A quick lesson on Criticism

[HeroLinik]

Reposted from the older forum.

I remember posting this on NSMBX about two and a half years ago, and strangely enough it's still not made its way here. There are still, though, a few people that don't know how to criticise a level without being too harsh, being too biased or lacking in detail. Therefore, this guide was created to right those that are not criticising levels properly.

1. Constructiveness
This has already been elaborated in the level forum rules, but it's better that I'd continue to elaborate this rule further. Going ahead and posting something along the lines of "this is crap" or "good" will not get you anywhere far, because it's just as good as not saying anything at all, and could possibly net you a warning. Why is it crap? How is it good? If it's crap, how does it need improving? You don't need to write an essay on it - just a short explanation is enough - you can be as brief as possible. Saying something along the lines of "This doesn't look good because I just noticed a cut-off near to that pipe leading to section X. Try fixing that." is a lot better. As well as that, don't just review based on the cons of the level, because that's only half the spectrum. You should praise the level designer on what they did well, and advise on how to fix those cons, otherwise your review will not be a review, but a list of things wrong with the level.

2. Level design/gameplay
The most important part of criticising a level is criticising the level design. Is the level fun to play? Is it cleverly-designed? A common pitfall that newbies fall into - I fell into this as well - is to get distracted by really cool fancy custom graphics that can distract from the dullness of the level design. Remember, it's not about custom graphics - it's about how you use them. A good critic should not let themselves get distracted by aspects that try to disguise how the level was designed. It should also be worth mentioning that a level that has excellent gameplay and gimmicks but has cut-offs, clashes and bad graphical choices is actually better than a level that has really beautiful custom graphics, but bland gameplay.

3. Kindness
A common trap that many reviewers fall into is raging over an aspect that's wrong with the level. We don't want any AVGN-like reviewing in the forums; upon seeing something like an out-of-place enemy for example and saying things like "this level is bullshit and you are bullshit too!", "Did this take you five minutes to make?" or "Uninstall SMBX. Now." is downright unacceptable, and if it were to do something, it would net you a warning. We should really be kind to each other whenever reviewing a level - there are some people that are new to SMBX and you need to respect them - there's a high chance the levels they make aren't Chad-like quality. Being harsh to them may turn them off level designing or even SMBX entirely. Treat others like you would be treated yourself.

4. Bias
Another common trap I've seen around all reviewers is they're biased in their reviews. This can, unfortunately, lead to someone getting unfairly low scores in their reviews because the reviewers are criticising something just because, for example, "I don't like SMB2 levels" or giving unfairly high scores just because they're best friends with the level designer. Even if you're not a fan of, let's say, the graphical choice for example, it doesn't mean you should mark them down extremely severely on it. Also, you should review the level, not the designer. Balancing up opinions is everything.

5. Custom graphics
Well, you're obviously not in the Graphics forum when you read this: this is the levels forum, so most of your level aspects when you're reviewing shouldn't be too biased on the fact that there's custom graphics or not, and you shouldn't really judge too much of the level on its graphics, unless you like them and/or you want to point something out that needs fixing. Clashing is one example of this. This is when at least two graphics are placed in a vicinity of each other and are not compatible, but it has nothing to do with the games they come from. This isn't eye-pleasing, yet can be easily fixed. Yet don't be biased and say that just one clash can make a level bad: too many, and it's definitely an eyesore. Also, if a level doesn't have custom graphics, it doesn't necessarily make it "bad".

6. Don't review just from screenshots!
I've seen a few people do that, and trust me, it's a very bad idea. Reviewing a level just from the screenshots and having not played it first gives a false impression to others of what the level actually has in store, and at worst, will turn people away from playing what could otherwise be a masterpiece in level design. If you want to review a level, you need to play it first, so you can give a more in-depth review. If you don't know how to criticise the level without relying on screenshots alone, don't review it.

This isn't to bore you out or anything, but this is more like a guide on how to criticise levels properly. Now get out there and review levels!

[aero]

I made a better set of tips that ignore the redundancy of these ones. Here's the link: http://www.smbxgame.com/forums/v ... 64#p238485

[arcade999]

One guy used of sarcasme to describe my map, so i told him that it doesn't encourage me, and another guy tell me my map was shit.
Poeple on discord can be rudes...

[Cedur]

If people are blatantly rude to your works then simply try to report them.

[Enderfan]

If people are blatantly rude to your works then simply try to report them.

No, you can just ignore them!

[Cedur]

You're rather encouraged to report anything that breaks rules, and as long as you're not replying to it you're already ignoring it.

[Ddev4u009]

Hi guys , Thanks for the information regarding Criticism .... It was helpful

[PersonNamedUser]

Oh my god! Enough with the Undertale crap!!!!

may someone explain to me, what's with all the undertale hate lately? Even mentioning it on youtube nowadays makes people
cringe, could someone explain this?
EDIT(On Topic):
I'd say that this is a well written guide that people should be sure that they read and try to follow as best as they can.

[Snessy the duck]

Oh my god! Enough with the Undertale crap!!!!

may someone explain to me, what's with all the undertale hate lately? Even mentioning it on youtube nowadays makes people
cringe, could someone explain this?

I think this has something to do with the fandom or maybe the fact that the game has been incredibly overexposed.

[Zeldamaster12]

Enough about Undertale, I deleted the off topic posts about Undertale for a reason.

[krakin]

That was a pretty good Lesson in criticism

yeah it's not like everybody already knows all of this stuff
tf with a link to an advertisement

[ElectriKong]

This guide will definitely help those that bother reading this but there are a few things that I will add:

1) Judging systems: It may help to judge with a system if you are going to give scores. A good way to judge would be to have a scoring rubric (something like 50% Gameplay, 30% Gimmicks and 20% Visual for example). You could have a system where you take off points for flaws like cut-off, clash and unfair gameplay (like blind jumps). Also note that you may not want to use the rubric too rigidly. Visuals can affect gameplay and gimmicks can often fall under gameplay. So you may need to judge multiple different aspects at the same time.

2) Mindset: Try to judge with the mindset that you don't know who created the level. This will help prevent you falling into the trap Linik described in his points about bias. When judging in contests, you often won't know who made the levels you are judging, and therefore you won't judge the creator instead of the creation. Of course this will not help with GFXs but you still need to avoid criticizing because you don't like [game]'s graphics that are used in the level you are judging.

[aero]

1) Judging systems: It may help to judge with a system if you are going to give scores. A good way to judge would be to have a scoring rubric (something like 50% Gameplay, 30% Gimmicks and 20% Visual for example). You could have a system where you take off points for flaws like cut-off, clash and unfair gameplay (like blind jumps). Also note that you may not want to use the rubric too rigidly. Visuals can affect gameplay and gimmicks can often fall under gameplay. So you may need to judge multiple different aspects at the same time.

Aren't rubrics and scores a bit redundant and inconvenient? I'm not sure why one would box themself into categories like 50% Gameplay, 30% Gimmicks and 20% Visuals because if you read someone's review you can already tell what they're looking for. This gets way too generalized when level-by-level analyses work much better, and the level designer can get a sense of how positive or negative the review is by reading it rather than checking scores and categories. Also in a way this creates an immediate bias because you have to consider why you chose Gameplay, Gimmicks, and Visuals as categories when you could have chosen something else. If a level really excels in one category that isn't part of the rubric one makes, that can't be factored in and again is a fault of over-generalization.

2) Mindset: Try to judge with the mindset that you don't know who created the level. This will help prevent you falling into the trap Linik described in his points about bias. When judging in contests, you often won't know who made the levels you are judging, and therefore you won't judge the creator instead of the creation. Of course this will not help with GFXs but you still need to avoid criticizing because you don't like [game]'s graphics that are used in the level you are judging.

I don't see a point in pretending. If someone is a bit biased but their review holds up then there's no problem. The levels forum isn't a contest so it doesn't really matter that much if a friend is more generous to a friend, so long as they're neutral to everyone else. If you don't like a person and say "your level sucks!" without further explaining then that's already a problem with being constructive, but if you don't like a person and you don't hold back with picking apart everything wrong with their level then as long as the claims in the review are valid then there's really nothing you can complain about.

I'd recommend my own lesson on criticism rather than tacking more onto this one if you haven't already checked it out: viewtopic.php?f=69&t=16564#p238485

[CD20Superness]

If people are blatantly rude to your works then simply try to report them.

Yeah

If someone is rude at you, you should report them, or ignore. :/

[DoraemonPepe]

And also...

Be calm, and warm them to describe their own levels and not only just only download links and screenshots when their made a new levels. Just download links and screenshots would be very boring and wouldn't gather anyone else's attention.

And also, I even warm them about peoples have to state what version that the levels would run properly in SMBX when they're making new levels. This would prevent version mistake issues (mainly if you using SMBX2 or NSMBX) and also prevent peoples like me with older versions of SMBX such of V1.3.0.1 would get a game crash error message when they're trying to load a level. I also provived a example image (sorry for the bad English grammar)

That's my tips on criticism on SMBX levels.

[P4VL0VSKEY]

And also...

Be calm, and warm them to describe their own levels and not only just only download links and screenshots when their made a new levels. Just download links and screenshots would be very boring and wouldn't gather anyone else's attention.

And also, I even warm them about peoples have to state what version that the levels would run properly in SMBX when they're making new levels. This would prevent version mistake issues (mainly if you using SMBX2 or NSMBX) and also prevent peoples like me with older versions of SMBX such of V1.3.0.1 would get a game crash error message when they're trying to load a level. I also provived a example image (sorry for the bad English grammar)

That's my tips on criticism on SMBX levels.

Shut up!

[DrMekar]

And also...

Be calm, and warm them to describe their own levels and not only just only download links and screenshots when their made a new levels. Just download links and screenshots would be very boring and wouldn't gather anyone else's attention.

And also, I even warm them about peoples have to state what version that the levels would run properly in SMBX when they're making new levels. This would prevent version mistake issues (mainly if you using SMBX2 or NSMBX) and also prevent peoples like me with older versions of SMBX such of V1.3.0.1 would get a game crash error message when they're trying to load a level. I also provived a example image (sorry for the bad English grammar)

That's my tips on criticism on SMBX levels.

Shut up!

And that is NOT Criticsm.

[Archived]

Archived

[kirbyhasn]

thanks for the lesson.
my opinion:if people flat out said (YOUR LEVEL SUCKS) is toxic quickly get rage over small things ignore is good choice
and reporting them for breaking rules is okay IF it has true proof but reporting people for FALSE reason is bad and makes you toxic
thanks for reading