So I kickstarted something called Last Starfleet cooperative Adventure card game. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wickedgringames/last-starfleet-cooperative-adventure-card-game I'm fine with kickstarter, but this one give you the option of paying more and getting a review copy. Is this a good thing? Get a copy after the game is funded to write a review? Should reviewers have to pay for products? I write some reviews, but I'm not doing it for a job. Should real reviewers have to pay for their products?
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Pay to Review?
- Thread starter biotech66
- Start date
Crothian
First Post
I have been paid to write reviews. I've been given free product, discounts off products, and gift certificates/cash. In this day with so many fake reviews out there is it tough to know what is a real review and what is just someone posting a review to pump their product or hurt their competition. Small companies though can find it very difficult to get a review on their product. They just want to get noticed and get the word out about them any way they can.
"Reviewer" isn't some kind of magical title which entitles anybody to free stuff. We're all reviewers, in our way, and many people review stuff they own or have bought.
Sometimes reviewers develop enough of a rep that companies will send them free stuff. Some companies do that, some don't.
Paying extra in a KS to get a "review copy" is a weird way to go about it though. Don't you get a copy anyway if you back it? Buying a specifically designated "review copy" from a company sounds really weird to me. You buy it, it's yours. You can review it or not.
Sometimes reviewers develop enough of a rep that companies will send them free stuff. Some companies do that, some don't.
Paying extra in a KS to get a "review copy" is a weird way to go about it though. Don't you get a copy anyway if you back it? Buying a specifically designated "review copy" from a company sounds really weird to me. You buy it, it's yours. You can review it or not.
Unless a product is free to make and free to buy, I'm not sure there is any such thing as a free review. Somebody has to pay for it. I've tried to get one of my roleplaying games reviewed by sending reviewers a free PDF of the game. I did get a review and I'm very thankful for it. Sending out free copies of my game did teach me a few things. I learned that reviewers who accept free products often have massive list of games to review already and that its easier to get a review when people already know and like your work. The last one is a bit of a catch 22 situation if you're a small publisher. A lot of them rely on reviews to help them get a large enough audience to warrant getting a review. It is not the only way to increase their sales, but it can be an important one.
I don't think that reviewer are owed free copies of anyone's work and at my most suspicious, I wonder if there's an implicit agreement between publishers and reviewers to give favourable reviews to games that are freely given to reviewers. Or maybe not an implicit agreement as such, but a kind of moral obligation. A "I should give this game a good review because I didn't have to pay for it" moral obligation.
I think that reviews are probably best when reviewers do have to buy their own copies of the games they review. It helps them to think like a consumer and it probably makes it easier to decide if it is worth the price it is being sold at. But having said that, I do understand why publishers send out free review copies and I don't blame reviewers for accepting them. If I was a reviewer, I would probably accept free games. I'd like to think I wouldn't feel entitled to them, but maybe I would after a while. Who knows how I would be like if I became a successful reviewer.
I don't think that reviewer are owed free copies of anyone's work and at my most suspicious, I wonder if there's an implicit agreement between publishers and reviewers to give favourable reviews to games that are freely given to reviewers. Or maybe not an implicit agreement as such, but a kind of moral obligation. A "I should give this game a good review because I didn't have to pay for it" moral obligation.
I think that reviews are probably best when reviewers do have to buy their own copies of the games they review. It helps them to think like a consumer and it probably makes it easier to decide if it is worth the price it is being sold at. But having said that, I do understand why publishers send out free review copies and I don't blame reviewers for accepting them. If I was a reviewer, I would probably accept free games. I'd like to think I wouldn't feel entitled to them, but maybe I would after a while. Who knows how I would be like if I became a successful reviewer.
I suspect the review copies are going out ahead of the main shipment so the press can arrive at the same time as the game. You're really paying for an advance copy.
Yes, but getting an early pdf copy before the print one comes out is quite normal!
Alan Shutko
Explorer
Sounds like they're trying to extract every dollar they can... if some reviewers will pay more to scoop the competition, then they'll go for it.
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