Understanding The Ratings GRADE assigns two letter grades to each game.  The grade by game type compares an individual game to other games in the same genre.  The overall grade compares an individual video game to all other games, irrespective of genre.  We use our own rating forms that contain about 200 question areas.  The results from the rating forms go into a spread sheet where they are compared and ranked against other games released over a one year period, yielding the two letter grades.  In addition to the two letter grades, we provide number scores in eight categories, explained below, to break down a game's strengths in useful categories. Classroom Facts is the category that most people think of first when they consider education in games. They are the kinds of facts taught in school, like George Washington was the first US president (history), copper and tin combine to make bronze (science), the Amazon River is in South America, (geography). Video games are a very visual medium so we award points for factual images such as real maps, game scores presented in tables and charts, national monuments and wonders of the world. History based strategy and shooter games can excel in this category, but there is an endless number of ways for designers to blend facts into video games. Creativity & Imagination is our measure of all things in a game that require the game player to express their creativity or that stimulate the imagination. Creativity is rated in two sub categories, by the player and by the designer. By The Player is a measure of choices made from a wide range of options, when game players are required to express themselves. It can be artistic creativity, such as designing the physical appearance of a game player's hero from a set of choices, or it can be very open ended, as being given the task of constructing a prospering city on a blank piece of land from a selection of hundreds of buildings, trees, roads, etc., with few or no requirements regarding what has to go where. By The Designer is a measure of creativity expressed by the game designers and its impact on the game player. You might think of it as measure of things "awe inspiring" where the designers have created something in the game that is so powerful that it stimulates the imagination and takes our breath away. We award points for originality, uniqueness, fresh treatment of the established, and all variety of things that make us stop the rating process and say, "Oh my, look at that!" Business Skills encompasses all manner of dealing intelligently with money and wealth. At GRADE we place a high value on learning to responsibly handle money, and points are awarded in this category for games that include some form of money management as a necessary part of success in the game. We consider buying & selling, trade, bargaining, gathering resources and dealing with limited supply, fixed budgets, profit and loss, mediums of exchange. Role playing games are often strong in business skills when armor, weapons, vehicles and skills can be purchased or traded and must be continually upgraded as the game player levels up. Sports games can be strong in business skills when played in dynasty mode, where players salaries, salary caps, merchandising and profit determine team success. People Skills center around teamwork, cooperation and practice with common human traits. Video games are increasingly played online, and game players are interacting with each other more than ever before. We award points for games where individual players benefit from working together with other players. For example, Massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) are often designed to reward players who form groups and work effectively together, permitting them to overcome obstacles that individual players would struggle to surmount. Perhaps more important, forming small groups, establishing friend lists, joining guilds, and making casual conversing all can and do, lead to the same interpersonal challenges that arise in the "real world". Some strategy games contain a wide range of mechanisms for assisting team members that go beyond merely sending a handful of troops to the rescue. Individual resources can be exchanged, wealth can be exchanged, units and buildings or cities can be exchanged, map information (intelligence) can be exchanged, physical war plans can be exchanged, and of course any information can be exchanged by typed or voice chat. We also award points for games that have AI characters that display particularly human traits in single player mode. Problem Solving includes all forms of challenges from tic-tac-toe through real-time strategy multitasking with simultaneous base building, resource gathering, army building and battle. Real time strategy games can rate particularly well in this category because once that variety of game is launched it requires nonstop multitasking in problem solving to win. As well as examining the variety and challenge of problems, GRADE takes a measure of how much game time is actually spent problem solving. For instance, games involve long periods of travel with nothing important happening rate lower in this category than games with something important happening all the time. Some role playing games rate particularly well when they involve constant optimization of character skills and equipment. Some action/adventure games rate well in this category when challenges of increasing complexity come one after another. Simulation is a category for rating games that are advertised as true simulation games because they are designed to be a faithful reproduction of something in the real world. The classic airplane flight simulator is the prime example, when every switch, knob and gauge in the cockpit is accurately reproduced and fully functional and when all the flight characteristics of the plane, the weather, airport layouts and geographical location are accurate. Games that are "arcade" style as opposed to "simulation" can earn points in this category if important parts of the game are simulated well, or when the game world is consistent. Points are lost for obvious lack of reality, such as jumping in the air and being able to change direction without landing or rebounding off anything, (a clear violation of the law of inertia). Popularity the most educational game in the world is of little value if nobody plays it because it isn’t fun. GRADE give points in this category for gross sales volume, critical acclaim and awards conferred by respected organizations. We can think of nothing better in our rating world than a hugely successful video game that is rich with educational content. Extra Credit GRADE does award extra credit points for aspects of games that while not strictly speaking "educational" are undeniably beneficial. A game strong in extra credit can raise its grade a maximum of one step, (from a B to a B+). This category awards points for anti-drug messages, diversity, tolerance, nutritional messages and similar items. Tips are any extra knowledge GRADE believes is valuable for the consumer.