Review "Team": First Impressions

[Flip]

Hey guys. So this idea dates way back into last year when I proposed this to yC. But I had wanted to start a team from RMS dedicated to simply jump servers, play briefly and make a "first impression" review of the server.

Of course now, I don't have the audacity of forming a team after this idea has been in the backburner for so long, so I just wanted to start on my own and build it from that. If this is going to go anywhere, I'd need myself to act as the guinea pig anyway.

What I do want though, is some thoughts on the process I had drafted on making first impression reviews. I think this is important since the first impression a server gives a player pretty much will be 90% of that player's decision whether to stay or not. Given the limited attention span of the general audience, if the server doesn't get the person hooked within the first few days, there's little chance of any interest after that anyway.

Anyway, here goes. Again, I'd like some ideas on how I should go about the review process, as outlined below.

Guidelines for the reviewer

1. Reviewer has to play the server daily at least for 2 hours per day for 3 days.
2. Reviewer has to participate in at least one event (if any).
3. Reviewer has to try to ask a gameplay or troubleshooting question from the GM.
4. Reviewer has to try to do either of the following community based actions: Join/Start a party, Join a Guild, Start a chatroom in town asking a question from the community.
5. (any additional guidelines to be added here)
6. Reviewer has to -try- to PvP at least for 1 hour within the 3 days.

Review Outline

1. Economy-at-a-glance.
What are the prices like vs the average income that can be made per day of play?

2. Class Balance

3. GM Responsiveness

4. Community Cohesiveness

5. "X-Factor" (Uniqueness, Special Things, etc)

That's what I came up with. Oh, and there would be no numbers to the review, rather a simple "recommended to try" or "needs improvement".

Of course, the reviewer will be anonymous; name will only be revealed upon actually reviewing the server. Also, the server to be reviewed would not know that they are being reviewed.

So, I'm interested in any questions or additions to the process you guys might have. Thanks.

[Tom~]

I really like this idea, and I would like to participate.

Just one thing.
I don't think you will be able to review the "class balance" in every server you play, just playing there for 2h/3d.

Would you like to explain this point?

[Flip]

Well, the point of that was more for first impressions on the balance too. Of course one won't be able to -actually- experience the class balance since he/she wouldn't have enough time to play all the characters, let alone get a character to a pvp-able level. BUT, there is enough time to at least try to pvp with a class but more importantly, observe a pvp room while lying dead. Lol. :p

Let's put it this way, if all you see in pvp is edp sinx's killing asura-ing champs, that at least says something on the pvp balance on the server.

[Tom~]

Ohh, I get it.

We could make novices for that xD

[Flip]

Exactly. Although a novice lying in the middle of a pvp room might look a tad bit suspicious, so I was thinking to build a character anyway.

Now, the question is which server to review first... humm.

[Mania]

I like this idea too. I wouldn't mind doing reviews for this.

You could even go as far into reviewing as adding "ease of use" to the review. As far as Downloading the client is concerned and registering. That's just something you HAVE to do on each server that can be a simple question to answer.


Questions:

Would the team review the same server together or would each team member go to a different server? I feel going into this solo there might be some partial people reviewing servers.
Would this need a separate forum topic for just the team to post in? I could see posting in the review section getting messy over time.

[Flip]

I like this idea too. I wouldn't mind doing reviews for this.

You could even go as far into reviewing as adding "ease of use" to the review. As far as Downloading the client is concerned and registering. That's just something you HAVE to do on each server that can be a simple question to answer.


Questions:

Would the team review the same server together or would each team member go to a different server? I feel going into this solo there might be some partial people reviewing servers.
Would this need a separate forum topic for just the team to post in? I could see posting in the review section getting messy over time.

Glad you like it. 

Ease of use is something I'm personally already coming across lol. Will add that in.

Impartiality and the questions about the reviewer might come in, but I don't feel comfortable answering that question yet since I haven't done the reviewing process myself yet either. Moreover, as unbiased as we want to be, most people that review also play certain servers, so there will be a certain degree of bias. With that said, a first impression review doesn't leave that much room for bias anyway, since there's only so many things you can comment on. In short, I'm predicting this will not be a problem if the reviewer him/herself is a decent person.

As far as arranging it in RMS, any special section will have to go through yC and RMS, so I feel that just posting in the review section for now is sufficient. If there is need for a special section, then we'll cross that bridge when the time comes.

PS. For the people who are interested in doing this, let me do a guinea pig test first and see more into how the process should work. I'll let you guys know after that on what we would be doing.

[Tom~]

Now, the question is which server to review first... humm.

I would like to review the servers at the top of RMS listings o.o

[Mania]

Now, the question is which server to review first... humm.

I would like to revew the servers at the top of RMS listings o.o

Good idea. Everyone knows a lot of them are totally suspicious. Maybe do them in groups? One do top low, one do top mid, one top high, one top super high? So we don't end up with massive over flow of duplicate reviews.

[Flip]

I was thinking this as well. But I don't want to cause controversy from the get-go; if this is going to indeed cause drama, I'd rather have a cast-iron process to back any review up lol.

I'll do a lower-profile one first, post the review, we'll all edit the process/review as seen fit, then we can target the top servers.

[Mania]

Good idea. I'll just sit back and let you do your thang.

[tracer]

I disagree with this idea, mainly because of:
1) Lack of professional reviewers or impressionist.
2) Love at first sight only happen in movies.
3) Might contradict with player reviews.
4) I agree with yC.
5) First Impressions causes a type of cancer called assumption.
6) Bribery.
7) No one in their right mind would agree to jump servers just to review it.
No server owner in their right mind would list their server here, if this is implemented.
9) NO successful attempt of "First Impressions" as ever been acknowlegde? Source: RMS forums -> Server Reviews.
10) First Impressions does not change along with new updates and server population. Therefore, this group of professional reviewers might have to redo the process again.
11) Server owners and players will mob RMS whenever a bad first impression is written for there server.

RMS doesn't welcome bad reviews. No server owner would want bad reviews. Therefore reviewers will not give bad reviews. Same with impressions.
So if yC is going to implement "First Impressions," might as well implement "Critics" as well.

If yC changes the rating system, then server owners will boycott or mob RMS. If anything bad happens to RMS, RMS will closed. I been using RMS for years, I would like for it to stay.

[Pandora]

I think it's overall a good idea, I wouldn't go so far as to say perfect or without risk of bias, but I think it might be doable and stay somewhat fair. Most players are too lazy to write an in-depth review, so this might give a nice visibility to some good, yet lesser known servers, as well as inform players which server to stay away from.

I suggest that each server the team reviews is reviewed by at least 2 separate reviewers at different times, that way you stand a better chance of getting an accurate first impression, the score should be an average (sum of all reviews / number of reviewers).

[Tom~]

@tracer
First impressions are important for me. I wouldn't stay on a server where just when I log in, I see only champs, sinx, etc. I wouldn't stay on a server where just when I log in, I start being randomly insulted.
I would try a server where the community seems nice so far, where I can see variety of classes, etc.
That is what a first impressions means for me.

I don't think Flip wants that to be implemented on the website; this could be just like a normal forum review.
Criticism is something every server is exposed to.

[Flip]

Cool, I was waiting for some criticism lol. And I do really mean that genuinely.

Tracer: I'll address each of your points.
1. Lack of professional reviews - I doubt there's actually a professional reviewer in RMS; 99% of the reviews is written by an average person who doesn't get paid (real money) to do so. Naturally, that person will have a bias. Any review in RMS has some sort of bias, I can guarantee you that much.

2. Love at first sight only happens at movies. - I don't know about you, but if within even the first hour I don't like the server, I'm not gonna "stay for the good part" anyway.

3. Might contradict with RMS reviews. - Even within the RMS reviews there's a TON of contradiction. Some players say its the best thing ever, some say its the worst. What matters then is -why- they say it, which I intend to put a lot of in every review I do.

4. I agree with yC. - I'm not going to put the RMS name on the reviews unless yC himself wants it. Until that time, any review I or a team does is just as valid as the next one.

5. First impressions causes a type of cancer that is called assumption. - Sadly, assumption makes the player decide whether he/she wants to do something or not. Keep in mind that the attention span of people is generally short. If you lose that attention, they assume it's not good and move on. Cancer or not, its something server owners have to face.

6. Bribery. - As much as I would want money doing this, no one in their right mind would pay us to make a good review for the server. They can't pay us in ingame items since we dont intend to stay in that server, which only leaves real cash. I doubt server owners pay anonymous people real cash for reviews. If there is such a person, that person is wasting money. Plain and simple.

7. No one in their right mind would jump servers just to review it. - Thank you for calling me crazy lol. As of this post, I have 5 people interested. Call me loony then. :p

8. No successful attempt at first impressions has ever been acknowledged - That's because they try to pass off first impressions as something concrete or something final. They draw months worth of conclusions from 5 minutes of gameplay. That's not what my idea is about. What I want to do is pass first impressions as just that, first impressions. Like Tom~ said, this only gives the initial thoughts on the server. It's possible that it's not actually what the server is about. What's important is the first impression is what ANY new player will go by upon entering the server, whether accurate or not.

9. The server might change. - I'm well aware of this. That's why I don't look at reviews that are over 3 months old lol. If a server gets a "needs improvement" review, I'd gladly revisit their server in a month to check if they've improved or not.

10. Server owners/players mob RMS whenever there's a bad review on the server. - That already happens my friend. Thankfully we have banhammers and stfu pills to solve that, care of our loving mods and admins. RMS always contains some bad review; I'd be more concerned if it didn't.

11. No server owner in their right mind will list on RMS if this is implemented. - I don't intend my review to be any more or less valid than the next. If RMS wouldn't want such a review on the site, they'll tell me and I'll stop posting it. That simple.

Now, Pandora.

Thanks. I'd be more concerned if you thought it was absolutely perfect lol; I know I'm not that smart.

I've already been thinking about the concept of a team review of a server so that we get not only multiple times but also multiple perspectives. What's stopping me from saying yes outright to this is that it may be overly cumbersome for a simple first impressions review. We'll probably see if this is needed after the initial test run of the idea.

As far as score goes, I'd rather not rate this by scores but by a simple "recommended to try" or "needs improvement". Like I said, first impressions are not necessarily the "real scoop" or deal on any server, so putting a score on that server with just a few days of play seems unfair. BUT, the actual first impressions review would still be necessary, since that "real scoop" is being overshadowed by what tracer calls "cancer called assumption", which ultimately might prevent new players from trying out what otherwise might be a great server.

Thanks for the criticism guys. I really do like thinking about this more thoroughly.