First off, as I post this, the two most recent reviews are one-star reviews on (1) Pathfinder Roleplaying Game (OGL) Alpha Release PDF, and (2) Dungeons & Dragons -- 4th edition Core Rulebook Collection.
Reviews are meant to help people understand if a product is good for them; not whether it was good for you. So can we give the 1-star "reviews" which are thinly veiled rants a rest? There is no reasonable way to objectively review 4E (or Pathfinder RPG, for that matter) and give it a single star. You don't like it...we get it. But that doesn't mean it sucks. If you want a legit one star gaming product, go dig up some Fast Forward "material."
One last hint: If your review took 30 seconds to type, or contains the "clever" regret that you couldn't give less than one star, it probably isn't terribly useful to prospective buyers of the product.
Some how I don't think this is the kind of product where peoples buying hinges on the number of stars the review has.
Reminds me of the reviews for The Bible over on Amazon - a lot of people with extreme positions and very little, eh it was OK but...
Some how I don't think this is the kind of product where peoples buying hinges on the number of stars the review has.
Reminds me of the reviews for The Bible over on Amazon - a lot of people with extreme positions and very little, eh it was OK but...
While I agree that reading a review is probably not going to be the deciding factor for many, I think it is still reasonable to expect a certain level of objectivity and balance. Otherwise, what is the point?
For example, if I found myself (as an atheist) reviewing a bible on Amazon, I would focus on objective matters of quality (printing, binding, etc.), price, and had I the linquistic skill, the accuracy of the translation. I recognize that posting a one-star bible review based on my religious beliefs would be useful to exactly no one. Is it too much to ask that others make a similar distinction?
|
I hated alot about 3.5e and so apparently did people who cheered when 4e was announced but noone went out of their way to put down those products like they have for this edition. What changed since last summer? I think maybe the hype and timing was wrong for this game.
Also I'm sure there has been objective complaints about 4e's publication, be it poor printing, art, format etc.
I hated alot about 3.5e and so apparently did people who cheered when 4e was announced but noone went out of their way to put down those products like they have for this edition. What changed since last summer? I think maybe the hype and timing was wrong for this game.
Also I'm sure there has been objective complaints about 4e's publication, be it poor printing, art, format etc.
Yeah, there surely is some bad stuff in 3.5 (they add weight to my shelves and help anchor them to the ground).
I think the biggest backlash against 4th Edition, quite honestly, comes as a result of Wizards PR and ad campaign early on. Insulting the players of older editions instantly created bad blood, and made many people look at 4th edition with subjective hatred instead of objective optimism.
Now that the edition is out, I would hope that this attitude would shift, and more useful reviews could be had.
As to the OP's first post: Well I agree, if you're going to review something don't take an "I hate this already" approach to it. Give us something meaty: how game mechanics work, how fluff if present is written, how it works with other books in the system (if it's a supplement) what the learning curve is. One bad review, especially if it's a rant against the product won't change my mind. Several... well that's different. But make it a review and not a rant.
I hated alot about 3.5e and so apparently did people who cheered when 4e was announced but noone went out of their way to put down those products like they have for this edition. What changed since last summer? I think maybe the hype and timing was wrong for this game.
Also I'm sure there has been objective complaints about 4e's publication, be it poor printing, art, format etc.
Maybe not on this board, but there were plenty of accusations about putting down products (not just tied to 3E) without justification on ENWorld. It was one of the reasons they started requiring more substantial reviews before posting them for everyone to see.
But what do you expect from reviews that anyone can freely add to? You get cranks of all stripes. You just have to hope that there's a reasonably even distribution of them both pro and against that will, in the long term, balance each other out. I certainly have seen plenty of people who actively bump up their rating to counterbalance negative reviews. The only way to prevent it is to install moderation, and even then, you will see people sneaking a loaded review in but couched in reasonable terms.
A person could well give 4E a one-star review and be perfectly honest about it. A review is largely subjective to begin with. A person given such a review (or any other rating) should have reasons and arguments stated to support their opinion, but in the end it is an opinion and these will vary widely. Banning or arguing against posting a negative review isn't a good solution.
I noticed the 1-Star reviews as well, and I made sure to read them all. For the most part, they seemed to follow the same pre-release rants that we've been seeing for almost a year now.
But I guess that's okay.
What I didn't enjoy finding in the reviews were people attacking other people's reviews.
I just have a problem with reviews that have no substance. The one star review of the DMG that says "Complete waste of money" pisses me off. Y'know, could you elaborate a bit, I mean I really like my money and wouldn't want to waste it, but I'd like to know why.
There's also that one guy that gave everything five stars, but no real review. I appreciate his help, but I'd like to know why.
Contributor
|
I have particularly noticed that some of the one-star reviews are basically drive-by trolls. I'm not saying that I value a person's opinion based solely on the number of posts they've made on the Paizo boards, but when someone shows up and makes one review that is a rant against [insert game here] and never posted before that (and never comes back), then I can only assume that they are spamming every website they can with that crap. It's really annoying, but I'm sure those people will never see this post.
I doubt those reviews will seriously affect sales, but it annoys me on principle.
|
|
To be honest I usually don't pay much attention to 1 star or 5 star reviews. Most of them are just ranting one way or the other. That and I pay attention to see if it's someone I know. So if Russ Taylor (as an example) says it's crap, I'm probably going to believe it more than some random guy who shows up for 1 post.
Wow. Now we even have one-star reviews of 4E products that haven't yet been released. Charming.
|
Completely agree. I was (I believe) the 4th reviewer of 4th Edition (COOL!), I personally didn't like playing the game and probably won't buy it, but I felt obligated to point out that some people might like certain things about it, and the game certainly delivers what the designers intended. I gave it 3 stars, with a breakdown in the review.
Of course, there are several 5 star reviews as well, so it goes both ways. But the 1 stars are definitely less explanatory/helpful to prospective buyers.
It reminds me of my friends who are like "don't buy American cars, they suck". Depends what you want in a car.
|
I'm sorry that you don't think the one star review was justified; however, many reviewers, including myself do.
The real problem isn't the one star reviews, it's those followed by one sentence such as "It sucks" or "WotC sucks." On the other hand, you try to be substantive in only 400 words. It works reasonably well when you have generally positive comments, but it's damn hard to do when you have a litany of complains and problems with the system. The end result is that it comes across vague, but that's more of a problem of the design of the review software.
All I can say is: "If you disagree with the reviews, write your own."
The real problem isn't the one star reviews, it's those followed by one sentence such as "It sucks" or "WotC sucks."
I think we all agree on this. The OP isn't complaining that 1-star reviews exist... he's saying that the content of some those reviews aren't all that good or helpful.
The same applies to the 5-star reviews that don't say anything concrete.
|
Wow. Now we even have one-star reviews of 4E products that haven't yet been released. Charming.
See that's just wrong and should get the poster banned. I want honest reviews. The Rabid Fanboi wars shouldn't be carried over to reviews of the product. Perhaps Paizo can do something that would only allow people who have bought the product online at Paizo to review the product. I am sure that it is way too much work but it would be nice to have.
Except people try to buy products they know they will like. Or already have positive leanings towards. Pay to review is not cool. Maybe they could just stop letting people post reviews ,or moderate said reviews like they do the forums.