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« on: March 30, 2011, 06:14:52 am »
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http://www.destructoid.com/microsoft-looking-into-possible-misuse-of-xblig-ratings-197544.phtmlAs far as Xbox Live Indie Games are concerned, outside of what little word-of-mouth promotion a title receives, the only other real way awareness is raised is through the top-rated games section on the Xbox dashboard. It's, well, pretty crummy.
Unfortunately, the current system for rating games between one and five stars allows anyone with a free Xbox.com account to rate as they wish; even if they don't play the full game, the trial, or anything. This is causing problems for developers like Zeboyd Games, maker of Cthulhu Saves the World.
Long story short, XBLIG College Lacrosse: The Video Game asked fans on Facebook to rate the game highly, in order to inflate its position. Now, Zeboyd's title has mysteriously seen a slew of negative, position-dropping reviews out of the blue. It's alleged that the two are related, although this is clearly the sign of a bad system. Microsoft is "investigating a possible misuse of ratings."
Sad that it takes a story like this for action to be even potentially taken, but what else is new? As a spare time 'garage indie dev' I'm always looking into more information on how to market my game when I finish it, so I have an idea of what kind of environment I have to work against to market it to the general public. Between Sony not having any system in place for 'garage' indie developers to submit content, Nintendo not accepting content from anyone without an office (Save the World of Goo developer to save face for PR), and Microsoft doing nothing to protect the interests of indie talent, its pretty vexing trying to jump over what's obviously still a very high barrier of entry. How do they expect indie developers to succeed when they allow crap made overnight onto their service next to high quality titles, bringing them down by association? And when anybody can rate any game whatever they want without even playing the demo? That's insulting, especially when you consider how much less exposure an indie title will receive in comparison to a AAA budget title. Every vote counts when you're drawing from a pool of 10 - 20 votes. And then in the past they've made blunders like hiding the Indie Game store behind some avatar crap, as if more people will see the games digging through 30 menus rather than having them up front. Microsoft, what's your real aim for the indie channel? Are you trying to use it as a tool to scout talent for Rare? Because you certainly aren't doing a very good job of watching out for the little guy's interests. What do you guys think? Discuss.
Logged
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ROLL TIDE WHAT? **** YOU!!! Geaux Tiga
~The Gaurdians of ZFGC~
Kirby, metallica48423, Max, Vash, walnut100
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