Is this okay?

[Deleted member 1758197]

I'm counting six B.S. five star reviews, with a sus 4 star as a possible 7th, on this game. I'm guessing its only six so far, because its a fairly new game with only thirteen reviews as of now. So in order of older reviews first: its five star, one star, two star, five star, one star, ect. then a bunch of five and a couple four star reviews with only one of them looking legit. They have nearly zero activity between all of them. Only two of the six, possibly seven, have activity not related to this dev with only a single extra random like or post on another thread each. This is shit canning at its finest. Stop making burner accounts to improve you review rating and put that effort into your game Mr. Dev. who shall remain anonymous - unless a Moderator thinks this is something worth there time.

 

[Ambir]

I'm counting six B.S. five star reviews, with a sus 4 star as a possible 7th, on this game. I'm guessing its only six so far, because its a fairly new game with only thirteen reviews as of now. So in order of older reviews first: its five star, one star, two star, five star, one star, ect. then a bunch of five and a couple four star reviews with only one of them looking legit. They have nearly zero activity between all of them. Only two of the six, possibly seven, have activity not related to this dev with only a single extra random like or post on another thread each. This is shit canning at its finest. Stop making burner accounts to improve you review rating and put that effort into your game Mr. Dev. who shall remain anonymous - unless a Moderator thinks this is something worth there time.

Just report it and if the accounts that made the reviews are alts of the dev, the mods will deal with it.

 

[Deleted member 1758197]

Just report it and if the accounts that made the reviews are alts of the dev, the mods will deal with it.

I don't actually want to grief anyone on their grind Even bad Devs have to eat. This was more of a way of venting Thank you for the advice. If it continues, and gets to the point to where their clearly trying burying legit reviews, then I'll have to do just this As of now, I know their just trying to get their feet off the ground.

 

[Crispy Chicken]

I don't actually want to grief anyone on their grind Even bad Devs have to eat. This was more of a way of venting Thank you for the advice. If it continues, and gets to the point to where their clearly trying burying legit reviews, then I'll have to do just this As of now, I know their just trying to get their feet off the ground.

This isn't the first time this happened lol.

Still, if they really want to get their feet off the ground, review manipulation isn't the right way for it. If a dev fakes good reviews in order to gain traction, it really shits on the other devs who are actually working their asses off for it.

And wastes players' time downloading the game too, thinking that it's a good one.

 

[Deleted member 1758197]

This isn't the first time this happened lol.

Still, if they really want to get their feet off the ground, review manipulation isn't the right way for it. If a dev fakes good reviews in order to gain traction, it really shits on the other devs who are actually working their asses off for it.

And wastes players' time downloading the game too, thinking that it's a good one.

I feel that. What's worse, is that the game is still only at 3 stars even after the Dev's manipulation - which is over half of the reviews as of now. So not only are they faking it, but their deceiving people into believing that its an ok game......its really bad. I know their working to fix it, and I'm hoping their only doing it to not get buried in poor reviews, buying time if you will. It doesn't make it right though What's worse is that their hiding a lot behind a paywall without even having a functional game yet. It should still technically still be in a demo faze, but the Dev is already trying to milk it. I want to give everyone the benefit of a doubt though. I don't know their life's circumstances

 

[Meaning Less]

In most cases it will just have the opposite effect, users like yourself that noticed the reviews are suspicious will most likely already put the dev/game on their blacklists.

And in fact after users see a bad game with a highscore it just makes them more eager to post a very negative review, so it is a lose-lose for devs unless they are actually posting a fair review.

 

[Deleted member 1758197]

In most cases it will just have the opposite effect, users like yourself that noticed the reviews are suspicious will most likely already put the dev/game on their blacklists.

And in fact after users see a bad game with a highscore it just makes them more eager to post a very negative review, so it is a lose-lose for devs unless they are actually posting a fair review.

I can't tell if people are blacklisting the game or not, but the second half of your statement is literally happening already. I just hope they knock it off before it gets to the point to where it needs to be reported. You know how it goes. If one jerk gets away with it, its only a matter of time before it catches on and becomes a thing. Bots is the next natural evolution from there Just thinking about all the "people" creating new accounts just to give that dev a "generous review" on their crappy game before magically falling off the face of the earth makes me mildly irritated.

 

[justpassingbyreally]

its a fairly new game with only thirteen reviews as of now. So in order of older reviews first: its five star, one star, two star, five star, one star, ect. then a bunch of five and a couple four star reviews with only one of them looking legit. They have nearly zero activity between all of them.

the game is still only at 3 stars

Found it.

but the second half of your statement is literally happening already. I just hope they knock it off before it gets to the point to where it needs to be reported.

You can report the review bombing too.


https://f95zone.to/threads/general-rules-updated-2022-02-01.5589/

Do not engage in either like or review manipulation. This includes using alt accounts, incentivized like/review schemes, "like for like", etc.

https://f95zone.to/threads/review-rating-rules-updated-2021-05-31.1753/

1. Try to be objective, describe your reasoning and highlight what key aspects of the content were good or bad.
2. Please mention the version of the game you are reviewing of.
3. Do not mention other games or other developers in your review, this is to prevent cross promotion.
4. The review should only be about the game, not the developer (pricing, update times, etc).
5. There is a 200 character requirement, do not attempt to bypass this by using spam or irrelevant comments.
6. Your review shouldn't be solely focused on your feelings about a specific genre.
7. Do not review your own game or games you've worked on.

 

[Deleted member 1758197]

Found it.

You can report the review bombing too.


https://f95zone.to/threads/general-rules-updated-2022-02-01.5589/


https://f95zone.to/threads/review-rating-rules-updated-2021-05-31.1753/

He's still up to it, so I reported it. Sigh.......SploonToon and MegaClashMaster popped out of nowhere with back to back 4 star reviews, and they both were created this week. The old ones did get deleted though, so that's a good thing; but he's just creating more. At this point the Dev is making himself out to be a bad actor. I wanted to give them the benefit of a doubt; but unfortunately individuals like them are a cancer that reflects poorly on all Devs, and that can't be tolerated - I only say this because I've seen this kind of behavior before/watched how it played out. It almost always ends with a game that sucked as much money out of the supporters as possible before leaving them with a half finished and essentially broken game. I hope they clean up their act, preferably before they get themselves and their game banned.

 

[Meaning Less]

Idk if I found the right thread but if I did than damn, whatever that devs doing seems to be working. Dude's got over 450 patrons .

Well the game is interactive, has decent visual and parody content, so it is expected. That's the thing, reviews don't really matter, people that enjoy the game barely care about the f95 average score.

That's why you report it once so moderators check if the IPs are suspicious. I also wouldn't automatically blame the dev because it could very easily be the work of some fanatic fans trying to bump the score with new accounts.

 

[anne O'nymous]

I also wouldn't automatically blame the dev because it could very easily be the work of some fanatic fans trying to bump the score with new accounts.

They don't even need new accounts. If he effectively have 450+ patrons, he surely have few thousands fans here. That a tenth or two don't even wait that the download finish before they write a 5 stars review wouldn't be surprising.

 

[Deleted member 1758197]

I was being as optimistic as you two were at first, and while it's possible that it could be a crazed fan, the activity has been confirmed by the moderators; furthermore, it doesn't seem like the Dev has the numbers on f95 to have crazed fans yet. Patreon is Patreon after all, its not f95. Plus, the Dev themselves created their own thread which is indicative of them not being known on f95. He had to create his own threat while having thousands of f95 fans? Lets face it, that's highly unlikely. The bot/throw away account's reviews have been removed. There is only 8 reviews on their page now, and that's including two new ones that popped up. That means that only six of the original thirteen were real reviews. The majority of their reviews on f95 were completely fake. I was being hopeful that this would stop, and that the Dev was just trying to boost his start on f95, not that I condone this kind of behavior/agree with it in anyway. I just wanted the Dev to clean up their act, or whoever it may be. What I do know is that they created two new fake reviews right after having the originals deleted. To make them less noticeable they tried to drop the reviews they gave from to 5 stars to 4, and spent a little more time on the fake accounts activity. It was still painfully obvious though. Creating those two new fake accounts shows that this isn't something they intended to stop. Burring constructive criticism in a mire of fake reviews isn't the way to go. The Dev need to focus that energy on the game itself. On the off chance its a crazed fan, they need to realize that in the long run their doing far more harm than good.

 

[anne O'nymous]

I was being as optimistic as you two were at first, and while it's possible that it could be a crazed fan, the activity has been confirmed by the moderators;

What doesn't change what we said, since we were globally speaking, and not addressing a particular dev. It's not because one was a dick, and faked praising reviews, that all early praising reviews are fake.

Plus, the Dev themselves created their own thread which is indicative of them not being known on f95. He had to create his own threat while having thousands of f95 fans? Lets face it, that's highly unlikely.

The poor [auto censoring, I don't want to shame him ], he have four games available here, two being finished, and apparently he have no fans since he had to starts all the threads... Or is it that this assumption is ridiculous ?
Many devs are the first one to leak their game here, because they know perfectly well that it's the best way to advertise them. What mean that they are the ones starting the thread, because you can't leak a game before it was publicly released.

 

[Deleted member 1758197]

What doesn't change what we said, since we were globally speaking, and not addressing a particular dev. It's not because one was a dick, and faked praising reviews, that all early praising reviews are fake.




The poor [auto censoring, I don't want to shame him ], he have four games available here, two being finished, and apparently he have no fans since he had to starts all the threads... Or is it that this assumption is ridiculous ?
Many devs are the first one to leak their game here, because they know perfectly well that it's the best way to advertise them. What mean that they are the ones starting the thread, because you can't leak a game before it was publicly released.

Your taking this focused discussion off topic. Please stop taking things out of context. Literally no one said all positive reviews were fake. I said most of the accounts posting them on that particular thread are, and I was proven correct. You are correct that I didn't look into the Dev's history, but that's not a good thing to highlight his other games. All your going to accomplishing by doing that is casting a shadow on his other projects by linking it with the boosted reviews - which have now been verified. I didn't even say the Dev's name. Which under that name, they don't have four projects. Only one. Which might be why I don't know about them, maybe you have the wrong Dev in consideration for this topic. This is not a hit piece against the Dev in the first place. If it was, I would of said their name. Its the activity that is the issue. I will concede that it is a trend of late that the Devs create their own threads, so I stand corrected. This is a more recent thing though. Perhaps I've been looking too much from the historic standpoint of f95 as opposed to the more recent trends. I've been here on f95 since its pirate days - this isn't my first account. So my mindset seems to be a little outdated in that regard.

 

[anne O'nymous]

Literally no one said all positive reviews were fake.

Good, because I never said this either.

[...] maybe you have the wrong Dev in consideration for this topic.

What the fucking fuck are you talking about exactly ? Did you even took the time to think about what you read, or do you just picked two/three words and imagined what I said ?

 

[Deleted member 1758197]

Good, because I never said this either.




What the fucking fuck are you talking about exactly ? Did you even took the time to think about what you read, or do you just picked two/three words and imagined what I said ?

You know, as politely as I can say it, I'm not even going to try to assume what it is your getting at anymore. Your wording and sentence structure is weird/hard to understand. The way you put things are left up to interpretation, and I did the best I could. I'm not out to insult you. I'm just letting you know you need to take more time with your typing to ensure the point your trying to convey actually comes across.

 

[Deleted member 1758197]

Good, because I never said this either.

Here, this is a good example: "It's not because one was a dick, and faked praising reviews, that all early praising reviews are fake." If your reading this from outside your own perspective, how would you take this? Hence my response......

 

[Hadley]

I wouldn't care too much about Reviews. I often downloaded a Game in the past that had like 4.5* or higher and it was complete dogshit, like laughably bad. The Game needs like 100+ Reviews for them to be somewhat representative.

 

[Bucketbot89]

Y'all actually read the reviews on here?

 

[Deleted member 1758197]

I feel you . I also sometimes have trouble making heads or tails of his messages lol but I think you're being unfair. I think he's French so the English isn't on point so there's some miscommunication happening.

Your probably right. Sigh......I tried to be polite, but I think my irritation started to show in my words. LOL! Thank you for the heads up.

I wouldn't care too much about Reviews. I often downloaded a Game in the past that had like 4.5* or higher and it was complete dogshit, like laughably bad. The Game needs like 100+ Reviews for them to be somewhat representative.

That's exactly what I was trying to highlight by this thread. The b.s./boosted reviews that have made the review system almost useless. This isn't the case for most games mind you, just some, but it's becoming more common. The one that pushed me to start this thread had over half of its reviews posted by fake accounts. If we ignore it completely, the bots will come next. Just like they did everywhere else. This is what you call being a victim of your own success I guess. The more popular a forum or social networking site becomes, the more advantageous it becomes for people to use fake/bot accounts.