You paint a giant archery target scored 1 to 10 on the side of your house and throw a double-headed axe at it.
Your anger will guide you.
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I posted scoring table as an objective guide. Appart is the subjective feeling and gusts. A game can be whatsoever, but if you liked it your score rise up. Another could be better implemented but you don’t get inmerse in this so your score can be a little downstairs.
I am going to paint a dart pannel in my guest room to shoot bazooka ; - )
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I think it’s important for judges/reviewers to remember they don’t have to provide a full reasoning for why they did, and it’s okay to be wrong, or give a rating they might change later. I’d just like to see more votes and voters, frankly.
Below is a long way of saying “do what you can, when you can. Even silently voting is good enough, and here are reasons why. And even if we go slow, the value of our body of work over a few years will be clear and obvious even if we feel we’re doing the bare minimum.”
I’ve had some thoughts rattling around. They might not be fully on topic, but I hope they help.
Voting in presidential elections
When we talk about voting, I’m reminded of the first time I voted in an actual political election. I guessed I knew whom I wanted to vote for. I hoped I wasn’t just voting for a personality. I wondered if I was paying too much attention to how/why people voted for candidate X, or if I wasn’t paying enough. (The parallel here to IFComp voting is – maybe my review is too biased by others I read, or maybe it misses something every other reviewer saw, and so I might worry my review is inadequate. It is not.)
But I didn’t understand the issues in-depth. It made me think and want to learn more for next time. I wanted to pay more attention to what people said and be able to dismiss humbugs and listen to those who had something to say.
Perhaps I was overwhelmed by all the down-ballot elections, too. But it left wanting to do more – and to leave a less blank ballot next time.
And I think comparing myself to the most active voters was a mistake. It was intimidating and overwhelming, and it got in the way of doing what I could. And I eventually wound up donating to candidates I found worthwhile or even phonebanking. Voting grew into something more there, and it can here, too.
I think this especially holds true for IFComp where it seems some people get out to a quick start and we extrapolate that they will do that for the full two months. Or we only notice the people who have a block of free time and submit several reviews in a day, but of course they can’t always do that, but it feels like they went so fast. As both an author and reviewer, I’m pleased when I take that time to focus on a game. Maybe it’s one I wouldn’t have bothered with, but I want to review everything in the comp, because it’s small enough. (Note–there is a critical mass for me. I think 30+ games leaves me a bit overwhelmed. We all have that threshold and it’s natural. https://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_the_paradox_of_choice/transcript?language=en has helped me understand this.)
For me, I voted in 2010, feeling clueless and overwhelmed and impressed by reviewers who knew what they were doing. I think I also sent a transcript with a few minor typos and stray italics to one entrant with a “I really liked this game and that’s what matters” note and emailed another when I got stuck in their walkthrough because X ME was absent, and I still didn’t know X ME was a general thing.
Then for 2011, I tested a lot more and voted in Miss Congeniality. Then in 2012 I got involved in game jams and bought Aaron Reed’s Inform book and wrote something I’m really proud of. So it was a nice journey. It might be faster for some and slower for others, but if you pay attention and try things, your contributions will be valuable.
Because as an author it’s valuable to read “I don’t know the technical details but is there any way to X?” … and often I didn’t have the time or motivation to X, or I didn’t quite see how to X, and just having someone say that meant I had something good for a post-comp release. Because we have blind spots for bugs, which is why we need testers, so we have them for the subjective bigger picture, and often a less energized comment that points things out is easier to react to than more exciting writing. Well, for me.
Oh. One other neat thing: a few “I’d have liked to see more of Y” even gave ideas that built to a sequel or something entirely new. So you just don’t know.
Fluff on why it's worth it to everyone
It may feel like you’re just filling out a questionnaire or boring survey and Not Really Understanding what the author means, but I think they accept that. Certainly a quick “good/bad/not sure” checklist helps more than a long impressive rant wondering why I even bothered to write something. In short: you don’t have to impress the authors or the other reviewers/judges.
So I encourage voting and plain-vanilla reviews even if you don’t feel they’ll make a huge splash. You have your chance to speak up. It may not be profound, but it doesn’t need to be. Perhaps you don’t feel well-informed enough. But don’t worry about that. You’re doing what you can. You may need to sit on things as well, and that’s okay too, or you may give some games more attention than others, but don’t worry. Other people will prioritize that game you didn’t look at quite so closely or even blew off. Or they’ll blow off the game you wanted to play. It’ll average out.
an aside on voting
I know some adults told me I should vote because “if you can’t vote, you can’t complain.” Which is silly and negative in many ways. Voting is a good first step, and not enough people do. And as for complaining … anyone who complains game X was ranked too high in IFComp, well, I remember something Levy Rozman, an International Master in chess, said about a forum user named LevyLoser who tore his tournament games apart: “I hope they find happiness.”
The good games tend to be remembered. And so it makes sense to do what you can to push your favorite games being remembered. And the thought police will not brutalize you if you change your mind later.
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