[request/rant] To all reviewers, amateur and pro...

[Psion]

If a game product is higly portable to other games, that is certainly worth noting and even praising. On the other hand, I do not consider criticizing a product for failure to work for a game that it was never intended to work for valid criticism.

 

[Voadam]

Only if you ignore me explicitly saying otherwise in the post you quoted.

So what was the point of your example in that post that as a reporter you don't accept food? It doesn't seem to be that whether you accept food or not you should include that info in your story.

From your example it therefore seems like you are suggesting that if you take food some people would think you were paid off and so you should not do it so as to avoid that perception. You say explicitly that it is not necessary to decline the food, but you also explicitly say when you decline the food "it makes the people in my small community feel better since I am notorious for turning down gifts."

 

[nothing to see here]

As someone who quotes people for the newspaper quite often, I think you've got it backwards.

People think they say things differently than they actually do. People don't tend to speak in complete sentences. They don't tend to be concise in their comments, and need a LOT of context on either side of their sentence to make it make sense and be relevant. And, of course, everyone thinks they sound stupid when quoted, much like most people hate hearing a recording of their own voice.

The way you know that reporters tend to get quotes right, as a rule, is the fact that they're still in the business. Juries love to rule against the press, and if you're not quoting a public figure, there's a relatively low standard necessary to prove libel.

Sorry for the derail, but this is something I see crop up fairly often, and I think it's more "conventional wisdom" than it is truth.

Quoted for truth.

I'm currently a professional communications consutant. I used to be a profesisonal speechwriter. I'm one of the guys who tries to spin the Whizbang Dustyboots of the world.

Nothing forever poisons a reporter's view of a client like a failed informal 'buy-off'... I always encourage clients to make sure the media have the option of free coffee's muffins etc at events -- not to solicit good coverage -- but mainly to prevent any reporter from writing something snide because they feel underfed and under-respected. It's more insurance than pay-off and believe me, should the client still do something stupid -- a four course meal won't prevent the media from jumping on the pile.

Review copies are something of a different breed -- they're half incentive -- yet they're also the news itself. Companies provide review copies not to generate GOOD reviews (though that's the hope) they, generally do it to guarantee that there will be ANY reviews.

Why do all the movie studios keep releasing advance screenings? Do they enjoy being skewered by Ebert and Roper? They do it because the worst thing in the world in the businessis being ignored. You know the true stinkers out there are the ones who don't provide any advance reviews -- they'd rather be ignored than give the viewing public advance warning on their product.

 

[Shadowslayer]

From your example it therefore seems like you are suggesting that if you take food some people would think you were paid off and so you should not do it so as to avoid that perception. You say explicitly that it is not necessary to decline the food, but you also explicitly say when you decline the food "it makes the people in my small community feel better since I am notorious for turning down gifts."

Newspaper reporters are held to a higher standard than internet wags, as they are generally paid by the newspaper for their efforts to report an even handed story. I can see where one would decline offered perks, so as to NOT be called into question for something else later down the road. As a published (and implied professional) news writer, you shouldn't have to explain in your story whether or not the event organizers fed you.

But the two don't really compare. On the net, in the RPG world, anything goes. No one's being paid, (according to what's been said already) and a reporter's motivations here are not as clear. Are they doing it for free product? ego gratification? a general desire to do good? (I'm guessing the second one, mostly)

Should they say whether or not they recieved the item free in the review? It doesn't really have any bearing with me personally...but it makes sense that it might matter to some.

 

[Turjan]

If a game product is higly portable to other games, that is certainly worth noting and even praising. On the other hand, I do not consider criticizing a product for failure to work for a game that it was never intended to work for valid criticism.

Good point. Then you'd have to bump all Exalted products at least two points down because the conversion to OD&D is such a hassle .

 

[Crothian]

A reviewer that paid for an item is going to be more critical of the item's value for his gaming dollar. .

Only if he's not a very good reviewer. If I recieve a 20 dollar book for free, does that someohow prevent me or another reviewer from knowing what it would be like to spend 20 bucks on a book?

 

[Turjan]

But the two don't really compare. On the net, in the RPG world, anything goes. No one's being paid, (according to what's been said already) and a reporter's motivations here are not as clear. Are they doing it for free product? ego gratification? a general desire to do good? (I'm guessing the second one, mostly).

It must be some strong impetus, and I'm pretty sure that it isn't the free product. I'm really glad that someone makes the effort and reviews RPG books. Reading a book thoroughly takes many hours. Writing a thoughtful review takes more hours. For me, writing a review about a product that I find ultimately boring has the appeal of getting a tooth extracted. That's why I never considered taking part in Crothian's review project . My thanks to the people who do the job, wherever their motivation may lie .

 

[Shadowslayer]

It must be some strong impetus, and I'm pretty sure that it isn't the free product. I'm really glad that someone makes the effort and reviews RPG books. Reading a book thoroughly takes many hours. Writing a thoughtful review takes more hours. For me, writing a review about a product that I find ultimately boring has the appeal of getting a tooth extracted. That's why I never considered taking part in Crothian's review project . My thanks to the people who do the job, wherever their motivation may lie .

I'm pretty sure its not the free product too. For the record I'm glad for the reviewers.

 

[Crothian]

No one's being paid, (according to what's been said already) and a reporter's motivations here are not as clear. Are they doing it for free product? ego gratification? a general desire to do good? (I'm guessing the second one, mostly)

I've never been paid of r a review. Free product is nice, but most of the time its not the books I would buy myself. Not that they aren't good books but only certain books are useful for my campaign. It has nothing to do with ego, if anything it will kill your ego. Reviewers rarely get feed back, and most of that is negative. They have no iodea if the reviews are helpful or even read. Publishers complain about reviews, readers complain about reviews......every so often someone will be kind and issue a nice word or something but for the most part a review hears nothing. I guess a desire to do good might be soemthing. I hope all reviewers in some way are trying to do good reviews.

I moslty review these days because what I review (mostly small press PDFs) no one else does. People like to review the big books from the big boys if they review at all. A fan review of a small PDF is almost unheard of.

 

[JoeBlank]

Just chiming in with my 2 cents.

On reviews stating whether a product was a comp copies: I have nothing against the practice, but I do like for a reviewer to state whether they received the product for free. I wrote a few reviews for d20 Magazine Rack, and love the format there. When the reviewer lets me know how he got the product, I feel like he is being honest with me. When this info is left out of the review, I feel like the reviewer thinks he has something to hide.

Crothian, most of us will probably assume that PDFs were sent as comp copies, since this costs the publisher practically nothing. But it helps you integrity, or at least the appearance of integrity, if you say so up front.

On the practice of providing comp copies, I am all for it. If a reviewer states up front that he paid for the copy, that lends as much bias as getting it for free. The reviewer must have had some reason to buy the product, either familiarity and good past experiences with the publisher and/or writers, or at least with the subject matter. Of course, if the product turns out not to the reviewers liking, this could result in a more negative review, because expectations were higher. On the other hand, most people do not buy a product that they expect to dislike. (diaglo being the exception, whenever he buys a d20 product. When he tells me he liked something for d20, I know it must be exceptional.)

On reviews of earlier edition products: I'd love to see it, but understand why many do not do it. We do have to regular threads about sharing experiences with the older modules, but no real thorough reviews. diaglo, this may be your place to shine.