| PDF said: My simple question for you is, What standard should VGC be held to to prove accuracy? We need more to go off of than ioi and the Source know whats what if we are expected to me more respected in the gamin community. Brett often uses the case that we fall inline to the other tracking firms. This is a fair standard but it should be open for criticism when we don't fall inline with others.(such as NPD) True that NPD can be off but there is no way to prove such. It is simply THEM vs US and they have better resources. Also what do we do for the places we don't have tracking firms. What should we use as a standard for those places since we largely use estimation and mathematical calculations for these places/ A simple standard that I felt was used up until now was official numbers we could use to prove the validation of our WW hardware numbers. Much more than not VGC global numbers fit with Sony/Nintendo/MS numbers when understanding the difference between shipped vs sold. I am not trying to flame our numbers or the site, just trying to get my questions answered. |
It should not be held to a standard. It is a free site which gives pretty accurate numbers on a weekly basis versus a monthly basis. The point of this site is that you get 4-5 reports a month rather than one. We fall in line with most other trackers but we do it more frequently, which is harder to do. That in itself is merit, and more than worth the price.
Like I said, NPD threads will most likely still be open for debate to take place. There is no limitation on that. Ioi is not putting restriction against saying "Hey, I think NPD is more accurate". Certainly, that is your right to say. However, there is no reason to keep bringing up what each company says is sold and saying that you have doubts about our numbers, or starting needless discussions about how you think our numbers should look.
While you bring up a good point about using official numbers to validate vgc numbers, you have to understand that these numbers fluctuate for many different reasons and a simple ratio based equation will never work in your favor. THinking that shipped number are supposed to be 2M at any given time or some other measurement is folly. Again, the problem is that people think they know better than ioi or source, and that is the root of all this frustration. Sure there will always be a need to explain how the numbers work, which is why I suggested that instead of a ban, there should be a warning and direction to read "stickied" forum notes, but I agree that recitivists should meet some penalty, not because I care about Brett, but because for every thread questioning the numbers, countless better, more interesting and relevant threads are bumped out of the hot topics list, and additionally, it creates an atmosphere of suspicion which I don't care to see either.
I started out a similar way, which is why I think people should get a more tolerable treatment. The shipped vs sold model was explained to me and I just didn't get it. Since then, I've tried very hard to help people understand in a manner that reflected the courtesy that I received. At some extent it does get very frustrating, and I'm really sorry that I once did it myself.
Also, last week, Mr. Dille of Sony said that sales numbers were such and such for 360 and PS3. Ioi kindly explained what Dille must've been smoking and yet the controversy continued with comments such as "let's wait for NPD numbers". I think it's kind of insulting, and relates back to your question above about what standard VGC should be held to. IMO, none of us should be allowed to hold VGC to any standard because that implies that they answer to us. Which they don't. They answer to whoever pays them. The numbers are always in line, they come out more frequently than any other, and they respond to comments and questions quickly and kindly without most of them even being paid to do so.
Lastly, it looks very unprofessional to have so many members trying to discredit the site. It is time to put a stop to it.
