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Send to email | The Expert Bias: Reviewing for a New Culture [Game Reviews] in Game reviews Culture Game Design Industry lost garden | By Maggie Greene el 19-Jul-2008 |  Danc at Lost Garden has another take on the utility (or lack thereof) of game reviews in today's gaming landscape, this one looking at the 'expertise bias.' He points out the disparity between reviewers and players when it comes to looking at new games — especially ones that have a gentle difficulty curve. His basic operating premise is that because game reviewers have plowed through so many titles and mechanics, they're looking at 'difficulty' in an entirely different light than vast portions of the audience. What will the future look like? He posits observation of other players is going to become increasingly important to developers, and if reviews can't keep up with that, they will really fall by the wayside: If you are serious about providing objective insight into a game, either a title you are building or one your are reviewing, your expertise is not enough. In fact, your vast mastery of game related skills is mostly likely causing a giant bias in your judgments. You need to fight this bias by observing other players over and over again. They will do things with the game that are a source of wondrous insight. Your expertise becomes a tool for making great changes based off these insights, not one for predicting a priori exactly how all users will react to the game. As for the current review industry, it is built on the unstable foundation of expert opinion in the absence of actual player observation. As games evolve and become ever more about first time learning experiences, the traditional game review will become increasingly irrelevant. It is arguable that they've already stopped informing most buying decisions and now serve as little more than entertainment for the hardcore niche. As the value proposition of reviews falter, the vast, churning, capitalist forces of creative destruction will replace them with a much richer set of game criticism that offers real value to its readers. We've heard a lot about why the reviewing structure is broken, but this is an especially thoughtful take on the problem. I'm not sure it's one that can really be gotten around (critics — of the game, film, food, or book variety — tend to get those positions by being 'experts'), but it makes for interesting reading to be sure. Soul Bubbles: A classic game ill treated by expert reviewers [Lost Garden]

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 | Kotaku`s The Gamers Guide | Blogger | XBOX 360 Gamers Weblog
Gossip, news and leaks for obsessive gamers Kotaku As if you don't waste enough of your time in a gamer's haze, here's Kotaku: a gamer's guide that goes beyond the press release. Gossip, cheats, criticism, design, nostalgia, pred |
| The Expert Bias: Reviewing for a New Culture [Game Reviews] | | Danc at Lost Garden has another take on the utility (or lack thereof) of game reviews in today's gaming landscape, this one looking at the 'expertise bias.' He points out the disparity between reviewers and players when it comes to looking at new games — especially ones that have [..] Read complete article | ![Subscribe to The Expert Bias: Reviewing for a New Culture [Game Reviews]](http://www.weeklybits.com/images/yaaqui3.gif) | Published 19-Jul-2008 by Maggie Greene in Game reviews Culture Game Design Industry lost garden Read 0 times. More hits in ![Images about The Expert Bias: Reviewing for a New Culture [Game Reviews]](./images/photo.gif) |
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 | Kotaku`s The Gamers Guide | Blogger | XBOX 360 Gamers Weblog
Gossip, news and leaks for obsessive gamers Kotaku As if you don't waste enough of your time in a gamer's haze, here's Kotaku: a gamer's guide that goes beyond the press release. Gossip, cheats, criticism, design, nostalgia, pred |
| Soul Bubbles: Fighting the Tide [Game Design] | | We've mentioned Soul Bubbles a few times, most recently in regards to the expert bias inherent in game reviews. GameSetWatch has a great interview up with Oliver Lejade, artistic director of the small French studio that turned out the DS game — it's reasona [..] Read complete article | ![Subscribe to The Expert Bias: Reviewing for a New Culture [Game Reviews]](http://www.weeklybits.com/images/yaaqui3.gif) | Published 17-Aug-2008 by Maggie Greene in Game design Clips Ds Industry mekensleep Nintendo soul bubbles Read 0 times. More hits in ![Images about Soul Bubbles: Fighting the Tide [Game Design]](./images/photo.gif) |
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 | Kotaku`s The Gamers Guide | Blogger | XBOX 360 Gamers Weblog
Gossip, news and leaks for obsessive gamers Kotaku As if you don't waste enough of your time in a gamer's haze, here's Kotaku: a gamer's guide that goes beyond the press release. Gossip, cheats, criticism, design, nostalgia, pred |
 | Kotaku`s The Gamers Guide | Blogger | XBOX 360 Gamers Weblog
Gossip, news and leaks for obsessive gamers Kotaku As if you don't waste enough of your time in a gamer's haze, here's Kotaku: a gamer's guide that goes beyond the press release. Gossip, cheats, criticism, design, nostalgia, pred |
| Amazon Reviewers Do Not Take Kindly To Spore's DRM [Spore] | | Despite some early, Germanic hiccups, Spore seems to be going down quite well with both the reviewing and buying public at large. Oh, except the kids over at Amazon. Despite enjoying the game itself, they've bombarded the game with 1-star reviews, as backlash for EA's insistenc [..] Read complete article | ![Subscribe to The Expert Bias: Reviewing for a New Culture [Game Reviews]](http://www.weeklybits.com/images/yaaqui3.gif) | Published 08-Sep-2008 by Luke Plunkett in Spore Ea News securom Read 0 times. More hits in  |
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 | Kotaku`s The Gamers Guide | Blogger | XBOX 360 Gamers Weblog
Gossip, news and leaks for obsessive gamers Kotaku As if you don't waste enough of your time in a gamer's haze, here's Kotaku: a gamer's guide that goes beyond the press release. Gossip, cheats, criticism, design, nostalgia, pred |
 | Nerdblog | Blogger | Provides news about hardware, software, notebooks, laptops, PCs, Mac, PDAs Nerdblog.Net |
 | Nerdblog | Blogger | Provides news about hardware, software, notebooks, laptops, PCs, Mac, PDAs Nerdblog.Net |
 | Kotaku`s The Gamers Guide | Blogger | XBOX 360 Gamers Weblog
Gossip, news and leaks for obsessive gamers Kotaku As if you don't waste enough of your time in a gamer's haze, here's Kotaku: a gamer's guide that goes beyond the press release. Gossip, cheats, criticism, design, nostalgia, pred |
| Good Reviews First Please [Behind The Screens] | | Over at MTV Multiplayer, Stephen Totilo is hip-deep in Reviews Week, his week-long look at all things having to do with game reviews, from advertising concerns to stupid PR tricks, such as the following
response former GameSpot reviewer Alex Navarro received when asking [..] Read complete article | ![Subscribe to The Expert Bias: Reviewing for a New Culture [Game Reviews]](http://www.weeklybits.com/images/yaaqui3.gif) | Published 28-May-2008 by Mike Fahey in Behind The ScreensEthicsNewsReviewsStupid PR Tricks Read 7 times. More hits in ![Images about Good Reviews First Please [Behind The Screens]](./images/photo.gif) |
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 | Kotaku`s The Gamers Guide | Blogger | XBOX 360 Gamers Weblog
Gossip, news and leaks for obsessive gamers Kotaku As if you don't waste enough of your time in a gamer's haze, here's Kotaku: a gamer's guide that goes beyond the press release. Gossip, cheats, criticism, design, nostalgia, pred |
 | Joystiq | Blogger | Covers video game news from an independent, unbiased perspective Joystiq Joystiq |
| Wii Fanboy Weekly: May 15 - May 21 | Filed under: Nintendo Wii
It's been a hectic past few weeks over at Wii Fanboy. On top of the WiiWare games we've been reviewing, we've also been hard at work reviewing retail games and pumping out original features. If [..] Read complete article | ![Subscribe to The Expert Bias: Reviewing for a New Culture [Game Reviews]](http://www.weeklybits.com/images/yaaqui3.gif) | Published 22-May-2008 by David Hinkle in weekly-recap Read 9 times. More hits in  |
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 | Joystiq | Blogger | Covers video game news from an independent, unbiased perspective Joystiq Joystiq |
| EA won't make move on Take Two until after FTC probe | Filed under: Culture, Business
Electronic Arts said today that it will not acquire publisher Take-Two until after the Federal Trade Commission finishes reviewing the acquisition for potential antitrust concerns (via Reuters). The FTC ha [..] Read complete article | ![Subscribe to The Expert Bias: Reviewing for a New Culture [Game Reviews]](http://www.weeklybits.com/images/yaaqui3.gif) | Published 09-Jul-2008 by Ross Miller in acquisitioneaelectronic-artsmergertake-two Read 0 times. More hits in  |
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 | Kotaku`s The Gamers Guide | Blogger | XBOX 360 Gamers Weblog
Gossip, news and leaks for obsessive gamers Kotaku As if you don't waste enough of your time in a gamer's haze, here's Kotaku: a gamer's guide that goes beyond the press release. Gossip, cheats, criticism, design, nostalgia, pred |
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