Blogs - hemebond

There are a lot of alpha- and early-release games that have ridiculously high ratings by people who are obviously just excited their opinion might matter. When I come along and give games a realistic and honest rating, the developers are sometimes surprised and curious.

How could they not be? The average rating of their game, still early in development, is already very high. But that average rating is wrong. It was created by people who don't understand how to critique properly, people who were rating the game based on what it might become in a year or so. People who just don't seem to understand what the rating means.

Those same people also don't take kindly to my reviews, giving it a thumbs-down and even using their review to argue with me. The trouble is, they disagree for the same reasons they gave the game a high rating: the game could be great eventually; the game is cheap; they had fun for a few hours; etc.

They're wrong. Your game is not a ten. It is not perfect. It never will be. If I'm interested in your game I will have explained why I gave it that score, and I will keep updating for as long as I am interested in it. I am happy to explain my reviews, especially to developers. I want your game to be good.

If I lose interest, that rating won't change, regardless of what your game becomes in a few years.