[RPG]: Mythic: Game Master Emulator, reviewed by Doc Halloween (3/5)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13308.phtml

Doc Halloween's Summary:

Game Masters, dump that load. Let Mythic: Game Master Emulator lighten or even eliminate your burdens. Take the night off and become a player yourself. Players, who needs a game master anyway when Mythic: Game Master Emulator can be your guide to the universe.

Go to the full review for more information.

[Doc Halloween]

You know when you have written or created something and you are in a hurry to share? That is me at times. I did check the review, put it in Word97, even read it a couple of times. Still one or two typos sneaked in.

Anyway, this:
I boo-booed. The Year: 2007 is suppose to be 2006. Sorry.

[Old Geezer]

This is not a review. It is a sales pitch.

A review would spend less time sounding like back-cover copy and ads.

A review would also talk about strengths and weaknesses instead of "If you do not think this is the perfect product then you aren't using it right." The constant preaching about LOGIC and INTERPRETATION was extremely grating.

So, basically, this is just a flowchart creation tool that any half-experienced gamer could whip up in about an hour, if they were really bored.

[Old Geezer]

However, this makes it sound interesting enough that I might buy it. $6.95 is short money.

[Doc Halloween]

Originally Posted by Old Geezer

This is not a review. It is a sales pitch.

A review would spend less time sounding like back-cover copy and ads.

A review would also talk about strengths and weaknesses instead of "If you do not think this is the perfect product then you aren't using it right." The constant preaching about LOGIC and INTERPRETATION was extremely grating.

So, basically, this is just a flowchart creation tool that any half-experienced gamer could whip up in about an hour, if they were really bored.

You know, being a reviewer is ironic. The review gets reviewed

I am not a professional reviewer. I am giving you my opinions about the product. More like a opinion column. An opinion column represents my individual point of view, which can be one-sided if I want. There are many types of reviews. Mine is also sort of a consumer review, a review written by the owner of a product to comment on whether or not the product or service delivers on its promises. If you go back you will see a major weakness and how Tom Pigeon counters it. There is a smaller one or two weakness also. I like the product. I give you the contents, I mention what you can expect from the MGME, how and why you can use it, and I am telling you why I love it. Nothing more nothing less. My opinion. If it happens to promote the product I like all the more better

If you care to write a review about [the I]Mythic Game Master Emulator[/I] I would be happy to read your opinion and I am sure others would like to read it also

[lionrampant]

Doc, I there a few reasons people keep thinking that you work for, or are somehow associated with, the Mythic design team. First, you pimp the product in your .sig file. I realize that you might do that because you really like the product and want to get the word out, but it doesn't make you look like a neutral observer. Second, both of your reviews for the Mythic products have been heavy on what you like, and light to non-existent on what you don't. The glowing nature of your reviews are making it seem like you are not impartial in your reviews.

That said, I will now comment on the product itself, and your review. I have had the Mythic GM Emulator for a few months, and while I really, really want to like it, I have had some problems with it, specifically around the events table. I have a tendency to roll up events that make no sense in the context of what I am doing. I know that the instructions tell you to dump a result if you can't make sense of it in a few seconds, but I have had the same situation happen multiple times in a row, which is frustrating. I can develop my own workarounds, but sometimes the results are just to ambiguous. I also don't like the set instructions for modifying the Chaos Rank from scene to scene, but I get around this by changing the Chaos Ranking whenever I feel like it, rather than as instructed in the book itself.

To the other commenter, I do agree that someone could come up with their own version of the Mythic tables with a few hours of work on their own, but I still think that the Mythic GM emulator is worth looking at due to the relatively low price and the fact that you are getting something that has had a lot of playtesting done and therefore should be lacking in obvious flaws (which it is). That said, i still find it frustrating sometimes, but it has enough points in its favor that I continue to play with it. In fact, the most success I have had with it is in tweaking the Yes/No table to use in solo wargaming situations, changing the Chaos Rank to an Aggressiveness statistic to give to specific commanders, along with a few rules additions on how to ask questions to get proper answers.

[Old Geezer]

Originally Posted by Doc Halloween

You know, being a reviewer is ironic. The review gets reviewed

I am not a professional reviewer. I am giving you my opinions about the product. More like a opinion column. An opinion column represents my individual point of view, which can be one-sided if I want. There are many types of reviews. Mine is also sort of a consumer review, a review written by the owner of a product to comment on whether or not the product or service delivers on its promises. If you go back you will see a major weakness and how Tom Pigeon counters it. There is a smaller one or two weakness also. I like the product. I give you the contents, I mention what you can expect from the MGME, how and why you can use it, and I am telling you why I love it. Nothing more nothing less. My opinion. If it happens to promote the product I like all the more better

If you care to write a review about [the I]Mythic Game Master Emulator[/I] I would be happy to read your opinion and I am sure others would like to read it also

Your lack of objectivity, plus the plugs for the game in your .sig, make you come across as a badly-disguised shill for the company. This severely hurts your credibility as a reviewer, and damages the reputation of the company as well.

ALL I know about the product is what your review tells me. ALL your review does is repel me from the product. Based on your review, I have no inclination at all to get the product.

You have done the author a grave disservice.

After reading this review, I found a blog with the author discussing the design. That blog repaired a great deal of the damage your review has done.

You really, really need to think about your reviewing style. I had NEVER HEARD OF THE PRODUCT BEFORE I READ YOUR REVIEW, and the ONLY impression I came away with was "This guy is being compensated to plug this product."

That is not the impression you want to give. It doesn't matter a dingo's kidney if it's true or not; if somebody who has never heard of you, nor heard of the product, comes away with that impression, it is a bad review.

[Old Geezer]

Originally Posted by lionrampant

To the other commenter, I do agree that someone could come up with their own version of the Mythic tables with a few hours of work on their own, but I still think that the Mythic GM emulator is worth looking at due to the relatively low price and the fact that you are getting something that has had a lot of playtesting done and therefore should be lacking in obvious flaws (which it is). That said, i still find it frustrating sometimes, but it has enough points in its favor that I continue to play with it. In fact, the most success I have had with it is in tweaking the Yes/No table to use in solo wargaming situations, changing the Chaos Rank to an Aggressiveness statistic to give to specific commanders, along with a few rules additions on how to ask questions to get proper answers.

Would you write a review? I would like to read a review that does not sound like it is written by a salesman for the product.

NOTE: I'm not saying the author IS a salesman for the product, I'm saying the review reads like he was.

[lionrampant]

Would you write a review?

Well, I have thought about it in the past. I guess I'll have to add it to my "to do" list.

[Doc Halloween]

Old Geezer,
I am trying very hard to improve Please, do not let any of my inexperience reflect bad on the games I review

I also took your advice, lionrampant's , & C. W. Richeson's advice and changed my signature. I hate to see it go. Mythic has plenty of people to give lip service around to their friends.

lionrampant,
Thank you.