Yatsufusa 2025-04-05 20:13:55

As a regular user, I experience the polar opposite of what you describe: It seems absolutely impossible to get ratings below 3.x unless it looks as if the uploader sneezed, wiped their nose and uploaded 'that'. At times, even the 'daily picks' look like 'participation awards'. From what I hear, even games that do not work get lifted out of the 'Under Judgement' section unless they are named "Test 1" or something.
And of course you cannot forget simple "loops" of "artists" mashing expressionless 3D barbie dolls together, that will likely get a 4.x rating...

People who have thousands of followers will, _of_course_, get higher ratings, but that's like complaining that certain artists are famous and others are not. Their pieces get more attention from "fans" than from passerbies, which tips the scales towards a 5.0.
Heck, even stick figures can get 5.0 ratings if the only people who take the time rating them are rl-friends of the artist. I've seen that often enough.

I am not making the claim that 'every single good submission' gets the 'good' rating it "deserves" in my eyes. But in general, our community has the palate and rating sense of toddlers: As long as an upload features 'something' they like, they will rate it 5. And more often than not, the review sections _will_ reflect that.

Taste is 'of course' completely subjective and I do _not_ "blame" users for liking what they like - and neither do I despise them for 'not' liking the things 'I' like.
But I would encourage them to rate a bit more sensibly: Not everything 'you' like has to be "the best thing ever"/"the worst thing ever".

Just for reference, here's how 'my' decision-making process for rating looks like:
https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/post/goto/27999364
I don't say you have to 'do as I do', but it might provide context.