Hello, folks.
It is okay for authors to discuss games, and to post reviews, in public. They may not feel comfortable doing so, but it is allowed. Some authors have asked about this, and I confirmed with them that this is the case, but given the discussion here, I wanted to jump in.
In 2021, authors are also judges. This will be re-evaluated after this year’s competition, but this means that, at least for 2021, the rules about being a judge also apply to authors, including the rule that judges "may discuss the games during the judging period."
What has not changed is that authors “may not encourage competition judges to violate the rules that pertain to them,” including the fact that judges "must make a good-faith effort to play, as intended, every game that they submit ratings for."
There is a difference between a review that says, “I loved this game, it was amazing, I hope it does really well and I hope everyone checks it out” vs “please vote a 10 for this game that I loved.”
There is a difference between a review that says, “I was not a big fan of this game because I really feel it needed more work” vs “no one should give this game anything above a 3.”
I appreciate that authors may still desire to keep their reviews private until after the competition, perhaps out of a sense of collegiality, a wish to avoid awkwardness, etc. That’s still their option. But so long as the reviews that authors post are within the IFComp code of conduct, and are not encouraging other judges to disregard judging rules, authors may post reviews and publicly discuss games.
Again, we will reevaluate this approach after this year’s competition. Judges (including judges who were also authors) will be encouraged to fill out the post-competition survey.