It means, "This game is as good as the best game I've ever played and ever will play".

I wish more public ratings systems were thumbs up-thumbs down. You get a better overall score that way. I mean, here on gog, 4 stars means 'be careful'.

That's only one valid point of view, there are others... To me it's as follow:
Game rating vs number of stars
0 - 20% = 1 star
21 - 40% = 2 stars
41 - 60% = 3 stars
61 - 80% = 4 stars
81 - 100% = 5 stars
So we can assume that a lot of people have different definitions and that's why rating is pretty confusing. I guess it would be better with 1 - 10 points.

That would definitely not be my interpretation, so one might say the same (as the topic title) about you.
Personally I see 5 (or 100%) as being a perfect game, an instant classic for the ages.
Which is also why I never have nor never will give that rating to anything.

This isn't very useful. Many people wouldn't be able to use this rating for any game on GOG.

The scale is pretty simple to grasp:
1 - awful
2 - bad
3 - average
4 - good
5 - great
What presents more of an issue is establishing just what "average" means ;P. I think such a benchmark would be a lot more useful than a 5-star benchmark game...
On the other hand - there shouldn't be any 1-star-worthy games on this site, and 2-star games should be really rare, IMO.

The user review system is a joke anyway. It's a wretched hive of fanboys, haters, spammers, scum and villainy.

If I want to know if a game is good or bad, I'll ask someone I know.

Always the optimist.

New System:

Bad = forget about it

So, So = eh, forget about it

Great = OH! Forget about it!

But Ghorpm, what I'm saying isn't an interpretation - you can't give a better rating then five stars. So lets say you give five stars to a game that's 81%. You then come across your all time favorite game. When you go to rate that game, it doesn't strike you as incorrect in some way to give it the same rating as the other one?

Or:

Bad = Forget about it

Meh = Make up your own mind (preferably by demoing it or 'demoing' it)

Great = Most people will enjoy this.

That is kind of how I view ratings systems anyway :P

I don't know of I agree with this post but I'm giving a big +1 for blowing my mind. :D

I think we need 2 separate ratings. One that any member can vote for, and a second that only people who bought the game on GOG can vote for.

I'd love to see a rating for a game like Omerta from people who actually bought the game, without a bunch of haters who automatically 1-starred it because they disliked that GOG was selling it, or that DLC started showing up for it.

But keep the old rating, too. So that people who already owned games like Amnesia can vote for it without having to buy it again on GOG.

Who cares, play the game yourself and make up your own mind.

Getting others opinions is fine but that isnt always the be all and end all.

If you're going to read a review, do yourself a favor and completely ignore the numerical rating.