Build a Better Review System, Templates might help -- but they just as easily hinder Options

[ZarroTsu]

Wanting to write reviews, I decided I'd use the strategy discussed by one Yatzee Croshaw here.

The problem is that, because I don't give an "overall rating", this kind of review is rejected from the forum.

What reason is there for there to be an "overall rating"? Isn't it suppose to be what I think of the game? Giving it an overall rating because that fits your format is fine. But forcing me to follow this strategy isn't asking for what I think of the game; it's asking me for what you WANT me to think of the game. And that defeats the purpose of writing in general.

Moreover, their presence from a reader perspective is solely to ignore the rest of the review and judge the game on a given number. Some here might say they don't do this, but often times even they are guilty of it. Even I do it. But if these numbers don't exist, then it compels me to actually read the review. So...


Generic forum discussion question for the reasoning impaired:
Why do "Overall Ratings" exist? Are they there to help, or are they there to defeat the purpose of writing a review when you could just write a number?



This post has been edited by ZarroTsu: Oct 4 2012, 02:51 PM

[Jonnie19]

As Shadowvaal said, we do appreciate the effort you are putting into reviewing games from this site, and we do invite you to do more reviews, because it's currently rather quiet.
As a developer and reviewer myself, I'd rather have someone being blunt rather than sugarcoated. Sometimes however there is a fine line between being blunt and flaming. You also should ensure that you at least read the topic post. In the case of Nexus if you had read the topic post, you'd have noticed that English isn't his Native Language.
Getting a balance when reviewing a game can be hard. Try not to focus just on what you feel are terrible games. There are some brilliant games around, Try reviewing them too...It will mean you don't end up having your reviews ignored, because some readers will think you are just wanting to review bad games, and will not actually like to get reviews by you, whereas a balanced but honest review means people will come to you for reviews!

A good reviewer on this site is actually Amerk. His review of Spirit Timer was fair but honest. I messed up with quite a few things, however he handled it with stating the BIG game breaking issues without saying that it was a complete disappointment of a game, and that he hated me for making a game breaking bug. Obviously this is a different style, but using better language helped me to work on my game and develop it better and further, because of his honesty

I personally love your style of reviewing, it has a great structure. It's in depth and honest/blunt and I'm looking forward to seeing more.