Wild-Dog and dw4i2, Itch.io also have the integrated community for games. If that's the case, you can use it to discuss the game with other players as well. Also, the rating (1 to 5 stars) is also visible to everyone besides the developer.
If you don't mind me to ask, what you understand as "review"? Which meaning this word have for you and what it should be used for?
In theory, yes, but from my own personal experience and observations, no.
Did you ever heard about "mob mentality"? Things can get nasty for a developer that can't afford to use it at his/her own favor (those who are usually working alone) and falls in the hands of someone who's not well-intentioned and want to strike his/her work through reviews.
Besides, we already have the game's community for this, no?
Wild-Dog, if I were on your place (like I once was) I would think the same way as you now and I can't judge neither condemn you for that.
My blog is in PT-BR, but you can use the Google Translator tab to view it on your own language. You can check my whole history as an indie dev there. The last chapter (Chapter X) where I tell my experiences with a game which achieved second place on Steam store is there.
https://alyssonlneto.blogspot.com/2021/04/o-pagode-do-sucesso.html
This game's now available for free here on Itch.io on my old company profile (which is also showcased on my own profile here):
https://cleanwatersoft.itch.io/porradaria-2
I also studied a lot about Psychology to become a teacher during my Math Licentiate Degree course and delved further into this science by my own, specially because of marketing strategies, and I have 7 years of experience working as a professional indie dev who solely lived of his games.
Hopefully this will clarify your doubts and misconceptions about myself.
Have a nice day!
These are all the games you've made? https://alyssonlneto.blogspot.com/p/jogos-e-dlcs.html
Ok, fair enough, I'm naive. With "review" tbh, I was mostly thinking "positive comment that would help increase the popularity of the game". Of course reviews can also be negative... but I never saw people really trashing each other for indie games so... I didn't think about it. Anyway, the deciding factor for me when I consider getting a game is its page, which includes the comment section. And from now on I'll just leave a comment, no problem. I'll never leave reviews in the "review" prompt, just ratings. As is, that text box might as well not be there, is the ultimate feedback I'd give to those in charge of this site.
dw4i2, if I'm not wrong, your reviews also appear on you profile feed for those who follow you.
Also, it's not everyone who gets trashed "for free", only those who suffer some kind of prejudice for some reason. Here on Itch.io I never saw this type of conduct, but on a particular competitor store, it's looks like an war zone. Small indie games from devs who doesn't belong to their private circle doesn't seem to be welcome there.
There's a developer (that's also an Youtuber and is friends with other developers who also harassed me) who trashed one of my most well know games on his channel and incited a lot of hate on me before, I got tons of negative reviews bombing, insults, etc. I wrote about this experience on my blog (in PT-BR, but you can Google Translate the text with the translate tab).
You can check my post here if you wish:
https://alyssonlneto.blogspot.com/2019/09/ninja-brasileiro-no-castelo-do-pagode....
I really love Itch.io for what it is and I hope it keeps supporting all developers as it currently does.
yes they do, but comments also appear to outside users! People who don't have an account here. So... I think comments are better?
What you describe does seem like mob mentality, which is common on the internet... but I'm not sure the review system is what's truly protecting developers here. Ill-intentioned people could still leave a negative rating AND a negative public comment... although that'd require 1 step more and thankfully people are lazy. I'd say one of the reasons there aren't many negative comments around is that... it's harder to get popular? maybe? idk, not an expert at all. I also very much like how friendly is itch.io to small creators and hope it stays this way.
dw4i2, if developers notices people are abusing from the comments on their page, they can either completely remove it, or change to a community based project, which is much better than having negative comments on the store page degrading their work. The Itch Team was really smart to think ahead about these possibilities.
Itch.io is a great place to publish games, but it's not everyone who can make it to the top, so it's more likely to happens with someone who's outstanding somehow, which awakens all sorts of feelings on direct competitors.
These countermeasures can't prevent harassment at all, but it can hinder most attempts and save any developer from massive review bombing consequences in the future.
