Reviews: positive or negative

[kitsune9]

Do you as a consumer of RPG material like to read reviews that are positive or negative?

I write the occasional review and more then not especially lately they have been positive reviews. Positive reviews for me are easier to write and more enjoyable to write. It is harder to get the energy and will to write about a book I really didn't like. This comes into play mostly with books I choose to review. I still get the occasional review copy and those I review though never really timely (I need to fix that). I am just looking for some general review thoughts from the masses, thanks.

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. For example, there have been a couple of Warhammer FRPG threads. Most people who posted on them (including myself) were weighining in their opinions about what makes the system cool. This is good if someone wants to know "What's totally kickin' about X RPG?"

What turns a review off for me whether it's a good or bad review is if the person doing the reviewing is vulgar, or worse yet, launches personal attacks on the company/author/whatever. I don't care if X RPG is a terrible shameless money-grubbing game or is a stroke of genius and that all humanity should be playing this game. If one has to use bad-language and vulgarities to describe how the system fails or is awesome, then that lacks professionalism. What's even worse are those who people who are staff, mods, or game designers (i.e. game industry professionals) and using such vulgarities.

Another question is--would a positive review influence me to buy a game or would a negative review influence me to avoid a game? No way. If I run across the game, I'll look through it and decide for myself.

 

[Morrus]

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.

 

[Obryn]

If I am using reviews to plan my purchases, I care a lot more about the reviewer than I do the result. If I tend to agree with a reviewer about known products, I figure I'll agree with them about unknown products, too.

If I am just reading reviews for pleasure, I love well-thought-out reviews with both positive and negative in them. I want to know what's both good and bad about something, along with reasons.

As a last category, I love reading hilarious negative reviews, such as the RPGnet classics on Synnibarr.

-O

 

[Cadfan]

I rarely like reviews at all, mostly because reviewers tend not to make explicit their preferences. Its often kind of like video game reviews where an in depth tactical RTS gets reviewed by someone who hates the in depth tactical RTS genre. It just isn't useful. Or when Yet Another FPS gets reviewed by the guy who always like an FPS, no matter what. Just doesn't help.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

I have a preference for honest reviews. In practice, this will nearly always mean that the review is a mix of positive and negative. I actually discount any review that isn't somewhere in the middle, unless the reviewer convinces me that, yes, this product is perfect, and buddy, I wouldn't lie to you.

That said, I don't have a preference for whether reviewers have a preponderance of positive or negative reviews. There are good reasons, IMO, for either (or neither) to occur.

For example, some reviewers write reviews of things that they're personally passionate about, that they've heard good word of mouth about, or whatever. As long as that's disclosed, I'm fine with it. Those reviews will tend to slant positive. Other reviewers are cranky (but funny) and like to review things that let them honestly be cranky and funny. I'm fine with that, too.

 

[jdrakeh]

I prefer honest reviews, as Jeff said. Any review that is written specifically to be positive or negative isn't, as far as I'm concerned, honest. Those 'reviews' are either deliberate puff pieces or deliberate hatchet jobs. If an honest opinion happens to be positive or negative, that's a different story, but there is a trend of 'reviewers' deliberately skewing reviews toward the positive (usually for promotional purposes) or negative (often for satire or humor).

When I worked with RPGNow there was no shortage of publishers who demanded that reviews be written to order (i.e., that reviews be only positive, regardless of if a product merited a positive review) and Darren MacLennan (of RPGnet) has pretty much cornered the market for humorous negative reviews. I can also think of a site where publishers involved in a co-op write horribly obvious puff pieces for each other's games and try to pass them off as legitimate reviews, for example.

So, I guess, positive or negative is an afterthought for me. I would prefer only to read honest evaluations of games written without an obvious pre-determined agenda to promote or condemn the game being reviewed.

[Edit: Also, as Jeff said, slanting toward the positive and negative is forgiveable if reviewer affiliations or biases are made clear in the body of the review. IME, however, they often aren't.]

 

[Beckett]

I find it's easier to write positive reviews. I had one set of reviews grind to a halt when I realized I had so many problems with the product that the final review was going to be a pretty nasty piece of work.

I generally prefer to read positive reviews as they seem to have more information, like when the reviewer is excited about a product and wants you to have the same excitement. A lot of negative reviews fall into the trap of bashing the product but not explaining why.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I just prefer honest reviews.

I guess I sort of prefer a more skeptical eye for things bound to be popular, and a more enthusiastic eye for things that are more obscure, but that's just because I want be prepared for the annoying parts of something I'll probably buy, and I want to know what I'm missing when dealing with something that I might not notice.

But really, just be honest. Point out features. Point out flaws. Point out your own subjectivity. Tell me what I'll like about it, tell me what I'll hate about it (and don't presume that what you like and hate are the same things that I'll like and hate).

 

[Jhaelen]

None of the poll's options is really fitting.

Unless the reviewer is paid for writing the review, it's only natural that most reviews are about stuff the reviewer liked or at least _thought_ he would like. I generally don't like reviews that are heavily biased.

Some of the best reviews I've seen are the ones of the DCC modules over on rpg.net:
[Let's Read] Dungeon Crawl Classics pt 2 The reviews start giving you an objective overview, then a section with the good points, one with the bad points and end with a conclusion.

I often don't agree with the reviewer but that's why they're good:
Since the reviewer explains why he likes some things and dislikes others, I can easily tell if the points he mentions will matter to me or not.

E.g. he often nitpicks about wrong stat blocks which I couldn't care less about since I often completely replace them anyway.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Unbiased, clear and thorough. Preferably (if a professional or regular reviewer) with an average rating across the board of somewhere close to 3 stars (of 5). Their average should probably be average, iow.

On RPGnet, for example, that's something I watch out for - if a reviewer's ratings come to an average of, say, 4.8 stars (and they've reviewed a lot of products). . . well, I'll be even more sceptical than usual.

As far as the poll options go, none of the above.