Alaric_Prympax
First Post
Like many have said- I don't read all the reviews but I find them useful for the products I want information on, so I say keep them in the news.
Reviews reporting
Flynn
First Post
Please Keep The Reviews...
Morrus,
I personally love the reviews and value them a lot when considering new purchases of d20 material to add to my collection.
I would also suggest that if you are finding it too much to keep up with, I'd recommend that you might try some form of automated listing process, where people can submit reviews to the site, and they are added at the end of each day's section.
Just a thought,
Flynn
Morrus,
I personally love the reviews and value them a lot when considering new purchases of d20 material to add to my collection.
I would also suggest that if you are finding it too much to keep up with, I'd recommend that you might try some form of automated listing process, where people can submit reviews to the site, and they are added at the end of each day's section.
Just a thought,
Flynn
Please Keep the Reviews!
En World is an excellent place for getting a lot of information in one place. I love the review section! I have to admit that I'm biased because I write reviews for the Open Gaming Exchange, but, first and foremost, I'm a gamer, so I like to see what everyone else says is worth buying!
If there's anything the OGE can do to make your job easier, please let me know. We certainly appreciate all your hard work!
Also, those of you who read the OGE's reviews, please let me know if you think we're on the "suck" list.
Thanks.
Christina Stiles
En World is an excellent place for getting a lot of information in one place. I love the review section! I have to admit that I'm biased because I write reviews for the Open Gaming Exchange, but, first and foremost, I'm a gamer, so I like to see what everyone else says is worth buying!
If there's anything the OGE can do to make your job easier, please let me know. We certainly appreciate all your hard work!
Also, those of you who read the OGE's reviews, please let me know if you think we're on the "suck" list.
Thanks.
Christina Stiles
Hi Morrus,
I read plenty of the reviews that you link.
Why not release this burden to the community? Like Eric said above, for each product in the d20reviews database, have an external review list that isn't weighed in. Let the community take care of this stuff, or at least a few volunteers.
Problems solved:
Doesn't take up room on the news page, which will be nice.
Offloads your having to link them all, and people won't send you links of new reviews.
In any case, good luck keeping everyone happy. And thanks!
I read plenty of the reviews that you link.
Why not release this burden to the community? Like Eric said above, for each product in the d20reviews database, have an external review list that isn't weighed in. Let the community take care of this stuff, or at least a few volunteers.
Problems solved:
Doesn't take up room on the news page, which will be nice.
Offloads your having to link them all, and people won't send you links of new reviews.
In any case, good luck keeping everyone happy.
And thanks!
Just a couple of quick comments before I go to bed:
1) The new reviews page *is* being designed with facility for links to external reviews.
2) The amount of work's not the problem. I don't mind doing it at all, as long as people find it useful. I was just wondering if there was a bit of a reviews-glut situation going on.
I''ll never have anything automated or user-submitted on the front page, mainly because I'm a paranoid nitpicky stick-in-the-mud. I'd be worried about mispellings, or people forgetting to capitalise the right words and other silly things (not that I'm perfect, but at least when there's a mistake there I know it's *my* mistake).
Thanks for the input, though, everyone. If there is one small favour I'd ask of those that send me reviews it's that they send the scoop to me in the same format that I post them so that I can cut & paste --
xxxx.com has posted reviews of [product] ([publisher]], [product] ([publisher]) and [product] ([publisher]).
... with xxx.com and [product] links.
But it's not a big deal. That's just me being nitpicky again - I've always been one for standardised formats.
1) The new reviews page *is* being designed with facility for links to external reviews.
2) The amount of work's not the problem. I don't mind doing it at all, as long as people find it useful. I was just wondering if there was a bit of a reviews-glut situation going on.
I''ll never have anything automated or user-submitted on the front page, mainly because I'm a paranoid nitpicky stick-in-the-mud. I'd be worried about mispellings, or people forgetting to capitalise the right words and other silly things (not that I'm perfect, but at least when there's a mistake there I know it's *my* mistake).
Thanks for the input, though, everyone. If there is one small favour I'd ask of those that send me reviews it's that they send the scoop to me in the same format that I post them so that I can cut & paste --
xxxx.com has posted reviews of [product] ([publisher]], [product] ([publisher]) and [product] ([publisher]).
... with xxx.com and [product] links.
But it's not a big deal. That's just me being nitpicky again - I've always been one for standardised formats.
d20Gurus.com
First Post
trancejeremy said:
I am sorry you felt that way about the review. We do our best to review adventures without giving away so much detail that one might find the review to be a spoiler of sorts...
An adventure, at its heart, is not an overly technical product, which can be easily reviewed on the merits of "is it broke" or "how does this affect game mechanics." Adventures are based on how fun they are, and how original the story concepts are.
We also try our best to make our reviews a bit more personable. It is not our goal to tell you just how dense the words are on a page per page basis or how many words are in the table of contents, but how we feel about the product as well. Reviews truly are a personal opinion, and you read Jason's personal opinion of RttToEE.
If you seek a more technically-inclined review, which focuses on the more nitty-gritty aspects of a product, look no further than our reviews of rules expansion products. Its easy to review those without spoiling any surprises for players, and we tend to go into greater detail when reviewing those. An example includes our recent review of The Quintessential Fighter, located here. This is a rules expansion, and we don't hold back in giving massive amounts of detail on the product.
But then again, it might just be your opinion to not like our reviews, and thats fine. We know from experience that it is impossible to please everyone, but as long as one or two people find our review informative and helpful, we've done our job.
But back on topic. Morrus, I want to personally thank you for all you have done for our site thus far; the attention our site recieves when you post the info on the front page is phenominal. I really do hope you keep the reviews section up and running, but I guess you can tell I'm a bit biased
Kelly Kamm
www.d20gurus.com
Chief Editor, Webmaster
Goodreviewsonly
First Post
I don't post to threads much.
Basically here's how I see it:
EnWorld is being run by people who like D&D and want to provide a service to their fellow gamers. Their time is limited. Most of the review links recently (used to click through on about half of the links each day until maybe a few weeks ago when it started to get bad)have been terrible. To be OK a review could:
1. Describe what's in the book.
or
2. Give an opinion about the book.
A lot of these places (someone mentioned AtFantasy) just don't. Having watched the situtation recently (and apparently I'm not alone since this thread got started) the natural conclusion is that a number of web pages are basically using the reviews section as a free ad. And they aren't even bothering to write a review!
[edited out a part related to time and effort; apparently its not a time thing. If there were no time or effort required to put this up then I'd be strictly indifferent to the reviews section continuing. I presume Morris and co's time is limited and could probably be better spent elsewhere; given the recent crop of reviews that elsewhere could probably be just about anywhere.]
To answer the second question
The review's section is generally very good. A number of the rarer D&D products aren't included. I've seen the campaign setting by Gygax from Troll Lord here in Tokyo; which means its been out for a while. There's no section for a review here.
Basically here's how I see it:
EnWorld is being run by people who like D&D and want to provide a service to their fellow gamers. Their time is limited. Most of the review links recently (used to click through on about half of the links each day until maybe a few weeks ago when it started to get bad)have been terrible. To be OK a review could:
1. Describe what's in the book.
or
2. Give an opinion about the book.
A lot of these places (someone mentioned AtFantasy) just don't. Having watched the situtation recently (and apparently I'm not alone since this thread got started) the natural conclusion is that a number of web pages are basically using the reviews section as a free ad. And they aren't even bothering to write a review!
[edited out a part related to time and effort; apparently its not a time thing. If there were no time or effort required to put this up then I'd be strictly indifferent to the reviews section continuing. I presume Morris and co's time is limited and could probably be better spent elsewhere; given the recent crop of reviews that elsewhere could probably be just about anywhere.]
To answer the second question
The review's section is generally very good. A number of the rarer D&D products aren't included. I've seen the campaign setting by Gygax from Troll Lord here in Tokyo; which means its been out for a while. There's no section for a review here.
Donatello
Explorer
I am definately in favor of linking as many reviews as humanly possible.
While I certainly do not read all of them, it's a handy reference to see what's being reviewed and where. I've read every review of certain products (LI's, as well as our direct competition), and some choice reviews of products I want to purchase.
Bottom Line - I think the review links are a good resource for publishers and consumers alike. Seeing them go, or even truncated, would be unfortunate.
While I certainly do not read all of them, it's a handy reference to see what's being reviewed and where. I've read every review of certain products (LI's, as well as our direct competition), and some choice reviews of products I want to purchase.
Bottom Line - I think the review links are a good resource for publishers and consumers alike. Seeing them go, or even truncated, would be unfortunate.
Hello everybody. This is my firts post here
I have to say that I read almost all of the reviews recalled here. I don't read only the ones about adventures, because I don't buy adventures at all. I make them by myself... and I should say well enough too (sorry for this "humble" quote).
By the way I ever read the reviews about core rulebooks, accessories of every sort, campaign setting and so on
And that's all.
Ciao a tutti,
Mostro Joe
I have to say that I read almost all of the reviews recalled here. I don't read only the ones about adventures, because I don't buy adventures at all. I make them by myself... and I should say well enough too (sorry for this "humble" quote).
By the way I ever read the reviews about core rulebooks, accessories of every sort, campaign setting and so on
And that's all.
Ciao a tutti,
Mostro Joe
Ghostwind
First Post
A couple of people have commented on the quality of reviews posted by others. If I may make a suggestion regarding this, typically every review writer has an email link on the review. If there is something you like or don't like about the style of the review or even the contents of the review, email that person but please keep it civil and polite.
As a person who regularly pens a review column for the d20 Magazine Rack, I welcome comments, be they positive or negative, about my reviews. If there is something you liked about a particular review, great! Let me know. If you thought a review sucked, tell me that also. But tell me why you thought it sucked while you're at it. It helps me see if I am doing something right and it helps me see if I am doing something wrong. For instance, I now grade my reviews on the basis of amount of Open Content because I had several requests to add that to my grading criteria. Believe it or not, most of the serious review sites/columns want to provide you the consumer with the information that will help you make an informed decision on whether to buy the product in question.
The best way to look at D&D reviews is just like a movie review. Some folks will think it is great and others think it is the stinker of the year. Just look at the split reaction on Star Wars Episode One. Some loved it, some hated it. Take everything you read with a grain of salt.
Back to the topic on hand, however. This is one of the strongest reasons why the links to the various reviews should be kept on the main announcement page. If I am thinking about buying Quintessential Fighter for example, it's nice to be able to read a cross-section of reviews over the course of a couple of weeks to get a feel whether I really want it. The more information available, the better informed everyone becomes...
Keep up the good work Morrus!!!
As a person who regularly pens a review column for the d20 Magazine Rack, I welcome comments, be they positive or negative, about my reviews. If there is something you liked about a particular review, great! Let me know. If you thought a review sucked, tell me that also. But tell me why you thought it sucked while you're at it. It helps me see if I am doing something right and it helps me see if I am doing something wrong. For instance, I now grade my reviews on the basis of amount of Open Content because I had several requests to add that to my grading criteria. Believe it or not, most of the serious review sites/columns want to provide you the consumer with the information that will help you make an informed decision on whether to buy the product in question.
The best way to look at D&D reviews is just like a movie review. Some folks will think it is great and others think it is the stinker of the year. Just look at the split reaction on Star Wars Episode One. Some loved it, some hated it. Take everything you read with a grain of salt.
Back to the topic on hand, however. This is one of the strongest reasons why the links to the various reviews should be kept on the main announcement page. If I am thinking about buying Quintessential Fighter for example, it's nice to be able to read a cross-section of reviews over the course of a couple of weeks to get a feel whether I really want it. The more information available, the better informed everyone becomes...
Keep up the good work Morrus!!!
