Psion
Adventurer
You know, I've had enough grief over scores I have handed out, I would just as soon do away with the score system.
For me, the review is the part where I tell you about the book; it's up to the reader to read that and decide whether the product sounds like a good fit or not. The score is only an application of my values in evaluating the product.
As for reviewing ENpub... I haven't done so since the products in questions were under the Ambient banner, but I think it is pretty hard to deny they have some great material and their authors and the rest of their production team have really developed some professionalism. They put out a quality product. Whether or not they are better than Malhavoc I'll leave as a question for the reader, but I certainly think that they stand with them as one of the companies that is putting out the best electronic products on the market.
I think people have every reason to question my bias when it comes to ENpub. Not because they are also under the ENworld umbrella. But because Hound and I go back a ways and Hound & Dextra are part of my GenCon posse.
But in my defense, I try to put that aside when writing a review. As I used to have in my quote as a red dwarf reference (when Cat evaluates himself) "I gotta be cruel. There can't be no favors." Joe and Suzi are part of my "GenCon posse" too, and Joe is my DRM-bashing hero. I was really hesitant to assign MS:E&C a 3. (Especially considering I was writing my review in the wake of the DRM debacle and Joe did a fantastic job of driving many points I consider important home.)
But this gets me back to my point about hating scores. If not for the score assignment stage, I wouldn't have had to press home an application of my values if it weren't for the "score assignment" stage and could have just highlighted its strengths and weaknesses and let you decide what's important to you.
Moral of the story: Ignore the scores. Read the review. If the review doesn't tell you anything more than the score, it's probably not a very good review.
For me, the review is the part where I tell you about the book; it's up to the reader to read that and decide whether the product sounds like a good fit or not. The score is only an application of my values in evaluating the product.
As for reviewing ENpub... I haven't done so since the products in questions were under the Ambient banner, but I think it is pretty hard to deny they have some great material and their authors and the rest of their production team have really developed some professionalism. They put out a quality product. Whether or not they are better than Malhavoc I'll leave as a question for the reader, but I certainly think that they stand with them as one of the companies that is putting out the best electronic products on the market.
I think people have every reason to question my bias when it comes to ENpub. Not because they are also under the ENworld umbrella. But because Hound and I go back a ways and Hound & Dextra are part of my GenCon posse.
But in my defense, I try to put that aside when writing a review. As I used to have in my quote as a red dwarf reference (when Cat evaluates himself) "I gotta be cruel. There can't be no favors." Joe and Suzi are part of my "GenCon posse" too, and Joe is my DRM-bashing hero. I was really hesitant to assign MS:E&C a 3. (Especially considering I was writing my review in the wake of the DRM debacle and Joe did a fantastic job of driving many points I consider important home.)
But this gets me back to my point about hating scores. If not for the score assignment stage, I wouldn't have had to press home an application of my values if it weren't for the "score assignment" stage and could have just highlighted its strengths and weaknesses and let you decide what's important to you.
Moral of the story: Ignore the scores. Read the review. If the review doesn't tell you anything more than the score, it's probably not a very good review.
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