I hate that being in the terra ignota fandom means I can’t good faith look down at the hogwarts houses thing anymore
Mapping schemes are mapping schemes, but quality does make a difference. The Hive system is pretty good at getting at something interesting; the Hogwarts houses as written are maximally terrible conceptual pigeonholes, they actively destroy information when you try to apply them. (Fandom has tried hard to redeem the system, but at the very least it’s an uphill climb.)
Hives also have the benefit of being chosen and changeable rather than being assigned by a telepathic hat
fight me
I’ll be honest: the Sorting Hat is basically the only good thing about the Hogwarts system. I have to assume that its sociological genius is accidental, because Rowling doesn’t employ that kind of snarky cleverness deliberately, but it is genius.
Mapping Scheme Appliers – personality tests, initiation ceremonies, etc. – are so insanely compelling to so many people precisely because they offer an “objective” confirmation of your identity. For those who don’t know what they expect to get, they have the experience of learning something about themselves, instead of just floundering in their own threadbare ideas. Much more importantly, for those who do know what they expect to get, the sorter provides validation. It’s like getting a diagnosis for your Weird Mental Condition. You get proof that you are the thing you believe yourself to be. Everyone has to believe it! You get to believe it, without feeling like you’re just telling yourself what you want to hear!
Everyone in the wizarding world, and also all of us in the real world, would find the House system a lot less convincing if it didn’t come with some kind of Sorting Hat.
But the Sorting Hat is explicitly an empty algorithm that does whatever you tell it. If you push it to sort you into House X, it’ll do just that. So if you don’t have a preference, you see that the System is Wise, and if you do care, you get to have the Wise System back up your preexisting beliefs. Everyone gets to feel more happy and special about his House, about his identity, at no cost. It’s pure cynical brilliance.