to a lesser degree, the Hall of Fame itself, are rendered fairly useless.

Thirdly, I think ratings would deter people from posting interesting but not uber builds on the guild pages for fair of getting blasted in the ratings. The same goes for first time builders who may not have the best build to start with but with help and positive encouragement, rather than poor scores, could do better.

Finally, there would also be the question of when the build is "open for votes". Many builds metamorphose over time as people post advice which gets incorporated. A build that was initial mediocre could by the end be quite worthwhile, but if it's stuck with all the initial low votes, then you'll have a very good build with an unnecessary low score hanging around it's neck.

Personally, I find the actual commentary from other builders to be far more useful in evaluating a build than a score ever would.

Steve

Edited By Stravinsky00 on 07/11/05 22:49

The thing is, if I see a build that is quite nice but not spectacular, I usually don't post anything. This could of course just be me, but judging by the posts found under most builds, posts containing simply "I like it" are fairly rare, this is only mentioned as a side note to questions and suggestions. So builds that are quite nice, contain no flaws and have no room for improvement without breaking the concept have a tendency to be left behind without any comments at all.
This is what a rating system could help with, so that the builder can still get some idea of what others think of the build.
Based on the lack of response here, however, I'm assuming most people agree with you in that a rating system is not really wanted, so I'll just forget about it. I agree with Stravinsky,

A rating system wouldn't work very well for the reasons he mentioned. Mostly, because there are so many criterion upon which to judge a build that what makes a good build for one person is not necessarily a good build for another person. Also you would need a fairly large number of votes to have any kind of statistically meaningful representation of the community's views.

What you could do, is something like post a message asking people to PM you the names of their favorite three builds they didn't make. Based on the results you could compile a list of the top 20 builds in the guild. You would still need a few hundred respondants for any kind of meaningful response. It probably wouldn't have much meaning for the average build, but it might inject a bit of life into the guild and some of the older/forgotten builds.
_________________
Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.

Edited By Mithdradates on 07/12/05 06:38

I agree with mith and strav.

Here's the thing with a rating system: its rated against who's preference? Yours? mine? who's?

I love clerics. Others love rogues or bards or wizards. SO you rate a build with a cleric a 4 cuz you hate clerics OR MORE TO THE POINT, you dont understand how to play a cleric OR you can play a caster cleric but dont understand the melee cleric. So how do you rate a build that you may not understand HOW to play?

There seems to be a recent trend to try to make epic builders guild into a best/worst type of posting forum. I understand the need of a new player to want to know what are good and bad, but it really comes down to "how do I like to play?" With that answer, you get the best and worst individually. For example, i have tried to play a bard/rdd/pm many times, cuz of the immunities, high str and such, but i have been bored to tears with it because the end build doesnt conform to how I like to play. Does it make it a bad build? NO! Infact, a bard/pm/rdd can be one of the best builds around, but for me I can't get into it.

So please, enough of these "my build is best" or "which version is tougher" blah blah blah... in the end they are all meaningless. Let's stick to what we do best: build and REFINE builds, not rip each other apart.

Peace