Please add a feature that allows for "kid-game specific" ratings.

I suggest the following method: Allow users to enter two sets of ratings for each game, one for grown-ups and one for kids. Then make it easy to filter according to one or the other type of rating in the Advanced Search.

There are lots of people out there (like me) who want to find good games for their kids. But right now it's nearly impossible to find good kids games on BGG using a search. This is because of all the grown-up-centric ratings. It's common to see this kind of thing: "My kids love this game, but I find it boring so I rate it a 4 out of 10."

When you do an Advanced Search filtered according to children's games, you do get a list of games sorted by rating. However, some games have artificially low ratings (grown-up-centric) and some have deservedly low ratings (they are just lousy games). Only by opening up each game's page and reading lots of comments can you tell which case it is.


I think this feature would add a lot of value to BGG. The more we can do to promote kids' games the better. Kid gamers become the grown-up gamers (and game buyers) of the future.

    This is a fine concept, but I'll be honest with you. There's a whole crowd here on BGG who simply cannot conceptualize that there is a difference.

    Part of the problem is the written definitions for each rating value on the scale that many users seem enslaved to. They simply insist that if they don't want to play the game then it gets a 3, in spite of it being glaringly obvious they are not the targeted audience for the title. They see rating it in any other way as somehow destabilizing to the rating system and taking away from games designed for older players. Some are quite passionate about it and staunchly defend their position in threads like these.

    In my opinion all games should be rated based upon each raters opinion of how well they serve their target market. If you aren't sure of how well a game does that (i.e., you aren't six-years-old and don't have young kids in your life) then just don't rate it. Not rating the game is also a concept they have difficulties with.

    God help us all if this site takes off with seven-year-olds -- "Twilight Struggle? No electronic controller? This game SUCKS! It gets a 2."

    A "Fun for Kids" rating would be great, although I'd be curious to see if people could keep their hands off of it when it was appropriate to do so.

    kidgameratings.com

             Sag.

I agree with Sag about how people should rate games in the eye of the target audience, however, most BGGers seem to have a problem stepping outside their own point of view (which is only natural).

I suggest that any game with the "Children's" genre checked off (and that's a problem in that some aren't and some that shouldn't be are) have another of those autopolls. It would look something like this:


For the astute among you, that's a 0-5 point scale with a vote for "not applicable." From that, we could get some interesting and valuable content added to the Kid Corner of the Geek.

    Jeeze, add just one more line for 17+ and that poll would apply to all ages for all games.

    Now I feel bad that I didn't bid your copy of Mississippi Queen: The Black Rose up higher on eBay.

             Sag.

I thought of that, but that would step on the toes of those folk who blindly follow the 10-point scale text descriptions. They might not be able to handle grades of 0-5 and N/A, so I left the original rating scale for "adults."$60 was good enough for something I played with once and would probably never bring out again. :)

This would be a very cool idea as long as voters could do this honestly.

Good point.

Maybe a user should have to "opt in" to the Kid Corner of BGG one time (like you have to agree you're 18 or such to get into the Chit Chat forum the first time). Then, only those people who opt in on the "Account" page would even see these age-specific polls and data. That way, those who don't care about kid ratings would never see them.

Aldie, what do you say?

I've put this idea out before. Glad to see there are others looking to make the push again.

If we can have a sub-division for war-games vs. games in general, no reason we can't make a separate rating for kids' games. There are an abundance of good children's games, like Walk The Dogs, that parents (and other relatives) should know about and consider before plopping down $15 on a cheap "Dora the Explorer Candyland." Those of us who are interested in promoting quality games (vs. the standard Wal-Mart fare) to a wider audience, should seriously consider promoting high-quality children's games that are more likely to inspire future interest in games of all kinds.

I agree. I use Mark's KGR a lot and my ratings there are substantially different from my ratings on this site as I am rating for kids there and for adults here.

It would be great to have both in one place.