BilLOGs Rating System
Some review systems use a 100 point system (like on Metacritic) or a grade point system, but nothing captures the simplicity and visual acuity as the five star system. The 100 point system is far too nit-picky. How does one justify why a book deserves a 74 instead of a 78. The grade point system reeks of academia. Hopefully, each of the ten stages of the BilLOGs Five-Star Rating System is found to be distinct enough to tell you something about my perception of the quality of the item.The BilLOGs Five-Star-Rating System is based on the following questions:
1) What is the product about? What is its genre? Who is it meant appeal to? What is it attempting to do?
2) Does it deliver? What is the quality of its delivery? Did it engage? Was it entertaining?
3) What is its impact on the medium or even on society? Is its reach so universal that it is cross-generational and/or cross-cultural?
Something that answers all of these questions with excellence would get a five-star rating. Something that cannot accomplish the first question would get a zero-star rating. The ten different ratings are:
0 stars – An effort that is basically incomplete and amateurish. Examples being a book or movie published without critical scenes, a game without a working interface, or a song missing a critical instrument track. Enjoyment is replaced by aggravated frustration.
1 star – An effort that is complete but the delivery is uniformly unclear, unprofessional, and unpolished. The enjoyment experience is considered generally bad.
1.5 stars – An effort that is finished but the delivery borders on mediocre and contains some major quality errors. The ability to enjoy is found by those who may see some glimmer of potential.
2 stars – An effort that is derivative and lazy. It will borrow liberally and unashamedly from better products. The genre formula is followed without any deviation and enjoyment experience is imbued with boredom and disinterest.
2.5 stars – A product that competently follows a genre formula and delivers mostly what is expected. The experience could be summed up as adequate or fine but there is better stuff out there.
3 stars – A product that possesses some unique identity and modestly experiments with the genre formula. Artists, Authors, Developers, and Publishers who want a small but loyal core would need to reach this level of quality. Pioneers of various mediums and genres would typically be found here.
3.5 stars – The product is beginning to move from something that is purchased to something that is experienced and identified with. Fanboys in small numbers will proselytize about this item.
4 stars – Some of the best stuff of the genre. The product will define the genre and may expand it to reach to new groups. The experience is uniformly positive and enjoyable. Typically will stand the test of time for at least a generation (25 years).
4.5 stars – Some of the more amazing stuff the best represents the entire medium. These products may have stood the test of time for at least a generation and are universally critically acclaimed. These products typically have helped create a genre and/or defined an era/decade.
5 stars – These products would represent humanity’s best examples of its creativity and a means to explore its collective consciousness. These items are not entertainment, but examples of illumination. Widely recognized as an experience that has influenced or will influence multiple generations and cultures in their understanding of themselves and the world.
As you can see, the rating system ranges from the pathetic to the profound. Of course, all of these reviews represent my view of the product and must be taken as nothing more than a personal opinion. By virtue of the rating system, some products because of their focus and genre will never be considered a five star. A slasher film or a simplistic shooter video game are gratuitous in their focus on violence which can never be something that provides examples of enlightened creativity. They could still be very good products (3-4 stars) but its very nature is self-limiting to be anything more.
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