Steam Curator OO getting down to business thread

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Fri Oct 31, 2014 4:52 pm

OK, as I already posted we will need to recommend and write reviews on 10 games to get listed.

Also on the agenda is determining how many moderators we need to appoint and select them.

I'm thinking JetFred and Isgrimnur right off the bat. Both are very involved in the community and Steam.

Any other names we need to have in the initial hat?

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Fri Oct 31, 2014 5:00 pm

Smoove?

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Fri Oct 31, 2014 6:53 pm

Since I'm the one who kind of started this, I'm willing to write a couple of reviews at least. Give me like four days or so to get them done.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Fri Oct 31, 2014 7:04 pm

Anyone who is willing to write a review should let us know in the thread and tell us what game(s). That way when can at least know what 10 game we are expecting to get rolling with.

It may also expose that we have more than one person considering a review of the same game. If that happens maybe when can think about a collaborative review.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Fri Oct 31, 2014 7:17 pm

Some folks have already written reviews of games.

Any idea if you can leverage pre-existing reviews?

Baroquen · Post by **Baroquen** » Fri Oct 31, 2014 7:20 pm

So if I want to write a review of a game - how does it "count" toward the OO Curator project?

I think I might do something obscure like "Nimble Quest", "Adventure Manager" or "Braveland".

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Fri Oct 31, 2014 7:20 pm

I'll be doing Endless Legend and Distant Worlds.

Baroquen · Post by **Baroquen** » Fri Oct 31, 2014 7:27 pm

And if this happens, someone has GOT to do Marvel Puzzle Quest...

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Fri Oct 31, 2014 9:09 pm

TheMix wrote:Some folks have already written reviews of games.

Any idea if you can leverage pre-existing reviews?

I think so. That could really help if we have several reviews already done. It just says I should list the recommendation and then a link to the review. It appears the reviews can be hosted somewhere other than steam if desired as well.

PM me a link to one and I will see if it works.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Fri Oct 31, 2014 9:10 pm

Baroquen wrote:So if I want to write a review of a game - how does it "count" toward the OO Curator project?

I think I might do something obscure like "Nimble Quest", "Adventure Manager" or "Braveland".

I have an interface to enter our recommendations in. Then I just link to the review. If anyone desires a specifically worded recommendation just forward the text to me. I will have to check to see if there is a word limit on that.

edit: I checked the recommendation limit.

Why do you recommend this game? 152 character limit

The review is optional.

URL for full review (optional)
You can link to your Steam Review for this game or point to a review you have written or recorded on another website such as a news site, your own website or YouTube.

but I don't think there is any point to making recommendations on games we haven't taken time to review.

Stuie · Post by **Stuie** » Fri Oct 31, 2014 9:57 pm

Alefroth wrote:Smoove?

I second that.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Sat Nov 01, 2014 1:08 am

Stuie wrote:
Alefroth wrote:Smoove?
I second that.

Smoove has been modded as have the two I mentioned previously.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Sat Nov 01, 2014 4:18 am

Rip wrote:
TheMix wrote:Some folks have already written reviews of games.

Any idea if you can leverage pre-existing reviews?

I think so. That could really help if we have several reviews already done. It just says I should list the recommendation and then a link to the review. It appears the reviews can be hosted somewhere other than steam if desired as well.

PM me a link to one and I will see if it works.

To be clear, I haven't written any previously. I'm much to lazy to have done that. But I know that I've seen reviews that others have written.

EzeKieL · Post by **EzeKieL** » Sat Nov 01, 2014 8:16 am

I'm willing to write some reviews, I have a lot of more obscured games as well ^^.

I'll get back to you on what I might do

Z-Corn · Post by **Z-Corn** » Sat Nov 01, 2014 9:30 am

Kasey Chang writes a bunch of reviews already...

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Sat Nov 01, 2014 12:09 pm

It seems all the Steam reviews I see are very short and hardly reviews at all but that seems the steam way. Going to try entering some JetFred has and as long as that works we may have enough already written. I think to really get noticed we need a few more "in depth" reviews.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Sat Nov 01, 2014 1:02 pm

How do I join as rank and file (so I don't have to do any actual work)?

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Sat Nov 01, 2014 1:32 pm

Jaymann wrote:How do I join as rank and file (so I don't have to do any actual work)?

By being a member of the Octopus Overlords group. Are you not a member already?

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Sat Nov 01, 2014 2:05 pm

I don't think so.

I am now.

Windows95 · Post by **Windows95** » Sat Nov 01, 2014 10:07 pm

So for discussion’s sake, are we going to post/recommend any game that someone writes a review for? Or do we need some kind of vetting process? I see a few possible issues that we might want to address.

First, completely open submissions could create a wide smorgasbord of game types and titles. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but to me curating is by definition an act of selection and organization. Is an OO recommendation beneficial if it includes everything under the sun? Should an OO recommendation mean everyone will like the game? Just fans of the genre? Just one or two members?

If we go the other route though and start being selective, how do we ensure everyone has a fair voice? Tripe AAA blockbuster titles shouldn’t have a hard time getting recommendations, perhaps even undeservedly. What about the lesser known titles that only one or two of us play? Hidden gems might remain hidden if we rely strictly on mods to give them approval.

Last but not least, what about controversial titles? What if Postal 4 comes out and half of us think it’s the greatest game ever while the other half think it’s the most evil piece of media of known to man?

Please don’t take this as a knock against the OO Curation. I just figure we might want to work out a few guidelines before we go full Steam ahead (terrible pun intended).

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Sat Nov 01, 2014 10:31 pm

Agree on all points.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Nov 01, 2014 11:09 pm

What if people were to nominate games, then once a few were on the list we held a multiple-option poll? Those with X votes over Y time are then approved for review. A poll every few weeks, or when we get enough games to justify one, would keep things rolling.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Sun Nov 02, 2014 12:19 am

My idea would be to have a thread where games can be recommended to be reviewed, then another to be voted on. Then when it comes to the review process, it can be done by someone in the group who has it and wants to do the review.

Obviously though, that's a problem if there's a game that someone feels should be reviewed but that isn't yet a widespread hit, but more of a gem in the wild waiting to be discovered. In that case, I'd say, just review it.

Same goes with hotly anticipated titles. More or less, it's not a question of if it should be reviewed, but then by who, because they will inevitably be reviewed.

Edit: Yeah, Blackhawk's on my similar line of thinking. And maybe, if that's the case, it would be a good idea to have a new subforum dedicated to this.

JetFred · Post by **JetFred** » Sun Nov 02, 2014 3:42 pm

I was just going to say there should be a pinned thread PC Games or Meta where we do some sort of vetting. We could open it up for anyone to come to that thread and encourage others to check out their review. If we get comments that tend to agree, we go ahead and include it. If there is controversy, we discuss there what to do. But I don't know if that adds anything to the discussion already here. I didn't even think about the other way around, where we agree to recommend a game but have to decide who reviews it.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Sun Nov 02, 2014 5:31 pm

JetFred wrote:I was just going to say there should be a pinned thread PC Games or Meta where we do some sort of vetting. We could open it up for anyone to come to that thread and encourage others to check out their review. If we get comments that tend to agree, we go ahead and include it. If there is controversy, we discuss there what to do. But I don't know if that adds anything to the discussion already here. I didn't even think about the other way around, where we agree to recommend a game but have to decide who reviews it.

Yea, that approach seems less cumbersome. Plus no one wants to be the guy that has to follow up with people waiting on reviews to get done. Better the review is done before being considered.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sun Nov 02, 2014 10:59 pm

JetFred wrote: I didn't even think about the other way around, where we agree to recommend a game but have to decide who reviews it.

The principle I had in mind was that people willing to review a game are the ones nominating it.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 1:41 am

Yeah, that is much simpler. I tend to overcomplicate things...

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 11:35 am

I would hope the reviewed games are those with the OO Forum Effect. Those game threads that end up with a life of their own and end up purchased to see what the fuss is about.

Cylus Maxii · Post by **Cylus Maxii** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 12:13 pm

I see this as a great opportunity to not only have a presence out of the OO forums and within the larger gaming community, but to also attract new blood for the old ones.

It would be really cool to see OO mentioned in the context of the reviews and for them to have a bit of OO flavor. If the Postal 4 example occurred, we could easily explain the controversy at our forum. Ditto for mentioning the OOFE or pointing to AAR narratives. I'd also like to see the tentacles rating for flavor. Maybe even forum quotes? Anything like that would rock!

In addition to writers/reviewers, it might be nice if some properly-talented individuals volunteered to be editors-at-large. That would help to broaden the pool of reviewers. I would nominate somebody if I had more of a clue.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 12:47 pm

I'm fine with the curator process as long as people don't get weird about OO members making recommendations about various games that people don't necessarily collectively agree on. I mean, if someone writes a long, detailed glowing review of Dracula 3 Path of the Dragon, I'm not going to shout down approval for publication because the 75% of the current reviews suggest the game is terrible. Similarly, if someone is going gangbusters and reviewing all the dating simulators (like Heileen), I'm not going to say they shouldn't be curated by OO because I'm not into dating simulator adventure games. If people want to step up and formally review games (essentially making the impression threads we have here much more public), I'm all for it.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 1:30 pm

Smoove_B wrote:I'm fine with the curator process as long as people don't get weird about OO members making recommendations about various games that people don't necessarily collectively agree on. I mean, if someone writes a long, detailed glowing review of Dracula 3 Path of the Dragon, I'm not going to shout down approval for publication because the 75% of the current reviews suggest the game is terrible. Similarly, if someone is going gangbusters and reviewing all the dating simulators (like Heileen), I'm not going to say they shouldn't be curated by OO because I'm not into dating simulator adventure games. If people want to step up and formally review games (essentially making the impression threads we have here much more public), I'm all for it.

This. It isn't as though we have some limit on how many can be recommended.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 1:45 pm

I'm going to have to withdraw my offer of reviewing Endless Legend because I realized I've only played as one of the races. Oops.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 2:15 pm

Excuse to play another game of Endless Legends instead of Beyond Earth. I've played as Dragons and Vaulters but not to final victory.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Mon Nov 03, 2014 5:47 pm

Yeah, with so many genres, there are bound to be people who lean towards specific genres, and that's great. It means we can cover a wide spectrum, from indie releases to big budget releases. In fact, maybe we can have genre-specific lists.

Baroquen · Post by **Baroquen** » Fri Nov 07, 2014 7:09 pm

So where does this project stand? Are we still working out the logistics of nominating games/reviews? Or do we need more reviews to get to 10? I have to imagine we've got 10 reviews written; or could get them together easily. (Sepiche's write-up on Ziggurat being a perfect example).

And for the record, I'm pretty much in agreement with Smoove's post:

I'm fine with the curator process as long as people don't get weird about OO members making recommendations about various games that people don't necessarily collectively agree on. I mean, if someone writes a long, detailed glowing review of Dracula 3 Path of the Dragon, I'm not going to shout down approval for publication because the 75% of the current reviews suggest the game is terrible. Similarly, if someone is going gangbusters and reviewing all the dating simulators (like Heileen), I'm not going to say they shouldn't be curated by OO because I'm not into dating simulator adventure games. If people want to step up and formally review games (essentially making the impression threads we have here much more public), I'm all for it.

Honestly, while I'm happy to help with the project by throwing in a review every once in awhile, I'm more interesting in following the OO recommendations through Steam.

And if the forums get a little exposure through the project, all the better.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Fri Nov 07, 2014 7:19 pm

We have met the 10 requirement and are listed. You need to go to the group to follow us to make them obvious.

Waiting for more review submissions to get things rolling.

JetFred · Post by **JetFred** » Fri Nov 07, 2014 7:22 pm

The first game on my curator-recommended list that is endorsed by us: Civ 5 in position #19.

Sudy · Post by **Sudy** » Mon Nov 10, 2014 11:40 am

I've got a busy week ahead of me, but after that I might be interested in reviewing FTL. Do we have any kind of guidelines or length suggestions for reviews?

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Mon Nov 10, 2014 11:42 am

Rip wrote:We have met the 10 requirement and are listed. You need to go to the group to follow us to make them obvious.

Waiting for more review submissions to get things rolling.

Cool. Will take a look. Also will probably be motivated to actually write a review every once in awhile, although I don't usually think or write about a game's overall experience. Normally I focus on certain aspects.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Mon Nov 10, 2014 1:01 pm

Sudy Nym wrote:I've got a busy week ahead of me, but after that I might be interested in reviewing FTL. Do we have any kind of guidelines or length suggestions for reviews?

Steam reviews are character limited but if hosted elsewhere no limit on length.

I'm just looking for well written and accurate.