Interesting. If I don't like a game, I don't care what ratings it got... but I'll purchase it if it does get fabulous ratings. Take for example Mass Effect 2. Everywhere one looked there was nothing but glowing reviews of it. I played it and returned it without finishing it because I hated it. Did I buy Skyrim because it got great reviews? Actually, no. I bought it because I loved Morrowind, liked Oblivion a lot, and I couldn't wait to play the next game in the series. So, I guess you could call it a self-reference. I was going to buy the game whether it got good reviews or not... and I love it. Not because thousands of other people around the globe love it... because I love it. It matches my tastes and meets my requirements for a good game. Doesn't do the same for others? No big deal. I like black coffee. Not everybody does... but normal people don't write long dissertations about why they don't like black coffee on black coffee drinker forums then make statements that they only like black coffee because they are either uneducated children with ADHD or are sheep following the propaganda trailer down the road. Seriously, cat.
And black coffee isn't a video game that takes dozens of hours of gameplay to get the full experience out of, either. Poor anology is poor.
I wasn't talking about you, specifically, I was just saying that Skyrim was obviously designed for mass appeal, and I can guarantee you that there a lot of "newbies" out there who bought it only because of the hype and good reviews.