Update: Score Revisions (Again)

Get used to seeing these from time to time. If I'm being generous, I'd say that it's come about because I'm constantly learning and refining my process. If not, I'd just say that I'm fickle and never fully content with my scoring system.

I won't go through the changes in painstaking detail like I did last time. I don't think that's necessary, and it would take far too long considering the amount of games we've got on the list now. It's getting close to 50, which seems like a lot, but it's barely a grain of sand in the grand context of video game history.

All I'll say is that I shifted my philosophy on a few metrics, and started using a letter grade as a reference help for game design and fun factor. This helps me better understand what's a "passing grade," more-or-less.

The major change that took place was with how I approach visuals from now on. I'm not putting every text game at a base 5 anymore. They'll all start from a 1, and earn points based on my current metrics, especially formatting. So many of those early text games have truly awful formatting (I even gave one game a zero for how bad it was.)

There's a couple of other minor changes to individual game scores on other metrics that needed it. See if you can spot them all in the updated Tier List.

What this has all resulted in is an overall shift downwards for most games. The D, E and F tiers are now more balanced, with far more games now in the F tier than previously - and they all deserve it. There is a new worst game on the list, War, which now has a score of twelve. It's just awful, and deserves to be at the bottom of the barrel.

Some games have gone up, like Galaxy Game, which is now out of the F tier. The top of the list hasn't changed, the scores have only been re-adjusted. Star Trek is still on top, though Space Race is now second. Hunt the Wumpus fell out of C tier, and into third overall. 

I think the list is now more balanced, with better variety of scores, outside of F tier. Getting away from the stock 5 score for visuals has allowed for a better spread, and for games to be more distinct in the list. 

Have a scan of the List if you're interested. I just do these scores for fun, mostly. And to have a more empirical means of knowing which games I like more than others. It's like, I could give you a top 10 games of all time list, but it'd probably change every week. Doing this helps me crystallize my thoughts better. 

Are there any scores you disagree with? Did I miss something? If so, drop a comment below. Dialoguing is fun, and I'm enjoying seeing more comments trickle through.

I'm aiming to have the Drag article ready by tomorrow. If not, it'll be out on Monday. My focus is entirely elsewhere on weekends, and I don't work on Sundays. I'm going to attempt to have more of a release schedule again, which will ideally be Mondays and Fridays.