What about a reviewer do you want to know?

[Crothian]

The review staff is considering putting up bios of ourselves to allow people to get to know us a bit better and possible understand our persepctive of a review more. I'm not 100% sure what it will help out but figure it might be a neat thing to see how it goes. The problem though is what info is relevant here. I know what info about myself is relevant to me, but its you all (the readers) that this will hopefully benifit. So, what info about a reviewer would you like to know?

How long they've been gaming? What systems they play? What experernce in the industry they have had? What their homebrew campaigns are like?

 

[Odhanan]

Name
How Many Years of Gaming
What Are Your Preferred RPGs
What Are Your Disliked RPGs
What do you prefer about Role-Playing
What don't you like about Role-Playing
Do you currently DM? What?
Do you currently Play? What?
Are you more a DM or a Player at game tables, usually?

Things like this help to have a rough idea of the tastes of a reviewer, I think. That will help understand the reviewer's point of view and bias, if any.

 

[Crothian]

What is currently being playered or DMed changes though. Unless peoiple want our gamning history just looking at what we are doing now isn't always that helpful.

 

[Man-thing]

Is the review page becoming a dating service?

I think all the staff reviews have well documented their preferences and style when they game.
While not in a formal manner the personalities behind the review as quite clear. This seems like solution looking for a problem.

 

[Crothian]

Is the review page becoming a dating service?

Single gamer reviewer with big...RPG collection looking for single female gamer.

I think all the staff reviews have well documented their preferences and style when they game. While not in a formal manner the personalities behind the review as quite clear. This seems like solution looking for a problem.

To people that have read by and Joe's and Psion's hundreds of reviews I don't doubt that. But for people that haven't it might be helpful. But what kind of problems do you foresee this causing?

 

[Man-thing]

1) Time - why was review time developing a bio
2) Detailed Info - I you state that you play regularly play XXXXXXXXXX game but don't mention YYYYYYYYYYY then publishers may criticize a review saying that it is invalid because your obviously not part or their target audience and wouldn't understand. This is just an extension of the "The Reviewer didn't get it" complaint.

 

[Crothian]

1) Time - why was review time developing a bio

I'd be more concerned about people asking mne why review time was spent watching football or visiting my sick grandma.

2) Detailed Info - I you state that you play regularly play XXXXXXXXXX game but don't mention YYYYYYYYYYY then publishers may criticize a review saying that it is invalid because your obviously not part or their target audience and wouldn't understand. This is just an extension of the "The Reviewer didn't get it" complaint.

I am concenred about this thus why I may not place what I currently play.

 

[Man-thing]

I don't think its necessarily a problem, it just I don't know what the gain is.
I think if people want to learn more about the staff reviewers they should just participate in the discussions with them on the forums.

It sort of like deoderant with the lotion strip, did anyone worry about it before there was a lotion strip? I don't think so, but now there is a marketing campaign on the need to keep your armpit skin smooth and soft. What a waste.

 

[diaglo]

for a guy who counts his every penny spent on rpgs. i want to know that some reviewers do take that into account. i'm gonna do a review b/c i feel that people like me who spent or who are considering spending tight pennies on something want to know i know where they are coming from.

when the guy doing the review got it for free from the publisher and then turns around and says i put my time into doing this review so therefore deserve this free product i want to know that too.

when that reviewer gets 50 free products and gets to pick and choose which to review and which to pass to others. i want to know that too.

i want to know why you are doing the review first and foremost. what made you pick that particular product. why i should or shouldn't buy the product.


i buy a lot of product. and whole heckca lot of product. i spend big bucks. but i can now. way back when and why i still think $5 is a lot of money i couldn't buy as much.

i am the biggest OD&D fan you will ever meet. but even still $10 was too much to spend for the boxed set back then. and by today's standards for the newest books $29.95 retail for 154 pages and 6 pages of title page, ads, table of contents with crappy binding... is even way too much. i'll tell you what they are worth to me. and 30% of retail is too much.

 

[Frater]

1) Favorite color
2) Favorite food
3) Favoite author
4) Favorite quote
5) Left-handed or Right-handed?
6) Criminal record, if any

That should do it for me.