D&D 5E What is Quality?

[Aldarc]

Several studies have shown that most people can't tell the difference from one wine to the next. The judges were experts in their field and judging by criteria that most people would not detect. They used the criteria developed by the wine aficionados to judge some wines as higher quality. Saying that one wine is a higher quality than another is largely based on artificial constructs.

Artificial constructs like popularity, right?

 

[Umbran]

How do you determine what the pertinent criteria is?

That is a great question.

Sometimes, many relevant criteria are bleedingly obvious. For example, I just had a new washer and dryer installed today. Most of the pertinent criteria for deciding whether the clothes dryer is a quality machine will be technical - how well it actually dries clothing, energy consumption, what is the operational life of the machine, and so forth.

How well it sells WILL NOT tell us directly if the machine meets some particular level of technical criteria.

Even my opinion here has a curious quality - my personal experience is not, as they say, statistically relevant. It could be that the brand of machine generally does meet the pertinent technical criteria, but I, for one reason or another, have a bad experience or otherwise turn out to not like the particular machine.

It gets even less clear when we start to talk about aesthetics and entertainments. What are the technical criteria for "quality art"?

 

[GMforPowergamers]

my personal experience is not, as they say, statistically relevant. It could be that the brand of machine generally does meet the pertinent technical criteria, but I, for one reason or another, have a bad experience or otherwise turn out to not like the particular machine.

this is an issue I run into a lot when talking about cars. I am not a car guy, so tech specs are lost on me if not very general. However I can say I have had better experience with foreign breed cars then US made ones... but as I have been told time and time again, no matter where the company HQ is all the cars are made in factories here. SO what is the difference? no clue (again not a car guy) but I have seen people get (almost) as protective of the car brand as we do our games...

 

[LadyElect]

I never said that. Put it this way - if we could do a poll and 99% of the respondents said something was high quality, could we say that for most people it's high quality?

It certainly seems like we could do that. It also seems like we could say that for a few people it’s low quality.

The latter shouldn’t be so perturbing.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I never said that. Put it this way - if we could do a poll and 99% of the respondents said something was high quality, could we say that for most people it's high quality?

okay if I give you 99% what is the point it becomes 'enough'?

is it 51% saying so

 

[payn]

this is an issue I run into a lot when talking about cars. I am not a car guy, so tech specs are lost on me if not very general. However I can say I have had better experience with foreign breed cars then US made ones... but as I have been told time and time again, no matter where the company HQ is all the cars are made in factories here. SO what is the difference? no clue (again not a car guy) but I have seen people get (almost) as protective of the car brand as we do our games...

The power of brand strikes again! Though, there is no discounting for experience too. (although I had an uncle swear by a brand even though he was constantly fixing the vehicle...)

 

[niklinna]

The power of brand strikes again! Though, there is no discounting for experience too. (although I had an uncle swear by a brand even though he was constantly fixing the vehicle...)

Applying his own house rules, as it were?

 

[payn]

Applying his own house rules, as it were?

Of course when you Just Empty Every Pocket lol.

 

[Mort]

The power of brand strikes again! Though, there is no discounting for experience too. (although I had an uncle swear by a brand even though he was constantly fixing the vehicle...)

Conumer Reports is pretty good on this front. They have clear ratings guidelines and a pretty large customer base to draw from.

 

[payn]

Conumer Reports is pretty good on this front. They have clear ratings guidelines and a pretty large customer base to draw from.

Right. They get down to individual attributes too. Excellent example.