Wednesday, February 10, 2021

5/10 vs 6/10 Score

 In the commonly used point system the way most people seem to envision it, assuming they aren't using a 4 point scale where 6 is bad, 8 is decent and 10 is everything they like, is that 5/10 and below is bad and 6/10 and above is good. It's not hard to see why that's the pretty intuitive way to view it. The bottom half is bad and the upper half is good.

However that's not quite how I view it. To me 4/10 and below is bad, 7/10 and above is good, and 5-6/10 is like it's own category that is in between. The reason why is because almost everything I view ends up as either a 5/10 or a 6/10. I would say that of everything I watch about 80% of things are in that middle category of "I don't have strong feelings either way on this". I feel neutral about most things and it surprises me that this is seen as the odd taste. To me it seems intuitive that you wouldn't feel very strong about something unless you have a strong personal connection or strongly against something unless it hits a personal nerve. 

With all that said, 5 and 6 are different scores and in a way the distinction between the two is the most important distinction as by far the majority of content would be here. They both simplify to a 3/5 score, a score indicating that I enjoyed it once but have no desire to rewatch or seek out more. It is above the 2/5 where I simply didn't enjoy consuming it and below the 4/5 of "I would actively seek out more of this and would take the time to rewatch it." So what is the difference between the two?

A 5/10 is a score I use to indicate that I consider something just a time-waster. It's closer to the dull 4/10. A 5/10 experience is the same level enjoyment I would get playing a game of tetris waiting for something, it's a series that fills the time perfectly adequetly but which I probably won't remember in 24 hours. It's the same to me as eating food just to not feel hungry.

A 6/10 score is a score I use to indicate that there was something special about it. The whole of the experience isn't special or great, but it's got something I care about after 24 hours. It's got a really good character or scene or has a really interesting worldbuilding. A 6/10 is something that I think starts to reflect my tastes because it's something that means more to me then just "that sure filled the time."

It's the difference to me between a series like Devil Hunter Yohko, a pretty generic (outside the ecchi first ep) magical girl series from the 90s that I watched and didn't think much of, I remember 2 scenes fondly of the 6-episode run, vs Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, a magical girl series that has a villain I love (Mikeru), some good characters, a relationship dynamic I care about (Hippo's), some scenes I still remember, and some interesting worldbuilding, even if it was repetitive and annoying with it's tsundere romance cliche. 

Both of these scores to me indicate that something that is just fine, but the difference is that 5/10 is "just fine" in that it serves it's purpose and not much more whereas a 6/10 is a series that I consider pretty good and even if I had signifigant problems, there are still numerous things I can point to and say "I liked this, this was good."

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