Review Bombing

[jacksawild]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Review_bomb

 

I suspect this will be a thing on Friday, maybe mitigated by the slightly higher than usual pricetag as a barrier for entry. The problem is that it puts this project in jeopardy, I don't want to see a "mixed" or "negative" tag on steam reviews without giving the devs a chance to show us what they can do. Publishers will weigh up negative press against potential returns.

I'll be leaving a positive review as a placeholder to offset this behaviour, reserving the right to change it if things don't pan out. How about it folks? Some positive review bombing to neuter the internet warriors?

[Kerbart]

I think that by now management of any publisher is well aware of review bombing. They'll look at the numbers that really matter - sales revenue.

[MarcAbaddon]

Don't believe it will happen, or if there are going to be negative reviews they'll most likely be by people honestly disappointed by the game. Review bombs usually happen for one of the folliwng reasons:

1. If the game somehow gets dragged into the culture war (and KSP is one of the most genuinely non-political games)
2. If there's some kind of obvious cash-grab with loot boxes or NFTs 
3. When there's a huge scandal involving the mother company (think Blizzard lately)

[K^2]

Just now, Kerbart said:

I think that by now management of any publisher is well aware of review bombing. They'll look at the numbers that really matter - sales revenue.

They do. But people buying the games look at the reviews, and often at just the average score. It's silly, yes, but this world is not built on sophistication of a majority. And so these things impact sales, which trickles down.

Just now, MarcAbaddon said:

When there's a huge scandal involving the mother company (think Blizzard lately)

It is very fortunate, then, that the game is being published by a company with absolutely no controversy in its history, the checks notes Take Two? Ah. That might be a problem, then.

Seriously, though, while there will be way fewer people thinking to review bomb the game, it's also a smaller game with fewer people who will review it at all, so the impact might still be significant. I don't think that's a good reason to go and just try to cancel it out, but it might be a good idea for people to take the time to write an honest review of the early access after playing it for a bit. That might actually help the game a bit.

[The Aziz]

Oh there will be

-price tag (irrelevant, imagine spending $50 only to give a negative because you spent $50)

-requirements(irrelevant, we're in 2023)

-taketwo(irrelevant, otherwise every single game should be review bombed)

-"promise" of a full game, not early access (irrelevant, it says it's EA right on the steam page and everyone with a hint of a braincell should know what they're going into)

I could probably find a couple more. Thankfully or not, steam has a way to filter review bombing, so they won't affect the rating.

 

[MarcAbaddon]

Just now, K^2 said:

They do. But people buying the games look at the reviews, and often at just the average score. It's silly, yes, but this world is not built on sophistication of a majority. And so these things impact sales, which trickles down.

It is very fortunate, then, that the game is being published by a company with absolutely no controversy in its history, the checks notes Take Two? Ah. That might be a problem, then.

Seriously, though, while there will be way fewer people thinking to review bomb the game, it's also a smaller game with fewer people who will review it at all, so the impact might still be significant. I don't think that's a good reason to go and just try to cancel it out, but it might be a good idea for people to take the time to write an honest review of the early access after playing it for a bit. That might actually help the game a bit.

Yeah, Take Two has it's own problems, but people see it as a mega-studio so they are less likely to take it personal. The same way WoW didn't care about any issues with Activision, it was a scandal directly within their studio (Blizzard) which caused issues.  As long as there's nothing on Intercept Games specifically they should be fine. 

[jacksawild]

I think there is a difference here between this game and let's say No Man's Sky and Cyberpunk. The devs here have been very open, the problems of the other games came as a short sudden shock, the devs/publishers were blatantly lying through their teeth right up until release in order to generate preorders. We have been told this game isn't in release state and have seen actual gameplay footage from real, and respected, players. They are also not asking for preorders "sight unseen". Joining early access is a choice, but joining it just to sabotage the project is childish and foolish.

I just hope we can all bear this in mind.

[The Aziz]

We can. But the steam and reddit communities, on the other hand...

[tstein]

1 hour ago, The Aziz said:

-requirements(irrelevant, we're in 2023)

 

 

Not according to steam, that  less than 5% of players can  play in the recommended specs. Be sure of one thing.. the  average market is ALWAYS ALWAYS less equiped than the average person that spends time on game forums.

1 hour ago, MarcAbaddon said:

Yeah, Take Two has it's own problems, but people see it as a mega-studio so they are less likely to take it personal. The same way WoW didn't care about any issues with Activision, it was a scandal directly within their studio (Blizzard) which caused issues.  As long as there's nothing on Intercept Games specifically they should be fine. 

More or less,  I got a back foot when Take 2 got this game back then because I had  quite a few bad experiences with them (including  dubbing  Oblivion (they were the ones selling to South america and Africa) in spanish  to Brazil market  because (on their words responding to my complain "all latins speak spanish  and minor communities do not matter" when Brazil  market is larger than the whole rest of south america and we do not speak spanish  at all...

[Guest]

1 minute ago, tstein said:

Not according to steam, that  less than 5% of players can  play in the recommended specs. Be sure of one thing.. the  average market is ALWAYS ALWAYS less equiped than the average person that spends time on game forums.

Here the early access status of the game really helps.

And not even in a "they're going to fix it" kind of way, by the time 1.0 launches, with a new marketing campaign, that 5% will have grown, even assuming that the performance isn't going to improve.

 

As of review bombing I wouldn't be afraid of it, not at the scales other games have seen. A review bombing usually happens when it is the low hanging fruit. That means after everyone has bought the game.

Most people are lazy, (almost) nobody is going to buy the game just to leave a negative review and then refund it. 

Most people don't even refund game they don't like after they try them.

[The Aziz]

Oh I forgot

-it's a money grab because KSP1 works better (it doesn't) and looks better with mods (it doesn't)

[kerbiloid]

1 hour ago, jacksawild said:

The devs here have been very open

+1

They were publishing gameplay details, developers' movies of gameplay, explaining the modding details (including the file format and script language), a lot of open things were published in addition to several scripted cutscenes.

21 minutes ago, Master39 said:

Here the early access status of the game really helps.

+1

Nobody knows the final system requirements, and how many hardware upgrades more it will require.

***

The review bombing on a nerd game from nerds? Unlikely.

It could be on a shooter for chavs.

[tstein]

10 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Nobody knows the final system requirements, and how many hardware upgrades more it will require.

 

No,  but it it exactly in the EA that costumers should say "hey.. that is too high".  EA is the right time to complain about things and ask them to be looked upon.

[Chilkoot]

27 minutes ago, Master39 said:

Most people are lazy, (almost) nobody is going to buy the game just to leave a negative review and then refund it. 

^ Truth.  There are boatloads of negativity on public forums, but it's unlikely that much of that will translate directly into review bombing.

Inciting people to review bomb (buy/review/refund) is also bannable on Valve's forums, so I hope the multiple posts promoting this kind of activity are removed if/when Intercept starts actively moderating that forum.

[The Aziz]

Oh one more

-spyware (which it isn't, and it's the same eula for a variety of T2 games but they decided to ignore them)

 

I'm gonna hold off with my review until 1.0, otherwise it would have to change after every major update.

[Jarin]

4 hours ago, The Aziz said:

Oh I forgot

-it's a money grab because KSP1 works better (it doesn't) and looks better with mods (it doesn't)

I mean, judging by the preview event, you're half right. The game is pretty. It might be in "works" status with a patch or six.

Edit: I'm going to try to quit harping on what is very obviously T2 forcing an unready version out the door. We'll see how things clean up with post-launch updates.

Edited February 22, 2023 by Jarin

[Alexoff]

4 hours ago, The Aziz said:

it's a money grab because KSP1 works better (it doesn't) and looks better with mods (it doesn't)

Indeed, it is visible to the naked eye!

[TLTay]

Just give it the score you think it deserves for the money it costs.

A review of the game isn't a review of your fanhood, or of your support for the project, or of the developers. It's a review of the product in current state.

I'll skip reviewing it since I won't be playing soon. Performance issues or not, it lacks the features I wanted in KSP2, so I'll wait until it has them.

Let's not conspire to throw the honesty of the reviews, please.

[The Aziz]

3 minutes ago, Alexoff said:

Indeed, it is visible to the naked eye!

You deliberately picked one moment when the graphics bugged out, which, being a game in unfinished state... I could raise you videos from Danny2462 from a "finished" game of KSP1 where he was losing the sea, atmosphere or entire universe, or the clouds that move as fast as the craft orbiting the planet, but I guess there's no point if you don't bother to listen. Goodbye.

[Alexoff]

4 hours ago, The Aziz said:

You deliberately picked one moment when the graphics bugged out, which, being a game in unfinished state... I could raise you videos from Danny2462 from a "finished" game of KSP1 where he was losing the sea, atmosphere or entire universe, or the clouds that move as fast as the craft orbiting the planet, but I guess there's no point if you don't bother to listen. Goodbye.

I am sure that in KSP 2 Danny2462 will be able to show jokes no worse

[Bej Kerman]

4 hours ago, The Aziz said:

You deliberately picked one moment when the graphics bugged out, which, being a game in unfinished state... I could raise you videos from Danny2462 from a "finished" game of KSP1 where he was losing the sea, atmosphere or entire universe, or the clouds that move as fast as the craft orbiting the planet, but I guess there's no point if you don't bother to listen. Goodbye.

Not to mention save corruptions and rockets disassembling themselves because you made the part tree too confusing and built a cubic strut somewhere near the root, the latter of which happened too much to me.

[mcwaffles2003]

7 hours ago, Alexoff said:

You don't need to cherry pick when there's an obvious glitch to prove your point... this is blatant strawmanning

(I think KSP 1 modded looks better so far)

[Baleine]

In my opinion, it's way too early to say the game is flawed or not.

You have your reasons to be disappointed, and you have every right to be, but it's not fair to compare the firsts images of EA with a 20 years polished product.

Yeah, it's concerning that the game is like an early development stage. So either Private Division is struggling to make this, or either they didn't commit much resources yet.

However, from a commercial standpoint, I think they have the potential to deliver a polished product (because if they can't, the studio will crash).

Funny thing about this situation is that it is a trusting issue. If enough of us are trusting the studio to deliver a high quality release, they will have the resources. If not, they won't and they will crash.

There is also the possibility that it's a scam and that Take2 just want to rake us, but I'd say that's not a very good strategy.

 

For my part, I'm trusting them, and will happily give my €50 bill to the studio, hoping I didn't misplaced my trust. I hope we will be able to compare the graphics / gameplay in 3 to 5 years and say that KSP2 is 10 times what KSP1 is

[pandaman]

33 minutes ago, Baleine said:

 

For my part, I'm trusting them, and will happily give my €50 bill to the studio, hoping I didn't misplaced my trust. I hope we will be able to compare the graphics / gameplay in 3 to 5 years and say that KSP2 is 10 times what KSP1 is

Same for me.  If I do end up 'losing' my $50, or whatever the £ equivalent is, I'll just mentally add it to the peanuts  I paid for KSP1 10 years ago, still by far the best cost per hour value ever.

[GigFiz]

8 hours ago, pandaman said:

Same for me.  If I do end up 'losing' my $50, or whatever the £ equivalent is, I'll just mentally add it to the peanuts  I paid for KSP1 10 years ago, still by far the best cost per hour value ever.

Yeah. I honestly don't care about the state that it is in, as far as ordering it now. I was going to buy it eventually, no question, so why not now? I don't care if there is an EA discount or not, either; at this point, I'd rather give them the money, really . Heck, just think of it as a indefinitely long preorder, with a continually evolving demo .

On 2/22/2023 at 5:08 AM, jacksawild said:

The devs here have been very open

This is very important; they haven't told us everything (and very likely can't, legally), but there has never been any of the "nothing to see here, no problems, everything is 100% planned and normal, go about your day, citizen" attitude or vibe; they have been honest and open that there have been difficulties, and things haven't always gone according to plan, but also always emphasized that they are just setbacks and they are still passionate about things and working hard to give us the best game they can. To me, that is an extremely good sign, especially compared to ways other studios and games have dealt with it in the past. 

Edited February 23, 2023 by GigFiz
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