Ender
12-26-2004, 12:12 AM
First off, I don't particularly like the word 'Rules' because it implies something that you're supposed to do, and nobody likes being told what to do.
But, I was thinking recently, and we could really make this sub forum both really useful and very awesome. So I'm going to establish some rules for posting reviews and if you could please use them it would help so much. Especially with the upcoming new year, it will give it a fresh start. :) I want to do things with it like, The year's top ten games, and our own Game of the Year awards. In order to do that, then we need to abide by these rules to make it happen. So here we go:
1. Titles
When starting your thread in here, make sure the title gives enough info, but not the review itself. I'm a horrible example of this with my recent 'pre-review' (another no-no) of BFME or Battle for Middle-earth. Be sure to spell out the name and don't use acronyms (use of acronym for gametype is acceptable though) so everyone knows what you're talking about.
If you are reviewing a game that was released in the current year (not necessary for 2004 releases seeings how it's over pretty much) put the year in the title first, such as: 2005 FPS: Battlefield 2. You don't have to put things like 'review' or such things as that. Be sure to include the game type such as First Person Shooter (FPS) or Real-Time Strategy (RTS) etc. And use the gametype that the game itself is actually categorized under by the creators and not what you think it actually is.
If you are reviewing a game that has not been reviewed up to this point, but not a product of the current year, then don't worry about the year part of it. Same goes if you are reviewing a program such as mozilla or TurboTax or a movie or burger joint in town or anything totally random like viagra (FYI, feel free to review anything and everything under the sun in here. The more the merrier and helpful it might be).
2. The Rating.
This forum software has a built in thread rating function, and this is something that we are going to take advantage of to get our Year End Awards, and a rating system that is somewhat similar to say, Rotten Tomatoes. It is a star system, the highest is 5 stars, the lowest 1 star. At the beginning of your thread with the title of the game and other info, include your star rating, from 1 to 5 stars. When you have posted your thread, view it again and rate the thread with the same rating.
Once someone else has reviewed something, DO NOT make a new thread for a review of your own. Instead, add to the existing thread if you so desire to make your opinions known, but DO NOT counter or argue the existing review. Post your thoughts about it in review form as if you hadn't read the other one already there. Post your rating in star form, then rate the thread when you're done. If you don't feel the need to post your thoughts, then rate the thread with what you would have given it. This will give us an average rating for the subject.
There is an obvious flaw in this system that not everything reviewed will be reviewed by multiple people thus pushing a game or whatever to a high review when in fact if everyone else reviewed it the average would be lower, but we're going to have to overlook that. Try and review as much as you can, but don't dedicate your life to it. ;) I believe it takes at least two people to rate a thread before that rating will show up in the forum index. Ultimately, I'd like to have every thread in here have a rating when viewing the index.
3. The Review: Info needed.
There are some necessary things needed for the very beginning of the review. Here's an example:
Game: Unreal Tournament 2004
Rating: 4 1/2 Stars (a star emote would be fantastic Dave - even half and quarter and three quarter star emotes :))
Genre: First Person Shooter
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Epic
Released: March 2004 (doesn't have to be exact but it's nice if you can get that)
That pretty much covers it - put that info at the beginning of every review thread (if posting in the review thread your own words you don't need that info).
4. The Review: Body Massage.
The style and format of the review is entirely up to the reviewer. A set style would be nice, but it would also take away from the review itself I think. Also, this is where I mention how I'm another really bad example - don't post a 'pre-review'. I've since come to terms with my folly for opening my mouth before giving a game enough time.
Even though there is no set format, be sure to get specific. Post screenshots if you can (reviewing a console game makes getting those hard, but you can find them on websites - books and movies don't really need them, but links to the movie/book site would be great) and really get into what the game or whatever is all about. Give your dislikes and likes etc. If the game is solely a single player game (for example Vampire Bloodlines) then try to beat the game before you review, or at least get really far into it.
Get into it, but you don't need to tell the story of the game either, nor post a novel (again I'm a wonderful bad example of this). Unless this is like one of the most anticipated games ever (HL2) we don't want to read through a ton of material. Spoiling the story of a game would be a very heinous crime (or plot of a movie or book) so tell what you can without giving it away. Be sure to go into things like gameplay, HUD/user interface, menu's, graphics etc (you'll see why in the next rule).
5. Rating Revisited.
The rating you post at the beginning of your thread should be an average of several more specific ratings. These are things you'll want to cover in the body of the review in detail. You'll post the star rating (out of 5 just like in the main rating) of these particulars at the end of the body like so:
Story (is the story good/bad etc)
Single player rating (as a single player game, how is it?)
Multiplayer rating (and for multiplayer - online specifically)
LAN rating (would this stand as a good LAN game?)
Graphics (good bad or ugly?)
Gameplay (obvoius things pertaining to games won't pertain to things like programs, movies, books etc...but if you can think of something else, say like acting for movies, or casting, or dialogue for books and environments...those sorts of things go ahead and put them in. The main reason for all this is games though:))
Interface/HUD
Overall (how you think of the game as a whole - not the same as the average rating at the top of the thread, but worked out as part of the equation for that rating...but in truth it's not likely to be that different from the average rating)
6. Conclusions.
In a nutshell, what is the game (or program or whatever). What are the quick pro's, and quick con's? Why should or shouldn't I buy it? Or why should or shouldn't make this the next LAN game etc. Make this less than 5 lines.
*****
Ok, so there you have it. If y'all think I'm nuts, then go ahead and say so. :p But I think it'd be really cool if all of our reviews were like this, so at the end of the year we could issue (not that it would matter much to the people who made whatever it is we're rewarding) BLE awards for exceptional stuff. But that's just me. I'm going to do reviews in this way from now on, and I hope you do to, but if you don't then I guess that's cool too. ;)
But, I was thinking recently, and we could really make this sub forum both really useful and very awesome. So I'm going to establish some rules for posting reviews and if you could please use them it would help so much. Especially with the upcoming new year, it will give it a fresh start. :) I want to do things with it like, The year's top ten games, and our own Game of the Year awards. In order to do that, then we need to abide by these rules to make it happen. So here we go:
1. Titles
When starting your thread in here, make sure the title gives enough info, but not the review itself. I'm a horrible example of this with my recent 'pre-review' (another no-no) of BFME or Battle for Middle-earth. Be sure to spell out the name and don't use acronyms (use of acronym for gametype is acceptable though) so everyone knows what you're talking about.
If you are reviewing a game that was released in the current year (not necessary for 2004 releases seeings how it's over pretty much) put the year in the title first, such as: 2005 FPS: Battlefield 2. You don't have to put things like 'review' or such things as that. Be sure to include the game type such as First Person Shooter (FPS) or Real-Time Strategy (RTS) etc. And use the gametype that the game itself is actually categorized under by the creators and not what you think it actually is.
If you are reviewing a game that has not been reviewed up to this point, but not a product of the current year, then don't worry about the year part of it. Same goes if you are reviewing a program such as mozilla or TurboTax or a movie or burger joint in town or anything totally random like viagra (FYI, feel free to review anything and everything under the sun in here. The more the merrier and helpful it might be).
2. The Rating.
This forum software has a built in thread rating function, and this is something that we are going to take advantage of to get our Year End Awards, and a rating system that is somewhat similar to say, Rotten Tomatoes. It is a star system, the highest is 5 stars, the lowest 1 star. At the beginning of your thread with the title of the game and other info, include your star rating, from 1 to 5 stars. When you have posted your thread, view it again and rate the thread with the same rating.
Once someone else has reviewed something, DO NOT make a new thread for a review of your own. Instead, add to the existing thread if you so desire to make your opinions known, but DO NOT counter or argue the existing review. Post your thoughts about it in review form as if you hadn't read the other one already there. Post your rating in star form, then rate the thread when you're done. If you don't feel the need to post your thoughts, then rate the thread with what you would have given it. This will give us an average rating for the subject.
There is an obvious flaw in this system that not everything reviewed will be reviewed by multiple people thus pushing a game or whatever to a high review when in fact if everyone else reviewed it the average would be lower, but we're going to have to overlook that. Try and review as much as you can, but don't dedicate your life to it. ;) I believe it takes at least two people to rate a thread before that rating will show up in the forum index. Ultimately, I'd like to have every thread in here have a rating when viewing the index.
3. The Review: Info needed.
There are some necessary things needed for the very beginning of the review. Here's an example:
Game: Unreal Tournament 2004
Rating: 4 1/2 Stars (a star emote would be fantastic Dave - even half and quarter and three quarter star emotes :))
Genre: First Person Shooter
Publisher: Atari
Developer: Epic
Released: March 2004 (doesn't have to be exact but it's nice if you can get that)
That pretty much covers it - put that info at the beginning of every review thread (if posting in the review thread your own words you don't need that info).
4. The Review: Body Massage.
The style and format of the review is entirely up to the reviewer. A set style would be nice, but it would also take away from the review itself I think. Also, this is where I mention how I'm another really bad example - don't post a 'pre-review'. I've since come to terms with my folly for opening my mouth before giving a game enough time.
Even though there is no set format, be sure to get specific. Post screenshots if you can (reviewing a console game makes getting those hard, but you can find them on websites - books and movies don't really need them, but links to the movie/book site would be great) and really get into what the game or whatever is all about. Give your dislikes and likes etc. If the game is solely a single player game (for example Vampire Bloodlines) then try to beat the game before you review, or at least get really far into it.
Get into it, but you don't need to tell the story of the game either, nor post a novel (again I'm a wonderful bad example of this). Unless this is like one of the most anticipated games ever (HL2) we don't want to read through a ton of material. Spoiling the story of a game would be a very heinous crime (or plot of a movie or book) so tell what you can without giving it away. Be sure to go into things like gameplay, HUD/user interface, menu's, graphics etc (you'll see why in the next rule).
5. Rating Revisited.
The rating you post at the beginning of your thread should be an average of several more specific ratings. These are things you'll want to cover in the body of the review in detail. You'll post the star rating (out of 5 just like in the main rating) of these particulars at the end of the body like so:
Story (is the story good/bad etc)
Single player rating (as a single player game, how is it?)
Multiplayer rating (and for multiplayer - online specifically)
LAN rating (would this stand as a good LAN game?)
Graphics (good bad or ugly?)
Gameplay (obvoius things pertaining to games won't pertain to things like programs, movies, books etc...but if you can think of something else, say like acting for movies, or casting, or dialogue for books and environments...those sorts of things go ahead and put them in. The main reason for all this is games though:))
Interface/HUD
Overall (how you think of the game as a whole - not the same as the average rating at the top of the thread, but worked out as part of the equation for that rating...but in truth it's not likely to be that different from the average rating)
6. Conclusions.
In a nutshell, what is the game (or program or whatever). What are the quick pro's, and quick con's? Why should or shouldn't I buy it? Or why should or shouldn't make this the next LAN game etc. Make this less than 5 lines.
*****
Ok, so there you have it. If y'all think I'm nuts, then go ahead and say so. :p But I think it'd be really cool if all of our reviews were like this, so at the end of the year we could issue (not that it would matter much to the people who made whatever it is we're rewarding) BLE awards for exceptional stuff. But that's just me. I'm going to do reviews in this way from now on, and I hope you do to, but if you don't then I guess that's cool too. ;)