Supporting Authors Through Other Avenues - Writing Reviews

[anon21485497]

@Gower

And I would add to that–there are certain breakpoints that make certain numbers of reviews particularly valuable. On Steam, for example, I believe that getting to 50 reviews can push a well-reviewed game from “Positive” to “Very Positive” which makes it much more visible.

I knew there was a cut-off but didn’t know exactly what it was. Good information!

@Kefs

50 reviews on Steam for CS game. Is that even possible?

@hustlertwo

Wayhaven Dos says hello, is it me you’re looking for?

Choice of Robots has over 1,700. Hello from the other side.

@hustlertwo

And even then, fewer still might hit the high percentage of positive reviews required for it to avoid being Mixed or something else a lot more damning.

Steam players don’t seem to be the biggest fans of text-based games in general. I don’t know, could just be me.

@malinryden

I have 182 reviews right now on Steam, my favorite one is this:

Yes.

Iconic.

@Anathema

Very few things are as disheartening as showing your work and feeling as if you’re screaming into the void.

Reviews and feedback are, to me, the most important gift anyone can give a writer.

Absolutely, and while you can most likely count on friends or family to provide some feedback, their bias will undoubtedly still lead you to question yourself. Reviews from outside sources keep the creative spindle turning.

@Szaal

Steam used to allow a simple thumbs up or down, but now they demanded text in the reviews.

Well, a pox on Steam for that. Probably hurt a number of creators as most people will now likely leave nothing at all.

@Eric_Moser

It’s a shame that we are losing our reviews because of the shift to Omnibus.

Number one biggest frustration. That, and that I can’t leave a review on the Choice of Games website at all as far as I am aware, which is unfortunate. Because the vast majority of the games I own I bought on the website. Of course, it used to be I bought them on my iPod before it died for the final time in the great reckoning of 2017. Then I rebought old ones on a combination of CoG and Steam and have ever since. Ya’ll already had double devotion, but now some of you literally have double as well as reviews I left having gone back and realized I didn’t before. My old, crappy iPod says you’re welcome.

@Eric_Moser

With Zip, I got…4 reviews.

So with Zip! you got…zip? (I’m so sorry, you know l’m a huge fan. But it had to be said.)

@poison_mara

I normally not let reviews on pages, because I don’t want to harm authors. A small criticism in a page of ratings can really harm the scores or dissuade a possible buyer.

I prefer to come here and tell the author in a place that my criticism won’t hurt its revenue

You can personally contact the authors of course, but I will say, leaving embedded constructive criticism within overall positive reviews doesn’t do harm. Actually, I feel like it avoids harm in some ways. Others who haven’t bought the game yet may read the review, realize the game is not for them before buying it, and then not leave an extremely vitriolic, 1 star review later which would have sunk the score. If you thought the game was overall poorly written and have nothing constructive or positive to say, then it might be best to avoid reviewing it altogether. But otherwise, reviews are still helpful in my opinion. I’ve seen tons of positive reviews still list cons.

@Nocturnal_Stillness

It doesn’t make me feel sad to not be rated as highly as I put it down as different types of customers.

Yeah, Steam is a persnickety lover.

@NMCannon

Moonrise got review-bombed when it first came out

By rude and inconsequential knobs no doubt, based on what I know of Moonrise and how it was received in its release thread. They’ll die bitter on the wrong side of history. And your moon will keep rising. It’s clear who the real winner is here.

[hustlertwo]

Yeah, Steam being more of a pure gamer location than the mobile marketplaces makes IF a tougher sell. Still, it’s a lot better than Amazon. Though it is funny that the one negative review TPS has there basically boiled down to ‘this is way more reading than I expected’.

[anon21485497]

I feel like IF would have a much bigger sell power everywhere if more bookish folk got past the part where it starts out as a Frankenstein’s amalgamation of gaming and reading experiences in the initial stages of your gateway drug corruption. Right now, though popular, it’s far more niche than it could be. The world of bookishness is a vast and copiously funded monolith, but they haven’t jumped in on this market as of yet. I crossed over from ravenously consuming YA myself, so I see all these possibilities. Not sure how to progress communication between these audiences adequately, but I’m all for Heroes of Myth™ busting that particular demon portal wide open. Some fear the mainstream, but what is there really to fear from more incentive/stability for authors to be in this long haul style thus leading to more options for all?

Also:

@hustlertwo

Though it is funny that the one negative review TPS has there basically boiled down to ‘this is way more reading than I expected’.

You never win, huh? Shorter game, there’s reviews that the content and replay value isn’t high enough to justify paying for it. Longer game, and the reviews will now be “too much reading”. How do you have too much reading in a text based game in the first place? The world may never know.

[Kaelyn]

I do not know If I already mentioned it here or elsewhere. You can leave a review in google If you just download the demo. So If you bought the game in the omnibus you can leave a review in the google store too.

[anon21485497]

Which I definitely will be using! Still disappointing that we have to rely so heavily on google reviews though. Particularly when they’re the most likely crowd to give one star for a game not being free it seems. That may have happened tons on Apple though; I’m rather biased as all I remember from pre-Omnibus was being not super thrilled that all my unique games were forced into one app.

[Kaelyn]

I do not know if it is possible in other platforms too, since I mostly use my Smartphone for IF. Maybe someone could Check, If it is also possible in other markets

[NMCannon]

Hey, thank you. I kind of feel bad that I keep bringing it up: like you said, those knobs don’t matter, in the long run. I know Moonrise’s audience, and their comments are the ones to pay attention to. I need to look forward more.