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Accepting Criticism

author=RyaReisender
Actually I disagree, a simple and sincere "thank you" is still no good reaction on criticism.

I think what Darken wrote on page 4 actually says it best:
Darken
To me accepting criticism is about wanting to talk about your game both the good and the bad like you would any other game. If there's a "thanks for the review" or a "fuck off you don't know shit" there's no real discussion, just someone wanting to stay in his/her own little world.

If you just post a "thank you", it is not only most likely sarcasm, but at the very least it can be interpreted as such. If you actually go into the details and try to talk about it then you will automatically feel a lot more sincere.

There is a big difference between:

"The game isn't scary at all and that's what ruined it for me."
"Thank you for your review."

and

"The game isn't scary at all and that's what ruined it for me."
"Ah! It seems like I couldn't give the game the horror feeling I wanted it to have, any ideas on how I could improve it?"

There is a difference. : ) The first one is being polite, and the second one is sucking up to the critic. Maybe if he feels the need he has to, that's the right way to go. But if they don't feel the need to, why should they?
Point is - one shouldn't try to force a personal opinion on other people, right? Forcing personal impressions and opinions on others has been reason for many wars in mankind's history. : /
Personally I would never force game makers to talk about their work, if they don't want to.

In game making -as in most projects- mistakes can be made, for different reasons. Some because of limited resources, others because of lack of knowledge of the tools - and others even because of lack of creative talent regarding art, storytelling etc. But it's okay to make mistakes, as humans we all make them - nobody is perfect and no game will be perfect either. And even if a game is close to perfect, there will still be some people that don't like it because of personal taste. : ) I doubt that you can please everyone in a community.

But I understand that some critics think they act with good motive / in good intend when they point out flaws. However, that does not always work out as planned. The reason is, the critique was either not friendly written or not requested.
A good critic understands that he/she carries the main responsibility here.
So, let's say there is a game (either complete or wip) that is far from perfect - you played it and feel the burning urge to help the game crafter to improve his 'masterpiece'...

-Etiquette: An option would be " I didn't like / couldn't enjoy this game. If you want, I can give you advice on what I would improve if it was my game. "

In this example you do offer to open a dialogue, but without forcing your opinion on what to improve on the game maker, giving them an option to listen to you or ignore.

-Make use of the critique sandwich: "First of all, I liked the (enter variable here , expl. idea / concept / graphics / music... your balls to upload this, whatever) - however, I did not like the (enter variable you didn't like, but not all on one heap, just the one or two WORST things you can remember) - but all in all it was ( enter other positive variable here, expl. pretty amusing / quite unique / a nice effort).

Everyone likes a good sandwich - it's much better than just leaving a burning bag of critique-poop on the crafter's front door ^^; - I mean, look at it that way: the game you played, someone spent much time to build it, even if it isn't good. You wasted maybe 1 hour playing - but they spent 40+ hours to offer you this gameplay and already thought you'd appreciate it. ^^;

Long story short:
When reviewing a game by a fellow game maker, I think it is our responsibility improve "constructive criticism" and cut away the "destructive cynisism".


(edited- 'cause it didn't show my sandwich properly XD )

Cashmere wants to review your games

cool thing -
i once had the idea of reviewing RPGmaker games while playing them "blind" on youtube XD i think that is a fun idea, but, i barely have time, and not the tools to do that either ( how do you even record gameplay - footage from rpgmaker? )

Can I use music from other games

Cool information and statements here : ) I haven't played too many RPGmaker games I must admit ( because, no time >_< ) - and the ones I played all had custom made soundtracks, so I wasn't a 100% sure about that either. But, turns out it's pretty much as I thought.

cheers~