Truer Words...

I don't generally comment on reviews, but let me quote this one from Feb. 24:

I've learned that you cannot trust the ratings on the App Store. This game is FAB in the lite version. And the paid version is even better. I don't think people know what LITE means or they don't read. 

- "Xultar," Feb. 24, 2009

I know it's human nature to believe the App Store star rating system (I catch myself doing it), but I'm afraid what reviewer Xultar says is really true: the star ratings don't reflect the quality of the apps, and you shouldn't trust them. 

What seems to happen consistently is that an app will start out with high ratings, and then, almost always, the star rating will trend toward three stars - regardless of the actual quality of the app.

This is especially the case since Apple started essentially soliciting negative reviews, by requesting that users rate an app but only when deleting it. Especially in the case of free apps, it seems a pretty plausible scenario that many people will download a free game/product (what the heck? It's free, right?), play with it for ten seconds, discover that this kind of game/product is not for them, and discard it, with a low or indifferent rating. But unfortunately, the system is biased to solicit their opinion; so once an app is "discovered" and many people start trying it, the rating tends to lower significantly.

The point of this entry is not to complain (especially since Moonlight Mahjong has in general been well treated), but simply to point out that you should take the star ratings system with an extremely large grain of salt. Try reading some of the actual written reviews for a product, before you decide whether it's worth your purchase or download. (It's worth pointing out, though, that even written reviews can be unreliable, especially for newer products. Early reviews of a product may come from friends of the author, or employees of the company; it is even known that some unscrupulous developers have paid to obtain a large number of positive reviews. These scenarios were never the case with Moonlight Mahjong or perhaps many products, but it does happen. Frequently.)

As unreliable as the system is today, App Store reviews are still pretty much the pulse of the whole product ecosystem; so all reviews are appreciated. Well, to be honest... I would have to say that the vast majority of them are appreciated. There are always a few that are, rather obviously, not thought out very well. But you can probably tell those when you see them, if you're paying close enough attention.