Sorry for another Grading Question: For WATA CIB Grades, is a 10.0 even possible?

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7 hours ago, DaddyRambo said:

It indeed DOES NOT exists to anybody who doesnt work there. Ive seen self graded 10s, but Ive been trying to get a 10 grade for years, They WILL NOT give you a 10, if youre an outsider. It just will not happen and to prove it, I got 2 people in Nevada who work in the video game industry. After my buddy got done making nba 2k22, he got one FRESH OFF THE PRESS. Got it sealed, and came to my house in IL so we could try it out cause he said it was PRESTINE and he watched it go down. So we packaged that thing like a baby (so it wouldnt get damaged during transit), im talking about so much padding you coudve thrown a fucking grenade at it. Seal was perfectly straight up and down across the middle of where you put your fingers to open the case, bottom folds looked IMPECCIBLE! STILL 9.9 A++ SMH.... Same thing happened after they got done with Crash 4, my other bud told me he got one of the very first production "completes"(cartridge,case,insert,shrinkwrap.) Perfect condition, but 9.9 A++. 

I 100% hate to try to play WATA's side of this (even as the original person who asked this question) but you must realize that the shrink wrap does not affect the number grade, it affects the letter grade.  In that context, you got two perfect grades pf A++.

I don't know what WATA's standards are for rating what they view under the wrap but my guess is, in context of disc games, it's probably things like how perfectly cut is the insert or, how aligned is the printing layers on the document.  When the insert was put in the case, was it perfectly straight.  If you have a DVD case, there's a gap from the insert each side of the insert pocket, are those gaps uniform on both sides of the game?  When molded plastic like cases are made, there can be very minor manufacturing flaws that no normal person would notice, but you can see if you look for them.  Are there any of those minor flaws like, tiny, filament sized pieces of hanging plastic, etc., etc.

I'm not saying they are weighing any of those metrics but on a 1.0-10.0 scale that is practically logarithmic, that 10.0 should be set aside for something that is truly as perfect as anything could become off of an assembly line.  Of all those fresh games that are made, I'd say if you did that same process 20 times maybe one of them should be a 10.0.  This isn't because they want to hold 10.0 for themselves (though again, they might now, or might have until the company was sold off) but because you want to hope that a 10.0 truly represents the standard of perfection in such a way, that it can't get any better.

I'm not standing up for WATA but I am standing up for objectivity.  When we want to accuse organizations of doing something illicitly wrong, we can point out evidence that allows us to speculate the problem, but evidence like yours is a bit anecdotal.  I hear your story, and it's one worth cataloging, however, it's not pure proof that WATA won't give out 10.0's.  It could be because of that or it could also mean that something as small as the game insert being very-slightly turned at an angle and only noticed if you look at the game with a thorough, intensive eye.  If that's a metric they use (and I'd bet it is) then, boom, it drops to 9.9.