[Cortex5936]

What is the argument of letting people vote without verifying if they played the game ? I get it since its the usual approach to movies, but when you are used to reviews through stores like Steam, it sounds a bit off (granted, people can buy a game on steam, leave a review and refund it but that's still less of a problem than letting everyone review). If there is an argument, would that still hold for Steam ? Can anyone review a Steam game even if they didn't play it ? I might have missed a lot so don't be too harsh

[advisedwang]

I think its about ergonomics of the review system, not that reviews of non-players are positively valued.

Review sites NEED reviews. Even unreliable reviews are better than no reviews. Otherwise you are dead. On top of that keeping users engaged in the review system drives revenue. All of this means adding hurdles like verification (however that might work for metacritic) or (for Steam) turning away reviewers because they played the game off-platform is a net negative for the company.