http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/eivaagames/id365717059 Check this guy out. All his games have such fake reviews, especially the "3d pool game hd" title that is doing so well. Listen to these review titles on "3d pool game hd": Really nice game: maureen cahill "Great physics, really attractive graphics. I have other pool games also but this game is so catchy and addictive to play. Great work. Really nice game (again): hectordomaine I am totally disagree (what?) with "moshe p", as he said it's difficult to use. I don't think so, the controls are very user friendly and very easy to use. All the modes are innovative and the features are nice. I have the iPhone version also, and its really nice thats why I bought the iPad version also". (He has a habit of dismissing other people's bad reviews, as I shall show later). Best: strejlauson One of the best pool game on iPad. Fun to play. I love the time trial mode. The defining point of praise in his reviews is almost always the "addictiveness", the fact that it is the best of it's kind and that the graphics are "beautiful". Now see the wonder of the same reviewers posting the same kind of reviews in his other games, "Carrom 3D" and "Doodle Boom" Doodle Boom: "Awesome" : veteran.robbins "Great game" : snow.storms "Amazing!!!" : gaming.freak (I like the shamelessly similar word.word based usernames ) Carrom 3D: "This game has a pretty good game-play" : veteran.robbins (what a lolworthy title) "An amazing game must have" : snow.storms "Best carrom game" : gaming.freak (note the continuation of the "best of kind" praise) The icing on top of the cake: "I love it" : Farelle "Some people said this game is crashing (multiple reviews challenge this obvious fact in the same page )... its running very smooth on my (iOS4) iPhone 3G device (LOOOOOOOL). "Great game" : Heiner jar "People with bad review are STUPID" (DEVELOPERS WHO FAKE REVIEWS ARE CHEAP!) Chusin55, a real reviewer, complains of freezing in the menu, saying "do not buy". So, to do a little damage control, here comes a word of wisdom from newtouchnemesis "I think chusin55 may have jailbroken his device, because of that, may be unexpected thinks can comeout (?)... I think he or she just jealous of it". This is an unbelievably rude thing to do! You NEVER insult your customers! Frankly, I could go on and on about the similarities, but I don't have the patience. Now here comes my dilemma: to report him or not? I don't want to take away a livelihood, but at the same time it is so infuriating to see people cheating others out of money. What are your thoughts? Nonetheless, AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!
What a douche....still this is arguable. I personally think the dev is just being a dick but theres always the possibility of it being someone else
And this is the perfect example of why you'd be an idiot to pay attention to App Store reviews. Over half the reviews are unreadable, some idiot complaining that it won't work right when they never restarted, or are shills. The only reviews you can trust are the ones off of the App Store, almost always on sites dedicated to app reviews. And I don't condone shilling at all, but it's become such a rampant problem that there's no way to stop it.
If you should happen to report this developer, believe me when I say that the consequences will be minimal at best. You are in absolutely no danger of "taking away a livelihood." The sad truth is that this sort of thing happens all the time, in many industries. People frequently buy and sell reviews, as well as purchasing large numbers of their own product, to make it look more attractive than it really is. Every once in a while, it's punished. The vast majority of the time, it is not. I don't condone this sort of thing at all, nor do I have respect for anyone who cheats their way to the top. However, the only thing that you can really do about it is make great games and advertise them in honest ways. There are already far too many people on these boards who spend their time letting everybody know that they are terribly indignant... sometimes over nothing important. The only thing that comes of it is that the entire board ends up looking a little less professional. :\
Wow. That's shameful. If you have to put fake reviews for your game you know you failed. Good games don't need fake reviews to stay highly rated. Report him quick.
I think you should report them. I went through all of their apps, and on every app the same names show up saying how amazing and addictive it is. Also another dead give away, quite a few of those are "Am I giving it 5 stars". The amount of repetition in the reviews and the repeating users is enough proof.
That's why I quit reading reviews. TouchArcade is my source of information. No more buying crap apps... lol
You would be an idiot to not review your own game. You work on something for sometime and obviously are proud of it. You only have a few tools available to you as a developer in this market. If your review brings an additional eye to it what is the difference in running an ad? Have you ever seen an ad that was like "our game kind of sucks, but we blew alot of time making it and need to fool you into recouping the cost..." And - WTF are you going to 'report'? This thread and threads like them are *STUPID*...
To this extent? Is your game that crap you need to lie and deceive people in order to make sales? Try getting some skills or GTFO and find a different business to fake your way to the top in.
Report them if you must but this isn't the first or last time things like this will occur. Haven't you heard of Hollywood movie studios displaying fake reviews by fake film critics on their movie posters? Ever watch late night TV infomercials for that must have steal of a deal $19.99 product? You want to regrow hair? Buy this product! Business deception has been going on since the beginning of time. The saying goes there is a fool born every minute... I mean I never read into any App Store reviews anymore. I leave my decision making up to actual game play videos on YouTube and sites like this. App Store reviews are pretty much a joke and there are too many immature posts that make them mostly irrelevant IMHO.
How are 3 reviews or whatever 'faking your way to the top?' It simply doesn't work that way. The appstore is 5% execution, 1% misc (magazine, web and user reviews) and 94% luck, with 95% of the luck category falling into whether apple features you or not). What about the accidental 1-star reviews or the reviews from people who simply are uninformed? What should be done about that? I would be far more concerned about the setting the price to $1000 or having thousands of itunes accounts buy the app to shoot it up the charts that a few reviews from the dev team (btw - some apps actually have like 5-100 people working on them, not all apps are made in mom's basement).
You shouldn't have to lie about how great your app is just to get people to buy it. If it's a good app, people will almost certainly notice it and spread the word. Take a look at games like Doodle Jump, Fruit Ninja, etc. The developers of those games didn't shill reviews, buy their own games, or anything like that. They posted some advertisements, priced them reasonably, and people noticed them, bought them, and spread the word. As far as I know, they advertised honestly, and made an honest profit. And when people discover dirty advertisement tactics like shilling, which are usually pretty obvious, they almost always lose respect for the developers, hurting sales. Simply put, there should be no need for shilling. If your app is so bad that you need to lie to people about it being a good game, then you don't deserve the money.
there are thousands of good apps that dont sell. lol - would you bet your life on that? I've made like 20 apps now for not only my company but several other companies, I kind of know how it works.
For every one-star reviewing idiot, there is a five-star reviewing idiot. So you've reviewed your own product?
And I'm sure there are, but there are plenty of great games that start small, yet get quite a bit of attention. It's like you said, the App Store market is largely based on luck. You just have to do the best that you can to increase your chances, and hope that luck is on your side. Alright, maybe I was being a bit naive there. I'm sure there are a good amount of developers that use less than honorable methods to get their project out there and go unpunished. In fact, even Gameloft was accused of shilling a while back. And while it's certainly not good publicity, as anyone with half a mind can see through it, if they make a product that's actually good, I think consumers will still buy. But if the first thing I heard about a developer was that they shilled, I certainly wouldn't support them unless they made some fantastic games. You're a developer so you obviously know more about how it works, but I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents.
Your premise is way off. Your premise is: If the game is good and popular the developer didn't review their own game. If a game is crappy then we can bust that dev down for being a "shill" because that obviously reviewed their own game. That is simply wrong. Here is the way it works when I release a game. This goes from my first game, Underworlds - which went to #5 overall shortly after its release and later #1 free game when we did the FreeAppaDay promotion to the latest stuff I have worked on for some big name publishers. 1) We get notice the App is released by Apple 2) I download the App to make sure everything is good. 3) I'll usually rate it 5 stars 4) I'll post on my Facebook that my new app is out 5) of my 200 friends, 100 of them have iphones. Maybe 20 will buy it and maybe 5 will review it. 6) perhaps other family members will get it 7) I will usually save an actual review to talk to someone that is having problems or is saying something incorrect - like in Underworlds if someone says "There are no saved games!!!!" or whatever. 8) I use to give out promocodes for games, mostly on here. I always asked for a fair and honest review in return for the free game. I never asked for a 5 star or great review. About 1 in 100 people actually took the time to do this, most just wanted to horde free stuff. 9) I wouldn't release a game that I didnt think was good... Some on here are listing games they 'beta tested' in their sigs. Did they review any of those games? Isn't that being a "shill" as well?
No I do not believe that is shilling. You are not directly related to the developer if you help them by testing their app and telling them what you think. All they're doing is what all these other users do when the game comes out. Provide new ideas, bring up bugs, etc. No developer has asked me to rate their app five stars or anything. But I think the defining difference between what you did and what this developer did was that he reviewed it under a false identity, multiple times. In your review you rated five stars, but you wrote the review to clear a misunderstanding. This developer wrote many reviews designed to look like reviews from other people, telling you get the game and ignore other complaints.
I think we can agree on this. If you get complaints you should try to do update to address them instead of that.
Old thread but I had to rant about Com2Us doing some shilling. I find it rather sad that a company as prominent as them would stoop to such a level, especially in such an obvious way. Zombie Runaway http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zombie-runaway/id408288875?mt=8 Many reviews on the first day of release, almost all 5 star, majority by people who have only rated games by Com2Us. Really ridiculous "reviews" too which are either instructional or are pointing out features of the game in one or two sentences. It's so obvious. Example: "You know what? You can enjoy the game to the maximum, if you play it on ipad. Feel the infinity speed and thrill" LOL ya sure. I emailed Com2Us to see what they have to say. I've been working on a new game all night and for some reason this just bothered me. Figured what the hell, send em an email. Just had to get it out of my system before going to sleep Edit: Hmm didn't realize this thread was in the dev forum.
Seems like a stupid thing to do, especially since eivaa actually has made some great games. The minigolf and pool game are both good stuff. And no I am not affiliated with the dev.
