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A review by liralen
Rated by Melissa Grey
3.0
Imagine a sort of dystopia where everything you do adds to or detracts from your worth: you have a specific numerical score, one that can slide up and down at the drop of a hat (or the drop of a grade, or the whim of someone with a bit of power).
I was intrigued by the concept, but the execution of this rating system lacked finesse. It's so unsophisticated: anyone with an opinion can affect anyone else's rating.
From the corner of her eye, Bex noticed her father's hand flying to his own wrist. He tapped his screen a few times, and Bex's watch buzzed. He'd docked her. Her own dad had sent her a negative. (119)
Javi tapped on his smartwatch, pulling up Noah's rating page. He tapped the little plus sign next to Noah's name.
Almost immediately, Noah's own watch vibrated. He smiled when he looked down at the notification of a positive peer-to-peer rating. (135)
Her rating, docked to reflect her poor performance. The official judges were not the only souls sitting in judgment of Hana and every other skater who took the ice. Anyone in the crowd could weigh in. They could cast pity votes for skaters who fell and tried to rally. They could condemn the ones who failed to live up to whatever overused, bombastic music their coaches had saddled them with. Performing to Carmen or The Phantom of the Opera or Swan Lake was practically begging for a bad rating. (163)
So what we see here is that there might be a difference between peer ratings and (for example) teacher ratings, but...can you imagine? A big part of the plot hinges on people (gasp!) abusing the system, but the part that's actually surprising is that abusing the system isn't done more often. It ends up being a giant popularity contest, and a fickle one at that: in theory being at the top of your sport should be a good thing, right? But if an imperfect performance can send you plummeting, not because of your score but because the audience is in a shit mood...it's just a little confusing. In the real world, it would be sort of like having Taylor Swift lose not only public favour but also all her money and record deals every time the public didn't like the state of her dating life.
I still like the idea, but I'd have preferred to see a more complex system at play, where measurable action matters more than bitchy opinions and rating shifts mattered over time more than in the immediate.
I was intrigued by the concept, but the execution of this rating system lacked finesse. It's so unsophisticated: anyone with an opinion can affect anyone else's rating.
From the corner of her eye, Bex noticed her father's hand flying to his own wrist. He tapped his screen a few times, and Bex's watch buzzed. He'd docked her. Her own dad had sent her a negative. (119)
Javi tapped on his smartwatch, pulling up Noah's rating page. He tapped the little plus sign next to Noah's name.
Almost immediately, Noah's own watch vibrated. He smiled when he looked down at the notification of a positive peer-to-peer rating. (135)
Her rating, docked to reflect her poor performance. The official judges were not the only souls sitting in judgment of Hana and every other skater who took the ice. Anyone in the crowd could weigh in. They could cast pity votes for skaters who fell and tried to rally. They could condemn the ones who failed to live up to whatever overused, bombastic music their coaches had saddled them with. Performing to Carmen or The Phantom of the Opera or Swan Lake was practically begging for a bad rating. (163)
So what we see here is that there might be a difference between peer ratings and (for example) teacher ratings, but...can you imagine? A big part of the plot hinges on people (gasp!) abusing the system, but the part that's actually surprising is that abusing the system isn't done more often. It ends up being a giant popularity contest, and a fickle one at that: in theory being at the top of your sport should be a good thing, right? But if an imperfect performance can send you plummeting, not because of your score but because the audience is in a shit mood...it's just a little confusing. In the real world, it would be sort of like having Taylor Swift lose not only public favour but also all her money and record deals every time the public didn't like the state of her dating life.
I still like the idea, but I'd have preferred to see a more complex system at play, where measurable action matters more than bitchy opinions and rating shifts mattered over time more than in the immediate.