While I was creating my completed games page, I noticed that a lot of my reviews were positive. Out of my 74 total¹ reviews on Steam, 63 (82%) are positive, while 11 (18%) are negative. Seeing this left me a little shocked and mildly disappointed. Do I think too highly of things?

1: As of writing, of course.

Forgiving Standards

Before I wrote reviews for every game I played (December 2024), the point when I started being more critical and analytic, I had written 43 reviews total. 39 (91%) positive and 4 (9%) negative. After reading through these earlier reviews, I believe this discrepancy partly comes from my overly forgiving standards.

For instance, here's an excerpt from my recommended review for Shadow of the Tomb Raider

If I were to give this game a score, I'd say hard 6/10. If you're a fan of the Tomb Raider games, then I would suggest this to feel the experience of the complete trilogy. Obviously that's subjective, but your call. To someone who is new, I would advise skipping this and buying the 2013 and 2015 edition (Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider, respectively). As I said before, the best way to describe the story is boring, but it's not awful. Gameplay is alright, it could utilize the skill tree a lot more.

In all honesty, I could not tell you why I recommended Shadow of the Tomb Raider. "To someone who is new, I would advise skipping this" is a strong case for a negative recommendation. A quick read through the rest of the review reveals many criticisms of passable mediocrity, and zero praise. After all, I describe the game as purely average and boring. By most people's standards, that's not something worth going out of your way for.

Knowing myself, I likely viewed "Not Recommended" as a label bestowed only upon the most horrendous experiences. Technically, I never called Shadow of the Tomb Raider a bad game. I said it's alright. In the same vein, my review of Life is Strange 2 spends a great deal of time bashing the game, while offering one single praise. Admittedly a strong praise, but nonetheless, one that wouldn't pull me towards a postive recommendation today.

Placing negativity at a much higher bar than positivity would certainly explain why so many of my reviews are positive and so few are negative. Ever since I began writing reviews consistently, my requirement for a positive recommendation raised. Still, since then I've written 31 reviews, with 24 (77%) positive and 7 (23%) negative. A much better balance, but one that still feels positively biased.

Survivorship Bias

Ultimately, I am not a critic whose opinion is sought after. And unlike critics, I do not play games with the primary intention of reviewing them. I play games because I want to have fun.

This alone produces a strong survivorship bias. If a game is poorly received, I will ignore it. On the contrary, if a game is critically acclaimed, I will want to play it. Moreover, I must buy the game. So for me to review a game, it must overcome two² crucial barriers: I need to have interest in playing it, and I need to purchase it³.

All of this to say, a gap between positive and negative reviews is entirely expected. Should the discrepancy be at, say 60%–40%, I would doubt my ability to acquire good titles. Or I'd view myself as an elitist. Nevertheless, even after accounting for this survivorship bias, as well as my habit of unconditionally writing reviews, a gap of 77%–23% still feels rather wide.

2: Prior to my policy of always writing a review, there was a third barrier: I need to desire writing a review. My past self claims that I posted reviews for games that "stood out to me". I doubt this was truly the case, seeing that most of the titles on my greatest games list lack a review (see my Steam profile), while Shadow of the Tomb Raider possesses one. More plausibly, I wrote the review if I felt like it. After all, explaining why something is your favorite is a daunting task that I likely had little patience to do.

3: The two barriers correlate strongly. After all, why would I purchase a game I have no interest in playing? Nonetheless, one should consider that interest is a spectrum rather than binary. Same with price. Moreover, games have a reputation for deep, deep discounts, as high as 95% off. I will acquire even mildly interesting games at this rate. In other words, I act whenever the market price meets, or falls under, my perceived value.

Limits of Steam

A major critique with Steam's reviewer system is that it is overly restrictive. Opinions never fall into the "recommend" or "don't recommend" dichotomy. There is always nuance. After all, I certainly would not give a game like Machinarium the same level of recommendation as Hotline Miami. I enjoyed both, yet the former is a fun experience to pass time, while the latter is my favorite game of all time. In spite of this varying praise, both games contribute equally to my positivity score under Steam's system.

Nevertheless, it is wrong to renounce Steam's system as fundamentally flawed. When evaluating a new title, there is only one question I want answered. Should I play this game? As the reviewer, I am answering a related question. Should people play this game? The answer, of course, depends on the person asking. It would be quite idiotic for me to recommend Celeste to a person who hates platformers, for instance.

Yet it is impossible for me to address the nuances of the reader. I have no clue who they are or what interests they may harbor. So I must answer the question in aggregate. How I decide to average across those nuances is entirely my call. Anyone desiring details can simply read the review.

As such, using the positive-negative score to assess my positivity bias brings qualms. Aside from being reductive, it ultimately has a different interpretation. Of all the games I reviewed, I recommend the average⁴ person check out 82% of them, and ignore the remaining 18%. This isn't a direct assessment of my taste. Maybe I only play acclaimed games? Still, seeing that my exposure to video games is very broad, I feel as if it is related.

4: Keep in mind, I am the one defining "average". So more appropriately, this should read "I recommend my definition of the average person check out...". There's also the possibility that "average" is inconsistent across reviews. I mean, who else but visual novel fans will be reading my review for a niche visual novel?

The Bigger Picture

While the subject of this blog is video games, the issue at heart is my taste in media. A positivity bias seemingly implies that I have generally low standards. Although not inherently problematic, it makes me question my ability to discern mediocrity from excellency, or even good from great. If most things I come across receive the Daniel Seal of Approval, does the seal bear any value?

I think it's rather elitist to think this way. Surely my praise holds some value if it's backed up by a wall of text. Yet reading through positive recommendations that should otherwise be negative leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

At the end of the day, only ever offering praise is a sure way to cement mediocracy into everyday life. Criticism not only sharpens standards, it's the cause for growth. Through critique, we improve our mistakes and embolden our successes. Sometimes, that means admitting some people's hard work just isn't worth our time.

I guess my gripe with my positivity bias is I feel that, in some way, it empowers a mediocracy. I would hate my positive recommendations to be associated with a negative experience. Perhaps I think too hard into the matter. At the very least, all my reviews post-December 2024 are articulate and defensible. And my media literacy in general has definitely improved.