Weekly Poll #3: The Results

After a rather busy week with E3 and all, the results for last week’s poll have finally been dug out from the mountains of work and empty coffee cups, and we have them here for your viewing/reflecting pleasure. Last week we asked you just what influences your decision making process when it comes to buying your videogames. We were curious to see what sort of roles factors like review scores, advertising, word of mouth, and reputation had on your choice of titles.

It’s one of the touchy topics in our beloved gaming industry for silly and vanity orientated reasons, but yet it is one of the most interesting, and arguably one of the most important questions you can ask yourself.

This discussion arose from an article recently posted on the site, exploring the range of influences that subtly or openly guide our tastes. So this is what you had to say:

23.07% of you said that a studios or game IP’s reputation most affected your decision to buy a new title or not – placing faith in previous work and trusting developers continued talents.

15.38% expressed how your favourite critics (magazines, websites, newspapers etc.) ultimately governed what games end up spinning round inside your consoles – carefully listening to people with similar tastes who seem to have the same approximation of standards as you.

61.54% of our charming readers said they make their decisions mostly based on their own research, gut instincts, and artistic judgements – you have very personal and independent tastes that you indulge in very carefully.

So the vast majority of people who voted this week seem to be very cautious customers when it comes to games, which is fair enough I suppose when you consider the sheer scale of critical reception, and the punch and judy politics of studios and publishers. It’s interesting to see how folk see very little practical value in isolated review scores from the industry’s countless sources, and potentially only really refer to critics to make sure they aren’t just buying the latest regurgitation of expensive trash.

Perhaps gamers use review scores as more generic, distant, and an ultimately more accommodating ‘safety check’ of the fundamental subjectivity in videogames? It’s an odd thought but maybe reviewers are viewed and utilized as simply black and white binary voices of ‘yes’ and ‘no’, leaving the important intricacies and details to be reflected upon by our own opinions.

The results seem to suggest (as many have stated before) that when it boils down to it, metacritic ratings, official magazine scores, and the gargantuan sea of amateur internet reviews do not sway game sales in any way by themselves, and that the loudest voice we can’t help but listen to is in fact our own.

Who would have thought it eh? My colleagues and I could just enjoy playing the latest games without having to be concerned about editing our reviews together if we wanted….it seems that there is so much more shaping final decisions…maybe even simultaneously.

Keep an eye out for this week’s poll, and join in the discussion.