Are reviewers evil?

[Carnifex]

I will say nothing further.

Truly perfect timing for that article to be dug back out again, nicely done Henry!

 

[Psion]

I should take a point to point out that I harbor no great ill will against FFE. I have talked with other people who work for FFE and have found some (like John Danovich) to be fairly pleasant and easy to talk to.

Further, I actually like some FFE products and have said positive things about them... which is part of the reason I find Jim's barbs so aggravating.

That being the case, please read any comments in this thread as specific rebuttals to the commentary in Jim's article that I feel was directed (at least in part) towards me.

 

[Tiefling]

However, I can't comment on his products. I opened 'Rings of Power' and 'Swords of Power', flush with cash ready to burn. I saw huge fonts, I saw scant content, and I saw items that appeared unbalanced in a cursory glance.

For the love of God, don't forget "Lidabmob."

 

[Luddite]

Since it is impossilbe to buy all gamming material, I will rely on reviews to help narrow down possilbe choices for my gaming dollar.

I would agree that Jim has some valid points, but he loses credibility in my eyes with the bitter tone he takes in the rant.

Suffice to say, finding trustable reviewers is as hard as find worth while items to buy. Many times, I will read reviews of products that I have already gotten to see if I agree with that reviewer. This way I can see if we are looking for the same things in product. Then in the future I can use their review as a good guideline on "Will I like this product?"

To that end, I find Jim's rant somewhat insulting that I, as a consumer, don't know how to look at reviews. And idealy every review should meet such ideals so the consumer does not have to think about the purchess he makes.

-The Luddite

 

[Richards]

I found it rather amusing that Jim Ward makes this statement:

Grammar and proof reading in a critic is almost as important as their review.

and then proceeds to make numerous grammar and proofreading mistakes in his column. First of all, in the quote above, shouldn't that be "are" instead of "is," as there are two subjects in the sentence?

More evidence, you ask?

How many game critics does it take to change a light bulb.

Surely that should be a question mark at the end of that sentence, no?

When a reviewer makes general statements its usually because they have nothing substantive to say.

You mean "it's" there, Jim - that would be a contraction of "it is."

Did the art increase the readers enjoyment of the concepts in the book?

Well, you got the question mark in there this time, but it should be "reader's" - note the apostrophe, it's a possessive.

There may be more, but those jumped out at me while reading through his 900 Words essay once.

Irony at its best.

Johnathan

 

[Larry Fitz]

Backing up Psion here, LI products get to the shelves as soon as possible, going from the printer to distributor to retail as fast as their feet will carry them. So reveiwers don't get a huge lead time. Frankly even if they did get a week, I'd be skeptical of a review that took nine days from receipt of product to posting, even if it was a rave.

I think in general the quality of boooks in D20 has gone up, and they deserve more attention in the review process. Also, there are precious few highly paid D20 reviewers out there. I assume most of them actually have day jobs. So how much of that nine days is actually spent with the product? As someone in the business of writing these books, my goal is to make the next one better than the last one. That's tough to do unless we get critical feedback. Luckily we have been getting critical feedback, even in the good reviews we've been getting. So we concentrate on improving the products, as long as we do that, someone will buy them, if they don't, then we weren't really improving were we?

Deadline looms large, see you all later....

Larry Fitzgerald


PS Wait till you see what I found out about "Amazing Grace"

 

[CRGreathouse]

Psion, I just wanted to let you know that I really do appreciate your reviews, especially because of your frankness. Even though we don't always agree on how good a product is (and we've crossed verbal swords over it in the past), I know when I read one of your reviews that you've read the prodcut thouroughly and your review is well thought out. I appreciate your viewpoints, especially when deciding what to buy.

On Mr. Ward:
I don't think that he really wants as much elaboration as he says he does. I still have my personal ENnie 2002 database, in which each product had tally marks for such categories as "rules error" and "typo/misspelling". (Many such products still have my original post-it notes with comments, in fact!) Would he prefer my approach?

 

[Eldorian]

If it comes across like a college calculus textbook to a non-math major and has issues with the game mechanics, then one should expect a less than favorable review.

I would just like to say that, as a math-major with only a few hours left on his degree, college calculus textbooks make little sense even to math majors. I appologize for this off topic post, but I must defeat the notion that we understand gibberish. We don't. We get the math, but the rest of it... Goes to show mathematicians aren't english professors.

Edit: after rereading your post, I believe you refer to us enjoying math textbooks, and there you are completly off =). We use textbooks as reference, and I have never read one for anything other than to looks something up.

Eldorian Antar

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

One thing he talks about that I agree with is reviews by people who haven't even played the game. When I go read reviews at RPG.net I'm amazed at the reviews that proclaim such and such game to be a must have then notice it's not a playtest review. If you are going to claim that a game is so good that every gamer must love it I would at least expect you to have played it once.

Gushing Fanboy - "Nobilis is the GREATEST game ever made!!!!!"
Me - "Wow sounds cool, so you've got a campaign going?"
GF - "No, but I read it, or most of it! I've never found anyone to play it. Actually I haven't played any games in a while, but I read a lot of them! The idea is so kewl!"
Me - *slap*

 

[Mark Chance]

First of all, in the quote above, shouldn't that be "are" instead of "is," as there are two subjects in the sentence?

* Puts on English teacher hat. *

Yes, you are correct. In a sentence with a compound subject in which the subjects are joined by the conjunction and, the verb takes the plural form. Thus, this sentence -

Grammar and proof reading in a critic is almost as important as their review.

- should be written: Grammar and proof reading in a critic are almost as important as their review. (Emphasis added.)

That critic and the review are being compared is irrelevant. The verb's number is based on the subject, not on elements of the predicate.

In cases where a compound subject uses the conjunctions or, either...or, or neither...nor, the verb is singular or plural according to which subject is closer to the verb in the sentence. For example:

Either Bob or the twins walk to the store daily.

Either the twins or Bob walks to the store.