The Review Section

[Say Anything]

EDIT: Okay, so Joeseph is getting a bad wrap for asking for some change. Really, now? Honestly? Someone writes a "review" (not sure if I'd really call this that, but article seems too business-like and...now I'm rambling, aren't I?) discussing negative changes he's seen over the seasons as a plea, saying, "Please take more time to plan out your reviews. Make them into something people will want to read, make them interesting; you'll be reviewing things for the sake of reviewing them, not to feed your e-penis." What's the bad criticism for? I don't get it.

I gave him negative criticism not for his message but for his method of delivery. NewClassic mad a similar thread about the OT section, and I praised it, because it felt less like a admonishment or order and more like a recommendation or a plea. The execution of this thread is more the issue than what it discusses: I actually agree with him that there's been a flood of downright bad reviews of late.

I just don't see where he says "Start writing good reviews or else..." As such, I don't get where you're coming from. He may have seemed offensive with his rant about poor comedy, but he's right, and in the real world, sometimes you have to understand that not every sentence needs to be said in a positive way. Just because he's angry at a few negatives doesn't mean he's executed something poorly; anger is an emotion given to every human being.

That, or I just don't get it.

 

[Tech Team FTW!]

I believe that these rules have changed recently to "s" instead of "'s", and the New York Times, among other American publications

Both me and the OP are Australian, so that is a moot point.

 

[Fingerprint]

I'm tending to agree with Hey Joe on this one, I may not have worded it the same way but the points would be more or less the same. As of yet I haven't written a review but I do like reading them, though I will happily stop reading a review that is poorly spelt or there has been an obvious lack of effort put into it. I'm not saying everyone should be writing the works of a modern day Oscar Wilde but it should be apparent that the author has really tried to make an in depth, opinionated review.

 

[scotth266]

I just don't see where he says "Start writing good reviews or else..." As such, I don't get where you're coming from. He may have seemed offensive with his rant about poor comedy, but he's right, and in the real world, sometimes you have to understand that not every sentence needs to be said in a positive way. Just because he's angry at a few negatives doesn't mean he's executed something poorly; anger is an emotion given to every human being.

That, or I just don't get it.

I think you're misunderstanding me: I just got a general feeling of negativity from this. It feels imposing, uninclined to forgiveness.

 

[DP-Preacher]

Why do people feel the need to review the reviewer? We aren't professionals in any sense so why should we be treated like such?

I've been perusing the forums at the Escapist for a little over a week now and I was wondering the same thing. Granted, not all reviews are going to be perfect. In fact, with the average age/maturity level of someone who plays games (or at least the socially assumed game player) I would expect the average review here to be very very far from perfect. Whatever. If someone's review is really bad, then I think it's OK to give them tips. However, when I see people say things like "Oh, I wouldn't word this sentence this way" or "I would split this up into different paragraphs" to a decent reviewer,I begin to feel like I'm back in high school English class, reading the notes the teacher wrote on my papers.

I don't come here to read what people think about how people write. I do enough grammar correction and such where I work. I come here to see what people think about games I've played, and perhaps get some insight as to whether or not I should look into getting a new game, seeing a new movie, etc. When a nearly flawless review is followed by pages of people saying "Oh, you need more paragraphs here," or, "your formatting is slightly wrong in this section," it makes me feel like the Escapist is just a front for a secret society of English snobs who have nothing to do with their time other than put people down for not being immaculate in their writing. In my opinion the posts following a decent review (again, suggesting corrections for a bad review is OK to me) should mostly consist of agreement or disagreement with the poster's points.

 

[Hey Joe]

I just don't see where he says "Start writing good reviews or else..." As such, I don't get where you're coming from. He may have seemed offensive with his rant about poor comedy, but he's right, and in the real world, sometimes you have to understand that not every sentence needs to be said in a positive way. Just because he's angry at a few negatives doesn't mean he's executed something poorly; anger is an emotion given to every human being.

That, or I just don't get it.

I think you're misunderstanding me: I just got a general feeling of negativity from this. It feels imposing, uninclined to forgiveness.

You're right, it's quite a negative review and it's meant to read that way. In a year and a half we've pleaded and asked nicely for people to lift their game and yet the same shit keeps on coming up again and again. Worse than that, it's increasing.

The way I see it, it's time to give some people a kick up the bum and stop pussyfooting around. It may not be pleasant, but it may be what's needed.

 

[Hey Joe]

Why do people feel the need to review the reviewer? We aren't professionals in any sense so why should we be treated like such?

I don't come here to read what people think about how people write. I do enough grammar correction and such where I work. I come here to see what people think about games I've played, and perhaps get some insight as to whether or not I should look into getting a new game, seeing a new movie, etc.

Then why don't you just read the OP and be done with it?

 

[Lord Krunk]

Why do people feel the need to review the reviewer? We aren't professionals in any sense so why should we be treated like such?

Depends on your mileage, I guess.

Myself, I'm an aspiring writer and as such embrace criticism with great enthusiasm. I started writing reviews specifically for the criticism, you see. After all, how am I supposed to improve if all I listen to is praise?

 

[dietpeachsnapple]

*SIGH*

Quite a bit of drama to reach this point, and I doubt I will be of much good.

Increasing substance of a review: Good. Agreed. Delightful. The likelihood of a reviewer getting "too much," into a review is unlikely, and if a person were truly looking into a particular product they certainly would not complain.

Increased spelling/grammar quality: Good. Agreed. Delightful. I have a vast preference for proper English. A profound appreciation for good word choice and sentence structure.

Stop trying to be Yahtzee [Read: attempting to use sardonic humor, sarcasm, and irony to be funny.]

At this point I must disagree. I will admit my bias, as I use a similar style of humor. However, I would present two counter points. First, Yahtzee is not the first. You could just as easily accuse someone of copying Dane Cook, or Lewis Black. Second, Humor is relative, and thus somewhat immune to your opinion of its virtues.

I shall leave at this point, as I wish to be both brief, and respectful.

Cheers.

 

[Tryzon]

This thing is basically a mirror of my own opinion on of this forum. This needs to be a permanent fixture at the top of the screen, because it lists everything that people shouldn't do and yet do anyway. The thing about short reviews especially speaks to me, because I can't talk about something in less than two pages, and therefore can't imagine an accurate description of a gaming experience could be much less. If you're not in it for the love of good games and hatred of bad ones, why are you bothering to type at all?

 

[Thyunda]

I admit. I've skipped through the second page of comments. It all seems to either have a go at the author, or just re-iterate his points. But I did notice the one about people buying a game, then even before playing all the way through, they review it.
As you can probably tell if you read my reviews, I always play through at least the main story before writing a review. With the exception of Fallout 3. I was waiting till Broken Steel before I did that. And now I'm working through it. =D

 

[DP-Preacher]

Why do people feel the need to review the reviewer? We aren't professionals in any sense so why should we be treated like such?

I don't come here to read what people think about how people write. I do enough grammar correction and such where I work. I come here to see what people think about games I've played, and perhaps get some insight as to whether or not I should look into getting a new game, seeing a new movie, etc.

Then why don't you just read the OP and be done with it?

I'm not correcting you or even reviewing what you've written. I'm merely stating my opinion of this board in general. Based on what you've written in response to me, I feel you think of me as being somewhat hypocritical. I'm not sure why this is the case, because no where did I say that sharing an opinion about the game/movie/item being reviewed is bad. I only suggested that I don't particularly care for the general attitude of readers of this forum, which seems to be something like, "My english is better than yours, and here's how." If someone has an opinion which adds to the topic up for discussion, then they are completely welcome to share that (and have my blessing). I'm just tired of reading posts suggesting different word usage or formatting to a fairly decent review. Comments like those could easily be kept to PMs where the general reader can be spared such tedium.

Now, if your question wasn't intended as an attack (my apologies since sometimes it's hard to read emotions through text): I read beyond the OP because I'm hoping to see some additional feedback regarding the content of the review. In other words, I'm hoping that someone else will disagree with/add to the OP so that I can make the most well-informed decision.

EDIT: I should add that if these forums are indeed supposed to be this way (that is, loaded with English corrections), I would like someone pointing me to a post or something that outlines this. If this is the case I apologize for my comments, and I'll take my soapbox elsewhere.

 

[Hey Joe]

Why do people feel the need to review the reviewer? We aren't professionals in any sense so why should we be treated like such?

I don't come here to read what people think about how people write. I do enough grammar correction and such where I work. I come here to see what people think about games I've played, and perhaps get some insight as to whether or not I should look into getting a new game, seeing a new movie, etc.

Then why don't you just read the OP and be done with it?

I'm not correcting you or even reviewing what you've written. I'm merely stating my opinion of this board in general. Based on what you've written in response to me, I feel you think of me as being somewhat hypocritical.

No, I mean when you read other people's reviews for the value of the review itself, why don't you just read the review and ignore the comments from other people below?

 

[DP-Preacher]

Why do people feel the need to review the reviewer? We aren't professionals in any sense so why should we be treated like such?

I don't come here to read what people think about how people write. I do enough grammar correction and such where I work. I come here to see what people think about games I've played, and perhaps get some insight as to whether or not I should look into getting a new game, seeing a new movie, etc.

Then why don't you just read the OP and be done with it?

I'm not correcting you or even reviewing what you've written. I'm merely stating my opinion of this board in general. Based on what you've written in response to me, I feel you think of me as being somewhat hypocritical.

No, I mean when you read other people's reviews for the value of the review itself, why don't you just read the review and ignore the comments from other people below?

I had it in my post, but I'll re-write it: I read beyond the OP because I'm hoping to see some additional feedback regarding the content of the review. In other words, I'm hoping that someone else will disagree with/add to the OP so that I can make the most well-informed decision.

 

[Screens]

I don't understand all the hate for this post. I think it's a well written, nicely thought out and presented article. I'm going to somewhat quote my English teacher here. This is what I agree with and all I'm doing is presenting it.

An essay is a work of literature, and thus, should read like a piece of literature. Who's going to read a novel written lak a peices of txt msg?

(Now purely my opinion)

A review is a persuasive essay designed to inform a reader of a particular product and make a reader believe in the review. Therefore, it should hold with the opinion stated above. Criticism is akin to submitting an essay into your English teacher to be graded. A badly written, badly spelled essay deserves a bad grade. Conversely, a good essay deserves praise.

I don't believe stickying posts actually help in reducing the number of bad posts too much. The more observant might notice, but then some might skip them anyway, scrolling straight down the page. Besides, who's to say that people will agree with this post?

 

[Syphonz]

What I find annoying about the Review section is that mainstream games like Halo, MGS, Dead Space, Grrrz of War, etc. all get more feedback than reviews about games that try to think out of the norm.

(see my review of Siren)[/shameless self-promotion]

 

[Tryzon]

Another thing: why does every second person put the word "review" in their thread title? Do I even need to point out why putting that there is moronic? It's the bloody Review Section! Of course your thread will probably be a review!