Why don't you post reviews?

[Turanil]

If we want to encourage people to write reviews for a while, I wonder if there is some sort of reward system that can be implemented. Like a little gold star by your name or a day of access to the ENWorld Premium features.

As it is right now there's very little feedback that the effort one takes to do a review is worth anything; the review forum isn't like a message board thread where you can at least look at the Hit Count to see if people are getting any use out of what you have written. (Maybe a Hit Counter for reviews then would be an interesting idea?)

I entirely agree with that!
I recently did my first two reviews (Medieval Player's Manual and Bulldogs!) but I really don't know how many people did read them. If it's just read by less than a dozen persons, it's not worth the effort. Now... if some publisher gives me one of their d20 products, I will GLADLY review it!

Anyway, if a product has already 2 or more reviews, I don't see the point of reviewing it. Another thing is that the policy indicates that one should not review a product he doesn't like. Well, no wonder if average products thus get exceptionnal ratings: they are reveiwed by people who loved the product. Let me review a few things I did buy and deceived me, and I will be harsh!

 

[Seonaid]

I very rarely remember the review section is here.
I link directly to the forums, don't read the news anymore either. The title "news and reviews site" may as well just be ENWorld Forums for me.

This is almost exactly why I don't. The "almost" part is that I wasn't really aware of more than the forums, so I wasn't consciously aware of the "review" feature.

 

[Knightfall]

I trust Psion's reviews.

 

[philreed]

I've just started writing up reviews. I find that if it's a newer publisher they would give you a free copy of the work (especially if it's PDF), but I would like to do it more and more but I don't know how to contact publishers to get review material or whom to goto.

We're always looking for reviewers. Feel free to take a look at out product listing:

http://www.rpgnow.com/default.php?manufacturers_id=352

If you see a product there you'd like to review please contact me at philip@philipjreed.com. I'll then ship it your way.

This offer is open to all reviewers.

 

[Crothian]

I would be interested in knowing more about this process and reviewing products....is there any information you can share on that?

I've had some pdf publishers tell me that I can give away their products to people who will review them. So, if people are looking for something to review I can help out in that fasion.

 

[Crothian]

Do you get RPG money from reviews?

I actually might do that if I can reach a point were I'm earning some good money in that game.

 

[Felon]

RPG books don't go stale. I'm still using seceral from the early days of third edition as well as second and first edition items. My gaming stores still sell many of these older books, so I do not think it matters if a revierw is timely or not.

Of course it does, Cro. RPG books go stale, and the reviews most certainly do. I enjoyed writing the handful of reviews that I've posted, but ultimately I have to ask myself what's the relevance of the Sword & Fist review I wrote a couple of years ago now? Heck, I stopped getting comments on it the week after it was posted. And the sterling review I gave The Banewarrens generated zilch in terms of feedback.

It takes time and effort to write a detailed, informative review--and they're the only ones worth a darn. Staff reviewers at least get swag out of it, but what do I get out of writing a review that's going to fly under most folks' radar?

 

[Felon]

I've had some pdf publishers tell me that I can give away their products to people who will review them. So, if people are looking for something to review I can help out in that fasion.

But how willing are those publishers really willing to accept a critical review?

 

[Crothian]

Of course it does, Cro. RPG books go stale, and the reviews most certainly do. I enjoyed writing the handful of reviews that I've posted, but ultimately I have to ask myself what's the relevance of the Sword & Fist review I wrote a couple of years ago now? Heck, I stopped getting comments on it the week after it was posted. And the sterling review I gave The Banewarrens generated zilch in terms of feedback.

It takes time and effort to write a detailed, informative review--and they're the only ones worth a darn. Staff reviewers at least get swag out of it, but what do I get out of writing a review that's going to fly under most folks' radar?

Don't write reviews for people, write them for yourself. It's liks a storyhour in that regard. And don't worry about comments, most of the reviews never get comments. Most of mine never do, that I know for sure. Sure Sword and Fist might be outdated, but I know people who still use it and its still for sale especially discounted at used book stores. Write a review on it and spend time mentioneing how tough it would be to make it 3.5 you can use your review to make a stall product new again.

 

[Crothian]

But how willing are those publishers really willing to accept a critical review?

I honestly have no idea. I've had people not be happy with a review I've given of their book. But I don't review things for the publisher. If I do it for anyonee, its for the fans.