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

[WhimsyTheFae]

not since i was 11 has anyone in my family bought me an RPG book.

i got a paper route, mowed lawns, recycled tin cans, washed cars, walked dogs, etc... to pay for them myself since then.

My wife almost always buys me RPG "stuff" as gifts. I guess, technically, it's still my purchase .

So, if I ever review anything, I will be torn between not caring because it was a gift and caring too much because my money paid for it.

 

[diaglo]

I never do because that doesn't matter in my reviews.

yet... the help section says:

Are there any guidelines or advice for reviewers?
Yes. These are not strict rules <snip>
If you have a connection to the company whose product you are reviewing, state it.
If you received this product for free as a review copy, state it.
If you playtested the product, state it.
If you are critical of the product, please give examples and full reasoning.
If you have a bias against a genre, state it.

 

[Crothian]

yet... the help section says:

yes, the guidelines do say that and after I wrote a bunch of reviews I found out what worked for me.

 

[diaglo]

yes, the guidelines do say that and after I wrote a bunch of reviews I found out what worked for me.

so when i write my review i shouldn't put in there my hat of d02. nor the fact i have to convert all the material to OD&D before it becomes of any use to me.

 

[Crothian]

so when i write my review i shouldn't put in there my hat of d02. nor the fact i have to convert all the material to OD&D before it becomes of any use to me.

I would say you should but it is your review.

 

[shaylon]

I just want to say that based on some of the comments here I think people are getting the wrong idea about the reviews on this site. You are always going to get trolls writing reviews because of x, y , or z reason, anywhere you go. This site has some great staff reviewers and I have personally purchased things solely on what reviewers here have said about the product. It is rare in those cases that I wind up being disappointed.

As far as the "professional" reviewers comments are concerned it hasn't been an issue that I have seen, at least not here. I could honestly care less whether or not a person got a pdf for free and reviewed it or if they paid the full price for it. It doesn't matter to me. As long as the review is fair (which as I mentioned has not been an issue that I have noticed) then it doesn't bother me.

Opinions of products will vary but after you read enough of them you figure out that there is a reviewer that is close enough of a match to what you like and you pay more attention to what they review. D20 has brought us a ton of material in the past 5 years, some great, some poor, but I guarantee you that there are things that I thought were terrible that someone is playing right now and having a great time.

If you don't know the reviewers, and aren't sure what to expect from them, do yourself a favor and read a review of something that you already have and see if it closely matches your thoughts on the product. If you start seeing a pattern, then that is your reviewer. If you think the reviewer is a tool that doesn't know what they are talking about, keep searching.

-Shay

 

[diaglo]

If you think the reviewer is a tool that doesn't know what they are talking about, keep searching.

patience is a virtue seldom practiced.

took me 7 years to find enough players for my current OD&D campaign. i can wait. so far i've found a few that i read and don't disagree with. but i haven't found one that thinks like me yet. i have found several i am the polar opposite too.

 

[BSF]

Shadowslayer, while the layout of the reviews homepage has changed, it is still reasonably clear.

There are staff reviewers, and there is a link that takes you to the FAQ segment listing the staff reviewers. Also in the FAQ is a description of what a Staff Reviewer is. Finally, the reviews page specifically states that "the majority of the reviews here are written by fans and visitors to EN World."

I always thought it was pretty clear myself, but then I spent some time comparing reviews of products I already have with the opinions expressed in different reviews. That way I could get a small feeling for how any given reviewer's tastes match mine.

Reviews are great. But you still need to do a little legwork of your own to figure out which reviewers will help you make a decision. You really can't fault a reviewer's opinion when it differs from your own. But a good review will cover more than simple opinion. A good review will still tell you about the book, even if the reviewer didn't like it. There are times when I disagree with a reviewer's opinion of the material, but it is rare that I can't find something of use out of a review. What Mouseferatu is describing is an example of a poor review. If a review is flat out incorrect on facts, rather than opinion, then it has little value.

 

[WhimsyTheFae]

yes, the guidelines do say that and after I wrote a bunch of reviews I found out what worked for me.

Regardless of intention or need, this still strikes me as a bit sloppy (if not shady - and I am not saying that it is, only that it can be taken that way). No offense meant, but what do we have to go on other than your word. This is the kind of thing that I see in other places as well, like finding an error that you made and then fixing it without documenting or telling anyone.

It may not matter to you if you received the product for free or purchased it, but it does to me. I am going to adjust my opinion of the review based on the facts that I have available to me, and by omitting facts you are limiting the information that I have to work with.

I have seen people omit facts for good reasons and for bad reasons, but I want to be able to judge for myself if the fact is important. When you do reviews, you are in essence, a member of the media. When you leave out or distort facts, it makes me think that you have an agenda.

Basically, if you hadn't admitted to this I would never have known. Had I found out later from someone else, I would have probably went into each and every review a bit more dubious (or just skipped your reviews).

Giving us all of the facts will not hurt the review, will not hurt the product and will not hurt your reputation. The quality of the review and the usefulness that I gain from it will speak for your ability.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Mouse: Have you ever been "quoted" in a newspaper?

It's amazing how someone can claim to be quoting you and say something that is completely different from what you said.

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.