with all the houses out there, i came up with a system to help me give what i feel are fair ratings of the houses i see, so i don't have to agonize each time over what i liked or didn't
first things first, if your house is empty or has fewer than 10 objects, i'm going to rate a 1, the lowest rating. you didn't really even try.
also, if it's obvious that you're just showing off expensive items you bought with money, i'm not impressed, and anyone with money can do what you did. i won't give you more than a 2.
now, for the categories:
decorated house this category needs to look good in a traditional sense. decoration is about poise. no clutter. no nonsense. what you put down needs to look like you meant to put it there, not just emptying your backpack. if you clutter your decorated house up and it hurts my eyes to look at it, i'm probably going to give you a 2. if you really put some effort into lining things up nicely and making a good presentation, probably a 3. if your house is pristine and perfect, a 4.
magical house magic is about creativity and originality, testing the limits of your imagination. you can bend the rules in magical houses. this doesn't mean clutter though! if it's just clutter, trees, and pets, i'm going to rate a 2. if your house shows me new, creative ways to use objects or captures a sense of a cool magical realm, i'll rate 3. if your concepts blow me away and show me things i would never have thought of, you get a 4.
crazy house there are no rules in a crazy house. if you want clutter, you can have it. if you want a million pets, ok. being crazy is about freedom, and showing your visitors how zany you can be. still, if it's all just madness and nothing makes any sense, i'm not going to get anything out of it, so i'll rate 2 or 3. if your madness makes a cool statement, or if it has a remarkable overall feel, i'll rate 4.
maze house almost self-explanatory. a maze is about controlling every aspect of your visitors' experience. bad mazes are cluttered, repetitive, don't have a goal, are too short/too hard, or are poorly made with objects that accidentally prevent you from finishing. i'll rate 2 in those cases. if it is well constructed and generally makes you feel accomplished, a 3. if there are cool endpoints, prizes, and multiple paths, without being overly repetitive, i'll rate 4.
with all the houses out there, i came up with a system to help me give what i feel are fair ratings of the houses i see, so i don't have to agonize each time over what i liked or didn't
first things first, if your house is empty or has fewer than 10 objects, i'm going to rate a 1, the lowest rating. you didn't really even try.
also, if it's obvious that you're just showing off expensive items you bought with money, i'm not impressed, and anyone with money can do what you did. i won't give you more than a 2.
now, for the categories:
decorated house this category needs to look good in a traditional sense. decoration is about poise. no clutter. no nonsense. what you put down needs to look like you meant to put it there, not just emptying your backpack. if you clutter your decorated house up and it hurts my eyes to look at it, i'm probably going to give you a 2. if you really put some effort into lining things up nicely and making a good presentation, probably a 3. if your house is pristine and perfect, a 4.
magical house magic is about creativity and originality, testing the limits of your imagination. you can bend the rules in magical houses. this doesn't mean clutter though! if it's just clutter, trees, and pets, i'm going to rate a 2. if your house shows me new, creative ways to use objects or captures a sense of a cool magical realm, i'll rate 3. if your concepts blow me away and show me things i would never have thought of, you get a 4.
crazy house there are no rules in a crazy house. if you want clutter, you can have it. if you want a million pets, ok. being crazy is about freedom, and showing your visitors how zany you can be. still, if it's all just madness and nothing makes any sense, i'm not going to get anything out of it, so i'll rate 2 or 3. if your madness makes a cool statement, or if it has a remarkable overall feel, i'll rate 4.
maze house almost self-explanatory. a maze is about controlling every aspect of your visitors' experience. bad mazes are cluttered, repetitive, don't have a goal, are too short/too hard, or are poorly made with objects that accidentally prevent you from finishing. i'll rate 2 in those cases. if it is well constructed and generally makes you feel accomplished, a 3. if there are cool endpoints, prizes, and multiple paths, without being overly repetitive, i'll rate 4.
Your 'decorated house' system is kind of harsh. You do realize that a lot of children play, yes? And decorating, like art itself is subjective. Be nice... if they have attempted to decorate, even though their bookshelf or floor is full of stuff, I would give a much better rating than 2. As for 'lining things up' again, not everyone sticks a couch in a linear line along a wall. I personally love angles. Good thing I don't have any of my houses in this thing for 'rating.'
And at this point, if there are less than 10 items, the house shouldn't even be up for review. I thought that change had already been made.
What about the bundle castles that are bought with money? Do they get an automatic downgrade, no matter how nicely decorated, because they were purchased? And what about the Crown Shop castles that can be purchased with either Crowns or Gold? How do you know how someone obtained those particular castles? Same with the Crown Shop housing items that can be purchased with either Crowns or Gold? How do you know how people obtained those? You're free to judge castles according to your criteria, but I'm not understanding your prejudice against people spending their own money. And I'm also not understanding how you can magically discern whether something was purchased with Crowns or Gold. Since I'll never get a higher rating than 2 stars from you, I'm going to stand my Wizard in front of a Decorative Cannon and press X repeatedly.
look, not everything gets to be spectacular 4-star. if everybody gets a 4, then ratings are meaningless. look at these as the reasons i use for giving less than 4.
also, no, there are still lots of houses with fewer than 10 items. (it should be fixed in the next update.) and if you want to know if something was bought with crowns, simply look in the crown shop and note that certain items can only be bought with crowns. some players like to show off their buying power with these. if that's you, well, i know what you're doing and i don't personally like it.
and when did this turn into a let's all criticize this guy's strategy thread? how come no one else posts their reasons? i know for a fact that other people have criteria too. i read one girl say she rates 1 for any house that requires you to use a teleporter.
