Reviews: positive or negative

[roguerouge]

I prefer accurate, evidence-based reviews. I want reviews to tell me if the stat blocks are terrible. I want reviews to give examples to back up their assertions. I want to know if there's a plot hole. I want to know if the reviewer is weighing the plot hooks in his review, because I don't care about that in my buying. I want reviews to tell me what kind of tables this module will work for.

 

[jdrakeh]

It'd be nice if publishers actually did it, then!

Agreed!

I don't think reviewers are expected to *actually* playtest every mechanic in a supplement. . .

You'd be surprised.

 

[catsclaw227]

I think most folks write reviews of stuff they like, which is why there's a much higher balance of positive reviews.

More importantly, they only buy stuff they like, and they review stuff they've bought.

Yes. I agree with this, but also I believe that if those people were designated as professional reviews and were given products by anyone, then they might be writing positive and negative reviews, so I don't discount their opinion on the reviews they write about the products they like.

I do, however, like to know more about the REVIEWER as it tells me where his biases lie. I have my own biases, I admit, and I bet any review I wrote would be tinged by these personal biases -- even if I didn't intend it to.

So, a review is a review, and if I know the reviewer, then it helps me interpret their review.

I like to read reviews because oftentimes they discuss rules, mechanics, flaws (as perceived by the reviewer), and strengths (again, as perceived as the reviewer).

Of course, if I don't mind fanboy reviews if they are simple and highlight what is cool about the game.

Me too here as well. It looks like my own personal likes and dislikes will be reflected by a series of quotes from other posters... I am an EnWorld Frankenstein!

What I most need in a review is not a positive or negative response, so much as the reason for that response. That's the only way I know if the reviewer's reaction is apt to be indicative of how I will react to the product.

Ummm.... OK.. me too again. (see the pattern here?)

I usually look for detailed reviews which cover both the positive and negative aspects in a balanced manner. Reviews which look too positive, aren't particularly useful. Completely negative reviews typically aren't much better.

And lastly, here too.

OK, so you get what I like, but in general, during the early 3.0 and then 3.5 eras I bought a TON of pdfs based upon reviews here at EnWorld. I absolutely LOVED the review system here, way back when, and it was as important a reason EnWorld was "sticky" to me in the early days. The Reviews where why I came here. I stayed because of the conversations.

 

[jeffh]

On Amazon, I tend to look to the two, four and three star reviews (usually in that order of importance) and ignore the ones and fives, which are too often contentless rants and contentless gush respectively (though I'll make the occasional exception for products with few reviews and/or where a one- or five-star review has an overwhelming percentage of "helpful" votes). I prefer twos and fours because those are the ratings you give when you had a definite opinion but were willing to acknowledge some points tending in the opposite direction - all else being equal, those seem more likely to be coming from people who went in with an open mind.

I'm not saying nothing ever deserves a one or a five star review, of course. But I do want to read reviews that cover as many of the angles as possible.

 

[mach1.9pants]

I mostly 'perfer' positive reviews to read, but that doesn't mean I only read positive, I just fine nice things nicer to read