Taking Back the Rating System

Not so long ago, Atmosphir had a server-side update. This basically means that the players did not have to update their clients, and the only change was to the server software itself. In this update, the way levels appear in-game were displayed differently. The order in which they appeared was altered in hopes to do a better job of sorting the good from the bad.

And for awhile, this worked. Recently however, poorer levels seem to be surfacing on the top of the lists. EdacOnag made a statement about this on the forums. Here is a quote:

“It seemed that, until we got the new play browser/rankings, the levels that would rise to the top would always be ones with a bunch of run power-ups in a straight line to the finish, or levels that look like: Start Flag -- Platform -- Finish Flag. After the new update, better levels were being featured. The new rating system helped with that. Unfortunately, it seems that the new ranking system has focused more on plays again. The shorter, easier levels generally get more plays, and therefore rise to the top of the Play Browser, even if they have a low rating.”

This statement sparked some conversation in the forums. Some players stopped by to give their agreement, and we came to the conclusion that something needs to be done. After a short while, Dave (OkaySamurai) himself stepped in and left a reply. It was as follows:

“What seems to be happening - as usual - is people create multiple accounts to push their levels up (or vote other people's levels down - someone apparently has a vendetta against bigdrip because his levels sometime have way lower stars than they should - maybe some of you have felt this too). Whether by IP or time limits or whatever, we need to work against this. And we will in the future, as I've mentioned this will always be a work in progress.

For now I would say this:
Give 1 star to terrible levels that anyone could make in 5 minutes.
Give 2 stars to levels people at least put some effort into, but still aren't very well designed.
Give 3 stars to average levels where the good and the bad are about even.
Give 4 stars to really good levels that might have a small flaw or two.
Give 5 to near-perfect levels.

So until we fix things, when you see bad levels at the top, the best thing to do is 1-star them.”

All we can do at this point is follow his advice. This especially refers to the levels that can be completed in ten seconds with virtually no work. This means spamming the run power-up so you can run at super speeds to the finish flag 10 blocks away.

If you are guilty of rating these levels high, or making them in the first place, keep in mind that you are being targeted by the community. We WILL make the rating system fair, one way or another.

Want to leave your opinion on this topic? Comment here: http://www.atmosphir.com/forum/index.php?topic=7158.0

Thanks for reading, everyone!