So, when getting those free games this week... didja notice Epic has
reviews now? Well, no, me neither but apparently that's something they
do now.*

Actually, it's not so much 'reviews' as 'ratings', and it is
apparently not something players can initiate on their own. Instead,
after playing a game the client will pop-up a little window asking the
player to rate the game, or offer a brief survey question (e.g.,
something along the lines of "Is this game a) too easy, b) easy, c)
average, d) challenging, e) hard, f) fucking hard") and all answers
will be compiled into an overall "player ratings score". They're
already showing up on some game's store pages.

The lack of reviews on Epic's store was one of my major complaints
about the service. I know a lot of people complain about user reviews
(waah, the reviews are stupid, the 'woke' use them to review bomb, its
all astroturf, etc.) and while some of these complaints have merit on
the whole I find user reviews more useful than not. At the very least,
they're an alternative to the only-positive marketing-speak you'd
otherwise be stuck with; you'll never read store-page telling you
"this game crashes all the time", after all. There's always some cruft
in user reviews, but a lot of them can be quite insightful as well.**

On the whole, most users like user-reviews too; they're one of the
first things people usually check; they're far more important to
selling a game on Steam, for instance, than the actual marketing copy
provided by the publisher (almost nobody reads that stuff). Look at
the categorization tags, watch some gameplay footage, read the
user-reviews... that's the order for the bulk of gamers. That they
were missing on Epic was telling.

Because, important as they are, the publishers themselves /aren't/
crazy about user reviews. After all, it means they aren't controlling
the message; they aren't the only ones telling you about the game.
Having a bad user review in-your-face on the store page does far, far
more to discourage gamers from pushing that "add to cart" button than
any bad review in a magazine or on youtube; it's an immediate reminder
that the purchase you are about to make MAY not be the wisest thing
you've done. So of course they hate it. Epic knew that; the lack of
reviews was actually seen as a positive by many publishers, as much as
the exclusivity deals or lower revenue cut.

Which is why Epic's take on user reviews is so wishy-washy and weak;
it does as much as it can to prevent users from saying anything
negative about the game. There's going to be no survey that lets you
key in "This game crashes all the time", and even if a game asks
"would you recommend this game to a friend?" and everybody answers
"FUCK NO!", that's still no problem; you just don't show the compiled
results to that question. It's designed to only show the positives
without allowing the customer to ever make a game look less than
perfect and potentially harm sales.

So congratulations Epic on finally allowing customers to have some
feedback on the products you sell... but fuck you for doing it in a
way that completely negates its usefulness to anyone other than the
publishers.

----------------------
*https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/news/the-epic-games-store-ratings-and-polls-update
** I /may/ be a bit biased on this topic 'cause, well, you know ;-)

On 24/06/2022 01:20, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> So, when getting those free games this week... didja notice Epic has
> reviews now? Well, no, me neither but apparently that's something they
> do now.*
>
> Actually, it's not so much 'reviews' as 'ratings', and it is
> apparently not something players can initiate on their own. Instead,
> after playing a game the client will pop-up a little window asking the
> player to rate the game, or offer a brief survey question (e.g.,
> something along the lines of "Is this game a) too easy, b) easy, c)
> average, d) challenging, e) hard, f) fucking hard") and all answers
> will be compiled into an overall "player ratings score". They're
> already showing up on some game's store pages.
>
> The lack of reviews on Epic's store was one of my major complaints
> about the service. I know a lot of people complain about user reviews
> (waah, the reviews are stupid, the 'woke' use them to review bomb, its
> all astroturf, etc.) and while some of these complaints have merit on
> the whole I find user reviews more useful than not. At the very least,
> they're an alternative to the only-positive marketing-speak you'd
> otherwise be stuck with; you'll never read store-page telling you
> "this game crashes all the time", after all. There's always some cruft
> in user reviews, but a lot of them can be quite insightful as well.**
>
> On the whole, most users like user-reviews too; they're one of the
> first things people usually check; they're far more important to
> selling a game on Steam, for instance, than the actual marketing copy
> provided by the publisher (almost nobody reads that stuff). Look at
> the categorization tags, watch some gameplay footage, read the
> user-reviews... that's the order for the bulk of gamers. That they
> were missing on Epic was telling.
>

The two that get me to click on the store-page are does it look like my
type of game and are the user reviews at least mixed. Then I'll have a
look at the screen shots (I would also include videos if it wasn't for
the fact that the majority tell you almost nothing about how the game
plays) and then have a scan though some positive, and just as
importantly, negative user reviews. From there it tends to be buy/not
buy/wishlist.

Of course that doesn't mean there aren't problems with user reviews but
for me the positives far outweigh the negatives.

> Because, important as they are, the publishers themselves /aren't/
> crazy about user reviews. After all, it means they aren't controlling
> the message; they aren't the only ones telling you about the game.
> Having a bad user review in-your-face on the store page does far, far
> more to discourage gamers from pushing that "add to cart" button than
> any bad review in a magazine or on youtube; it's an immediate reminder
> that the purchase you are about to make MAY not be the wisest thing
> you've done. So of course they hate it. Epic knew that; the lack of
> reviews was actually seen as a positive by many publishers, as much as
> the exclusivity deals or lower revenue cut.
>
> Which is why Epic's take on user reviews is so wishy-washy and weak;
> it does as much as it can to prevent users from saying anything
> negative about the game. There's going to be no survey that lets you
> key in "This game crashes all the time", and even if a game asks
> "would you recommend this game to a friend?" and everybody answers
> "FUCK NO!", that's still no problem; you just don't show the compiled
> results to that question. It's designed to only show the positives
> without allowing the customer to ever make a game look less than
> perfect and potentially harm sales.
>
> So congratulations Epic on finally allowing customers to have some
> feedback on the products you sell... but fuck you for doing it in a
> way that completely negates its usefulness to anyone other than the
> publishers.
>

Good old Epic for having the best interest of gamers at their heart as
always!