Is BoW biased in its reviews?

[tankkommanderParticipant 6421xp 2]

BoW, as far as I am aware, does not ‘review’ products. They do box openings, play throughs, talk-to-designer segments.

I assume that all this content is either paid for by the game company, or a ‘we like this shiny thing’ and it makes good content.

Nothing on this site looks like a review.

Where things get dodgy online is sites that masquerade as ‘review’ sites but are paid for content. I won’t name names here.

[darkdanegan 21470xp 2]

^^  I’m with @tankkomander – I don’t consider BoW content to be unbiased reviews.  I see it more as news.  I assume a lot of content is made following ‘donated’ stuff and there’s bound to be some paid exposure.  I value it for the newsworthiness and the knowledge that BoW won’t promote anything that is truly poor.  And I treat comments like “what we’d like to see going forward” as a guide to what is maybe lacking now.

We do now have review functionality for the community to review games now though so that’s a great new resource for classic ‘reviews’ – be interesting to see how that takes off!

[toshkienMember 1108xp 5]

its the stuff of legend and ridicule on other gaming communities (shall remain nameless) just how positive BoW is, which is largely why i’m part of this community an not the others, who wants  to wake up on a Saturday or Sunday  to listen to some fucker be a miserable twat or any other day of the week it baffles me, but some ppl thrive on it i guess.

[tankkommanderParticipant 6421xp 3]

I don’t mind positive and negative reviews (for example The Dice Tower) as long as the reviewer says what they like and dislike.

The real scandal, that is not being called out often enough, is paid for content masquerading as reviews. Certain sites making money pretending to do reviews which are no more than adverts.

The sad thing is that games journalism just doesn’t exist. Nobody with a decent profile online is calling out the shady practices. And so gamers will continue to get stung by the minority of dodgy folks who have latched on to the hobby to make money. And nobody is calling out the big companies when they are being shady either, because they want/need to be in the good graces of the games companies in order to get shiny stuff to show off.

[toshkienMember 1108xp 1]

i know on youtube you have to declare if its a paid promotion, would the same guidelines from the Advertising Standards Authority not apply to a written piece? @tankkommander has pointed out its all a very shady practices

[pacificParticipant 400xp 0]

I don’t think I’d view them as reviews, more as unboxing and chance to have a close look at them.

If you search about after a release there are normally some quite focused blogs that give a more in-depth investigation about the quality of a product. I suppose these days generally the quality is so high from most companies that you don’t need to worry too much about getting a pile of grey goo that is meant to be a miniature. I think the last time I purposefully looked up a review was for the Mantic Goblin plastics (and very glad I did!) because some of their other stuff was questionable at that time, but otherwise anything from GW, CB, PP (or even Mantic now actually) is likely to be fine.

It’s also useful if you have a local store -I’ve checked things out sometimes in the flesh if I’m not sure if I want it, I think most places are OK with this or will have some of a new mini set out on display already.

I would say there is a marked difference between an enthusiastic unboxing, and a dedicated ‘review’ on a video games site that has given a game an in-depth 9/10, while at the same time having advertising running down the sides of the pages. You’re generally relying on that review to give you a honest interpretation of how the game is (you can’t pull the disc out of the box and feel it or taste it) so in that case is being deliberately misleading.

[limburger 21704xp 1]

@toshkien what YouTube (and I’d say plain ol’ ethics and morals) requires and what people do are different things.

I’ve seen too many YouTube videos that put their disclaimers in places that make them practically invisible (usually the not-so-high profile channels). As such I’m more or less surprised when content creators (like BoW/OTT) do make an effort to indicate they advertise the goodies they’re showing.

And paid content or not … the enthusiasm that developers often clearly show when presenting their product here on BoW/OTT seems honest enough that I don’t mind it. These are people with passion for their product, which beats any corporate mandated advertising.

[mecha82Participant 10037xp 0]

I don’t know about biased. To me it seems more like not wanting to do actual reviews and focusing on showing new shiny products instead of wanting in inform viewers more than they have to. Something that tends to be choice how to do things rather than holding certain opinion. At end of day that can be good thing or bad thing depending on person looking at it.

[warzanKeymaster 31125xp 9]

Traditional reviews are the way they are because of spoilers.

Eg i need to tell you if a video game or a book is worth reading or playing because its content is hidden and i cant show it to you without spoiling the story.

In this industry that hasnt really been the case, we can show you the components in HD we can build them and even paint them some times, and we sit down (often with the creators to help ensure accuracy) and play the games.

We do all of this so you can make YOUR mind up and you dont have to take our word for it.

We have fun doing it because life isnt much fun if your a miserable bastard lol 🙂

[lordofuzkulak 6332xp 0]

[quote]We have fun doing it because life isnt much fun if your a miserable bastard lol  [/quote]

 

Tell that to those two old guy muppets that heckle everything.

?

[limburger 21704xp 2]

I think there’s definitely a place for miserable bastards.

However the interwebs are full of them already … so why add more ?
Besides … it’s not the video game industry where anti consumer practices are common.
I’d say that excluding Kickstarters I doubt there are any bad guys in this business either.

The genuine enthusiasm these guys have for the games (like during the unboxing of those Yaks for Bloodred Skies) is great.

The only thing missing from those unboxings would be a 4k resolution 3D view of the various items and/or the final model.
OTOH … that might lead to people complaining about ‘lack of detail’ and ‘mold lines’ that most people wouldn’t even notice while actually playing. These aren’t scale models … they’re pieces for games, which is something people may forget.

[onlyonepinman 18060xp 4]

I’ve never considered BoW to truly be a Review website, I consider them to be a news site.  They bring me news about gaming and only give me news about stuff that they consider newsworthy.  By that rationale, it stands to reason that everything would be good, in BoW’s opinion because if they thought otherwise we wouldn’t be hearing about it.

 

Also, just to bore you with a bit of maths and swt theory, Shite Games are a subset of Games Not Reviewed by BoW.  BoW saying that they don’t bother to review games that they think are shite is not the same as saying anything that is not reviewed by them is shite.

[yogiebearMember 1249xp 0]

I’m scared, I sent through a product to BoW a while ago and nothing on it yet. I hope that doesn’t mean they though it was crap

🙁

[horus500 11505xp 1]

What would be a nice addition to reviews, particularly when the developers of games are in studios is hitting them up with some of the criticisms of their products and games. For years we heard not a bad word about GW. The reality they were absolute bastards to their customers and yet every product review only ever reflected the ‘excitement’. Sure they have changed, but that isn’t because it was reflected in product reviews. Did you ever mention prices? Ask GF9 why FOW, or the creators of Hordes and Warmachine why their games have lost popularity with their new editions. Clearly something is wrong with these systems, but again all that is reported is ‘the excitement’. Ask the uncomfortable questions occasionally. You’ll ultimately be better journalists (which is in essence what you are) and better friends to the industry for it.

[tankkommanderParticipant 6421xp 0]

@horus500 I agree that we are missing real Journalism in gaming. I suspect that is not an area BoW want to get in to.

The fact is that if you want access to the new toys you have to play nice. With Asmodee owning a big chunk of the industry these days who is going to want to run a critique of their pricing policy?

This site is all about the new shiny. If you want anything beyond that then you will need to look elsewhere.

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