2020 Alternative Top 100

Recommendations by Denk

(Created 24-Jul-2020)

The purpose of this list is not to compete with the IFDB Top 100 but to provide an alternative view, which makes sense for some games.

Philosophy:
1. If a game only has 5-star ratings, it is because the game hasn't received enough ratings.
2. Games with few ratings can still be among the best.
3. Sometimes the average score is the best metric.

In the time of writing, no game with 5 or more ratings has only 5-star ratings. Therefore the threshold is 5 ratings. Thus, the 2020 Alternative Top 100 was found as This search - but the search algorithm has been modified in 2021 so I cannot apply my philosophy without writing a program or something like that.

EDIT(26Jul2020): The game "Rogue Star Rescue" has been removed from the list as it is a commercial arcade game, which has been artificially upvoted.

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Lance Campbell, July 25, 2020 - Reply
Thanks for providing an alternative view. This is such a big data set to consider. It's always interesting to see a different take on it. Definitely going into my browser bookmarks.
Denk, July 25, 2020 - Reply
I'm glad you find it interesting :-)
jcompton, July 24, 2020 - Reply
In which AMFV teeters on the edge of elimination but a LISP tutorial is more than 10 places higher. That's intriguing.
Denk, July 24, 2020 - Reply
The list is far from perfect but there exists no "correct" Top 100. There are far more than 100 great games on IFDB so I don't think it is a natural law that AMFV should be in the top 100. I haven't tried "Lists and Lists" but it has 23 ratings, an average score of 4.3 and it is present on IFDB Top 100 too, even though many great games are not. But again, no list is perfect.

I guess a list like this can be used to find great games, which deserves more attention.
jcompton, July 24, 2020 - Reply
Indeed, not a natural law. Obviously this is the last major snapshot when it will appear on such a list at all, the upcoming comp entries will see to that. Just a thing that jumped out at me from the tail end of the data.
Denk, July 24, 2020 - Reply
Yes, it seems quite likely that IFComp will produce 2-4 games each year that will manage to get on the list and these will push out some older classics. This moment might be postponed slightly if the threshold is raised to six next time since nine of the games only have five ratings. However, I will only raise the threshold if necessary, i.e. if a game with five ratings or more only have 5-star ratings. That is how I select the threshold.
MathBrush, July 24, 2020 - Reply
You know, Hansel et Gretel definitely deserves its spot in the list. That is a great game. And Study in Steampunk and Slammed are both top notch choicescript games. Not bad! Now I want to try 'We know the devil'.
Denk, July 24, 2020 - Reply
If you manage to find an entertaining game from the list, that you haven't played before, the list has already served its purpose :-)

And if not, the average ratings of the games you try will be adjusted by your ratings to a more fair value.
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