Rank Inflation: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

In video games, rather than mark the player on a simple success/failure scheme, it is common to [[Gameplay Grading|give the player some kind of rank]] (e.g. bronze, silver and gold medals, or grades A+ to [[F Minus Minus|F-]]), depending on their performance. This allows casual players to coast through and simply get the bare minimum required to pass, while those who want a challenge can aim for the gold medals.

 

Compare [[Harder Than Hard]], [[Random Power Ranking]], [[Score Screen]], [[Pinball Scoring]], [[Up to Eleven]], [[Serial Escalation]]. When it's a reviewer doing this, it's [[Broke the Rating Scale]] (Type 1). Contrast with its inverse, [[F Minus Minus]].

 

* The magical power scale used in ''[[Lyrical Nanoha|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'': there's F for those without any magic power, and then E- for those with a bit, going up with plus and minus qualifiers through the alphabet until rank A, which is considered the elite, and going ''further'' to AA, then AAA, then S, SS, and SSS. The difference between AAA and AAA+ is canonically pretty substantial, which makes most of the cast of the first two seasons (who are estimated to be in the AAA ranks at the time) stupidly overpowered, because of this the next season had [[Power Limiter]]s become a major element of the story.

** Mage Rank covers skill, not just power. In ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS|Striker S]]'', Teana holds Rank B, however, she demonstrates the ability to create spells (specifically, the Variable Bullet) that are normally used by Rank AA mages.

* In ''[[Kiddy Grade]]'', the [[Nanomachines]]-based superpowers are ranked by class: C (Copper) is the lowest, S (Silver) is high, and G (Gold) is the highest. The protagonists of the show are C class but {{spoiler|actually, they are G class, just suppressing their powers along with hurting memories that come with them. Their [[Da Chief]] is also G class, by the way.}}

* Also used in ''Zoids: New Century Zero''. Other ''Zoids'' series? Not so much...

** Only Rin? Hardly. We're up to about six or seven of them now, which implies that it is becoming devalued and an SS level is likely to be discovered soon.

* ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'' joked about this in its first chronological episode, when Taniguchi ranked every Freshman girl from D to A. His favorite (Asakura Ryoko) was ranked AA+.

* The [[Mahou Sensei Negima]] manga alludes to a ranking system for combat Mages which promptly falls into this, with ranks going from an unspecified low end up to SA. The only AAA ranked fighter so far (Fate), apparently has a [[Power Levels|power level]] of around 3000, with Negi being at around 500 (an A class), and later 2600 or so. Naturally, soon afterward this turns out to be the low end of the spectrum, with Rakan ranking the demon from Kyoto at 8000 (and by extension Evangeline is at least 8000, probably higher) and himself at ''12,000''. Oh, and {{spoiler|Fate is likely over 8000 as well}}. Then you have Nagi and the Lifemaker, who are both more powerful than Rakan... Of course, Rakan made up the [[Power Levels]] himself, and [[Meta Guy|Chisame]] [[Lampshade Hanging|points out]] how arbitrary it is. But it doesn't change the fact that the Combat Rankings don't really mean much.

* ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' has a sorta kinda version of this. Normal jobs are just jobs. No ranking whatsoever. There are really tricky ones ranked "S" though (no one seems to know what the S stands for). Later, to make a character seem that much cooler, they say he can also take "SS" jobs, and was assigned something even more impressive "The 100 year job" {{spoiler|Unfortunately, he failed because of outside circumstances and had to go home. The interruption was a black dragon eating some limbs and internal organs when he wasn't looking.}}

** Note that capture level refers to how easy it is to retrieve an edible sample; there are many fragile but harmless ingredients with high capture level. (Like the aforementioned Puffer Whales, which are like Fugu, but improperly removing the poison bladder make the whole body poisonous, and is located in a different spot in each one.

* During a trip to an amusement park, Shana of ''[[Shakugan no Shana]]'' uses her powers to cheat at a swordfighting virtual reality game, maxing out the score counter and earning a rank of SSS.

 

* In ''[[Kyon: Big Damn Hero]]'' Tsuruya gave an S rank to Kyon's speech when she asked him if she should learn about the supernatural in the SOS Brigade.

* In the ''[[Daria]]''/''[[Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' crossover series ''Legion of Lawndale Heroes'', the myriad powers are ranked on what's known as 'the Claremont-Byrne scale' (an obvious [[Shout-Out]] to [[X-Men|one of the writers' favorite series]]). The C-B scale is based partly on the power scales used in the X-Men films (Classes One through Five), with an series of levels within each class (Marginal, Low-grade, Mid-range, High, and Extreme).

== Film ==

* In ''[[A Christmas Story]]'', Ralphie daydreams that his teacher was so bowled over by his essay that she ecstatically awards him an A++++ while his classmates cheer.

 

== Literature ==

* In ''[[Discworld]]'' there are eight levels of wizardry recognised by Unseen University, but some foreign wizards try to make themselves look good by inventing extra levels, sometimes as high as 23. (This is actually a [[Retcon]] to explain why a foreign wizard in ''The Colour of Magic'' described himself as level 15).

 

* In ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]'', you get rank improvements when you use item synthesis enough times. The best equipment doesn't become available until you achieve Rank S. Also, the rankings for the Gummi Ship levels can, for the second courses, go far beyond S Rank by adding numbers to the end (i.e. S++10).

* In ''[[The World Ends With You]]'', Noise battles are ranked from E to A, depending on how many hits you got in, how quickly you dispatched them, and how much damage you took, as well as other criteria. If you get a near-perfect rating, you get the Star (or S in the Japanese version) rank.

* ''[[Dragon Quest Monsters]]'' games use letter ranks for a battle arena of some sort and/or for the monsters themselves. In ''[[Dragon Quest Monsters Joker]]'', ranks go from F (lowest) to A, then up to S and up again to X (highest). Few X-ranked monsters are available in normal play.

 

* In rhythm games rank inflation is generally justified. While difficult songs tend to follow the A-is-good D-is-poor system, when it comes to easy songs without rank inflation an A could mean anything from a relatively poor to a perfect score, making the rank system pointless in those songs.

* ''[[Dance Dance Revolution]]'' has AAA and AA rankings. Getting a regular A isn't that hard. Getting a AA required a full combo in 5th Mix. Getting a AAA (prior to DDR SuperNOVA 2), however, requires a literally perfect run.

** ''DDR SuperNOVA 2'' loosened the requirements on a AAA to 99% score, while a perfect run now earns you an AAA with a gold circle mark, plus the results screen will show "Perfect Full Combo" overlaid on it.

** a commercialized version of [[StepMania]] known as ''[[In The Groove]]'' had '''seven''' ratings above A+: S-, S, S+ and one to four stars (however, the percentage score does top out at 100.00%).

** Avoided in ''Dance Dance Revolution 4thMIX'' and its derivatives (''4thMIX PLUS'', ''Extra Mix'', and ''Konamix''), which has a very narrow grading scale: D for failing a song, C for doing somewhat poorly, B for any good score that is not a Full Combo, A for a Full Combo, and AA for a perfect score; a mere five grades. If you miss a step and pass, you're guaranteed to get only a B or a C, whereas in newer mixes you can get any grade between D and AA even if you miss a step, since grade is determined by a hidden points system rather than combo.

* In [[Osu]], the grades of performance starts from D, then C, B, A, S, and SS at the highest (SS means 100% accuracy). And if one uses Hidden or Flashlight mod when playing, they can get a silver S or SS with the usual requirements, written as SH and XH (respectively) in the "Historical Statistics" section of a player's web profile.

 

* Meta-example. Fighting game [[Character Tiers]] are often labeled as such with D usually being the lowest, then C, B, A and finally S for the highest of the high. Some games will have characters as low as F rank or characters considered so strong that they're ranked as S+ or SS rank. Please note that while characters ranked as high as S+ and SS can sometimes be considered [[Game Breaker|game breakers]], not all of them are banned from tournaments.

* ''[[Fatal Fury|Garou: Mark of the Wolves]]'' had rankings that started at B, went up to A, AA, and AAA - but then went even further with S, SS, SSS, and eventually capping off at MIRACLE rank.

** If you lose the first match, your overall grade is G (and your score is zero). It's possible to get G for an individual stage, but it has to be an absolute whitewash. (I've seen some massive drubbings that still managed to get an F.) MSF is a major plateau but far from impossible. There are no tricks to it; you just have to know the engine inside and out, be able to take on anybody and anything, and execute flawlessly. The grades get more generous the further you go, so if you totally dominate Gill, it's possible to get MSF for both that fight and overall.

* ''[[Street Fighter IV]]'' ranks players AAA through F on Offense (landing hits and dishing damage), Defense (blocking, avoiding damage, minimizing damage), and Technique (landing successful combos) after the end of each match.

* ''[[Dungeon Fighter Online]]'''s rank system for clearing dungeons is based on how well you can pull off combos, with the lowest being F and the highest being SSS.

 

* Both used and inverted in the later ''[[Project Gotham Racing]]'' games, which have not only platinum medals, but also steel medals ranked below bronze.

* ''[[Crazy Taxi]]'' grades you on a E to A scale, with a Class S License being even better than that. And an "Awesome" is even better than that, with "Crazy!!!" is the highest possible rating.

* ''Need for Speed High Stakes.'' The absolute lowest rank for cars in the game is a B (think BMW Z3 and equivalent), and the highest? AAA with an example being the Mclaren F1

 

* The (in)famous[[Nintendo Hard|(ly difficult to obtain)]] "S++" score ratings in ''[[Ikaruga]]''. Interestingly enough, the lowest starts with only a C.

* Warblade has an interesting ranking system. You go up a rank whenever you collect one of each of the six normal rank markers (the indigo marker that appears if you get a specific secret actually ''takes away'' ranks instead. Like three of them. And it moves uber fast so you might get it before you can react. So be very careful.) along with a million-point bonus. There are a lot or ranks, with the very highest of all having difficult, additional requirements. Here are all of them in order:

** Ensign

** Warblade Champion (unlock by completing two hundred levels without missing any bonus levels)

** Warblade God (unlock by unlocking the six god badges, then get all thirty secrets in one game)

* Instead of scores, ''[[Star Raiders]]'' gives the player a rank and a class based on his performance and the difficulty level. While getting "Star Commander" is a noteworthy accomplishment, getting "Star Commander ''Class 1''" definitely grants bragging rights.

 

* Joanna Dark in ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' scored so well on her entrance exam that the Carrington Institute gave her the titular rank.

* In ''[[Doom (series)|Doom]]'' and ''Doom II'', the end-of-level screen gives out three percentages: percent of secrets found, percent of items collected, and percent of enemies killed. However, Doom II's final level features a boss that continually spawns more enemies while you try to kill it with rockets. Once you beat the level, the enemies killed number just keeps going up, reaching well into the thousands.

* ''[[Halo]] Reach'' has a total of ''fifty'' ranks for you to progress through. [https://web.archive.org/web/20111211200453/http://www.halopedian.com/Rank_(Halo:_Reach) You can find the full list here]

 

* Rare's ''[[Donkey Kong]]'' games used a percentage completion rating that never stopped at 100%. DKC 1 stopped at 101%, DKC 2 stopped at 102%, and ''[[Donkey Kong Country]] 3'' wasn't complete until you had 103%. Collecting enough DK coins in ''[[Donkey Kong Country]] 2'' elevates Diddy Kong above Mario in video game hero status...right.

** Actually ''DKC3'' went up to 10'''5'''%. The [[Last Lousy Point]]s required [[Guide Dang It|inputing codes]] for a [[Self-Imposed Challenge]].

** This happens in-universe in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'', in which {{spoiler|Naked Snake, for defeating The Boss, is awarded the newly-created rank of Big Boss (even though she actually allowed herself to be killed by him, so he hadn't truly surpassed her at all)}}.

 

* This sometimes extends to military ranks in games that award their players with such, when general/admiral is not quite high enough.

** Before [[Player Versus Player|PvP]] ranks were removed from ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', Marshal, Field Marshal and Grand Marshal ranked above "Commander" in the Alliance, and Warlord and High Warlord above General in the Horde. All of these very high commissioned officer positions are, of course, deployable in the field.

* SSX 3, being in a tournament setting, has bronze, silver, and gold. If you do ''really'' well, you'll get a platinum medal instead. Notable because the game never reveals the score needed for getting a platinum medal.

* ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' has a terrain expertise ranking (for both characters and mecha) which scales from D (practically useless) to A, and then S, although this is merely an aspect of gameplay and not an accomplishment.

* "S"-rated weapons in most later ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' games, a ranking reserved for [[Infinity+1 Sword]]s. (They go from E, D, C, B, A, then to S). ''Radiant Dawn'' adds "SS" to the list, with S pretty much becoming the rank for [[Infinity-1 Sword]]s. With a few exceptions such as Ike, the S and SS rankings carry the restriction that any given unit can only achieve a single S-rank in a single weapon type, with all the other weapon types available to them able to go no higher than A as a consequence.

** ''Radiant Dawn'' goes to eleven overall. More missions, more levels and class changes, more characters and the highest stats this side of the entirely broken ''Genealogy of the Holy War''.

* ''[[SUGURI|Acceleration of Suguri]]'' awards ranks based on how well you do in a fight, going E, D, C, B, A, S, and P. Getting a P rank requires the player to take no damage during a fight, which, being a bullet hell/fighting game, is no easy task.

* The ''[[Galaxy Angel (video game)|Galaxy Angel]] Gameverse'' has an [[Stat-O-Vision|Intel]] option which displays the stats of every [[Cool Ship|Ship]], both yours and your opponent's, such as "Offense", "Armor" and "Evasion" with values going from E to A with the corresponding plus/minus modifiers.

 

== Web Original ==

* ''[[SCP Foundation]]'' has officially three object classes: "Safe" (e.g. a three-sided cube), "Euclid" (e.g. a three-sided cube that you can drop objects into and have them turned inside out (don't put your hand in there!)), and "Keter" (e.g. a three-sided cube that moves when you're not looking at it, sporadically sucks in surrounding air at a very high pressure, inverts objects like Euclid-class, and sometimes spurts out a highly bioactive substance filled with destructive microbes from another dimensional reality for no adequately explained reason). They also have a series of "K-class" scenarios, the most frequently-mentioned of which is the XK "end of the world."

* The [[Anti Cliche and Mary Sue Elimination Society]] formerly ranked [[Mary Sue|Sues]] and [[Marty Stu|Stus]] on a scale of one to eight. Now, it operates on a one to ten scale, with ten being damn near omnipotent. For reference, ''one'' Level Nine Stu was able to whoop almost the entire Society. '''He was the weakest of the Level Nines.'''

* Shown [http://journal-of-murazrai.xanga.com/756337304/page-109-random-chaos-fighters-tidbit-4/ here] as used in ''[[Chaos Fighters]]'' with [[F Minus Minus]].

 

== Western Animation ==

* In the [[South Park]] episode ''TMI'', the official average size was lowered so far that basically every guy had one that was above-average.

* In one episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Homer became a restaurant critic for a newspaper. The editor eventually complained that all of his reviews were over-the-top gushing praise, and as an example pointed out a recent article he'd written where he gave a restaurant "9 thumbs up". This prompted Homer to get mean and snarky, and one of his later reviews said "I give this restaurant my lowest rating ever: 7 thumbs up."

 

== Real Life ==

** D (ages 18 and up)

** Z (ages 18 and up only)

* Ah, Starbucks. Coffee sizes start at Tall, then Grande, then ''Venti'', because apparently no one just wants a small goddamn coffee.<ref>There ''is'' a Short size (8 oz.) that you can order most drinks in; they just don't list it on the menu.</ref> Then they came out with a Trenta size, which is even larger than the Venti size. It holds 31 oz (910 mL) of liquid, or two-and-a-half the capacity of a typical human bladder. For true caffeine addicts!

** [[Neurotically Yours|A certain squirrel has taken a notice to the same problem]].

* At the height of the [[Cold War]], both pro- and anti-nuclear campaigners were fond of pointing out "overkill factors" (how many times over the world's nuclear arsenal could kill all the people on Earth). The number peaked at around ninety.

** A theoretical war that actually used all this firepower was apparently referred to in strategic circles as a "Bounce the Rubble" exchange.

*** Particularly notable in that the clock was originally intended to have "fifteen minutes to midnight" as the safest possible setting, so its being set to seventeen minutes to midnight from 1991 to 1995 is the most direct application of this trope.

* The U.S. Department of Agriculture food quality ratings can go up to grade AA.

* Similarly the professional English football leagues used to run from first through fourth divisions, however as of 2004, leagues run 'Premier league', 'Championship', League 1, League 2.

* Martial artists often want to stay a rank ahead of their students in order to maintain "master" status, leading to ranks as high as 15th dan becoming commonplace in more popular styles.

** However the thirty-three ranks go back over two hundred years.

* In many US states' high school sports, the schools are grouped into classes based on size, since most often the big schools with deep benches have a significant advantage over smaller ones with smaller talent pools. In most states these are A, B, C, D, etc with A at the top. Indiana was one of the last to implement one, and theirs go A, AA, AAA, AAAA, with A the smallest.

** These also have plus and minus grades for a total of twenty-two different ratings, and the accepted "passing grade" for investments is BBB.

** Of course, the revelation that these triple letter rankings were created to make bad debtors look better by moving the curve and allow some companies the opportunity to manipulate their value for profit at the cost of the debtor's credit value without suspicion (and be the major cause of the 2010 Global Financial Crisis) makes one wonder if that sort of thing should be allowed.

* The Boy Scout of America ranks are Scout, Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star, Life and Eagle. Eagle Scouts can wear combinations of Bronze, Gold and Silver palms by earning merit badges beyond the twenty-one required for Eagle Scout (although gaining palms doesn't mean much as compared to becoming Eagle).

* The English/Welsh GCSE system uses the usual A,B,C,D,E,F grades, with a A* over and above the A. Originally this was intended to indicate exceptional performance by an A-grade candidate, but is now universally considered the top grade. Since the introduction of the modular AS/A2 level to replace the A-level it has also become more common to attain several A grades at A-level too, leading some to call for the introduction of a A* at that level also.

* Rampant in the auto industry; the usual practice is to introduce a new top-of-the-line trim level every few years (to much fanfare) and (quietly) drop base models that become unpopular- the 1957 Chevy Bel Air was the most extravagant car Chevy made that year; by [[The Seventies]] the Bel Air was a bare-bones fleet model. "LE" was originally the top trim level of Toyota Camry; currently it's the base model. Even legendary trim names are subject to this: the "R/T" name was, for a long time, the top-of-the-line trim for Dodge's muscle cars, but now this distinction is for the "SRT" models.

* The United States military has added on higher ranks for generals and admirals as the need has arisen. George Washington himself only ever wore three stars. Ulysses S. Grant was the first to have four stars, but the title was such that would have made it five stars. The rank was retired after the last of the three generals died, reducing the max rank down to major general. World War II required creation of five-star ranks to be standardized. In 1945, the US government created, but never awarded, what would have been a six-star rank for Douglas MacArthur in anticipation of the invasion of Japan. George Washington was later awarded that rank posthumously and retroactive to July 4, 1776, meaning that no officer ever has or ever will outrank Washington.

*** Not quite. It's not necessary to have a higher rank than someone to outrank them. First, there is the concept of "time-in-grade" meaning that, between two or more officers with equal rank, the one who has held that rank the longest is considered to outrank the others. Second, an officer of any rank may be placed in command of any other officer by order of the President. (As the President is Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of The United States, his whims are the final word in matters military. He could place a 2nd lieutenant just out of boot camp in the position of Commander in Chief, Europe, and all American forces in Europe would have to follow that lieutenant's orders.) Thus, there is no reason to assume a six-star rank for Pershing.

* In certain schools, certain teachers don't give out "D" grades; fall below the cutoff for a C(-) and you fail.

* Credit cards have added new prestige ranks (gold, platinum) as the old ranks became commonplace. Right now the biggest difference between a silver, gold, and platinum card is the color, with titanium looking to be the next level. Also both Visa and Mastercard have a level over Platinum (the Signature and World cards - guess they ran out of metals)

* The final exams of Finnish high schools have gone through multiple iterations of this. Initially, there were three passing grades and maximum of six exams. Only a small percentage of the population took the exams so one who passed was considered a learned person and the getting the six Laudaturs (the best possible grade) was a sign of genius. The grade limits were based on percentages so when number of students grew new grades had to be introduced (Oddly, Laudatur remained the best, three were added below it) but the number of Laudaturs still grew. Then the students were allowed to take the examples over multiple years, enabling more foreign languages and improving grades from previous years. The final step was that the Real exam (i.e. everything that is not a language or mathematics) was split into multiple exams. As the result, the famous six Laudatur grade is now quite common and the current official record is ten (the unofficial eleven was split between too many years).

** Likewise, the possible grades used to be Laudatur (excellent), Cum Laude (good), Approbatur (passed) and Improbatur (flunked). During the years, three new grades were introduced: Lubenter (passed decently), Magna Cum Laude (very good) and Eximia Cum Laude (almost excellent).

*** [[YouTube]] has changed this, swapping to a Thumbs-Up/Thumbs-Down system.

*** On Newgrounds this is actually considered good manners, after a fashion; five is "I liked it, thumbs up," and zero is, "I wish the creator had been aborted so I would have never seen this". Voting something in between, however, is apparently a sin that is beyond forgiveness.

* [[wikipedia:Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy#Titles used by the imperial family|The Byzantine Empire]] got very, very good at creating pompous titles. Towards the end of its history "Augustus", the title of the old Roman Emperors, was being awarded to the equivalent of interns, while the people the emperor actually ''liked'' would get to be called things like [[wikipedia:Protosebastos#Protosebastos|Augustus First Class]], [[wikipedia:Sebastos#Panhypersebastos|Beyond All Augustuses]] or [[wikipedia:Sebastokrator|Emperogustus.]] In a strange inversion, however, the most prestigious title of all was simply [[wikipedia:Despot (court title)|Lord.]]

* In Australia, bushfire danger ratings were Mild, Moderate, High, Very High, and Extreme. Following the 2009 Victorian Bushfires, a new category of "Catastrophic - Code Red" was added.

* Aggregate review website [http://www.metacritic.com MetaCritic] adjusts its scale specifically for games. Movies, TV shows, and music have a ranking division of 81-100, 61-80, 40-60, 20-39, and 0-19. The games on the other hand have a harsher division consisting of 90-100, 75-89, 50-74, 20-49, 0-19.

* In a show of [[Genre Savvy]], this is completely averted by the Gemological Institute of America when grading the color of diamonds: a completely colorless diamond is ranked D on a scale that continues downward to Z (prior to reaching the point where you actually want a colorful diamond). The logic was that, by starting with A, someone would claim an A+ to better it, and then you'd continue on to get this trope, but nobody in their right mind would go out of their way to claim a super-colorless diamond was ranked C.

* The minute of angle (MoA) system for measuring firearm accuracy (how many 60ths of a degree a firearm's shots can spread. Lower is better.) works out to roughly 1 inch at 100 yards. It has been in use for over one-hundred years and being able to hit 1 MoA was originally a mark of a specially modified rifle with dedicated ammo. Now, thanks to precision manufacturing and better understanding of what makes a firearm accurate, even cheap mass produced bolt actions have to be measured in ''fractions of'' MoA measures, specially accurized rifles can obtain a 10th of MoA (1/600th of a degree).

 

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[[Category:Video Game Rewards]]