Far to many people write bullshit reviews

[Diconica]

I can't count the number of times I read reviews raving about a game and its plot and mechanics and then when I play it I am left wondering did they even play the same game I am.

I'm not going to list any games because I don't want to be told this belongs under a specific games thread.

I can only assume those reviews are written for several reasons.
The first reason someone is trying to promote the game for whatever reason either they like the game or trying to stir profit.
The second reason that jumps to mind is these people are incapable of actually making an honest judgement of the game for any number of reasons being it education or intelligence or whatever.
The third and maybe even more likely is similar to 1 in that they are fans of the art of the game and don't actually pay attention in earnest to the plot and story and thus base their review on that. Because they want to see more images for the author they give it rave reviews.

The number one aspect I see is when people fail to call out massive plot and story failures. I could make an entire list of games that fall under this that have large followings.
The next issue is they lie about game mechanics. I guess that might be a bit subjective one person might like a game that doesn't give two fucks about the order of something and just wants to click through and fap while another person may actually want the shit to make some sort of sense.

By doing this crap they just waste a lot of people's time. People end up reading this and find the game disappointing. Unfortunately it seems people are less likely to give reviews that are negative in vs reviews of stuff they like.

 

[SkyRebel]

Well, people must understand that every review is just that person's opinion of the game, not the "absolute truth" or something like this.

 

[Diconica]

Well, people must understand that every review is just that person's opinion of the game, not the "absolute truth" or something like this.

Oh, I get it. It's pretty clear just from reading them on here. A lot of people are incapable of making an objective review of a product and let emotional influence of one part effect their bias on other areas.
IE you can't believe much of anything they say. Kind of makes the entire review thing pointless as fuck doesn't it.
Well unless you go to the effort to make a list of who does bother to make objective reviews the rest is just noise pollution static.
Actually that's a bad analogy static doesn't mislead people they know there isn't anything actually there. These false or lying as reviews mislead people.

 

[SkyRebel]

IE you can't believe much of anything they say. Kind of makes the entire review thing pointless as fuck doesn't it.

Yes, because "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".

Edit: The thing is(my opinion), reviews have their purpose but the star rating system don't.

 

[anne O'nymous]

The number one aspect I see is when people fail to call out massive plot and story failures. I could make an entire list of games that fall under this that have large followings.

Games aren't different to books, movies or musics. When none specialists review them, they will not talk about technical aspect like those you named, because they just don't care about them. In place their review will be based on the enjoyment they had ; so something purely subjective, based on their own taste, and that can easily accommodate with default(s). Plus, since the majority of games are still works in progress, it's far to be always easy to claim that there's plot holes or story failures. What seem to be a failure can perfectly become totally realistic one or two updates later, when the missing pieces finally appear.
It can also just come from your own understanding and you can be, in fact, the one at fault because you missed or misunderstood something important. It's by example the case for The DeLuca Family, where some people complain about the behavior of the capos, while totally missing that, from the start, it's a cartoonish parody. Yes, Capos don't act as the cold bloody murders you expect from a mafia story, but it's not a story failure, they are intended to be like that ; it's the main reason why, despite the family being the most powerful, it's also the one that really few take seriously.
Same can be said for Heavy Five, by example, where there's people complaining, by example, because of the cockblock when they try to fuck Annie, completely missing that the story is, at the opposite of The DeLuca Family, pretty serious. It's not just a pretext for sex, like too many games, and this scene is a reminder of that ; you can fool around, but be ready for the consequences if you don't behave according to the effective context.

The next issue is they lie about game mechanics. I guess that might be a bit subjective one person might like a game that doesn't give two fucks about the order of something and just wants to click through and fap while another person may actually want the shit to make some sort of sense.

Funny that you talk about subjectivity for the most objective part, and not for the most subjective part that is the story. It make me expect that your own reviews are far to be betters than those you complain about.

Unfortunately it seems people are less likely to give reviews that are negative in vs reviews of stuff they like.

What isn't surprising at all. They lost enough time because of it, no need to lost more by going back to the forum, then searching the game thread and writing a review, this just in order to say how bad the game can be according to their own personal subjective taste.

 

[HandofVecna]

I suspect, but have no proof, that some Devs might be paying people to review games. I also suspect some of the worse reviews likely come from other Devs trying to sandbag someone's game. Again no proof. Just my thoughts.

 

[lemonfreak]

*too

 

[watdapakisdis]

I've said it before multiple times and I'll say it again. Reviews should only be given to completed or abandoned games.

 

[Diconica]

Yes, because "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".

Edit: The thing is(my opinion), reviews have their purpose but the star rating system don't.

I agree mostly with that.
A person saying what they liked and disliked about a game can be helpful to others who want to know if the game might suit their taste. But there is a limit to it. As I mentioned in the primary post lots of people make false claims on how great a story is or plot is and then I play the game and it simply isn't true. That could be because their skill level of or understanding of a good story is below par. It could be because they are getting paid to say so. There are other potential reasons also. But one way or another we end up with people making false claims so even opinions are that trust worth even on that basis.

Unless there is a guideline by which reviews are supposed to set ratings it is pointless what one person considers a 2 maybe another persons 4.
It doesn't help when you can't give 0 stars.

If plot and art and all was broken into several values. Then the you set requirements for each of the tiers on those then yes it might mean more.
You could evaluate a story on how well it is told.
Is there inconsistencies in the story and conflict with character development.
Did the author half ass shit like using, "But I have no choice" ...
Are there serious holes in the stories plot such as why a character does or can't make another option.
Proper use and understanding of subjects used in stories

You don't want to use something like immersion as a factor because some people can get into anything were other people like myself see every problem with it.
It's not that I look for the issues its more like they just stand out as if they had a spot light shining on them to me where other people don't even notice them until someone points it out.

Or maybe it should be done more as a survey in which if you spot an issue you also have to write a short notation on what the issue you spotted was.
Then the system could evaluate over time if people agree on those issues it can assign a rating.
Then you could have a section on the question as where they can write their personal opinion and elaborate.
It would be harder to arrive at a false score or rating. For a game to get a 5 it would need to have none of the plot issues listed above.

Rating art would be better done using a description base where those making the ratings simply select what art form matches what is used.
Then you could even use something like multiple images to determine which is closer to the type.

 

[Diconica]

Games aren't different to books, movies or musics. When none specialists review them, they will not talk about technical aspect like those you named, because they just don't care about them. In place their review will be based on the enjoyment they had ; so something purely subjective, based on their own taste, and that can easily accommodate with default(s). Plus, since the majority of games are still works in progress, it's far to be always easy to claim that there's plot holes or story failures. What seem to be a failure can perfectly become totally realistic one or two updates later, when the missing pieces finally appear.
It can also just come from your own understanding and you can be, in fact, the one at fault because you missed or misunderstood something important. It's by example the case for The DeLuca Family, where some people complain about the behavior of the capos, while totally missing that, from the start, it's a cartoonish parody. Yes, Capos don't act as the cold bloody murders you expect from a mafia story, but it's not a story failure, they are intended to be like that ; it's the main reason why, despite the family being the most powerful, it's also the one that really few take seriously.
Same can be said for Heavy Five, by example, where there's people complaining, by example, because of the cockblock when they try to fuck Annie, completely missing that the story is, at the opposite of The DeLuca Family, pretty serious. It's not just a pretext for sex, like too many games, and this scene is a reminder of that ; you can fool around, but be ready for the consequences if you don't behave according to the effective context.

Funny that you talk about subjectivity for the most objective part, and not for the most subjective part that is the story. It make me expect that your own reviews are far to be betters than those you complain about.

What isn't surprising at all. They lost enough time because of it, no need to lost more by going back to the forum, then searching the game thread and writing a review, this just in order to say how bad the game can be according to their own personal subjective taste.

It comes down to how and what you are looking at.
Take Star Wars lots of people like it and get into it. Me the first thing I notice is the controls are antiquated about the level we used during the Apollo missions. The ships bank in space where they have no atmosphere and no need to bank.
Some people get immersed in the movie I can't because everything of that nature stands out like.

If you look at art though on the other hand determining if one image is better than another is mostly subjective it depends on what the author was trying to accomplish and what form they were using. Such as comparing a 3DCG to 2Dpainted or some other method is entirely subjective because different individuals like one over the other.

However, plot and story can be look at in two ways.
If you look at the overall intent of what the plot was supposed to be that could be very subjective to if it is good or bad.
If however you look at the execution or delivery of it that would be more objective.
Are there issues with Characters, are there inconsistencies, are there holes and poor reason and explanations used, if the author doesn't understand what he is writing about. You could even break it down further and look at how many of them each they have. That way a rating doesn't take a huge amount of for a single mistake. After all people make mistakes and over look stuff. On the other hand some people are lazy and some just such at writing.

You are correct in that some people mistake stuff. I think a number of people would expect a gangster game to be something on the line of scar face or some other. They forget there are comical characters that scheme and try to be the hard character but nothing really goes there way or the way they planned it. In truth I haven't played the Deluca family so I'm making a bit of a guess as the type of stuff in it.

 

[RedPillBlues]

Honestly I almost always automatically discard every 5 and 1 star review. Way too many people that give games high ratings because "gud renders" and likewise too many people giving one stars because of similar dumbshit. 90% of people who write reviews have no idea what they are even writing themselves.

 

[Archaon11111]

I found a decent visual novel called Luna in the Tavern, checked the reviews and its just one stars spam complaining about the patreon price you're getting that shit for free anyway like hell thats not how a review works its like those cranky google reviews from old folks that screech about anything but the product.

Best way to deal with it is ignore any review thats a sentence long or simply screeching random complaints that dint make sense.

Wish there was better moderation also, I found a lot of reviews were made by hour old accounts in a 5 star spam on some games. something like only day old accounts can review games.

 

[RedPillBlues]

Wish there was better moderation also, I found a lot of reviews were made by hour old accounts in a 5 star spam on some games. something like only day old accounts can review games.

Just report them and they'll get taken down if they are in fact fresh accounts spamming reviews. I've done it plenty of times. I think agree that there should be a lax limit to who can post reviews, wether it be posts, hour time, or a combination of both.

 

[Asia Argento]

When I downloaded this, I wasnt quite sure of what to make of this. I thought it would be cringe... but as I kept playing and overlooking the celebrity worship that is apart of this I found a game with tons of heart and depth. As my "Ashley" went from shy college girl to sex positive model, I slowly began to deeply appreciate the game and what it presented. There are bad routes I avoided like the plague, but this one (despite me missing out on Jasmin), had me leaving feeling good as a whole. I did play with gigged money, it did make gameplay MUCH easier than it could have been... but this is definitely one of my "Must Plays" since I started here. Worth the effort and rewarding. Decent porn too. Have a nice day.

This is my last one from Good Girl Gone Bad. I write reviews like this and I feel it goes unread and doesnt go to helping other players decide if they like it or not... I havent done any in the past month, likely more because I feel its a overlooked part of the page and not really noticed by many on here... So what do you think, OP?

 

[Diconica]

Just report them and they'll get taken down if they are in fact fresh accounts spamming reviews. I've done it plenty of times. I think agree that there should be a lax limit to who can post reviews, wether it be posts, hour time, or a combination of both.

I think something like this would be better

 

[RedPillBlues]

I think something like this would be better

View attachment 910973

That wouldn't help prevent spam and im not sure adding more boxes to format reviews better would increases the overall quality of the shitty reviews.

 

[Diconica]

This is my last one from Good Girl Gone Bad. I write reviews like this and I feel it goes unread and doesnt go to helping other players decide if they like it or not... I havent done any in the past month, likely more because I feel its a overlooked part of the page and not really noticed by many on here... So what do you think, OP?

Not a bad review.

But what I noticed about the game is a bit different. Depending on the route you choose the writing or story differs in quality.
When it came to negative routes and choices the author failed to often explain in a worth while manor the choice she would make.

You are left with filling in the details yourself if you want to believe it. I see it more to playing an online RPG where you actually choose the way your character acts. But it is inconsitent in that the better path and routes will follow more logic and almost just avoids trying to explain the negative routes in a manor that makes complete scene. At times it felt like talking to a crazy person. You know when they got this elaborate explanation that only makes sense to them. Or like you are in a conversation and you keep getting pulled away and missing part of it.

I read at different speed depending on what my purpose for reading something is. Take a 300 page novel if I just want to know the primary aspects of it 1 hour front to back, If I want to read it to do a book report 2 to 3 hours. There are a lot less lines showing up on the pages with images and stuff in visual novels or RPGM. That means I see those lines for a lot more time than I usually give even writing a report on a book. That means story and plot issues just stand the hell out. Which means for someone like myself getting immersed in the story doesn't happen to often unless it well written.

 

[Diconica]

That wouldn't help prevent spam and im not sure adding more boxes to format reviews better would increases the overall quality of the shitty reviews.

Depends on how you do it as to how effective it will be. The server would generate a score based on the users inputs and a number of factors when comparing users reports against one another.
You fix it so that they can't simply just check the box they have to enter in a count of how many they spotted and give examples. Users could report false posts and a moderator could then more easily identify if the statements are true or false.
To get a higher score it would need less reported issues. As the game progresses in quality the older reports can be dropped off. That way the score is based on the newer version of the game.
It would be more difficult for spam to keep a score high. So less likely people would resort to it.

 

[anne O'nymous]

Take Star Wars lots of people like it and get into it. Me the first thing I notice is the controls are antiquated about the level we used during the Apollo missions. The ships bank in space where they have no atmosphere and no need to bank.
Some people get immersed in the movie I can't because everything of that nature stands out like.

You are far to be the only one who see details like that, but these being inconsistencies is far to be the only thing to see here. Both the controls and banking have a purpose, playing an important part on the story's background.

Yes, the controls have really few in common with Apollo missions (but less with nowadays space shuttles), for a good reason, they aren't exploration shuttles, they are travel vessels. Where you see something antiquated than what was used for Apollo missions, others see a cockpit clearly mimicked from an airplane one. And it's with this little detail that a whole part of the universe background is set ; and set to everyone, including those who didn't noticed what you saw. Space travels are common things that anyone can do, and do way more than once in his life. Every control is kept basic in order to be easy to understand, and stay coherent from a vessel to another, in order to also permit to anyone to pilot one of those vessels after some teaching ; this in the same way that anyone can drive a car, and knowing how to drive one is enough to know how to drive them all.
As for the banking, they are here both for visual purpose and to enforce the comparison with airplanes. It's a familiar setting for the spectators ; dog fights are a classical for airplanes battles. It's how people expect them to happen to the extent that they even happen when the battle involve jets, despite the fact that 99,5% of the time the fight is finished before you can even see your opponent. Outside of battles it also permit to show the difference between pilots ; experts doing amazing moves, while novice tend to flight plan.

And this fallback to what I said. In order to effectively judge, seeing the unseen details isn't enough, one still have to understand why things are like that.

 

[desmosome]

Meh I can tell if the opinions are worth taking into account from the first few lines.

The reviews I don't care for are the checklist crap with nothing else going on. Art 5/5. Story 4/5. Music 4/5. Sex 5/5.

Like ok.. that tells me literally nothing.