Talk:Commander Keen

Goofs?

I think it might be an idea to mention (in a new section) that the stated IQs of Keen and McMire are not in accord with real-world practice.

1) The Stanford-Binet scale (which AFAIK is both the classic IQ scale and the most commonly used one) only runs from 30 to 170 (due to mathematical reasons regarding the normal distribution), so ultra-highly intelligent people are ranked as "170+" (too high to measure).

2) The further away from the average IQ of 100 someone is, the fewer examples of that level there are, hence the scarcer the data regarding that level and thus the harder it is to nail the level precisely. Keen might have an IQ estimated as "around 300, give or take 15" (because 15 points is the standard deviation of the Stanford-Binet test), although even that is somewhat dubious, but there's no way (even if it were an on-scale result) that it could be such a precise result as "314".

What does anyone think? — RobertATfm (talk) 19:22, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

I don't think it's a goof. I think it's an exaggeration for comic effect. Just like how they made out that an eight-year-old is capable of building a space ship, or that there is an advanced civilisation living on the surface of Mars. It's all part of the jocular nature of the game! -- Malvineous (talk) 01:34, 18 April 2015 (UTC)

Fair enough. This possibility is why I posted this to the talk page, instead of editing the article directly. — RobertATfm (talk) 07:16, 18 April 2015 (UTC)