What do you think of paid ratings and reviews

seen apps like that

 

At first glance I believed this to be shallow and of low integrity - however it is a standard practice in marketing applications.

I haven't paid for any reviews or ratings on my own apps though I'm seriously considering and would be willing if the same marketing guy had approached me!

 

well it would be strange having 100 ratings when theres only 10 reviews

 

You dont need to write a review to leave a star rating..

And in the end its up to you if you need to pony up with such services.

Also there is no rate on delete for ages now. Maybe invest the money into improving the game instead?

 

I've been approached about this sort of thing before as well. I was under the impression that "it wasn't the thing to do". Some people use code to prompt people to write a review , others offer an incentive of some sort. I personally would much rather see a genuine review there, at least it would be real. I wouldn't go down this route.

 

for sure!

Sometimes your applications rating may be stuck in a rut (under 3 stars) because of unjustified reviews - as you described.

I like the idea of in-app incentives to submit reviews, though I want to implement it an a bigger kind of way.

 

I definitely see where you're coming from on this, however by trying to "balance" things out, it goes down the route of using two wrongs to try and make a right.

I was thinking the same thing with regards to ratings just with stars. It's quicker, easier and you've got more chance of people taking an active part if it's say one click of a button.

Can you ever really have an effective rating system? What would the alternative be? How about instead of having a single star rating they have say 4 or 5 sub categories that generate an overall mark. All people do is click on the number of stars they want to give. No writing involved and it guides people in their responses so that you get a more uniform set of reviews.

 

Paying for reviews should be an offence.

 

Agin let me clarify that I haven't personally paid for reviews HOWEVER - I no longer look at it in shame.

It's just as bad to leave unjustified 1 star reviews (messing up the devs potential to succeed).

I once attended a marketing segment for Vancouver developers and the guy talked about paid reviews as if it was essential and to be expected in every case. I don't agree with it to that extent but it does give an idea of how commonly practiced it is.

Another argument that could be made is to just make a quality app in the first place, and avoid negative reviews altogether. However, once again, there are always unjustified comments that pick apart nothing.

 

A consumer reading a review expects honest general opinions. By paying for a review then the consumer is somewhat mislead, not realising that they're reading a commercial.

As a developer too, who wrote to many review sites. I didn't like seeing the option to 'guarantee' a review. What are the chances that they will have/make a quiet day to look at my 'free' submission to them? It's the same tactic that supermarkets use where it appears a product is reduced...for 50 weeks of the year. So the small guy can't compete.

As for 1 star fake store reviews. All we can do is hope for lots of other reviews to drown out the haters.

 

I agree with all of your points. I wasn't trying to prove it as wrong or right, just pointing out how common it is.

It's terrible that someone could be practically tricked into buying something based on false reviews. Funny enough, I usually look at a product page and expect a certain amount of the reviews to be developer originated. Just because it's so common.

Apple should implement a separate app rating on product pages based on reviews by big name review sites (TA perhaps?). These ratings cannot be altered -- unless they're priority reviews aaaggghhhh!!!

There's no end to the madness :O

 

I'm just not gonna join them, however many there might be. Same as I won't pay Sky+Eurosports+licence to watch F1 next year, when it was always (except licence) free on terrestrial TV for like ever! The people who make us feel like we have no alternative are not what the rest of the people involved agree with.

 

I believe that these paid ratings / reviews are what are called shills. Unless the marketing agency makes it clear in each review that the review is, indeed, provided by a marketing agency and not an actual customer, then you are deceiving your customers. You are giving them the impression that these review are from legitimate customers who bought the game because they wanted to play it, not a marketing agency who was paid to leave them.

 

Very interesting subject. What would people say is the difference between paid reviews and say asking friends and family to download your game etc. Do they provide realistic reviews for others to base their purchases on?

I don't think it will ever be possible to have the perfect rating system as it's all subjective and based on opinion. Maybe their should be no rating system at all and only comments? Almost like a game or store blog. I think that would actually increase sales as more people would base downloads on their own preferences rather than a quick look at how many stars a game has got. They can read the reviews if they wish and see what's hot and popular by the top 10 , 100 download charts.

Effectively people will be able to judge games on its own merits.

 

My issue was, yes shills. Those who only want just your money. That's a good idea about F&F, the ones who offer are quite genuine and I have no problem with genuine feedback, whoever it's from.

 

To the OP: do whatever you feel comfortable doing.

I've said it before - Toyota, Apple etc. have no problem paying actors untold millions to tell you how great their products are. Does John Madden really think that "Tough actin' Tinactin" is the greatest thing since sliced bread, or did he just want a few extra dollars in his pocket?

Many people are developing games for fun, but for the most part this is business. Big business. Big corporations do not have consciences unless their lawyers say they should.

I'm not saying you should or should not pay for reviews. Only you know how you'll feel about it. It sucks that this stuff goes on, but it does. The website YELP contacted my brother and said if he paid for ads that they could make his business reviews appear more favorable.

Morality in business is an interesting topic. Big business has no heart, just their public image. That keeps them in check to a large degree. It does with all business.