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hi and welcome to board game geeks table
talk my name is rodney smith of watch it
played and in this series i share my
initial thoughts on a gaming related
topic and then invite you to respond in
the comments which I'll compile into the
following table talkback episode and
this way we can all participate in the
conversation now last time we tackled
the quite involved topic of hype in our
hobby and so I thought for this one I
would pick something a little lighter
and then I changed my mind and decided
that we should discuss paid board game
reviews so yay not controversial at all
actually as strong as the various
opinions are on this topic I want to try
to work through this together with you
because unlike most table talks where I
have a pretty clear personal point of
view with this one I'm a little more
indecisive and I'm hoping that
collectively we might come to better
conclusions by the end of the discussion
now for the purposes of this discussion
I'm going to be referring to paid videos
but this applies to any medium print
podcasts and so forth video is just what
I do so I naturally default to it but
before we really dive in let's first
define the topic a bit a number of
people create video reviews for board
games summarizing how the game works and
explaining what they like or don't like
about it which can help you determine
whether or not you would or wouldn't
want to purchase that game now people of
course watch reviews for other reasons
as well but I think many people do watch
to inform their purchasing decisions
they have limited money to spend and
they don't want to waste it on games
they wouldn't enjoy even it reviews
don't influence everyone's purchasing
habits I think by the nature of the fact
that they can that's part of why the
topic of paid reviews generates the kind
of discussion it does but if that's only
part of the reason for example I get
paid for my tutorial videos but
generally people don't take issue with
that even though they may also use my
videos as a way of deciding if they want
to buy a game I think the difference
though is that my biases aren't
found within the video itself the rules
are just the rules my biases come into
play when I'm picking which games I want
to feature but you won't find them
within the content of the video if that
makes sense and I think this helps
explain that the concern about paid
reviews is one they are often used to
inform a person's decision to buy or not
buy a game but also to the reviewers
personal opinion is a core part of what
makes that video of review you want to
be able to trust the reviewer to steer
you in the right direction towards
making a good purchase so you don't
waste your money now the first video
review that I became aware of for board
games was board games with Scott by
Scott Nicholson who on December 23rd
2005 posted his first video on his
channel reviewing Vegas showdown if you
do board game video reviews today you
really owe it to yourself to watch that
video and a link to it below and you'll
see that effectively he created the
format which almost all modern video
board game review still follow over a
decade later but more than that he
inspired many of us to create our own
videos and our own expressions of the
hobby so so thank you Scott now in that
first video he says hi there
welcome to board games with Scott a
little video blog where I'm gonna talk
about a board game every week review it
to explain the mechanics give you an
idea of it's something you might want to
buy so again this highlights that at
least in part a review is to inform a
possible purchasing decision of the
viewer now some will say they watch
reviews but don't care about the
reviewers opinion and I'm sure that's
true but my hope is that we can at least
agree on the general purpose of a review
which I would say is to use someone
else's opinion to help inform a purchase
yes okay I'm gonna take your silence as
a yes just so we can move on I think
this notion of a paid review becomes
contentious for many of us because we're
concerned that if the reviewer is paid
especially if they're being paid by the
publisher then perhaps their opinions
been compromised because the reviewer
may not want to be openly critical of a
game fearing that that publisher or
maybe another one won't pay them for
future reviews and as we know
people really like money if being honest
could mean less money for the reviewer
are they gonna be as motivated to be
honest with us
might they rein in some of their
concerns soften the language of the
review leave out some of the issues that
they had when playing now maybe not but
we can appreciate the temptation and
whether it's fair or not I think it
lowers our trust in the reviewers
opinion let's say you or I had 60
dollars to spend on one game this month
if a reviewer didn't like something
about a game that we were considering
then we would want them to tell us so we
could help improve the chances that we
wouldn't waste the 60 dollars on a game
that we wouldn't enjoy we want maximum
fun entertainment and fulfillment for
our cash we worked hard for this this
isn't just paper it represents the time
and energy it cost us to earn it right
and that's important okay every idea
I've said up to this point I want to
assign to this placard this to me and
hopefully to most of us acknowledges why
review being paid for introduces
skepticism and distrust into our
thinking we acknowledge it's not great
and now that we've spent quite a bit of
time talking about why I paid review
could be bad I just want to say
something that I think it's really
important in my eight years of creating
videos for board games I know of very
few actual cases of people being paid to
do a review I hear much more talk about
it than actual unique cases of it and I
think that's important to highlight now
I'm not claiming to know the behind the
scenes dealings of every reviewer but I
know a number of them and I know very
few cases of what we would actually call
a paid review I just want to say that to
put the concerns that we're discussing
here into their proper context what
complicates things and I think may give
the impression that there are more paid
reviews than there actually are is that
in our hobby some reviewers in addition
to unpaid reviews will be paid by a
publisher to
create what is sometimes referred to as
a preview usually for a Kickstarter and
these differ by focusing more on
explaining how the game works giving an
overview of the components and rules
rather than emphasizing whether or not
the reviewer recommends the game in my
experience well most people don't like
the idea of a paid review see we said it
wasn't wasn't great they typically make
an exception for this style of content
so long as the reviewer turned previewer
discloses that they were paid in a clear
and obvious way the problem I think is
that sort of like my fallen placards
here it can get a bit messy in this area
some people when they preview will throw
in some of their personal opinions
lending it to sound a little bit more
like a review but perhaps more
importantly the average viewer doesn't
necessarily make a distinction between
the different types of videos for
example I may create a video called how
to play one rage it will only teach the
game offer absolutely zero opinions but
still many will post a kind comment
saying Thank You Rodney for the review
now what that tells me is that as much
as we may try to break down these
different types of videos into reviews
previews overviews gameplays tutorials
and so forth the casual viewer isn't
necessarily going to make that
distinction they're all reviews in their
mind now do I personally think there's a
distinction I'm sure some of you as well
yes you probably do but what really
matters is what most other people think
and I'm not sure everyone makes those
distinctions as clearly at the very
least as I said I think it can get a
little messy and just so it doesn't get
any Messier here I've got more props I
need more space so let's go over to my
other table well we'll continue this
conversation if we're in general
agreement to set the ideas around paid
reviews into this not great area then
paid previews I kind of want to put into
the not so bad but kind of confusing
sometimes probably shouldn't be but sort
of is neutral fuzzy area
okay and this brings us to the part of
the discussion I've really been wanting
to get to the problem of the unpaid
review that's right what I want to
introduce into this conversation and
really get your feedback on is what I
perceive as the problem of unpaid
reviews now I wouldn't be surprised if
some of you are thinking Rodney what are
you talking about there's no problem
with an unpaved review in fact this is
probably the solution to our problems if
paid reviews are not great then the
opposite of that
must be at least good you think on the
matter of unpaid reviews this should be
a slam dunk we'll just put it in the
great area and move on heck put it in
the super great area and let's end this
video this is what we want right slam
dunk well here's my concern and I want
it to be your concern as well we started
this out by addressing that as a game
consumer we have limited money you might
have $60 and we want to spend it wisely
because it took us real work time and
energy to earn this we don't waste it
and that makes sense but here's the
catch the reviewer is arguably spending
much more than that sixty dollars to
create the review and that includes
their energy talent equipment time not
to mention the game itself which they
might also have had to buy and all that
is really valuable too but we want them
to do that for free so that we don't
lose money do you see the imbalance we
value our time and money but by saying
that reviews should be unpaid we're kind
of communicating that we don't value the
reviewers time and money and I say that
because I have never seen this concern
brought up by the people who are
concerned about paid reviews which again
I'm acknowledging presents a problem I
just want this the unpaid review to also
be seen as an equal if not bigger issue
if we value our money and we feel that
losing our own $60 because of the
potential bias in a paid review is not
great then a reviewer losing more than
$60 to create that review must be really
not great and
this is a part of the problem that our
hobby doesn't currently have an answer
for but also doesn't really talk about
now there was a time when reviewers
couldn't even get review copies of games
many now do get those at least but for
some people even that is seen as a
conflict of interest some would argue
that a game from a publisher is a form
of payment but I think that most of our
hobby has matured enough to understand
that it's not really the payment it
appears to be so much goes into creating
a review that that game which probably
only cost the publisher twenty or thirty
dollars is definitely not paying for the
time and energy that the reviewer is
putting in and perhaps more importantly
the reviewer can't pay their bills with
a copy of a game and I understand many
people do start reviewing as a passion
project they aren't looking to turn it
into full-time work but here's the thing
we don't expect the publisher the
distributor the marketing person the
artist the Kickstarter creator or even
the consumer to do their jobs for free
we expect them to be paid and remember
this isn't a personal bias on my part
I'm not a reviewer I do tutorials and I
get paid and no one takes issue with
that but maybe maybe that makes me a
good person to talk about this I I feel
like I can appreciate the plight of the
reviewer I recognize the work they're
doing and I want to highlight that it's
not really a good thing that there isn't
a clear easy way to compensate them for
their effort I think reviews are
important but there isn't a business out
there in the board game world that hires
reviewers so that they can remain
independently paid to solve the problems
that we're talking about over here I
think what I'm hoping to do with this
topic at least in part is to get
everyone who feels very strongly about
this to be equally engaged in the
discussion of how we address this
problem the next time someone posts a
thread to say look I think some
reviewers might be paid by publishers
and that worries me I would just like to
think that they would also include a
statement like and I'm also really
concerned that there isn't a good way to
currently compensate these reviewers
that I really value so with that in mind
in the con
below I'd like to start getting your
feedback I'm not necessarily looking for
complete solutions I'd be just as
interested in your thoughts and feelings
around this topic though if you do have
ideas around things that we could do to
compensate reviewer as well share them I
also welcome any feedback that you might
have on how I framed this topic I chose
another challenging one and if you think
I've made some missteps in my thinking
please yes share your point of view
kindly hopefully and in the upcoming
table talkback episode I'll compile
those and dive into this deeper with you
so we can perhaps even if we don't solve
the problem have a better fuller
appreciation of the topic also if you
found this video interesting if it's
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but until then thanks for watching