New Feature Request: Mod Reviews

[svitakboy]

I know that people already review mods in the comments, but they are usually lost in a wash of various other comments. I propose that the Nexus have a review section similar to steam reviews.

[Dark0ne]

I imagine this will be heavily disagreed with/criticised by a majority of mod authors.

[svitakboy]

I imagine this will be heavily disagreed with/criticised by a majority of mod authors.

Why do you say that? Constructive criticism should be considered a boon.

[Oubliette]

Problem is people don't often understand what is and is not constructive - which leaves us with just criticism. Lots of nasty criticism. Often from people who have no idea of what it takes to make much of anything.

[Arthmoor]

 

I imagine this will be heavily disagreed with/criticised by a majority of mod authors.

Why do you say that? Constructive criticism should be considered a boon.

 

Except that as Oubliette says, most criticism isn't constructive even if the person posting it insists otherwise.

 

That said, if an author wishes to enable reviews on their mods, I say go for it. Assuming such a thing isn't ridiculously difficult to implement.

[DDProductions83]

Yep, this is what I need, the unwashed masses who have .07% of a idea what it takes to make a mod throwing reviews up and crap.. though hell if it's just a enable feature sure let the uninitiated MA's use it IDGAF

[DrakeTheDragon]

The majority of authors I know will combat this until extinction, and for exceptionally good reasons, mind you. These so-called "reviews" and their so-called "reviewers", especially on this site called YouTube, I witnessed in the past years so far have always been a never-ending source of grief, harm and even damage to the authors the mods of whom were reviewed. The reviewers simply had no bloody idea of what a review even is, and they still don't have by today, actually.

 

I've come to "hate" the term review, and anybody involved with the crimes that were labeled as such, with a passion due to these past events I witnessed and the damage they caused to the community, so I'm very likely biased in this.

But if it's introduced as something the mods' authors first need to "opt in" to, I don't see much of a potential problem there either. The majority will just disallow it and done.

 

Now the final question is... will it get enough supporters that the introduction of such a feature becomes even feasible, or is the opposition like 90%+, as currently perceived, and there's no sense in even having at it? :ermm:

[JimboUK]

If a modder wanted reviews that modder could set up a reviews discussion on their file, if they were completely mad. If people need reviews from reviewers who don't know what they're talking about there's always Youtube, reviews for the clueless by the clueless.

[Jokerine]

Somewhat relevant to the topic...

[DrakeTheDragon]

Somewhat relevant to the topic...

 

Oh yeah... "that" reviewer's name rings a bell (of apocalypse and unwarranted destruction).

 

Not sure bailing out as an indie developer is a wise idea to do, after all money is involved and they were already paid... but hey! I'm a volunteer hobbyist mod author doing this in my free time for less than zilch + nothing in return, not even praise or, god help us, a measly thanks, so what is there to loose? Who am I putting down when I bail out? Yeah, sure, loyal "fans" maybe, but damn... This is my hobby, and I'm doing it for fun and enjoyment. If it becomes only bother and grudge instead, sorry fans and supporters, but my mental sanity is more important to me, and should also be to you, than delivering/supporting a product nobody ever paid me for or is going to, and which is only causing me harm instead.

 

 

Now, I'm the kind most immune to things like this. What is an online review by some clueless moron with a following of like a thousand plus a dozen brain-dead sheep to me anyways? What will happen when I put them down or get them on the wrong side with me exactly? They won't download my mods? Oh, what a loss... for them though, definitely not me. They'll rush into my comment sections and call me names? Oh, cry me a river, I'll take care every single one of them gets removed from the site in an instant after that, not to protect myself, but to protect others from the filth they spout when they open their unwashed mouths (and I'm positively not going to act out moderator privileges in my own file sections but reporting them instead to let the others take care of them... but the result will be the same, as what they did was against the ToS and their kind is not welcome at all on this site, that much I know and trust in).

 

And if worse comes to worst and things get blown out of proportion and getting out of hand... well, guess what? I'll just silently take my hat and leave. It's not like I "need" to be here after all. I'll still stick around, answering to help requests and other questions like I always did, these past 10-15 years of my modding endeavors, but publicly sharing any of my work again? I can always get along completely fine without that at any time. So who's the one loosing out exactly?

 

 

And this is the case for many an author I know, with me being one of the most immune to these kinds of trouble like I said and the least caring about all of it. Many, many others though... take it way more personal and are far more receptive of the abuse thrown their way. So if "I" say the above already, think about how "they" will be thinking, or feeling, about it for a second. Then make up your mind what side of the conflict "you" want to be on... the oh-so-just-and-un-falsible defenders of the (not-so-)public opinion and the right to s**t-storm down on anything or anyone they don't agree with, no matter the consequences... or the very creators of the stuff you enjoy so much and without whom you won't even be able to call yourself users of mods to begin with, and who never even once asked for anything in return from you, not even a thanks? Your choice... although most likely not a too tough one.

 

 

And because I can sense the messages coming my way already in response to what I wrote... no, don't worry, it'll still take aeons more than that to even remotely drive me away. I'm just setting some records straight that if I'm "forced" to leave, I can always do so on a whim and without second thinking, at any point in time. It sure would be a loss to me as well, disappointing so many people I came into contact with over these years and even became good friends with some by just up-and-leaving ultimately, sure isn't a good feeling to me either, well, no, sir, it isn't.

 

But it is no end of the world to quit publicly sharing of my hobby creations to me, as I'm only here sharing them because I was asked to share by some... and let's not forget, I can still very well stay friends or in contact with everybody, share my mods in private with who I consider "worthy" of my work and all... so the actual loss is really abysmally small, compared to the gain once things reached the point described above. As of right now I consider "everybody" on here worthy of my work, I'm not even putting any thought into things like this at all, nor do I actually care about things that much. I'm just saying this isn't guaranteed to be that way forever, not even with me. And that, alone, is telling something.

 

 

tl;dr - Value what you have, and don't take part in actively destroying it instead. Protect your authors, don't take part in their destruction. And never even once take anything they're giving you, for free, for granted, as, to them, continuing to publicly share will always be a matter of balance between pros and cons, and as soon as the cons overweigh, what is there to loose when they just quit? Right, almost nothing at all. So it's in your all's best interest to take care the cons will never overweigh, or everything you have, and enjoy, right now might just up and *poof* vanish into thin air in an instant, in like no time at all.

 

I for one am here to stay, and to stay for like an eternity longer still, but even I have my limits, and although we're aeons away from them being reached, I'm not going to promise they never will. And that's just me and me alone. Others are not all like me, and many are way much more likely to quit and leave than me. I've seen it happen in the past, I'm seeing it happen today, and I "will" be seeing it happen in the future as well, as granted as the night is following the day. So you'll never see me stating the things you have right now are definitely here to stay, as that'll be obviously a lie. It's up to you to control if they'll stay or go away. So better choose wisely what you do.

 

And the most important tl;dr - Don't pay any mind to the ramblings of mine, ignore as much of me as you like, but take the gist of what I said as the gist of what many, if not most, of the authors think, or feel like, about these things, and always keep in mind putting them off will not remain without consequences to yourself, for it's not their loss if they decide to quit but your's alone. You can't change who they are or how they feel about things, but you can very well change what things they get confronted with and have to take up with during their stay. It's up to you entirely and ultimately, and that is all.

 

:hurr:

 

...Oh boy, seems I'm in this mood again... what did you do by mentioning "review"? Never mind, it'll be over again in a second, and there's important work to do for my job right now. Sorry for the spam above, and have at it your way. Just mind the repercussions is all I wanted to say. :pinch: