EDIT, and HUGE UPDATE: This is no longer a problem.

Apparently it's regular practice to switch the default filters back to Smart near the end of the rating period, and this has been done.

I apologize for my ignorance of this common practice, and for my potentially blowing things out of proportion. A combination of factors led me to believe that perhaps the only way I might be able to get these games rated is by putting the message out there like this, and, well, it worked, so I guess I wasn't entirely wrong.

In any case, much thanks to @pov for pushing out the changes. Everything should be well on its way now.

And, of course, now responsibility to get your game rated goes back to you -- if your game does not yet qualify for ranking, and you want it to, you best start rating some games.

There is a small-scale epidemic of games and users that are stuck in a very unfortunate predicimate: they have exactly zero real ability to get their game to twenty ratings.

Why? It's really quite simple: Ludum Dare is actively directing traffic away from their games.

Here's what's happening: the website is currently set with the Danger filter as the default filter for the game page. Users are actively encouraged to use this filter to rate games, and that is what they are doing.

But there is a huge problem with the Danger filter: it contains no variables that the author of a game can influence. There is simply no way for an author of a game to get on to the Danger filter without getting ratings, and -- here's the catch twenty two -- there's no way to really get ratings unless you are on the danger filter.

This leaves a set of users, such as myself, in a limbo where they can rate and rate and rate, and get very little return. It is important to note that it's not quite zero, but it's close enough -- I have been in the top eight of the Smart filter for the previous 10 hours, and have only received two ratings on my game as a result. See also this game, which has an absurd amount of given ratings for its pitiful 8 received.

Of course, a lot of the blame for this problem lies on myself and other similar users. But it is really frustrating to know that rating is still open, and yet there is nothing you can do to get ratings on your game -- despite the fact that there are people out there still actively rating games.

Because there's no way that the website itself is going to help out, simply because there's not enough time to discuss the relative benefits of having Danger games rated versus having games like my own rated, I have decided to take matters into my own hands.

Here's my plan: I will create a list of games in this situation on this post. Please comment if you are in a similar situation. The plan is then to have all associated users rate each others games. Hopefully there will be enough interested users that everybody's game will be rated.

I also am asking for about 15 other users to perhaps join in -- that is, stop rating Danger games, and start rating super-endangered games that have tried to participate in the rating themselves.

Note that I have not actually asked any of the other users in this list whether they will participate in this effort, so although I have noticed a couple of games in this situation and will be listing them here, I do not guarantee that any of these users will rate others' games.

Also note that some of these users have not yet rated twenty or more other games -- I'm using my own judgement to guess whether or not they are actively committed to participation in rating. I've tried to list the ones that have not yet rated very many games at the bottom.

Also note that the second game listed is my own, so be aware of any biases I might have. The ordering is otherwise mostly random; please try to rate these games randomly as well -- with the possible exception that games with a lot of ratings should be somewhat lower priority, as they are more likely to be caught up in the Danger filter. Of course, they should not be ignored, because nothing can be relied on in this situation.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/super-huber
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/defense-2150-bc
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/refuse-to-lose
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/dunk-slimes
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/bloc
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/ninja-guyden
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/adventure-of-temple
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/i-just-hate-my-fans
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/42-lightyears
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/heavy-heist
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/cloak-and-dagger
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/ingredients-of-insanity
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/please-let-me-die
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/jade
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/hesperidian-trees
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/virus-and-boom
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/blind-trust (card game)
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/kitten-keeper
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/wired-network
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/inversiosynthesis
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/greed
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/attack-of-the-killer-zombie-veggies-from-outer-space
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/40/asteroid-aversion

Note that this list is basically just the entire front page of the "Smart" filter, so you could also try rating through there directly. I'm sure there's a whole bunch more games out there like this, but these games are the most imbalanced, according to Ludum Dare's filters.

If you are one of the games on this list, please rate the others. If everyone on this list rated everybody else's game, we would all have twenty ratings. I certainly will try to rate all the games on this list that I haven't yet rated.

I will try to mark out the ones that have reached twenty ratings as the day goes on.

Finally, to reiterate, if you are in this situation, please leave a comment.

Thanks so much.