D&D 5E 5e and the Cheesecake Factory: Explaining Good Enough

[TheSword]

You do seem keen to misconstrue my words. What threatening overtone?

I think he was referring to...

Aldarc said:
Friendly word of advice: Don't make this into a pissing contest.

Your tone up to this point hasn’t been very friendly. So it’s easy not to take it that way.

 

[Aldarc]

I think he was referring to...

Your tone up to this point hasn’t been very friendly. So it’s easy not to take it that way.

Your insults aside, I'm well aware that he was referring to that post since he quoted it, but there was no threatening overtone whatsoever in what I wrote.

 

[TheSword]

Your insults aside, I'm well aware that he was referring to that post since he quoted it, but there was no threatening overtone whatsoever in what I wrote.

I’ve responded privately. This isn’t germane to the discussion.

 

[clearstream]

You do seem keen to misconstrue my words. I'm again puzzled. What threatening overtone?

Your words read as if they were a warning - don't do this, or else. I'm surprised that you have never heard "Friendly word of advice" used idiomatically to imply a threat.

EDIT It's probably my mistake - down to assuming a shared language and culture - forgetting that people from everywhere post to these boards!

 

[turnip_farmer]

Your thesis is that most people don't give their highest ratings to their favourite things?

No. My thesis is that people do give their highest ratings to their favourite things. That's what I said.

Most people will give their favourite thing five stars. Most people will also give their second favourite thing five stars. Many will hand out fives to their third, fourth and fifth favourite as well.

Your confusion seems to be in equating 'second favourite' with something you feel 'meh' about. Unless the generally available quality of product is awful, most people are very happy with their second favourite. There is almost nothing they prefer.

Most people won't even bother rating a thing they hate

Not at all true. I had to analyse customer satisfaction surveys for a living. People are significantly more likely to rate things they hate.

 

[Aldarc]

Your words read as if they were a warning - don't do this, or else. I'm surprised that you have never heard "Friendly word of advice" used idiomatically to imply a threat.

A warning is not a threat or rather not all warnings are threats: e.g., "Be careful when you reach this part in the road, because it veers sharply left and it can be hard see traffic coming around the corner." In this case, I think that drawing comparison of 5e's rating on Amazon to Dungeon World runs the risk of unnecessarily turning this conversation into an unproductive pissing contest between the two systems rather than about the quality of 5e D&D or how it factors into Snarf's Cheesecake Factory theory. I hope that clarifies things and clears up any misconceptions you may have.

 

[TheSword]

No. My thesis is that people do give their highest ratings to their favourite things. That's what I said.

Most people will give their favourite thing five stars. Most people will also give their second favourite thing five stars. Many will hand out fives to their third, fourth and fifth favourite as well.

Your confusion seems to be in equating 'second favourite' with something you feel 'meh' about. Unless the generally available quality of product is awful, most people are very happy with their second favourite. There is almost nothing they prefer.


Not at all true. I had to analyse customer satisfaction surveys for a living. People are significantly more likely to rate things they hate.

I agree that strong emotion on both sides tends to encourage reviews. However that’s not quite the same with Amazon star rankings that are prompted and take a single click.

Despite that I also work with Customer Satisfaction Surveys and we see 3 star equivalents a lot. There are lots of 3 star reviews on Amazon for other products. Just not often in TTRPG.

That said the 4e PHB has 10% ️️️ rating and 12% ️️️️ star. These people aren’t saying they hate 4e. Only 2% gave it ️. It’s not true to say people don’t give middle ground reviews.

 

[turnip_farmer]

I agree that strong emotion on both sides tends towards reviews. However that’s not quite the same with Amazon star rankings that are prompted and take a single click.

Despite that I also work with Customer Satisfaction Surveys and we see 3 star equivalents a lot. There are lots of 3 star reviews on Amazon for other products. Just not TTRPG.

The 4e PHB has 10% ️️️ rating and 12% ️️️️ star. These people aren’t saying they hate 4e. Only 2% gave it ️. It’s not true to say people don’t give middle ground reviews.

No, and I didn't say that. All I'm saying is that, if something is your second favourite, it's usually something you like a lot. Second favourite is good. Second favourite is excellent. Second favourite is very almost the best there is.

 

[TheSword]

No, and I didn't say that. All I'm saying is that, if something is your second favourite, it's usually something you like a lot. Second favourite is good. Second favourite is excellent. Second favourite is very almost the best there is.

It depends how many you have played. Second favourite may also be worst if you’ve only played two systems.

 

[clearstream]

No. My thesis is that people do give their highest ratings to their favourite things. That's what I said.

Okay, and I am seeing a lot of highest ratings for 5E.

Your confusion seems to be in equating 'second favourite' with something you feel 'meh' about. Unless the generally available quality of product is awful, most people are very happy with their second favourite. There is almost nothing they prefer.

That's an interesting line of reasoning. The idea is to take the words "second favourite" in their exact sense and hedge on just how favourite that then implies. If that is your approach, sure. I'm not sure how you are then differentiating between favourite and second favourite.

Not at all true. I had to analyse customer satisfaction surveys for a living. People are significantly more likely to rate things they hate.

Part of our difference may again lie in semantics. If you mean "actively hate to the extent that they are motivated to rate" then sure. To separate our terms, I'll use "don't like" - with in mind that we're discussing people's top few choices here, not their bottom choice!