The conjecture is based on mathematics. If the majority of ratings are 10 out of 10, most raters don't have the ability to rank a future game higher than Gloom

The conjecture is based on mathematics. If the majority of ratings are 10 out of 10, most raters don't have the ability to rank a future game higher than Gloomhaven. Because it's amassed so many 10s as rankings among its fan base, rating another game as a 9 hurts its chances of being on the top of the BGG rankings, which is a shift from previous ratings distributions of top games. But yes, as the tail gets longer, we should expect to see more lower ratings assigned to Gloomhaven. What the author didn't do was compare to other top games early in their release cycle. I'm not sure how much effect this will have, though -- gamers are grognards, not so strongly influenced by the new and shiny as most people.