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Is it just me or can reviews just be brutal?
drkfrontiers
Member Posts: 2,477 Arc User
I just don't see the point in personally insulting people who have put in effort and time creating Foundry missions.
Personally:
I would like Cryptic to institute a system whereby like on YouTube or Linkedin, your missions are your profile to manage.
Allow authors to decide which reviews can be made public, and which offensive ones can be removed.
I would even like to be able to place people on Foundry ignores. That way they can be permanently assisted from having to "endure" the missions I create.
Personally:
- If I find something in a mission I don't like, I realize that people are not the same and that tastes differ. Foundry missions are stories. They are not opportunities for people to feel like the panel of Idols, or "STO's got Talent".
- If there is something technically wrong with the mission, making it impossible to play, I contact the author, thus given them an opportunity to correct the issue, before adding my impressive "Fail! Cr@p" vote to it. PS. This says more about the reviewer than the story line by the way.
- As an Author, I am an ordinary person. I am not developer. I do not have access to code to make all your wildest expectations and dreams come true. I am only trying my best to tell my own story. If you don't enjoy it, please stop immediately what you are doing, and move onto something else. Why put yourself through my mission then, only to come out at the other side so you can slate it? One example is a person who complained that a KDF mission referenced to the player as being Klingon, but he was an alien... Or G@d forbid, I used canonical Klingon names and linenames used in most fiction, because someone thought them childish.
- If you really feel the need to express your outrage, please refrain from personal insults, and just give some constructive feedback.
- For those who really do enjoy the good slating, please create a foundry mission and see how it feels when something you put a great deal of effort into, gets torn apart.
I would like Cryptic to institute a system whereby like on YouTube or Linkedin, your missions are your profile to manage.
Allow authors to decide which reviews can be made public, and which offensive ones can be removed.
I would even like to be able to place people on Foundry ignores. That way they can be permanently assisted from having to "endure" the missions I create.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
Pretty much anything one does is going to be critiqued. The best way to put up with overly-aggressive reviews is to just ignore them. Don't take them personally.
That's my thoughts, anyway.
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them."
-Thomas Marrone
One said it had "coding issues." A. I don't have access to the code, and B. WTF do does "coding issues" even mean? ERG!
I think a lot of it stems from fundamental ignorance as to how the foundry works from a large part of the people who only pop in to play spotlight missions. And it'll get WORSE once they attach a reward to it.
Also, some people are just jerks.
So yeah.... you can't please everyone.
My character Tsin'xing
Starting to question my enjoyment of trigger storylines that are not part of the main. People just don't like it.
Lots of people love it. Keep them in, but make them optional. That way everyone is happy.
And yeah, don't let negative reviews bog you down. Just ignore the jerks and focus on the constructive comments. That way, your next missions will be even better!
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them."
-Thomas Marrone
Like you said in the OP, these are stories, ones we wanted to tell. Take pride in the fact Cryptic chose yours because of what it is! I mean, only reason I got a spotlight was I won a contest. Your mission was just good.
My character Tsin'xing
Now, here's my tuppence worth (probably an accurate appraisal!)
Here are some examples for us to examine, if we wish:
1: "There are way too many Romulans."
Long story short: I recently published a set of 3 (one ground map each) dailies to go alongside the ingame KDF Empire Defense missions.
Kahless/Federations: 6 groups.
Azure/Romulan: 6 groups.
Chos/TrueWay: 7 groups.
Kahless gets 5 stars.
Azure gets 1.
Chos gets 5.
Okay, says I. Azure must be broken.
Check out the review. Nope: "Way too many Romulans."
My first response is "NO. There are not. See for yourself. There are 6 groups, just like on the Federation mission that you just gave me 5 stars for. THIS is the type of review to I would like to ignore completely. Someone who understands how the Foundry works would not have left this review."
BUT
We cannot force people to use the Foundry (nor should we), and so we cannot avoid reviews like this. I am going to ask the person what they meant, and maybe see if they might change the rating if I can change it, or whatever.
Did the map itself simply feel cluttered?
Were the respawn points poorly placed?
Did they mean that the placement was crowded?
Because they're all completely different issues.
But they don't know that. They're using the terms that they do know to communicate what they thought was wrong with it. And what more can they do, really? As the Author, it's in my benefit to find out what they meant.
So I would LIKE to ignore it, but it's an opportunity for education: Mine, as to what the person means, and the person's, because they might learn something about the Foundry. Or not, or whatever. The point is that it's done in the spirit of cooperation.
Also, in this example: I've overlooked the fact that the person also gave me two 5 Stars, and that they played 3 of my missions the first place - they spent time on my work (getting it closer to leaving the review stage), and gave me some attention and feedback. Really, that's kinda neat (as Archie Andrews might say, if he played STO).
Don't overlook stuff like that. It's important, because you need to look at the good stuff too. It's important for your sense of worth as an Author. Don't overlook stuff that makes you feel good! Not to sound like a Deferi, but balance is important.
And just like you spent time making it, they spent their time playing it. They could have been farming STFs or lockboxes instead. Yes, you probably spent more time making it, but they definitely spent their time playing it. As a Consumer, they just want a product that they enjoy. As an Author, it's up to us to give it to them, overcoming all the restrictions that are in our way. Even when 'their knowledge of the Foundry' is one of the restrictions.
You don't need to know how a music studio works to know whether or not you like a piece of music, and this is essentially no different.
2: "Your time limit is wrong"
I had no idea what this meant, so I mailed the person and asked them. They replied "You say it takes 45 minutes, but it took me well over an hour."
Firstly: They played my work for over an hour. I want to give THEM dilithium, dang it! Can I give THEM 5 Stars? AWESOME.
Secondly, no matter what excuses you use (valid or otherwise) you cannot control other people's experience of your work, only influence it. That's part of being a creator. It's the best part, I think - everyone gets a different experience, because everyone is different.
Finally, in both cases (1 and 2), they didn't make it a personal attack. They simply said what they thought the problem was, and left it at that. That's how do it: Stay classy, reviewers.
In conclusion, I would like to state that I don't know how to close essays properly but I've said everything I wanted to.
(*PLUG* Defense Extra: Azure is the KDF one with "way too many Romulans", if you wanted to judge it for yourself. Currently still in review stage. *PLUG*)
"Data doesn't look familiar, it's a saurian" in one of my missions. I had to do this to respect the EULA, but taking the player to the bridge of the USS Enterprise D was a mistake. I won't do it anymore. A good story never requires that. If the story is good enough, the player will think it's a good Star Trek story; characters from the series are pure fluff.
At first glance it looks like an unfair review because one could think this player is telling me to break the EULA but it's not. I should have build my story differently (and at some point I will but I have too many current projects to do it now).
"Too many typos". This is often the first review I get. I'm stupid. I always build mission in my native language and then I translate them because I think english-speaking players can enjoy it. Half of them don't because I can't catch all my mistakes. I could put a disclamer saying "f**k off if you don't like typos" but I don't because I know how important this issue can be. If I don't want bad reviews I just have to stop translating my missions, and that's something I consider from time to time anyway. Again I'm responsible of my bad reviews here.
It can be unpleasant but it's also important to know what the players expect in our missions.
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
Me too bud. I think half the trolls were names I recognized from PvP
Very cool bud. Thanks
What I always do is use word when I am writing and set the language to US, because I know 90% of the audience is American. It helps me catch all the little spelling mistakes.
I use the FreeMind tool to map out my story too.
1. The above-mentioned scoundrels have forced my map out of circulation, preventing it from getting any new reviews. :mad:
2. The early players never came back to see what became of the mission, leaving their reviews relatively low.
The first taught me only that some people can't appreciate effort. :mad:
But the second taught me not to release my missions so early.
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
Did you explain Data looking like a Saurian? What mission is this?
Yes I did, I said he was trying some sort of new head for science purpose or something like that. I don't remember how I did that exactly but there is a reason. Probably not valid for my reviewer. Now I have some more experience with the foundry, I can't really disagree with him. Immersion is always a critical issue.
It's in the second part of my very first mission: you won't be borg 2/2.
But as I said earlier I consider adding him a mistake now. You need too many workarounds not to break the EULA and it looks artificial and uneeded.
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
Yeah, I'd say it's better not to show a character at all, rather than show that 'character' with a different appearance. In the end the characters from the show aren't vital to making a ST story. You can create new characters that are somewhat derivative from the ones in the shows to capture the feel.
Click here for my Foundry tutorial on Creating A Custom Interior Map.
The poster formerly known as LordOfPit, and his blog.
* Dec 2007 (CO)
* Oct 2008 (STO)
Some truth here, I think. I just recently published my first foundry mission. Reviews:
5 Stars - "An astounding mission. You could have written an episode."
1 Star - "to(sic) long boring and stupid"
As another review stated, it's a "creative, fun Trekkish" story. So, yeah, I guess if you are not a fan of Star Trek...
What a lot of people don't get is that I am writing an entire story. With different characters with different personalities. It is based on my main character and what I would like to see in a Star Trek series. I spent an entire episode (Mission) on bringing in my Borg bridge officer into the series. No she is not like 7 of 9. She is a Starfleet officer that was assimilated and rescued by the Endeavour and crew and becomes one of the crew. The point I am trying to get at is that Star Trek is not about who the next alien of the week is, or about how much firepower a Starship. It is about compelling people and how they deal with extraordinary situations that they are put in.
But if I get even one player who really gets it and really likes it, I call that a success.
My character Tsin'xing