Denina's Morrowind Forums

[Toccatta]

If you have questions or concerns about the reviewing process or the rules and guidelines of the review forum, please post them in this thread. Questions or concerns about a specific review should be posted in that review.

Please keep in mind that we're still trying to "fine tune" the reviewing process in order to create a truly helpful voting/reviewing area. The rules are subject to change as new issues come to light, and our members are encouraged to offer suggestions and comments on how they can be improved. If you have an idea, please speak up, but understand that not all suggestions will make it into the review process.

[Neolin_Windblade]

First off, Let me say Hello, I am new to these boards.

Second, I think that this is a great idea! I believe that this will be a good addition to the Morrowind Modding Community. I am really looking forward to reading reviews of mods, and maybe posting some myself.

I do have a suggestion. I think it would be a good idea to suggest to reviewers that they may want to perform at least one test of a mod with a clean "Test" save (this of course would not be required). This save should have either no or very limited other mods installed (such as Better Bodies or texture replacers that would be a hassle to uninstall). Naturally, if the mod is meant to work with other mods, those should be installed at the time of testing. The reviewer would then state weather the mod was tested under a clean "Test" save or not.

Of course, using a non-test save would allow for incompatibilities to be looked for.

As I said this was just a suggestion, and again, great idea.

Neolin

[BoardGuest808888]

I'd like to know what're the requirement for someone so he/she can post a review?

And what about the mod that is going to be reviewed? What kind of mod that can be reviewed ?

Whether a consent by the mod author for a review is required in the first place?

[Denina]

If you read the rules thread, it covers your first question.

Any Morrowind mod can be reviewed.

And no, you do not have to have consent of the author to review the mod. It's like anything else being reviewed. No one asks permission to review books, movies, music, etc. Why should this be any different?

If a mod author requests their mod be removed because they don't want reviews, we ask that those people read the rules thread because conditions are involved in doing that which are covered there.

[Drac]

Yep.. I'll be posting reviews of Abot's Water Life and Randar's Smithy soon. You don;t have to be Denina or Toccatta to review, just use the same format. :}

[Denina]

I was talking to a friend earlier and the issue was addressed that he did not feel qualified to review mods even though he used several he felt were worthy of being reviewed.

I brought up the point that how would he know if he didn't try? On further discussion, he felt like he could not do the mod justice.

I then made the point that if he didn't write a review of a mod that he felt deserved it, and no one else did either, that would be a greater injustice than any attempt at all.

The point here folks is don't be afraid to try. When I first started reviewing mods at PES, I knew NOTHING about how mods were made but slowly, I learned how it was done and just went by the ones I enjoyed testing. Over time obviously, I learned a few things.

I also encouraged my friend to post his own mods to be reviewed. He mentioned he didn't feel comfortable doing that because he thought that it was a lot like asking his ego to be stroked.

I wonder if that's why other people have not posted their own mods. Folks, it isn't any different than posting your mods at PES or another mod site. People can review your mods there, or they could review them here. Think of it as another form of advertising, if you will. A lot of people make release threads at various forums available for comments. This really isn't any different. And you will probably be more likely to receive quality reviews if you've done the work of posting your own mods for them. So don't be afraid to post them up - all of them if you'd like. No one will think you just want your ego stroked.

And it has the potential to point out stuff you might have missed, maybe inspiring a better mod out of it. You never know.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. If you have doubts or misgivings, or aren't sure, talk to Toccatta or me about it. This section is meant to be more constructive than the typical crap you read at PES or other mod sites such as, "Why did you pick Balmora? Put it somewhere else." or "I can't get it to work. It sucks." when obviously they probably just installed it wrong.

This section hopes to avoid those types of comments - and addresses real issues if there are any and offers constructive feedback to those who have earned it or to those who just might need a little help to make a good mod or better, or even a poor mod good to great.

[BoardGuest808888]

Actually I joined this forum more so I can read good reviews on mods instead of writing one.

But I guess you are right. I'd like to write a review or two as well. Would be a good practice after all.

[Morgrim]

Denina raised a topic I was wondering about: can we rate pluginless texture/model replacers, and are there any particular criteria that will differ?

I understand that a lot of the time they are personal preference but the same could be said of most mods. And there are a few small ones that are in my 'essentials' folder.

[Denina]

You can review any Morrowind mod you want to, even ones that don't require an .esp file.

As far as anything different being required for ones that are pluginless, that's really your call. While reviewing the Face Pack I posted earlier, I tried to view the mod objectively in terms of how well the textures were rendered; how high quality (or not as need be). Yes, texture replacers are going to be personal preference so perhaps stating what it is about that particular one that you liked best and what you didn't, etc.

And one last point, you do not have to like a mod to review it. It could be the worst mod you've ever played and still write a review for it if you wish, even if it is just to warn off others because it's buggy or whatever. All we ask is that if you do want to review a poorly done mod, please do so without flaming the author.

[BoardGuest808888]

I'd like to know whether it is appropriate to make comparison between mods ? Like if the mods deal with the same aspect, can they be compared to each other or some other else ?