I found myself defending this topic on another forum post and thought why not post another poll for everyone to weight in on?

And neither does its rating.

I much prefer to read the comments from other Geeks to help me research a game. Much more useful, much more useful information.

If I like a game and it works well with the people in my game groups, I couldn't care less what anybody else thinks about it. Take Dragon Delta for instance. I like the game, and everybody I've introduced to the game likes the game. It's great filler and a nice gateway game. Rank? About 1000th. And when it moves down one spot in the rankings, I'm not going to start a thread about it.

Initially it does when I'm looking to buy a game and I want to narrow down my choices. What I end up doing is reading the rules, reviews and the comments left by others before I decide if it's a game I would enjoy.

A good example for me is the game Camelot Legends. It ranks a 6.3 on BGG, I've ranked it an 8. If I had gone by the BGG ranking when trying to decide if it was a game I should buy, I may have decided not to buy it and would have missed out on what I find to be a very enjoyable game.

I heard it stated elsewhere that the best way to get an idea if a game will appeal to you or not is to find others on BGG that have similar gaming interests. Take a look at their gaming collections and see what comments they have on various games. If it turns out that you're in agreement with their comments, then chances are that their comments are a good gauge to use when deciding if a game will appeal to you or not.

I suppose it depends on your definition of "matter".

It's existence makes a difference to me because I'm more likely to notice a game near the top of the list than I am one near the bottom. When I see that, to pick a random one, Roads and Boats is at 55 then I'm curious what the game is about and why people like it so much.

On the other hand I'm not married to them. I know that I won't like some of the higher ranked games. If a game sounds like it might not be to my taste then the fact that it's #41 doesn't mean a thing to me. Positive buzz carries a lot more weight for me to try something than ranking though they'll usually coincide.

So you could say that it matters but I'm not really sure that what I mean by "matters" is the same thing you mean by "matters".

It does a little. If I see something interesting I tend to rip into it like a monkey on a cupcake. I've been told cooler heads prevail, though, so I figure a little research every now and then can't hurt.

I think the ranking/rating is important to me. Start at #1 and look at all the Top 100 games that fit my needs for # of players, time length, difficulty, etc. If I need a 2-player game to play with my wife who doesn't like long/complicated games, then I may be left with only 20 of the Top 100. From there I will read reviews, look at pictures, etc. Put in way more time than necessary. But I've found that I really, really enjoy researching games. Maybe even more than playing them.

So yes the ranking/rating does matter to me. It helps me start a search for a new game. Having said that, if I trust you and you tell me that a #984 game is worth playing/buying then I'll certainly look into it.

If you're asking whether I care whether Go passed Yinsh as the highest ranked abstract then the answer is what the hell is wrong with these people not at all. But the rankings are some of what makes BGG useful. I would ordinarily never consider buying a 2p-game about the cold war, that Twilight Struggle is rated so high, however, makes me sit up and take notice. I will probably try it if I get the chance, just to find out what all the fuss is about.

A high rating means something. Not always that it's my sort of game, but that really goes without saying.

This subject comes up a lot, and it's worth discussing. I am of the opinion that BGG ratings/rank are meaningful and useful but not oracular.

A previous thread where I talk about a lot of the details:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/146451

To reiterate the dominant point:

Except for games in the (roughly) top 100, given two games, one 50 ranks higher than the other, 60% of people prefer the higher ranked game.

In the top 100, the curve is steeper, and even a 30 rank difference yields about a 75% preference.

For dramatically greater ranking gaps, the preference rate rarely gets above 90%.

60% or 75% preference is far from meaningless, but far from definitive. Unfortunately, people tend to treat them as either meaningless or definitive and they are neither.

I think it leans more towards meaningless, myself. I think some users (particularly new users to the site) may take for granted that the rankings are determined by the BGG users who rate their games. In other words, the rankings are based on data that represents a niche (those who rate their games) inside a niche (BGG users) inside a niche (board game web sites) inside a niche (board gaming).

On top of that, the definitions for each rating are vague (and often aren't even followed by the raters), so what the numbers represent is unclear.

So the rankings are based on data of questionable validity from a biased sample. I guess it probably means something that Ticket to Ride is rated higher than HeroQuest, but what? So the average BGG rater might prefer Ticket to Ride over Hero Quest for some reason. Who is "the average BGG user" and what does his/her unexplained preference matter to me?

EDIT: Though I think the rankings are trivial, I recognize the relevance/influence the rankings have on me and this site. The higher a game's rank, the more hype/exposure it has, the more likely I am to stumble across the title, the more likely I am to research it, the more likely I am to build an interest, the more likely I am to buy it.

The the other thread I went into length, why there is not good solution to changing the system. I indicated that it matters somewhat to some people and gives a general gauge. I answered that it mattered in the poll, because I find them interesting. But, that doesn't mean I give them great weight. They are just a tool. And to some extent they give us something to talk about.

Let them be and move on.

I take a game's rank and rating into consideration only as a guideline as to whether or not I want to find out more about it. If a game has a rating of 6.5 or higher, which is about equal to the top 1000 games, I'll start reading peoples comments on it to find the pros and cons. But other than that, I could care less as to which game rates higher than another or some such.