By all means, criticize, just do it proper!

[Nick]

By all means, criticize, just do it proper!

Ok, so being a reviewer means I spend a vast amount of my time criticizing other people’s work. It’s only fair then that other should be able to criticize mine and I totally accept that.

I’m quite happy to debate a review as long as anyone wants to; in fact one of my reviews generated debates across different forums with each thread running into the mid teens in just the number of pages… I think I wrote more defending my opinion than I did in the original review which says something for the slightly scary fanaticism displayed by fanboys.

For every review I write I make sure to post up a thread about it for people to discuss the review and, if they feel like it, have a go at me for either slagging off their fave play or ‘big upping’ what they feel is a waste of time… not a problem, bring it on and let’s hear what you’ve got to say. It’s unlikely you’ll change my mind about anything as I consider each review very carefully before it’s published but I’m always up for a ruck.

But one thing that really gets me going is those who choose to critique the reviews through an e-mail from their Gmail or Hotmail account. Now normally this wouldn’t tick me off too much, especially if it’s constructive criticism as we should all always be working to improve.

No, what really gets me is those that can’t find a flaw in a review but disagree purely on the basis of they love the series too much for it to ever be anything other than perfect with each incarnation. These folks are clever enough to realise that just e-mail me with ‘U suX0r!!!11’ probably isn’t going to get their point across or alleviate their pent up anger that someone has scored their favourite game poorly.

So they try a different tack and point out spelling and grammar errors in the reviews.

Spelling and grammar errors.

And what, pray, does that have to do at all with the review itself? I mean, come on, even if Keats himself had reviewed Black and White 2, he’d still have found it to be a poor remake of the original.

But, I’ll be moderate, I’ll accept that spelling a grammar errors shouldn’t be allowed, because they shouldn’t and I’ll quite happily hold my hands up and say yes, I did spell check the review, but sadly ‘tot he’ and ‘to the’ don’t show up as they’re both proper words. The same can be said for ‘fro’ and ‘for’, ‘hem’ and ‘them’ and plenty of other examples. I average between 3,000 to 4,000 words per review and put up at least two reviews a week so errors are going to creep in and I’ll happily correct any that the pedants out there like to point out.

But….

If you e-mail me to point out spelling and grammar errors, just damn well make sure you’ve not got any in you mail as there’s nothing, and I mean nothing, more annoying than spending 10 minutes deciphering text-typing to discover it’s a complaint about how I spelt ‘centre’… Or I accidentally typed the same word twice…

So be warned, the next disastrous mail I get from a ten thumbed muppet is going to get posted up in this thread for all to see and critique… after all, if you’re going to criticize, be prepared to have the same done to you!

[herulach]

Originally Posted by Nick

If you e-mail me to point out spelling and grammar errors, just damn well make sure you’ve not got any in youR mail as there’s nothing, and I mean nothing, more annoying than spending 10 minutes deciphering text-typing to discover it’s a complaint about how I spelt ‘centre’… Or I accidentally typed the same word twice…

[schmunk]

'By all means criticise, just do it properly!', surely...

[Kaine (AoD)]

Leave the poor guy alone

[Nick]

See? Speeelchka ddn't catch taht one eathir.

[herulach]

Nah, only joshing with you man, you make a good point. It annoys the hell out of me, one of the main reasons i stopped visiting hardforums and came over here instead

[mike_w]

Criticism should be a good thing; after all, if we all agreed, the world would be a bit of a boring place. However, what annoys me is that some people insist on being rude about it. Even if you completely disagree with what has been said, you should still be polite about it.

[unreal]

I make music in my free time, and I can agree what you are saying, although I don't really recieve it on the level you are at (because you write for a big website, I make music for myself ) and I know how annoying some people can be.

Originally Posted by Nick

If you e-mail me to point out spelling and grammar errors, just damn well make sure you’ve not got any in you mail as there’s nothing, and I mean nothing, more annoying than spending 10 minutes deciphering text-typing to discover it’s a complaint about how I spelt ‘centre’… Or I accidentally typed the same word twice…

lol Jonneymendoza?

[bouncin]

Critisism shouldnt be accepted !. As my teacher used to say it should always be constructive critisism.

The only people with a right too give non constructive critisism are people who would be willing too do the same thing but be certain that they would do it better. And the problem is that every1 thinks they can do that. THEY ARE WRONG (Unless its me J/K)

oh and btw id be happy too proof read any reviews you have and take the rap for letting bad grammar/spelling through. You guys are champions among men and deserve any credit you get for taking time out to help people.

If it wasnt for guys like yourself i wouldnt have such an awesome games collection

[Nick]

lol, this thread was created after receiving some very poorly written mails. Not particulalry abusive but annoying along the lines of Harry Enfield's "You don't want to do it like that" character...

For example, (and I heavily paraphrase to protect the identities of those who would have a hard time justifying their attempts at English without showing themselves up):

i read wot u rote about halo how can u say it a bad game???/ halo r0xor5!!11!!! u reckon ur gud at gamez ven u no halo is gud 2 but u dont say that online is where halo is teh b0mb and its kool. u r a fool if u dont say wot online is like. ur revew sUx!!!11!!

or this, less leet-speak but just as stupid type of mail:

hi i read your review of XYZ game and thought id point out a few errors as you obviously need to be told some of your errors made it tricky to read especially as a simple spell check would have shown them up I suppose youll ignore this mail and thats youre right but if you criticize prepare to be criticized

And my favourite of all time, which I actually had as my sig for a short while:

That's what happens when you get one of them console braindead trigger pullin button butchers to review a sim that takes skill and discipline to master. Go back and play with sonic hedgehog boy. Yo mama know you tryin to review sims?

Nothing like putting forward a moderate, balanced point of view to get your message across!

[menthel]

Was that last one about your Pacific Fighters review? A furore was certainly caused there!

[Kaine (AoD)]

lmao that last one was a cracker nick

I can understand the odd bit of lazyness tbh (I.E... u instead of you) but when people are typing 'txt type' all the time it can get VERY annoying and S*** to read =\

wen ppl typ like tis how r ppl mnt 2 understand a wrd of it? =\

I shorted some words down just out of lazyness like in games when im goin to be

'NN guys' (night night) or Lo when i come online but i try not to shorten down =\ makes life hard for everyone else

[BlueMagician]

Originally Posted by Nick

...console braindead trigger pullin button butchers...

PMSL.. Now that's funny..

S.

[muddyfox470]

Constructive Criticism is what we need.

But i only like being fair and honest.

Ian
(tho i must say i haven't entered any of these debates yet, regarding your reviews, just keep it up Nick)

[Steven W]

I had an email from a Final Fantasy fan saying that I was racist because I'd neglected to mention one of the tribes in the game review - the Elvaan. I've amended now just in case the Middle-earth police nick me (well it's not middle-earth but you know what I mean).