A couple of weeks ago I submitted my first review of a very average dlsite game. It had some good points and some bad points; so I made a detailed review using about 1800 of the 2000 character limit. I considered the review to be very fair - I broke it down into three main parts: Pros, cons, and features that could be improved upon in the next game.
Upon submitting it I was told that my review would be 'reviewed' before anyone could see it. Fair enough, I'm all for quality control.
A couple of days ago I checked back to see if my review had been posted. It had - or at least, something that looked vaguely like what I had originally written.
For the next part of this thread I am going to break down what they posted as me saying, and compare it to what I actually said about the game to show you just how misleading this review has become after Dlsite staff's modifications to it. Please emember that this is not an attack on the game developers at all. As far as I am concerned most are doing great work - including the one that I reviewed here. Keep developing games!
My 'Reviewed' Review.
"The game is much better as a puzzle game and a horror game than an erotic game - mostly due to the limited number of erotic poses.
What this game does well it the scary atmosphere. Music, artwork and enemies all play into this very well."
Kudos to Dlsite, for keeping my introduction mostly intact; I'm not sure why, but they changed "erotic scenes" in my original review into "erotic poses."
"Pros:
-Puzzles are fun to try and work out.
-Not too expensive.
-Gallery mode included.
-Artwork is pretty good.
-Atmosphere is REALLY good. Can't stress that enough. Almost made me want to mute the volume at parts."
This is were the trouble starts. At this point three whole sections of my review have been deleted. The first was cons to the game.
It is worth noting that I only highlighted three cons. Three minor cons. It was harmless stuff that honestly wouldn't put me off purchasing the game if I read it. For example, I wrote "An option to 'run' would have been nice as walking from the start each time you lose can grow repetitive," "could have added a couple more levels", "minor grammatical errors here and there, but nothing too serious."
The second major section they deleted was a 'neural and points to improve on.' This highlighted the general feel of the game where I once again praised the creepy atmosphere and suggested what could have been done to improve it. Once again, there was nothing serious. This is an OK game and given its low price I'd be happy to drop the money for it again, even with the few criticisms I raised.
"The erotic scenes are fairly vanilla and not a lot of skin is shown. This could be a plus for some people."
Now we enter a tier of Orwellian doublespeak that would make the DPRK proud. They took one of my criticisms, "The erotic scenes are fairly vanilla and not a lot of skin is shown," and then added on the end, "This could be a plus for some people."
What the hell? Haha; it actually had me laugh when I read it. Sure, maybe it could possibly be a plus for 'some' people, but that wasn't the point of my review.
"Buy it to support the developer, and as a request: more erotic content, longer playtime/replayability."
To be fair they did a fairly good job of editing my conclusion; it's much more concise now and they did capture this part of my review fairly accurately. I have to give credit were credit is due. The only two problems are that they removed the final score I gave it, which was 5 or 6 out of 10 (I can't remember exactly), and added in "Buy it to support the developer."
I never said that people should buy the game, and I wouldn't implore them to do so.
Concluding Thoughts
The game that I reviewed was fun. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't bad. It was a slightly above average game that lacked varied erotic content, but had great, and enjoyable puzzles. It did just one thing amazing, and that was the horror atmosphere.
I don't know if DLsite were trying to shorten my review down, or if they were trying to increase their sales by censoring the negative aspects of feedback I gave, but regardless, the entire meaning of my review has been changed and butchered.
This wasn't necessarily done 'maliciously', I understand there are language barriers at play here. But it is concerning that my original review got so badly twisted and warped that it doesn't sound like it is describing an average game anymore.
Has anyone else had experience with this?
EDIT:
I should add that the game is here:
Also, it was one of their highest selling titles with over 150 copies now sold; so there would clearly be an incentive to not have negative reviews on it.
Upon submitting it I was told that my review would be 'reviewed' before anyone could see it. Fair enough, I'm all for quality control.
A couple of days ago I checked back to see if my review had been posted. It had - or at least, something that looked vaguely like what I had originally written.
For the next part of this thread I am going to break down what they posted as me saying, and compare it to what I actually said about the game to show you just how misleading this review has become after Dlsite staff's modifications to it. Please emember that this is not an attack on the game developers at all. As far as I am concerned most are doing great work - including the one that I reviewed here. Keep developing games!
My 'Reviewed' Review.
"The game is much better as a puzzle game and a horror game than an erotic game - mostly due to the limited number of erotic poses.
What this game does well it the scary atmosphere. Music, artwork and enemies all play into this very well."
Kudos to Dlsite, for keeping my introduction mostly intact; I'm not sure why, but they changed "erotic scenes" in my original review into "erotic poses."
"Pros:
-Puzzles are fun to try and work out.
-Not too expensive.
-Gallery mode included.
-Artwork is pretty good.
-Atmosphere is REALLY good. Can't stress that enough. Almost made me want to mute the volume at parts."
This is were the trouble starts. At this point three whole sections of my review have been deleted. The first was cons to the game.
It is worth noting that I only highlighted three cons. Three minor cons. It was harmless stuff that honestly wouldn't put me off purchasing the game if I read it. For example, I wrote "An option to 'run' would have been nice as walking from the start each time you lose can grow repetitive," "could have added a couple more levels", "minor grammatical errors here and there, but nothing too serious."
The second major section they deleted was a 'neural and points to improve on.' This highlighted the general feel of the game where I once again praised the creepy atmosphere and suggested what could have been done to improve it. Once again, there was nothing serious. This is an OK game and given its low price I'd be happy to drop the money for it again, even with the few criticisms I raised.
"The erotic scenes are fairly vanilla and not a lot of skin is shown. This could be a plus for some people."
Now we enter a tier of Orwellian doublespeak that would make the DPRK proud. They took one of my criticisms, "The erotic scenes are fairly vanilla and not a lot of skin is shown," and then added on the end, "This could be a plus for some people."
What the hell? Haha; it actually had me laugh when I read it. Sure, maybe it could possibly be a plus for 'some' people, but that wasn't the point of my review.
"Buy it to support the developer, and as a request: more erotic content, longer playtime/replayability."
To be fair they did a fairly good job of editing my conclusion; it's much more concise now and they did capture this part of my review fairly accurately. I have to give credit were credit is due. The only two problems are that they removed the final score I gave it, which was 5 or 6 out of 10 (I can't remember exactly), and added in "Buy it to support the developer."
I never said that people should buy the game, and I wouldn't implore them to do so.
Concluding Thoughts
The game that I reviewed was fun. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't bad. It was a slightly above average game that lacked varied erotic content, but had great, and enjoyable puzzles. It did just one thing amazing, and that was the horror atmosphere.
I don't know if DLsite were trying to shorten my review down, or if they were trying to increase their sales by censoring the negative aspects of feedback I gave, but regardless, the entire meaning of my review has been changed and butchered.
This wasn't necessarily done 'maliciously', I understand there are language barriers at play here. But it is concerning that my original review got so badly twisted and warped that it doesn't sound like it is describing an average game anymore.
Has anyone else had experience with this?
EDIT:
I should add that the game is here:
You must be registered to see the links
Also, it was one of their highest selling titles with over 150 copies now sold; so there would clearly be an incentive to not have negative reviews on it.
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