Frustrations of a Gaming Editor - Part I - RaychelSnr's Blog

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RaychelSnr's Blog

Frustrations of a Gaming Editor - Part I Stuck

Posted on October 12, 2009 at 11:35 PM.

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I was going to write this series last week, but after being ambushed by a series of papers and exams, I was in no mental condition to write anything nearly coherent -- much less enlightening. But this week, we are going for merely coherent as I discuss a topic near and dear to my heart: the frustrating aspects of being an editor for a place like Operation Sports.

Don't get me wrong, I love writing about sports video games here at OS, if there are better readers for a site our size, I'd be very surprised. With that said, there are some things which just wear on you after awhile. The first thing for me are game reviews.

No matter how hard you try, your reviews will never please everybody. There is simply no magical formula for how to review a game. No matter how you approach it, someone always has a more important opinion: their own.

There isn't a perfect way to score games. I can't help but feel no matter what a game is rated by one of our writers, there will always be 30% of our readers which vehemently disagree with a rating. It's not a bad thing, but we are always trying to figure out how to score a game best. You have to take into account previous offerings, innovation, how good this game is compared to the competition, etc. In the end, a reviewers opinion is just that -- but it's always treated as so much more.

How long is too long? We have done studies at Operation Sports that show the average review is read somewhere around 4 minutes, which means about 30% of our reviews are being read, at best. This is a typical ratio on the internet, since readers typically have a shorter attention span and are only after key bits of info, especially with video game reviews. So it's always an exercise in frustration writing/editing 3,000 word reviews knowing a vast majority of people won't read most of the article.

What frustrates you about how gaming sites review games? I know you have to have some good stories about how a game was rated way off-base or how a review missed something big, because I have several right off hand. Sound off!

Comments

# 1 jdareal21 @ Oct 13

I just feel the gaming public in general needs to relax. They put so much stock into what a game's review score is, that it's almost like they expect to receive payment or money from these developers.

Usually, I'll go to a few sites I respect and compare the ratings. Take that, plus time with the demo, & I'll make an informed decision and that's it. These Developers aren't like my football team that I feel I need to root for, if the game sucks, it sucks, period. I also think that the majority of the gamers who moan and complain about sports games in particular probably have no experience with the sport in real life, so how can you really understand or know what a great simulation is supposed to be? If your not playing the game the way it's intended then of course you'll find glitches or cheese tactics that you shouldn't be using in the first place, but I digress....

# 2 statum71 @ Oct 13

The only importance I put into reviews is that I know the developers will see them and put a lot of stock in them.

I mostly think the reviews are pretty fair. And by the way Chris, I do actually read your reviews. The only parts I skip I every single review is online stuff. Its just not my thing and I couldn't care less about online play on ANY game.

That said, I know it has to be touched on since its so popular.

# 3 RaychelSnr @ Oct 13

Good thughts all around so far guys, ESPECIALLY statum...always good to know someone is reading all or most of the reviews