Poll of the Day > I want to stop going to reddit, but I feel like site:reddit.com is the only

(+) Yeah! (+)

means we have left of getting actually good tips/advice on products or games.

So I can't ban it.

Does anyone else feel like searching is trash now? Or that they're addicted to media.

I very rarely use reddit for anything. My main site for tips and advice is here or youtube. Searching has always been the same for me here and I find my answers easy enough. I don't believe I'm addicted to media but I can't say I've ever gone a day without it.

Reddit is great for situations where you actually WANT an echo chamber for your answers... such as product reviews

I only started using Reddit a few years ago and once you figure out how it works it's pretty great.
Now Discord... I have no idea how Discord works but everybody and their mum seems to have one.

wwinterj25 posted...

I very rarely use reddit for anything. My main site for tips and advice is here or youtube. Searching has always been the same for me here and I find my answers easy enough. I don't believe I'm addicted to media but I can't say I've ever gone a day without it.

I dislike watching videos and prefer to read things, but you're probably right.

Lokarin posted...

Reddit is great for situations where you actually WANT an echo chamber for your answers... such as product reviews

I guess product reviews can be kind of echo chambery. I wish it wasn't though, that would be nice.

Black_Crusher posted...

I only started using Reddit a few years ago and once you figure out how it works it's pretty great.
Now Discord... I have no idea how Discord works but everybody and their mum seems to have one.

How does it work?

Reddit is good for special interest subreddits and that's about it.

Lokarin posted...

Reddit is great for situations where you actually WANT an echo chamber for your answers... such as product reviews

I never felt like opinions had much of a place in reviews at all. When I read a game review, for example, I expect to get a basic rundown of the plot, controls, gameplay style, and maybe music and graphics. From there I decide whether it's something I'd like to try.

keyblader1985 posted...

I never felt like opinions had much of a place in reviews at all. When I read a game review, for example, I expect to get a basic rundown of the plot, controls, gameplay style, and maybe music and graphics. From there I decide whether it's something I'd like to try.

Reviews are pretty much the definition of "someones option on something". Just being a bit more objective and explaining why you think the way you do.

keyblader1985 posted...

Reddit is good for special interest subreddits and that's about it.

This.

Anyone who complains about how Reddit is terrible just haven't found one of the good subreddits. Stay away from anything that's too public or too fanboyish, and you'll generally have a pretty good experience there.

I used to subscribe to like a dozen different boards and they were all relatively awesome. Then you'd go to one of the boards recommended by the main page and it would feel like your brain was trying to eat itself.

If you know what you're doing, Reddit is probably the best general social media site out there right now. Which is less because Reddit is great and more because everything else is ultra-terrible, but still.

Dikitain posted...

Reviews are pretty much the definition of "someones option on something". Just being a bit more objective and explaining why you think the way you do.

But nothing I just mentioned is subjective..

Reddit really bothers me but I can't give it up.

The ONLY thing I truly like is the deep topical specificity. Just about every other aspect has a caveat or is just plain shit but that topic specificity is too good.

I pretty much stick to
r/196
r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnnns
r/publicfreakout

and of course a ton of amateur content

keyblader1985 posted...

But nothing I just mentioned is subjective..

I would call everything you mentioned a synopsis, not a review.

Reviews should tell me if something is good or bad, and why.

i use reddit to look at game patch notes because usually the official website is bloated and obnoxious to browse

Adam_Savage posted...

i use reddit to look at game patch notes

reporting you to FBI internet squad

Dikitain posted...

I would call everything you mentioned a synopsis, not a review.

Reviews should tell me if something is good or bad, and why.

A synopsis allows you to decide for yourself whether or not something is good or bad.

A review is just someone else describing what they think is good or bad - which may mean absolutely nothing if you don't agree with or like/dislike the same things the reviewer does. And which may mean even less if their own subjectivity means they're ignoring the negatives in favor of the positives because they like the game and are trying to sell it to you, or if they're ignoring the positives and are focusing on the negatives because they hate the game and are trying to torpedo it.

It's one of the reasons why I don't like numerical review scores. That raw data is meaningless unless you know the logic that reviewer used to come to that number, yet all too often reviewers who give scores get lazy justifying them (or the numbers get passed around and compared and the original context gets lost).

A few paragraphs describing various aspects of the game in an objective fashion and allowing you to decide how you feel about it based on your personal preferences is much better than just hearing some asshole say "greatest game evar 12/10!"

Black_Crusher posted...

Now Discord... I have no idea how Discord works but everybody and their mum seems to have one.

Discord can be good if you find a server that helps with whatever. I mostly use it as a means to chat to people I've known outside of Discord though.

Discord is all the problems with reddit... now with voice acting

Lokarin posted...

Discord is all the problems with reddit... now with voice acting

Depends how you use it.

Never use reddit like that.
Just manually visit subreddits that fit your hobbies.

Black_Crusher posted...

Now Discord... I have no idea how Discord works but everybody and their mum seems to have one.

it's just irc fused with yahoo chatrooms

ParanoidObsessive posted...

A synopsis allows you to decide for yourself whether or not something is good or bad.

A review is just someone else describing what they think is good or bad - which may mean absolutely nothing if you don't agree with or like/dislike the same things the reviewer does. And which may mean even less if their own subjectivity means they're ignoring the negatives in favor of the positives because they like the game and are trying to sell it to you, or if they're ignoring the positives and are focusing on the negatives because they hate the game and are trying to torpedo it.

It's one of the reasons why I don't like numerical review scores. That raw data is meaningless unless you know the logic that reviewer used to come to that number, yet all too often reviewers who give scores get lazy justifying them (or the numbers get passed around and compared and the original context gets lost).

A few paragraphs describing various aspects of the game in an objective fashion and allowing you to decide how you feel about it based on your personal preferences is much better than just hearing some asshole say "greatest game evar 12/10!"

It is pretty much the reason I have 2-3 reviewers I trust, a couple that I watch for "entertainment" purposes and usually ignore their thoughts, and the rest I completely ignore.

And while I think just a number is useless (which is why the 2-3 reviewers I do trust don't even give scores in their reviews), I also hate reviews that give a synapsis of a game and call it a day. If I can turn most of your review into a wikipedia article, then it isn't useful. I could just read a wikipedia article. The worst are the YouTubers who think reviews need to be these 20 - 30 minute or more videos. Your video should be 5-10 minutes MAX, and even that is pushing it. 3-5 minutes would be ideal.

Lokarin posted...

Discord is all the problems with reddit... now with voice acting

You can find specific comments far easier in Discord than you can on Reddit.

keyblader1985 posted...

But nothing I just mentioned is subjective..

Almost everything you mentioned is subjective. How do you talk about a game's graphics or music without any subjectivity? "This game has music composed of notes. Track 1 on the OST is 3:46 long. It plays during forest levels. The graphics are visual and require a graphics card to be processed. The main character is a bearded male."

Non-objective control summary? "There are buttons for interacting and advancing dialogue. There is a pause button. Holding the shoot button will shoot until the button is released."

Statements like "The music is good. It sounds like an old-school arcade game" and "The graphics are a bit dated but the cel-shaded style keeps them from looking too ugly" are completely subjective. Even describing the "gameplay style" requires some degree of subjectivity. Saying that Dark Souls 3 is "an action game" is not a helpful description even if its accurate. The idea you could actually write a real product review without subjectivity is nonsense.

Revelation34 posted...

You can find specific comments far easier in Discord than you can on Reddit.

I have never needed to do that ever

SomeUsername529 posted...

Almost everything you mentioned is subjective. How do you talk about a game's graphics or music without any subjectivity? "This game has music composed of notes. Track 1 on the OST is 3:46 long. It plays during forest levels. The graphics are visual and require a graphics card to be processed. The main character is a bearded male."

Non-objective control summary? "There are buttons for interacting and advancing dialogue. There is a pause button. Holding the shoot button will shoot until the button is released."

Statements like "The music is good. It sounds like an old-school arcade game" and "The graphics are a bit dated but the cel-shaded style keeps them from looking too ugly" are completely subjective. Even describing the "gameplay style" requires some degree of subjectivity. Saying that Dark Souls 3 is "an action game" is not a helpful description even if its accurate. The idea you could actually write a real product review without subjectivity is nonsense.

Do you.. not know how to describe things without sounding like a robot?

"The soundtrack consists mainly of upbeat, lighthearted tones reminiscent of the Mario series for the main areas, switching to more dynamic, dramatic orchestrated themes when during moments of combat. The controls are primarily consistent with most games of its style, but with a questionable placement of L2 for the jump button, which might throw off some people who are used to the genre. The graphics are somewhat limited by the platform, but is combined with the use of cel shading for the art style, which has been known to make this issue slightly less noticeable." (It may have been more accurate to say gameplay instead; how things work, general skill level, whether timing can be an issue with some techniques or moments, etc.)

Keep in mind that I never said this is how all reviews should work, or that opinion should never be a factor. Some things like mood, atmosphere and whether things can become tedious are difficult to describe without subjectivity. I only stated what I look for in a review. I actually would concede that what I'm describing is more along the lines of a synopsis than a review as someone else said, but if that's what you're trying to do then it can be done without too much emphasis on opinion.