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Snakes

/Newstuff Needs Another Revival

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dew said:

On topic of this thread: I haven't reviewed very many projects, but I don't really bother with setting modus operandi for myself. I just compose the text so it's (hopefully) informative and perhaps even enjoyable to read. So if I may be so bold, I recommend you to read your reviews back and think if that's really something you'd read without zoning out if it was someone else's review on a map you've never heard about. Or on a high profile megawad where one slip will bring a mob with torches and pitchforks at your doorstep.

Good advice. I'm trying to balance flavour with substance right now, but I'm definitely not going to sugar-coat my subjective impressions. No matter what, I'll be writing from my own perspective, with the addendum that hopefully I provide enough information that readers will know whether or not they'd like these wads, even if they disagree with me.

edit: grammar

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I've claimed my third review, about to play it.

I haven't really been trying overtly to make my reviews entertaining as such, just informative. Although depending on my mood, some of my sense of humour may threaten to creep in there once or twice (kinda did with Favillesco E1, only ever so slightly)...

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Jayextee said:

I'd rather write and see something balanced and well-considered, but thanks for playing.

Balanced and well-considered is all well and good, but if nobody's gonna write those kinds of reviews and there's months' worth of backlog, maybe it's time to think about lowering the standards.

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Yeah, and when we clear the backlist with banal, shitty, cookie-cutter reviews, it'll be time for the mappers to lower their standards, because they'll need to churn out maps faster to meet our new reviewing pace. Who needs quality when you can just drown in shit and feel efficient.

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LordK said:

Balanced and well-considered is all well and good, but if nobody's gonna write those kinds of reviews and there's months' worth of backlog, maybe it's time to think about lowering the standards.


I just wrote my third. So, there's at least one more than 'nobody' at it. ;)

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Should we re-review wads that are just re-hosted under different names or just have their music changed, etc? Or just review the changes?

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I haven't played Doom in months, and haven't posted in what feels like forever. Thanks jayextee for the review in advance :) Going to try and clear up the backlog and hopefully push myself back into a dooming mood.

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schwerpunk said:

Should we re-review wads that are just re-hosted under different names or just have their music changed, etc? Or just review the changes?

Usually those just mention the changes and link to the original review.

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BloodyAcid said:

Thanks jayextee for the review in advance :)


Nawwwww, it's okay. In honesty, if I'd known how long the level was before claiming it I probably wouldn't have done...

Spoiler

...but I'm glad I did, it turns out.

;)

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schwerpunk said:

Should we re-review wads that are just re-hosted under different names or just have their music changed, etc? Or just review the changes?

I'd mention (and provide a link to) the previous review then focus on what's changed - if anything.

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GreyGhost said:

I'd mention (and provide a link to) the previous review then focus on what's changed - if anything.

Sounds about right. Are there any examples of this in the Newstuff Chronicles? Should I just paste the link in the "notes" section, and trust Bloodshedder to insert it, or provide it in the review itself? Sorry for the 20-questions, just getting warmed up to hopefully writing reviews semi-frequently.

Just finished playing Simplistic Evil alone, and I'm now looking to host a co-op game on Zandronum to see how it holds up in that mode...

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schwerpunk said:

Are there any examples of this in the Newstuff Chronicles? Should I just paste the link in the "notes" section, and trust Bloodshedder to insert it, or provide it in the review itself?

There are, but at 1AM I'm getting too tired to go looking for them. Maybe just include it in the review in HTML format.

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I'm now five reviews in. Seeing the box go green with 'Approved for publishing' is my happy place right now.

I did Monster House, by the way. I have no idea whether I'm proud of that or not.

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dew said:

Yeah, and when we clear the backlist with banal, shitty, cookie-cutter reviews, it'll be time for the mappers to lower their standards, because they'll need to churn out maps faster to meet our new reviewing pace. Who needs quality when you can just drown in shit and feel efficient.

That doesn't make any sense.

Jayextee said:

I just wrote my third. So, there's at least one more than 'nobody' at it. ;)

That's good, but you only did it because of this revival. Is this how's it gonna be in the future? A short period of feverish activity followed by months of neglect? I'd rather have the threshold for review quality lowered permanently.

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My first review predates this thread. It's something I've been meaning to get to doing for a while. This thread really only made me push a little harder is all.

Should I make my next review a one-sentence wonder?

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LordK said:

I'd rather have the threshold for review quality lowered permanently.

Ugh, that's such a disgustingly defeatist approach. "I'm okay with mediocre shit, guys, so you should be too." Well, I'm not and I want reviews to be good.

To explain myself further: I'm not saying every review has to be a literary gem, a lot of those wads simply don't require (or deserve) that. But it kinda annoys me when someone campaigns for an overarching, constant drop of quality. When an interesting or high profile project turns up, it should get full treatment, be it praise or tongue lashing.

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I'm with Dew on this matter. Entirely. I think some fresh blood (oh look, enter Schwerpunk and I - among others) is going to help; some people here just love to write and opine on things, why not direct that toward /Newstuff?

Doesn't entirely help that the quality of content varies so wildly. I have wrote a couple of decent (I hope, we'll see when they publish) reviews of less-than-stellar wads though.

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Jayextee said:

I'm with Dew on this matter. Entirely.


Me too. I haven't done a review in ages and feel a pang of guilt when I see that the list has built up. I wish I had more free time.

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dew said:

Ugh, that's such a disgustingly defeatist approach. "I'm okay with mediocre shit, guys, so you should be too." Well, I'm not and I want reviews to be good.

You're right that I may be too cynical. I also recognize that the reviews mean different things to different people. I treat them mostly as a download guide, so I prefer short and succinct reviews. Lately I've been mostly ignoring /Newstuff because it's not timely anymore. I have been relying on /idgames reviews instead. I guess I could do that in the future too...

dew said:

To explain myself further: I'm not saying every review has to be a literary gem, a lot of those wads simply don't require (or deserve) that. But it kinda annoys me when someone campaigns for an overarching, constant drop of quality. When an interesting or high profile project turns up, it should get full treatment, be it praise or tongue lashing.

I'm not saying that the quality of the reviews should be lowered all over the board, I too am happy to read good reviews about interesting projects. I'm just saying that low quality reviews should be tolerated because that encourages people to make reviews in a spur of a moment, thus encouraging the participation of people who don't normally do reviews or are unsure of themselves.

I can live with the current situation, I just think it's a shame, because I think the purpose of /Newstuff is to show the newest of the new stuff that the Doom community has to offer.

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LordK said:

I treat them mostly as a download guide,


I like that term. Thats what I think of it too. I kinda like reviews to be short and sweet, but not like the /idgames reviews' one-sentence impression. A few short paragraphs of mostly unbiased talk about what the wad is like and what to look forward to, and/or why you should keep scrolling down instead.

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I've really got to stop claiming reviews for wads that make me angry, lol.

Unrelated: has has a review really never been done in HYMN?! I remember Pavera even did a playthrough on Twitch what seems ages ago.

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Well for now I have been relying on idgames reviews until I wait for wow that's new stuff. I noticed though that Doom War has made a comeback and all my stuff is in the pipeline (even the ones I forgot to re upload).

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cannonball said:

Back from my UK job hunting adventures, Jayextee you are in the firing line ;)


My body is ready. Bring lube.

As long as it's a more considered review than the comment on idgames which reads "Ugly, amateour [sic] maps!!! 1 star" then I'm fine with whatever you put. It's the purpose of reviews, really - and I'm not going to get too bent out of shape about something experimental like that being ill-received. Which, by and large, it hasn't been so far. :)

*UK brofist*

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The "I need more time!" link will extend your claim the same as if you relinquished a file and then immediately reclaimed it. If someone is a jerk and abuses this feature, then they will be summarily banned from reviewing.

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December looks to be uneventful for me. I'll see if I can squeeze in some reviews. My first attempts seemed to go down well. :)

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The backlog definitely needs to be dealt with if you ask me.

Also, why don't we just have Terry type WADs automatically put in themes/Terry because really, these types of maps aren't even funny anymore. They always involve a penis, an asshole, mentions of homosexuality and a few other gags.

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