Topic: Reader reviews functionality

As you may or may not know, we're planning to add the functionality so that Nintendo Life readers can leave their own game reviews.

In theory the system would work like this:

• Readers would be able to leave their own review of any game which would display on a separate page (linked to from game + review page).
• The review text would be limited to around 400 words.
• A rating between 1-10 would be given. This would help form the average reader rating which would be shown on the game page.
• Readers would be able to give "thumbs up" to reviews they liked so they would appear closer to the top. e.g. 18 readers found this review useful

That's it in a nutshell. Before Ant gets cracking with developing this do you have any more suggestions for us to consider? We can't promise that we'll be able to please everybody, but we'd love to know what your thoughts are.

Additional features:

• Reviews must have a minimum of 50 words to avoid people getting too carried away rating everything without thinking.
• There will be a report function to alert moderators to inappropriate reviews.
• Reviews would show up in the readers user profile so others could easily read them by author, not just by game.

Perhaps an option to "follow" a certain reveiwer if we found our taste in games were the same. Wheir we woud be notified when they put up a new reveiw (via PM if thats ever implemented).

Would the thumbers be anonymous? Some aspiring reviewers could find ways to artificially inflate their ratings. Also, could readers add reviewers they like to a "trusted" list?

I have a few questions:
1.How long are 400 characters? For example:would my Mega Man II review be too long for the reader review function?
2.Would users be able to review any Wii, Virtual Console, WiiWare, DS, and DSiWare game?
3.Would reviewers be able to rate the graphics, sound, and gameplay along with the overall score?
4.Is there any rules about making user reviews besides the 400 character limit?
5.Would users be able to put pictures of the game they are reviewing?

Besides the 400 character limit, I find this feature nearly perfect.

@SuperSonic1990: Yes, your Mega Man II review is WAAAAAY too long for a 400 character limit. Remember, the new signature line limit is supposed to be 300 characters, which Corbie estimated to only four lined (if densely packed, of course).

Personally, I doubt I could say much in a review limit that tiny due to my wordy speach patterns, but I might try once it's ready anyway. We'll see.

If the user reviews are going to be linked from the game pages, there should be no need to put pictures in them, besides which putting pictures with a review that short seems a bit silly imo.

My understanding of the reviews is that you should be able to review any Nintendo game, at least, maybe even including in the Retro section of the site.

400 characters is about enough for a game summary only, not a full review. I don't know what an appropriate figure would be to have a ample review, but without being too long winded but i would say at 1000 characters would be the minimum needed. Apart from that it all sounds good.

The 400 character limit is way too short. Could you raise it? Like a 1000 minimum like stevie suggested.

I think 400 characters is not adequate for a reviewer to get his point across and support it. 500 would be better, and at the same time, enforce some disipline to get to that point quickly. But more than 1000 and we're going to have every aspiring Pulitzer recipient spouting on and on. I don't want to wade through 100 full blown reviews, and then 100 full blown counterpoints for each game. Let the "official" reviews - and the reviewers - have their rightful place.

This post is 500 characters.

I agree. I like reader reviews but only if there quite short. Then you can get a lot of peoples opinions in a short amount of time. And sometimes they highlight a point that the main reviewers may have not touched upon.But if they go on for too long then I won't read em.Just my opinion of course. Maybe a rating system like @Supersonic suggested whereby you could rate a game for graphics,gameplay,Longevity etc could be useful?

Some good suggestions guys. I made a mistake with my explantion BTW! I meant 400 words !! .... we're just keen to not have excessively long reviews as people really will just want to skim read them.

@Vendetta - I like the cut of your jib. Thanks for the support. Yes the thumbers would be anonymous but each registered user would only be able to "vote" once per user review. In theory it wouldn't be open to too much abuse unless a clan of users was formed!

@SuperSonic1990 - Yes you would be able to leave a review for any game we have in our database. If we we didn't have the game page you could even request that we add it!

Okay, couple things...

1. Needs a character minimum. A lot of sites have this so people don't just write "This game rocks dudes!" and that's it.

2. Need a report button for those that write "This game rocks dude!" and then put a series of hundreds of periods so that they're cool with the character minimum.

@AlexSays: I lol'd at #2. +1 for your first suggestion.

Sound good, Daz. Don't forget the line thingies you put at the beginning of each review.

@Dazza: I appreciate that, as well as your openess to community input on improving the functionality for our members. As one who has enjoyed much here, it's a pleasure for me to contribute in whatever ways I can. It's encouraging to know that many here share these sentiments.

I think this will be a great feature for the site. Will give the readers more input and more opinions on games. And you can never have too many opinions on games.

the additions listed in post #1 sound great.

I would like to suggest an "editors board of review" for games. In addition to the official review i would like to see a score given separately by the other nintendo life staffers

@AlexSays - A minimum word count is a great idea... you're right, without it we would get a lot of sloppy comments. Will add that to the master list now!

and when will this be ready?
next week?
next month?
next generation?
nexon?

Everything makes sense, but the 400 words limit is a no-no. What you don't know is that I like to do full-blown reviews and give out every necessary details possible, this is why I absolutely disagree with that terrible limit. However, I do like everything else, just give us unlimited characters and I'm ready to go!

@Super Smash Bros. Fan1999 - That's why we're gonna have a word limit haha

Woudent a line limit be much easier for mods to figer out who's over and easier to keep ourselfs in check...