Dude, it is literally impossible to get people to leave reviews. I went to that con a couple months ago, and had like two dozen people tell me, to my face, that they’d leave reviews. Not a single one of them did. Same goes here on Hexbear, a couple people recently assured me they’d drop a review, but then never did
Oh that’s so real to me and I hate it.
I’ve found for my own work that there’s a nearly-impossible margin between “being too pushy about reviews” and "hinting in a way that is not noticed or outright ignored.
At the end of the day, I’m mostly just glad that they actually played the game, though. Reviews are a way that fans of the game can ensure that Steam pays me more for the work it took to make it, but it also just means the most to me that people actually appreciate the game itself. The more people who get to do that, the more satisfied I will be with the obscene amount of work it was to make it.
I have to take comfort that most people that read my work seemed to enjoy it, even if they don’t leave reviews and sometimes just privately message me and say they liked it. Yeah it feels good to read that but it’d mean a lot more if they just posted a few sentences where the algorithm can pick it up AAAAAAAAAAAAAH
Quality truly does not matter, nor does effort, when compared to the impact and significance of being born rich, being connected, or just being so cynically ruthless and pandering that you roll out cynical pandering trash that presses as many easy dopamine buttons as possible for the largest possible batch of consumers.
It’s bleak, even Jokerfying, to contemplate the possibility I could have conceivably written something as sloppy as, say, “Ready Player One” and with a little initial nudge of failson privilege or at least friends in high places it could have been very profitable.
Games can be quite similar: some of the most profitable games are creatively bankrupt while pressing lots of addiction buttons for monetization purposes. RAID: Shadow Legends is only one of the most infamous examples.
I never really considered the importance of leaving reviews and other algorithm-related stuff until somewhat recently.
I do want to support devs in what little I can muster, but when it comes to reviews, I feel like I’m just too head empty when playing games to write something actually constructive
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Oh that’s so real to me and I hate it.
I’ve found for my own work that there’s a nearly-impossible margin between “being too pushy about reviews” and "hinting in a way that is not noticed or outright ignored.
I have to take comfort that most people that read my work seemed to enjoy it, even if they don’t leave reviews and sometimes just privately message me and say they liked it. Yeah it feels good to read that but it’d mean a lot more if they just posted a few sentences where the algorithm can pick it up AAAAAAAAAAAAAH
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I know how you feel all too well.
Quality truly does not matter, nor does effort, when compared to the impact and significance of being born rich, being connected, or just being so cynically ruthless and pandering that you roll out cynical pandering trash that presses as many easy dopamine buttons as possible for the largest possible batch of consumers.
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It’s bleak, even Jokerfying, to contemplate the possibility I could have conceivably written something as sloppy as, say, “Ready Player One” and with a little initial nudge of failson privilege or at least friends in high places it could have been very profitable.
Games can be quite similar: some of the most profitable games are creatively bankrupt while pressing lots of addiction buttons for monetization purposes. RAID: Shadow Legends is only one of the most infamous examples.
I never really considered the importance of leaving reviews and other algorithm-related stuff until somewhat recently.
I do want to support devs in what little I can muster, but when it comes to reviews, I feel like I’m just too head empty
when playing games to write something actually constructive 
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I actually just noticed one of my friends wishlisted the game. Wishlisting also helps with the algorithm too, right?
Either way, I’m gonna go buy a copy for her.
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BRB, gonna dash off some quick reviews for, like, all of the indie games I’ve enjoyed.