Does anyone have any tips for getting good feedback out of playtesters/reviewers?

Quote from: Age of Fable;366297Does anyone have any tips for getting good feedback out of playtesters/reviewers?

free coffee.
actually, it depends on the investiture you are asking for.

Quote from: Age of Fable;366297Does anyone have any tips for getting good feedback out of playtesters/reviewers?

The best method is torture. Seriously.

-clash

A shout-out/credit in the published version.

Quote from: flyingmice;366302The best method is torture. Seriously.

-clash

It sure seems that way sometimes.  And if you think getting reviews for an RPG is tough,try getting one for a novel!

Pete

Quote from: winkingbishop;366303A shout-out/credit in the published version.

Its always good to do this. I even include shoutouts to anyone who contributed to onlinediscussions. Like with my upcoming stormrift game, there will be quite a few special mentions from this board.

Pete

Quote from: pspahn;366304It sure seems that way sometimes.  And if you think getting reviews for an RPG is tough,try getting one for a novel!

Pete

Sorry! Just went through it recently with In Harm's Way: StarCluster! There were some awesome testers who were fonts of feedback, and there were others who just disappeared and wouldn't return my emails. The difference was entirely self-motivated on the part of the tester, and that is typical. Nothing I said or did made any difference. Very few have ever said anything like "Sorry, clash! I thought I'd have time to do this, but I just don't!" When that has happened, I understand - I've done the same myself. I always think "I just completed a project, now I'll have some free time!" but then two other projects which were on the back burner suddenly go supernova and I can't wrench myself away to do a decent job of what I had planned to do.

-clash

Quote from: flyingmice;366312Sorry! Just went through it recently with In Harm's Way: StarCluster! There were some awesome testers who were fonts of feedback, and there were others who just disappeared and wouldn't return my emails. The difference was entirely self-motivated on the part of the tester, and that is typical. Nothing I said or did made any difference. Very few have ever said anything like "Sorry, clash! I thought I'd have time to do this, but I just don't!" When that has happened, I understand - I've done the same myself. I always think "I just completed a project, now I'll have some free time!" but then two other projects which were on the back burner suddenly go supernova and I can't wrench myself away to do a decent job of what I had planned to do.

-clash

I think it is a good idea to assume you will lose half the pool you start out with.

Also, playtesting the game yourself at length is something I would suggest. Most playtesters in my experience will give you solid feedback on a single session, but a lot of the unexpected problems arise only during a prolonged campaign. So don't underestimate your own value as a playtester.

For reviews, if you are concerned about positive feedback, just put out the best product you can and understand everyone has different tastes. Even if the review doesn't give you all the praise you want, you can learn a lot if you step back and ask yourself if the critiques are sound. If you start seeing a bunch of the same critiques over and over, that is probably a sign you should evaluate that part of your game and your design approach.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;366332I think it is a good idea to assume you will lose half the pool you start out with.

Also, playtesting the game yourself at length is something I would suggest. Most playtesters in my experience will give you solid feedback on a single session, but a lot of the unexpected problems arise only during a prolonged campaign. So don't underestimate your own value as a playtester.

For reviews, if you are concerned about positive feedback, just put out the best product you can and understand everyone has different tastes. Even if the review doesn't give you all the praise you want, you can learn a lot if you step back and ask yourself if the critiques are sound. If you start seeing a bunch of the same critiques over and over, that is probably a sign you should evaluate that part of your game and your design approach.

Hi Brendan!

My playtesting is a two step process. Nothing leaves my Alpha group until it is solid and playable. Alpha tests the rules, and Beta tests the presentation of the rules. I do agree with the 50% washout assumption! That's about right.

What I think the OP (Age of Fable) was getting at with the review mention is all those free games that are sent out for review which never seem to actually generate reviews. There are far too many of those.

-clash

Quote from: winkingbishop;366303A shout-out/credit in the published version.

I promised this, and a free print and pdf copy. Is that about the normal amount of stuff people get for doing this?

Quote from: Age of Fable;366337I promised this, and a free print and pdf copy. Is that about the normal amount of stuff people get for doing this?

I usually don't give a free print copy for it, unless the feedback was utterly awesome, but yeah. That's what I do.

-clash

Quote from: flyingmice;366335What I think the OP (Age of Fable) was getting at with the review mention is all those free games that are sent out for review which never seem to actually generate reviews. There are far too many of those.
-clash

I see. I think you can hedge your bets by sending out mostly PDFs and just sending print copies to reviewers who have reviewed your products before. It doesn't hurt to send a follow up. I wouldn't be pushy about it, but if it honestly slipped the reviewers mind, no harm in politely inquiring about the review. Like playtesters, I think you just need to accept that some reviewers won't review your product, even if you send them a comp copy. What I usually do is go to websites where there are Pen and Paper RPG reviews and look for the reviewers who have a good number of reviews under their belt. Then I usually send them a message asking if they would be interested in reviewing one of our games. Also, RPGnow has a function that allows you to automatically send your pdf to the reviewers there (I think it goes to something like 50 reviewers when you do that).

Thanks everyone.