Ratings Guide
by Symbiotic
If you think you are a good at rating rides, think again. Everyone lacks in one way or another, and because of this there is a lot of frustration created every time we load CoasterCrazy.com and see the same annoying rating situations. So in this rating guide, we are going to go through the same steps that a druggie would go through to become a better person. That’s right kids, no more dancing around rubbing peanut butter on your chest singing the national anthem, its time for improvement. I'll start this out by doing a little work on the denial problem; which is that everyone denies that they are bad at rating in some way.
You are a bad rater if:
- You have had one of your ratings deleted in the past month
- You give a rating consisting of randomly excreted words that add up to about 2 lines.
- you have a download vs. rating percentage of less than 100% (it’s the truth, people)
- if you promise people you will rate a ride for them and dont
- if you rate a bunch of rides, but don’t understand why everyone else rates soo much lower than you ( but, Tht ride kcik’d A$$!!!)
- if you rates are always seen as too low and harsh, but when it comes to your own rides, they deserve tens somehow (the 5 average scale doesn’t count for personal works I guess?)
- if you write a rating guide and only have a 5 % rating percentage ( …)
In general, we all have some sort of rating problem even if we don’t want to admit it. But chill homies, its cool, we can fix this. Now that we all can kind of see that we can improve, there is hope, because the way to get better ratings is to start giving better ratings. I’m hoping people are already seeing the full circle effect that is created, and that the easy solution is to rate more often, and maybe learn to give a little more helpful rates. If you don’t understand, go rent Pay It Forward and take notes.
This guide has nothing to do with swaying people away from their entitled opinions, but only to filter out the crappy ones. At this point in the rating guide is the ‘detox’ section, where we all learn better techniques to avoid giving bad rates.
Steps to avoiding being a bad rater:
1.Every time you ride a coaster, just think to yourself; “How did I like this ride? Is there anything that the creator could have done to improve it? Is there anything that deserves a shout out?”
2.Realize what you are doing… your rating them, but only in your mind. Lets work with that, and turn it into a reality. Spread your love like the flu in wintertime.
3.Now its time to put your genius thoughts and opinions to work. Just start out by simply commenting on the ride. Give a couple sentences telling the creator if you liked it or any little improvements they could have done. This takes about 10 seconds out of our life to do, but gives the creator of the ride 10 minutes of appreciative thoughts for you and those babies are heading your way. Mmmm, that feels nice, doesn’t it?
4.That’s it for now. Take a breather, you have done some tough work. Up next, if we chose to, is the actual rating portion. I’ll have to create a new section for this curious new world.
Alright, we have reached a checkpoint in our lesson. If you need, go take a potty break, because from this point on only the true men can survive.
Pop quiz!!!
1) You are a kind person who rates as often as you can, and your ratings are “good”.
A) False
B) True (don’t choose me, I'm only associated with liars and tricksters)
C) Negatory
2) When I ride a coaster, my first impulse afterwards is to…
A) Go on with my merry way / live in shame
B) At least leave a comment telling them how you liked it, or even rate it!
C) Listen to Kelly Clarkson
Correct answers.
1) A or C. If you chose B, just leave. No questions asked. Get out trickster.
2) B. C is also acceptable. Mixing B and C is probably the best option.
Alright, lets hope everyone got at least 50%.
Moving on… this is it… the big moment… when I break your bad habits and create waffles out of what was just a pile of pancakes (or vice versa if you think pancakes are better than waffles, but they aren’t). Lets do this…
First off, lets discuss the overall style of your rating. There are only 3 different styles accepted, so lets burn these into our brains and never look back.
Acceptable Rating Styles:
(1) The 3 section rating style.
This approach involves 3 sections, each pertaining to the three areas of a rate; Building technique, Adrenaline and Originality / Accuracy. Each section should have enough words piled into it to explain why each area received its given rate. It’s also smart to start out with a “thesis” statement and some sort of conclusion, you will look real classy.
-Layout-
Thesis:
BT:
A:
O / Acc.:
Conclusion:
Simple right. Just take that layout, and put some paragraphs after each colon.
Here’s a good example.
“Technical: Superb, I guess. It did have some vivid flaws, or maybe things that just annoyed me. Some of the lead-ins to hill crests were very sharp and jerky, like those you would most likely feel on a woodie, not an Intamin. Supports looked good. I didn't like the shape of the hills. They were so circular, and didn't have that peak you usually see on hill crests of Hypers. I'm not one to talk about Intamin shaping because I know not much about it, but it did get to me. Also, that connection to the last set of brakes!? Why so disturbing and awkward? It was a very poor section of track to top of an overall good layout, which was just annoying.
A: Can't argue with forces. It had nice floater and ejector airtime. I adored the fast changes on the first over bank element and the second over bank element. Good stuff. Some of those fast jerks into hill crests that I already talked about caused some uncomfortable whip in the chairs.
O: Very impressed. Nice skill shown with this type of layout. I generally prefer the compact-ish, small area Hypers over the out and back-ish ones, so this layout did win me over. But it's not too much to ask for a small little something to surprise me...”
See, it’s easy. Just write down what your thinking, a long as your thinking coherently.
(2) The plus minus 3 section rate.
This technique involves every single thing the same as the normal 3 section rating approach, but instead of paragraphs, you have pluses (+) to point out positive things, and minuses (-) to point out where the ride needs improvement. This technique works well with people who have ADD. It’s like the Chuck Norris of ratings, powerful and to the point, no b.s. involved.
Since the layout is exactly like the 3 section rating system, we don’t need to go over that. Here is a good example of how to use this tricky technique.
“ Cool ride man. I enjoyed it.
BT: + Pretty smooth, only a couple odd wiggles in the banking every now and then
+ Nice work on the supports, did a great job of making realistic B&M supports
+ G’s were pretty consistent and realistic most of the time
- Had some problems with the block segments, 1 train got stuck on the lift.
- A tree was in the track, no good man.
- Some weird lats that could have been taken care of
A: + wow this thing hauled booty. Really a rush to ride!
+ never knew what to expect, really just awesome layout
- Might have lost a little of adrenaline in the end. Try to keep the pacing up throughout the whole ride
- Could have had some sweet head choppers but missed out on them. They would have boosted the adrenaline a ton.
O: + Really creative ride. Some new elements that worked well
+ Was original, but still believable.
+ That one helix was out of control, I loved it!
- The drop was pretty bland, maybe could have spiced it up a little
+ 3ds were a great addition.
Overall really fun ride. Thanks for the upload!”
See, super easy. Even GW Bush might be able to pull that off, or maybe not.
(3) The essay
This technique involves writing as much stuff as you can think, and attempt to keep it in an orderly fashion. You still need to explain why you have each individual rate, but can jumble things up a little more. These ratings tend to be very long and well written, so do not attempt this unless you really enjoy writing.
-Layout-
Long ass rating:
Done. See that was pretty easy also. Here is a great example.
“Wow. That was a very fun, very original coaster you created. I wouldn't call it realistic, since there are really no B&M coasters (or by any manufacturer) that are at all like Greystone Radiator. The layout was very good, especially the beginning, which you chose not to start right off with an inversion but instead did two or three high-banked dives before going into the Immelmann/Loop/Immelmann combo (which I also liked that, for as wild as this track was, it still featured a good ol' loop and it didn't feel out of place) Track work was near perfect, and the level of difficulty some of those turns had must have been pretty high as well. The high-banked S-curve over the camel back hill in particular rocked; I'm reminded of the way Maverick does some sudden changes in direction with pretty much zero laterals. The only points that feel a bit off are the top of the lift, (though there's nothing technically wrong here, I'm just used to seeing a sharper B&M top to help start the heart lining) and the exit of the mid course brake run felt rather disjointed. The second half was again unique, but I felt you could've done more than just another high-banked turn and the double corkscrew combo, which is more reminiscent of a B&M layout than I'd care for in this ride, even if the style which they're done in is quite different.
The surroundings were good; the autumn environment really fits the ride and it's color scheme well. The station was very simple, but it was nice seeing a bit extra effort put into it. Hehe... Six Flags Maintenance... Colors also rocked. I know some aren't a big fan of the whole red/pink thing, but the way you worked the white gradients into the track, in addition to the surrounding colors, worked really well. I liked how the end also featured a black gradient section of track, just to keep things fresh. The only other thing I noted was that your track seemed split up at just the lengths so that you had something kind of odd going on with the cross-ties where the track would be bolted together as well as the spine. Tighter segments would have helped this (unless that's the look you were going for).
Overall excellent work. Keep em' coming!
Jeremy.”
Wow, that was long, but pleasant!
Alright. That was a fun little adventure, but we aren’t done yet, not even close. Its time to learn what to look for in a coaster.
Here are some things that are very important to look for in each area of rating.
Building tech important factors:
- smoothness (ride from back seat to see flaws more easily). Very important!
- realistic, safe g’s
- supports (collisions, realistic, ect.)
- realistic to manufacturing company
- tunnel test
- passes e-stop test
- well planned out station deviation times
- no one dies if coaster were real (pretty important, unless going for some Japanese style design)
Adrenaline Factors
Adrenaline is an interesting one to rate. It is mainly up to the riders opinion, but pretty much this category is another way of saying "that was really fun!" or "I’ve had better times watching Court TV".
- Pacing, just make sure the ride keeps you entertained all the way through.
(remember) Rides don’t have to be crazy all the way through though, a nice break is always good.
Originality / Accuracy
Another weird category to rate on. This one is up to your own opinion, which isn’t good, because I respect my opinions much more than the rest of yours. Here’s some good things to look for in originality…
- something different than the norm (new element, new mix of elements, etc.)
- 3ds … (I think I might have to talk about this one for a second…)
Alright everyone, I’m going to solve this huge 3ds obsession problem right here right now, so make sure your paying attention, because your mind is about to be blown. Any incorporation of 3ds will now only fall under the category of originality for ratings.
“Wow, but wait, I thought whenever there are 3ds that means that the track work is perfect also… and adrenaline for that matter.“
No, it doesn’t affect any other area of the rating, only the originality. Do not forget this. Ever. Tattoo it on your arm, and every time you’re typing a rating (which will be often), look down and be like “oh ya, I’m not supposed to lose my nut over every aspect of rating because of 3ds…”
Understand. Yes, 3ds are nice, but No Limits is about making coasters, not theming.
Now for the other half of the originality rate, accuracy.
Accuracy is very important for those rides that aren’t too groundbreaking, but just very very realistic to the manufacturer. The best rides usually have a perfect balance of accuracy and originality, but having a little less of one or the other does not mean you should rate it down. Just remember, you’re the one who has to decide on whether that balance is perfect, or if the great accuracy makes up for a lack of originality or vice versa, so be fair.
So there you have it. The three categories on which we rate coasters, all explained.
Conclusion
Well this has been a fun adventure, filled with love, hate, sexuality, and a little looking out for the other guy. Or at least that’s how it was for me. Let’s go over the main points that you learned today…
- I have been a bad rater, and will try to at least comment on every ride that I download from now on.
- There is always room for improvement in my rating techniques.
- To receive more rates that are helpful, I must make helpful rates to others more often.
- 3ds do not make BT perfect. Ever.
- A good rating thoroughly explains why each rating area was given its specific number rating.
Alright, that’s about all I can think of at this point. I’m hoping that rating participation grows a little bit from now on, and maybe this rating guide will be a light of wisdom for many (my wisdom is priceless, take it in like a camel with water, or you will be very dehydrated).
So, get to it homies! Lets make this site a glory hole for posting coasters!
Its practice time! If your excited to try out your new rating knowledge (I am!), click on the following link and practice giving good, thorough rates:
Click here!
Yours truly,
Matt Love
(Symbiotic)
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