Bad Review vs. Good Reviews

[mearls]

As both a designer and a gamer I thought the review was well done. Not only did you give your opinion, but you backed it up with an explanation as to why you felt that way. When reading positive or negative reviews, I like to see enough info from the reviewer to understand where he's coming from. That lets me draw on your conclusions to come to my own, even if I disagree with the criteria you use.

Any review that gives me insight into why a reviewer liked or disliked a product is a big help.

As for the product ratings, I still staunchly maintain that the review database would be better off without them.

 

[jgbrowning]

the only thing im careful of when reading a review is whether or not the reviewer is panning a book because of what it isn't as opposed to what it is. I don't care about what expectations the reviewer had concerning the book, i only care whats in the book. Read your review, its good. Thanks for the review, all of them are useful in one form or another.

joe b.

 

[Numion]

Eh... we considered weighting, and the truth is, you can fiddle with it only so much. Making the average equal 3.00 by some method will only tell you so much. Actually reading the reviews, especially of reviewers who you have identified as having sound reasoning and/or views that compare with yours, is going to tell you more about a product that an arcanely formulated number with no real persepective attached to it ever will.

Of course. I just pointed out a flaw in the system. (Namely that a score of "Average" isn't really average, but usually means a bad product as far as d20 products go. )

 

[Sulimo]

Personally, due to my impression that ENworld reviews are generally warm-and-fuzzy I always go further afield when looking thru reviews to decide on whether a product is worthy of buying. In most cases, this means trawling thru the rpg.net reviews and forums...where people seem to be more willing to call a spade a spade. At least thats my impression.

Excellent review by the way Quasqueton. I hope you do more.

 

[trancejeremy]

On a 1 to 5 scale, you're generally going to get an average around 3.5. There's just always going to be more 5s awarded than 1s. There just aren't that many 1 quality products (and those companies that consistently put out 1 quality products, like er, Crunchy Frog, tend to stop putting out products).

(Curiously, I apparently have written 76 reviews for this place, and average a 3.5 exactly)

FWIW - I'd say that the staff reviewers here, Psion, Simon & Joe are quite fair. But I have some problems with a couple of the affiliates, especially the Magazine Rack people. They've never met a book they didn't like.

 

[trancejeremy]

Personally, due to my impression that ENworld reviews are generally warm-and-fuzzy I always go further afield when looking thru reviews to decide on whether a product is worthy of buying. In most cases, this means trawling thru the rpg.net reviews and forums...where people seem to be more willing to call a spade a spade. At least thats my impression.

Excellent review by the way Quasqueton. I hope you do more.

Cough!. You mean, the same RPG Net that ran warm and fuzzy reviews of Nobilis, one on which the author admits he didn't even read the book, just glanced at it for half an hour, then declares, it's the greatest game ever and everyone should buy it?

The best sort of review, IMHO, is when the review tells you why exactly they like a book, or why they didn't. What it's good points are, what it's flaws are. Then you can decide for yourself, if it's something you'd want.

That's why the staff reviews here are generally good, because they tell you why exactly they liked or disliked the book, and back it up. You might disagree with them, but they usually back up their views.

The Ultimate Feats review by Simon is something of an exception, but a collection of feats is not something easy to review.

 

[MerricB]

On a 1 to 5 scale, you're generally going to get an average around 3.5. There's just always going to be more 5s awarded than 1s. There just aren't that many 1 quality products (and those companies that consistently put out 1 quality products, like er, Crunchy Frog, tend to stop putting out products).

1 to 5 does give you problems from time to time. Personally, I thought RJK's Prisoners of the Maze was slightly above average as a module (serious flaws, but some great encounters), and would have given it 3.5 out of 5. Oops, I can't do that. So, I gave it 4 here, which is stronger than I'd like. OTOH, 3 doesn't express the fact that I liked the module well enough...

I prefer having ratings, however - although the review gives you the details, the rating does give you a quick idea of the product, and a comparison to other reviews (either of that reviewer or in general).

For instance, if I see Psion give a 1 to a product, then I know something is pretty bad.

(An excellent review, by the way!)

Cheers!

 

[Gizzard]

I think there is a good reason that products arent eligible for Top 20 status until they have at least 5 reviews behind them. I think its altogether good to post reviews (as you already did), and I wouldnt worry about being out of step with the majority until there is a quorum. ;-)

One thing that I notice about the review system is that the products that score the highest are products that appeal very strongly to a narrow fanbase. The 5 people who are ever going to buy the product run out, buy it, and immediately review it as a 5. No one else ever looks at it so, presto, instant 5.0 product.

A small number of high-rating reviews is sorta a warning sign to me. Look at the Top 20 - is it possible that Call of Cthulhu, Spycraft and Judge Dredd are all significantly better systems than basic 3E? I bet they are all fine products, but come on.

 

[Ukyo the undead]

Is every game mechanics in any d20 book OGL?

Well, reading this topic, a doubt come to my mind:

This book contain a colection of feats of several D20 books? PHB, R&R, etc.?

If positive the answer, am I right to assume that every game mechanic used by any d20 publisher are open game licensed and free for anyone using it?

Kind off topic, but...

 

[Archer]

I think part of the problem is that negative reviews are almost the only reviews that get deleted and almost all the positive ones stay and that more than half the reviews are by staff reviewers so a lot of diversity is lost.

I don't like "ultimate" books with everything about one aspect of the game because its quantity over quality. A few ideas are groundbreaking while the majority are extremely derivative.

I've toyed with the idea of doing an ultimate pdf that went for $5