Post originally by s/LaSH at 2004-10-25 20:21:55
Converted from Phorums BB System

Should an author review their own products?

I don't think so. There's always a vested interest, and even if the author has divested themselves of this and written a perfectly fair review, the reader of the review has no way of knowing that. Therefore, the reader of the review has reservations about the accuracy of the review - the condition is not necessarily dependant upon the author's biases, but the condition exists nevertheless and should be avoided.

Is this an OK review?

I think so. I would bet that I could run a game using only the text of the review itself (and nothing else, no dice, no SRD or GURPS or anything, just a whiteboard and some friends), so it succeeds on that communication front. For me. The review tells us what the product's about (and if it didn't someone would blast it), and tells us that that particular person had fun playing it. It doesn't go into detail on that front, and so we're unable to discern "wow, I'm playing my game, not someone else's, I'm so cool" from "this game of indeterminate origin is really fun". And that's the only grounds upon which I can review this review - a fine point which the author himself may be unable to answer.