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I wish there were a way for authors to respond to player reviews of the content. Reviews are there for us to receive feedback on our creations, and to help us create better content by fixing the things we didn't do well, or building on things we did. In some situations, it's hard for authors to appropriately respond and correct their content accordingly.
For example, a phrase that I see quite often while reading reviews is "[content] seemed forced." But there's almost never any explanation as to how it seemed forced. It seemed forced..neat. But how? What about it gave the feeling of being forced or rushed? We can't fix or improve it without knowing what's wrong with it.
Being vague is almost as cool as doing this other thing.
Since we currently lack the means to respond to our feedback (save for in-game mail), I encourage all reviewers to explain why you liked something or didn't. It will help the author (if he/she cares enough about their work) take the appropriate steps to either augment or or improve upon their content- which makes your gameplay a much better experience.
Authors, if you are serious about improving the quality of your created content, and If you have a question/comment regarding feedback that you've left, I encourage you to send an in-game mail to the individual who left the feedback. Ask why or why not they liked the content you've created, so that you can become a better mission writer/designer in the future.
I know that not every player is the same, and likes/dislikes will vary across the player spectrum- so please do not consider this post to be the end-all/be-all. In my opinion, the communication between author/reviewer will help both sides enjoy the game much better. The reviewer can explain to the author what worked and what didn't for them, and the author can either adjust their content or leave it the way it is (depending on what the author was trying to do with the content, or what they feel is done correctly to begin with). This dialog can also create a rapport between author and reviewer, to help further the relationship they have with one another. Community is key, right?
For example, a phrase that I see quite often while reading reviews is "[content] seemed forced." But there's almost never any explanation as to how it seemed forced. It seemed forced..neat. But how? What about it gave the feeling of being forced or rushed? We can't fix or improve it without knowing what's wrong with it.
Being vague is almost as cool as doing this other thing.
Since we currently lack the means to respond to our feedback (save for in-game mail), I encourage all reviewers to explain why you liked something or didn't. It will help the author (if he/she cares enough about their work) take the appropriate steps to either augment or or improve upon their content- which makes your gameplay a much better experience.
Authors, if you are serious about improving the quality of your created content, and If you have a question/comment regarding feedback that you've left, I encourage you to send an in-game mail to the individual who left the feedback. Ask why or why not they liked the content you've created, so that you can become a better mission writer/designer in the future.
I know that not every player is the same, and likes/dislikes will vary across the player spectrum- so please do not consider this post to be the end-all/be-all. In my opinion, the communication between author/reviewer will help both sides enjoy the game much better. The reviewer can explain to the author what worked and what didn't for them, and the author can either adjust their content or leave it the way it is (depending on what the author was trying to do with the content, or what they feel is done correctly to begin with). This dialog can also create a rapport between author and reviewer, to help further the relationship they have with one another. Community is key, right?
Post edited by Unknown User on
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You might want to take a look in this thread then, because you reviewed this person and they started a whole thread based on your review.
Fortunately the author had started a new thread with a review request and I was in a helpful mood, so I posted a couple of comments with an elaboration of what I liked and some suggestions on going forward.
As I said, I wish that there were a way for us to respond to reviews that wasn't in-game mail.
I read reviews that other people write before I play the content myself, and I'm pretty sure that others do the same, too. Wouldn't it be nice if someone who wrote a review that said, "There was too much dialog" and the author could respond to that so that everyone could see? "Yeah, there's a bit of dialog, but it's necessary for the character development."
Nobody can see the behind-the-scenes mail conversation that the author may have with the reviewer. Some people may see "too much dialog" and never even attempt the mission because they they it would be a waste of time. Alternatively, that same person may be inclined to play the mission because the see that the author responded with "necessary for character development."
I'm looking for a way to respond to reviews publicly (albeit not on the forums, because they would most likely get lost in the clutter).
****EDIT*** Dual monitors like a boss.
But while it would be nice to be able to respond to reviews publicly, I could also see that causing some issues. For example, I've got a one star review that accuses me of plagiarism because my goal is to involve the player in a Klingon version of Romeo and Juliet (well, just the first 2 acts so far). It isn't something I try to hide. I've actually invested a bit of time in trying to keep it relatively clear. If I were able to respond to that fool, nothing good would come of it, especially due to use of words like fool
I think for some other things, you really do have to PM the person. I've got another one star review (my mission seems a bit like it or hate it, either 1 or 4 stars) which likes certain aspects, but didn't find the mission fun. That guy would be worth PM'ing, to see what he didn't find fun or what he thought I could do to make it more fun. But a comment wouldn't really help there. No guarantee it would get a response and unless there can be comments on comments, he'd have to change his original review and it would all just get a bit messy. So that would all be better handled in PMs.
One thing that does worry me is an inability to remove reviews. I think a lot of us are going to be publishing partially finished missions, an alpha or beta build if you will, just to get some feedback of what we need to tweak. And then we'll tweak those things. That and add a bunch of fluff and flavor which could net an extra star in reviews. But short of emailing everyone and hoping they update their review, you are sort of stuck with the old reviews, at least up to a certain number or time. Would be nice if there was a way to clear the comments, at least from time to time.
although i do agree it is slightly annoying to have people downgrade your work because of spelling errors or bugs, then you fix or they improve the foundry and your still stick with the knocked down scores.
end of the day i think people are just going to have to take reviews with a pinch of salt, and use it as a very rough guide only.
I agree with that. I think the more important thing will actually be the star rating average. Beyond that, people are just going to look for certain key things that indicate whether or not the mission is the type they might like.
Unfortunately, I think that will cause issues of its own. Missions aimed at a subset of players might score really well with that subset, but poorly with those outside of it. And so will wind up buried in 2-3 star land, never even looked at by many players, even though the mission itself will have a decent number of high reviews, just counteracted by an equal number of really low reviews, a love it or hate type of mission, basically.
Which may currently be broken. My mission has five reviews (two five stars, two four stars and a one star) and yet my average or "overall" star rating is at two.
It is currently bugged, yes. It is dividing by 5, rather than the number of reviewers.