PCMRatings PA reviews

Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by xanoxis, June 27, 2015.

  1. squishypon3

    squishypon3 Post Master General

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    I guess it thinks that mods turn into hacks at that point, agree with you though!
  2. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

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    it's a sad fact that so many games take this position against the mod community. I think Uber's position on mods in general is commendable and I'm sure the modding community would agree with me on that (even if they like to grumble now and then) :)

    Why any developer wouldn't want the community to get behind their game is beyond me.
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  3. stuart98

    stuart98 Post Master General

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    Some games it's simply not a possibility due to a combination of network model being incompatible with differing information from clients and payment model requiring purchase of cosmetics (so modding = less money made because people are making their own cosmetics). See: Every MOBA in existence (AFAIK).
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  4. ufarax

    ufarax Active Member

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    You guys are hilarious and desperate. The motto is “all reviews are welcome, if it’s positive…because we all know that the nay Sayers is all trolls”.
  5. andrehsu

    andrehsu Active Member

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    Because what the nay sayers say aren't grounded in reality
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  6. cwarner7264

    cwarner7264 Moderator Alumni

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    I don't think any of us take umbrage with people who have a negative subjective opinion of the game. Everyone has a different opinion and that's to be expected.

    Countering the often deliberate and malicious spread of misinformation, however, is perfectly reasonable.
    stuart98, cdrkf, Nicb1 and 2 others like this.
  7. Nicb1

    Nicb1 Post Master General

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    Pretty much what cwarner said. All I've done is put out a review that presents accurate information instead of misleading people into believing that the game has no mod support for example.

    EDIT:
    Of course I could laugh at your history of unreasonably hating on the game and providing false reviews on steam that reference very old builds of the game, but of course according to your history you would just deny it and claim that your review is "the only one that matters".
    Last edited: July 3, 2015
  8. zihuatanejo

    zihuatanejo Well-Known Member

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    The average rating seems to be fairly accurate now, except perhaps for the section on bugs.
  9. PeggleFrank

    PeggleFrank Active Member

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    I was going to type up a large rant on corruption and acidity in communities, but it started becoming too large and would be too rough around the edges to post here. I've translated some societal concepts below.

    -------------------------

    To do any action requires energy. The motivation behind that action is reflected in the type of energy used. Energy has no affiliation by itself, but when put to use, it'll become the type of energy necessary for that task.

    There are two things that every person will do to change the world around them, for whatever purpose. These two things are removing, and creating.

    To remove something made by another requires negative energy.
    To remove something natural can require either negative energy or positive energy.
    To create something requires positive energy.

    Energy is classified as being positive or negative based upon what it does in relation to society. If it destroys something created by society, it is negative. If it creates something in society, it is positive. Wars thrive on negative energy, while inventions and collaboration can only exist through positive energy.

    Removing something someone else has created is a form of negative energy. Thus, a preferable alternative would be to either improve it, create an alternative, or wash out its identity with similar forms of positive energy.

    An example will be given. There are two competing businesses that sell wooden furniture. The two competing businesses, business A and business B, are searching for ways to nullify their competition.

    There are many things business A and business B could do in order to get the upper hand.
    • Destroy the opposing business through corporate espionage - Negative Energy
    • Lie to gain customers, and slander the opponent - Negative Energy
    • Expand to new industries to create a larger income and buy out the opposing business - Positive Energy
    • Construct products better than what the opponent offers - Positive Energy
    Due to restraints (money and time), the solutions utilizing negative energy are more appealing. However, they are not advancing the society in which the two businesses operate - they are deconstructing it, by removing parts without replacing them.

    -------------------------

    With all of the above being said, it'd be much better to outnumber the negative reviews with positive reviews than remove the negative reviews altogether. Organizations that try to correct the wrong in the world aren't always bad, but many resort to using negative energy to deconstruct what they deem to be wrong. They're known as cults, and the closer you are to being one, the more toxic your community is.

    I'm not saying this community is toxic, but an alternate form of dealing with these negative reviews is something to think about. Instead of removing the reviews, outnumber them with positive reviews. Make large, detailed, positive reviews, and give reasons to like the game. Be honest; don't try to lie and trick people into buying the game. Instead, give honest reasons for liking the game, and for not liking the game. Buyers that like to be informed will spend time looking through reviews, and, assuming there are positively rated accurate reviews, they'll choose what's best for them. If they don't like what they think the game is, they won't buy the game, and if they do like what they think the game is, they'll buy it. When you tell them the game is something it isn't, you get angry customers that want refunds and end up hating the game as a whole. Some of these angry customers will show up here and on the Steam forums, posting baseless slander against the game.

    In short, the solution is not to remove negative reviews, but to make sure that there are honest, accurate reviews at the top. Even if every review for a game is positive, if someone buys the game and it isn't what they thought it was, they'll probably leave a negative review and they will likely act out against the game and its associated community.

    Removing reviews is a form of censorship. It's not illegal, but it's highly frowned upon because it's pure negative energy with no positive result. Make accurate reviews. The majority of the users on these forums know the game better than the average player; you need to make good reviews, and you need to get them approved by others. A review will be upvoted if the reader thinks it's accurate or honest.

    I rewrote this entire post because it was beginning to be more offensive than informative. Hopefully this clears some things up for you.

    If you'd like some more examples of positive and negative energy, think of nature. Some organisms destroy other organisms, but the majority produce (positive energy) instead of consume (negative energy). It is because of this that we develop; there is, on average, more positive than negative energy being used.
    Last edited: July 4, 2015
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  10. dom314

    dom314 Post Master General

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    I had the same idea honestly. Though I did not use the abstraction of positive/negative energy to arrive at that conclusion. I feel that some of the reviews may be a bit, well, zealous.

    I would caution others who decide to review it to be conservative in order to remain as accurate as possible. We don't really need a crusade against all those who happen to not know that modding is kinda-officially supported and a not-ban-able thing to do.
    cwarner7264 likes this.
  11. cdrkf

    cdrkf Post Master General

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    Uh we're not removing anything, this site isn't even a review site it simply rates the game on a set of principles relating to pc games and their openness / tech capability.

    The word review in this context infers something not applicable here. This site is not attempting to provide an overview of how 'good' the game is.

    Using the provided vote options allows us to filter out information that is factually incorrect from the average rating. All those who have done this have also left factually correct reviews. Let's be clear here, PA may not be perfect as a game and a content review that takes a negative stance on pa is perfectly reasonable. A factual assessment of the game that is full of misinformation negates the purpose of this site and isn't reasonable, and allowing that to stand allows misinformation to continue and spread and that needs to be corrected.

    To give an example, imagine if someone does a negative review of the iPhone. If that's based on their subjective experience and preferences then no problem. Now imagine the same person posts a press article declaring that the iPhone doesn't make phone calls... This is factually wrong and as such would invariably removed... Nothing wrong or unreasonable in keeping things factually correct.
  12. Nicb1

    Nicb1 Post Master General

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    Honestly could not have stated this better.

    Pcmr ratings is made with the intention of presenting facts about how well optimised a game is for PC. Whether you liked the game or not should have no influence in what information is presented there.
    stuart98, squishypon3 and cdrkf like this.

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