Review Guide

Why Review?

Reviews have two main functions, both equally important:

  1. They are for other players – to tell them what sort of scenario it is, how enjoyable it is and whether it is worth downloading.
  2. They are for the designer – to tell him/her how well the scenario works, how you enjoyed it and anything that you think could improve it. They encourage better scenario design.

Why a Review Guide?

The Review Guide is a set of guidelines and rules which, firstly, help channel the reviewer’s thoughts into what to look out for when playing a downloaded scenario and, secondly, to give advice on how to write the best reviews.

What if I ignore it?

We assume you’ve read the guide before reviewing. If you write a review or give ratings that aren’t consistent with the guide, you will be contacted by a moderator and asked to explain what you’ve done and risk having your review removed.

How do I write a Review?

A review has five categories to rate and a written section that should explain/back up why you gave each rating figure. It can be as long as you like, but must have at least one sentence on each of the five categories. The written part is important as it is there that you can pick out what makes the map particularly good or which aspects need a bit of improvement.

If something in the scenario doesn’t work for you, make suggestions for the designer to improve it. Try to find at least one good thing in the scenario and be constructive with your criticism. Never insult or ridicule a designer. Be honest, but encouraging.

Try not to give away winning strategies or surprises within the scenario as they will spoil things for future players.

Spell and grammar check your review.

Treat the designer with courtesy

If there are glaring errors in the scenario which would make a particularly negative review, it would be nice if you notified him/her by email first and allow them a little time to fix the problems before submitting a scathing review. It is appreciated, however, if you put up a comment with no rating that the scenario is flawed to prevent people from needlessly downloading it.

Table of Contents

The Children of the Nile Review Guide is based on similar documents at other Heavens.
Written 28th November 2004 by GillB