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Joined 1 year ago
Cake day: July 19th, 2025
  • BougieBirdie@piefed.blahaj.zonetoGames@lemmy.world•**5 Reasons Chinese Players Give Positive/Negative Reviews on Steam — What Are YOUR Standards for Rating a Game?**English
    6·
    6 days ago

    This is the first I’ve heard about the reaction from BZZZT - which is a shame because I thought it was a cute game. In any industry customer feedback should be taken with as much grace as you can manage. You don’t want to alienate your community even further. Then again, with a solo developer and the sort of people this industry attracts, I’m not surprised to see an emotionally driven response to negative feedback.

    I’ve dabbled in game dev, and I have to say that - especially as a solo developer - localization is an intimidating problem. Ignoring the technical concerns, for me the biggest problem is in being assured of the accuracy of the translation. Getting that right is important to me, but I don’t have a very good way of verifying that a language I don’t speak has been accurately translated. I’ve played lots of games with poor English localization and it can be quite jarring, especially when the rest of the game is quite polished.

    This is a tough problem for me too, because like, accessibility is super important to me. I want everyone who wants my game to be able to play my game. But at the same time, I’m intimidated into inaction when it comes to localization. It feels paradoxical.

    As far as how to localize your games, I like the community-driven approach. Sooner or later, I’ll have to take it on faith that the quality of the translation is good enough for the community, and if the community does the translating, well that makes me feel better about it. I could also see hiring a professional translator, but I’m not really sure how you vet those services, nor do I have the budget to hire them. You’ll definitely see AI grow in this area, but I’m staunchly against its use so it’s a non-starter for me.

    A question for you: how do you feel when a game provides no localizations? I understand feeling slighted if other languages are included while your market is excluded, but if the game is only available in the developer’s mother tongue does that bother you too?

    Okay, I’ve completely derailed that without addressing what you actually asked.

    Your reasons for leaving good and bad reviews resonate with me. I feel the same way about most of them, although not being Chinese I naturally don’t have a particular draw to Chinese culture and localization. Marketers who misrepresent their games and the betrayal aspect definitely motivate me to leave a negative review.

    To your point 3: I don’t automatically feel that way about my own country’s games and culture. However, I do thoroughly enjoy a game that feels culturally significant while being authentic to its people. Particularly if those stories feel deeply personal or are an underrepresented culture - especially indigenous peoples or queer stories. I also thoroughly enjoy a game that is satirical or otherwise critical of the establishment.

    I’m far more likely to leave a good review than a bad one. Reasons for a bad review:

    • The game is no longer playable. Either because of OS incompatibility or required online services are defunct
    • The game disrespects my time. This is difficult to quantify exactly, and the things I have gripes with I could be forgiving of depending on implementation. Things like endlessly grinding to upgrade a piece of equipment that works the same but a little better, so you can now endlessly grind to upgrade it again. Constant long loading screens and other breaks in the action. Poor management of inventory/collectibles/maps
    • The game grossly misrepresents what it is

    If the game is good, it gets a good review. Goodness is entirely subjective. Sometimes I think about value for time/money, sometimes I think about how fun it is, and sometimes it’s about the level of polish on the little details. A game that is a joy to play is ideal, so a game that is accessible and has low friction when interacting with its systems. Bonus points for cozy games.

    For me, the best reason to leave a good review is if the game evokes an emotional response. For me this is commonly a heartfelt story, or a plea for activism.

  • BougieBirdie@piefed.blahaj.zonetoAutism@lemmy.world•Cos it was YESTERDAYEnglish
    1·
    9 days ago

    My wife has ADHD, and I have wicked social anxiety. This is a constant struggle.

    It’s tough because what she seems to want most is an active listener, but I literally can’t keep up with all of her conversations. It’s caused friction before because she’ll tell me she’s told me something I’ve forgotten and accused me of not listening to her - but I just can’t absorb everything that’s being said. Especially when she gets excited and I’d swear she can speak nonstop without pausing for breath.

    At the end of the day I view a lot of her speech as like… vocal stimming. And I get easily overstimulated.

    It’s a communication issue, and when miscommunicating both sides have a part to play. We’ve worked out a system where if she has something important to say she’ll clearly ask me to listen so I can stop what I’m doing and pay attention. And likewise, if she’s going too fast I’m allowed to interrupt her to ask her to slow down.