Writing reviews kind takes courage.
It takes courage in your beliefs, courage in your ability to express yourself in a manner which is clear and concise, and courage in the face of criticism.
Truth is, when you throw your opinion out there for all to see, backlash simply comes with the territory and a good critic is one who embraces it. Nothing is worse to a writer than an opinion that is ignored. I know this from personal experience.
The introduction of the Internet has made this even worse as anonymous comments on blogs and instant fire-brand emails from angry readers are commonplace. It takes time to write and mail a letter to the editor and by that time people have usually calmed down a little. It takes 30 seconds to email that editor and say, “Your reviews suck and so do you.”
That’s an actual quote from an email I received several months ago…
I’m still not sure what I was supposed to do with that information other than feel bad that this angry fellow wasted his time reading our review of whatever game it was. You have to have thick skin when doing this sort of thing because no one likes being told that “their” game isn’t any good. It tends to upset people. It’s a common thought amongst editors that most people read reviews looking for justification of a game they already bought. I don’t know if that’s true but the reason I give that idea some credence is that I have never received an email that said, “Your review was shit and I bought this game based off of it and you cost me money!” The vast majority of angry emailers have already played the game in question.
I have received “You saved me money” emails and the occasional “I’m still going to buy the game” emails but never an angry email after the fact. I’m sure it happens, just not to me.
It’s human nature to defend the things you like, and people who write reviews have to understand this. Ever get into an argument with a friend about a movie? Or a band? Or a book? I have had heated debates on this stuff with close friends. So why a critic would be surprised when they tell a total stranger that the game they love is garbage, that there could be some negative blowback is a mystery to me.
The best thing a writer can do in this case, if the format permits it, is to try and have a discussion about it. Barnes’ Portal 2 review here on NHS is a prime example. Of course most people disagreed with him, but if a critic can defend his/her position then most people will come to a point where the review makes more sense – even if they still disagree with it. Better still, it might help the reader feel more justified in their purchase. Having that debate is a good thing. A fast way to lose credibility with people is to write a review that looks inflammatory then bail out on the post review discussion as if your prose is somehow above being criticized. I can assure you it is not.
As an editor you want reviewers which look at things critically, reasonably, and above all else – honestly. You’d be surprised how much “reviewer fear” exists in this industry. The abject terror of giving a high profile game a bad review is a real thing. I have seen reviewers wait for early reviews to come out before writing their article just to avoid rocking the boat. “I think this game sucks but man…it’s a big release and it HAS to be good, right?” You don’t want those folks around. Conversely, you don’t want the contrarian, either—the writer who simply goes against the popular feeling toward a game just to get a rise out of people. If an editor can find a team he/she trusts, then it makes the job so much easier.
If you’re an up and coming critic here’s some free advice: never lie to yourself, never try to convince yourself of something based on an outside influence, know that when you’re done that you can intelligently defend what you wrote, never accept an assignment you feel unqualified to do—oh, and remove the words ‘very’, ‘really’, and ‘I think’ from your vocabulary.
Anyway, most people are reasonable if you can engage them directly. It’s a big reason why we all like to post a lot in the comments here. I think it helps a great deal when the readership gets to know the people who are offering up their opinions. Of course there are those who you simply will never reach, those who think your review of game X is so bad that they call you every name in the book and go totally off the deep end in a 1,000 word vulgar rant. I have a form letter reply for those emails.
“Thank you for reading! Your feedback is invaluable to us and we appreciate the correspondence and we encourage you to sign up for our monthly newsletter!”
Hey my skin is plenty thick, but who says I can’t have a bit of fun, too?
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OK it’s time for some contest winning awesomeness.
A ton of responses for this one, who knew you folks would want two free games?
Random.Org has spoken and the winners of the Double Dip Contest for Outland and Capsized are:
Lasergoespewpew
and
fuzzyslug
I’ll email the winners today and congrats on winning two good ones. Thanks for entering and we’ll have another contest soon.
boasts something like 4200 different cards. That’s a lot of cards. How can you possibly keep track of so many? Oh Yu Gi Oh. You so crazy!
is a new 3DS game that’s not tied to eight other versions of the same game, making it noteworthy on two fronts. This game looks like what happens when you use an LSD square instead of an ARG card. The lights! They’re moving!
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