I am currently looking into Facebook integration, and have found a few options in the Asset Store. I nearly selected one of the Assets found as it had great reviews, however upon further investigation I found that a particular user was going to all the developers asset store listings and giving a 5 star feedback, the aforementioned user was also not leaving reviews on any other developers assets.
The Asset Store personally saves me a tremendous amount of time, it is one of my favorite things about working with Unity, thanks to all you honest developers out there! I do however believe there is a problem that affects both developers and end users, when the system is being cheated.
What can currently be done when you find a artificially inflated review?
Personally, I have only left 5 star reviews because I generally only review ones I really like and I want to support the developers. I can say absolutely that I feel they were worthy five start reviews in my opinion.
It’s quite easy to find one of these reviewers, it’s only to check his review history. I know of two that give five stars to everything. The reason? To get free copies from other developers, guaranteeing them a five star review in exchange and proving so by showing them their review history. While it won’t fool long-term asset store buyers, it can artificially bump the developer’s star rating to five and also new or occasional users may not realise this practice and presume it’s a valid and honest review. I generally only give five star reviews but that’s because I research before buying; either by checking the forum, sending a pre-purchase email question, or simply by reading the reviews of those I recognise as being honest reviewers.
The reviews on Unity’s asset store are being gamed for many reasons. Some give bad reviews or low ratings without reviews just because they do not like the developer for some reason. Some do it to help competitors that are their friends. Some down rate every single good review to try to make the negatives to to the top. Some give bad reviews to try to get the developer to add features. Some simply to beg for a refund without ever asking for help. Others give bad reviews because they have absolutely no idea what they are doing and the asset is over their head…and they do not ask for help.
Unity reviews are really not useful at all. Like Jonfinlay, I read the forums, ask questions there, talk to other unity developers to get their opinion on assets, and see if any names I recognize actually left reviews. Since most folks do not use their real names when they write reviews,it is difficult to know if they are actual reviews or not.
Basically, use reviews as your last resort. Forums, communication with developer, and recommendations from friends and colleagues should always come first.
For everything. Not just asset store. Review wars are commonplace and there is no cure other than people merely deciding for themselves and using evaluation and proper detective work.
It cannot feasibly be policed, therefore one must place less stock in reviews, I agree.
Absolutely true. One needs to look at many factors, especially with more expensive assets. I might take risk on something that does a little bitty thing and cost $5, but when I risk $150 and find it that it does not work at all, that is when I get upset…and write a bad review.
A world without reviews would not be better, honestly. We just have to be smart about them. And no, not just Unity. Most places that rely on reviews to help people make decisions have the same problems.
I admit I have a very hard time giving bad reviews. I have some assets that are really bad (I’ve spent well over $1,000 on assets in the past year and half) and considered leaving bad reviews but I find it so difficult to be negative and harm someone’s business. I probably owe it to potential customers to leave a review even if it’s negative (if it’s truly warranted.)
I rarely leave bad reviews. But sometimes it is important to do so. It helps the developer to know people are having problems, although reaching out for support directly to the developer is better. It also helps others to evaluate the asset better. One good way to do this is to state what you like about the asset first, and then talk about what needs to be fixed. Be constructive and do not get angry. Save the anger for assets that do not work at all even after reaching out for support or for those who totally ignore you in the forums or in emails. Those deserve 1 start. The vast majority of assets do not and most developers will help you before you need to post a negative review.
I certainly hope people are honest in their reviews but also help to make things better. I often get PMs asking me about assets and I am always honest with them, no matter the developer.
I am 100% sure the Asset Store staffers are well aware of the fake review issue but they rather leave it as is, probably afraid of false positive.
I think most asset store customers have a very good reason to not give good rating/review even if they find the asset they just bought to be extremely helpful because the more popular the asset, the more developers will buy it and increase competition among game developers.
I really hate to mention any Asset Store competitor who blatantly employ this strategy, at least I can say it out loud that I have never made a single fake rating/review for my assets.
Well fake reviews work both ways. Fanboys will attack competing assets even if the competing asset is free. I’ve witnessed it myself. Reviews aren’t usually honest but biased. They’re used as weapons or tools of manipulation. Sometimes you get a happy customer but you also get mr 1 star for a great asset because he was too stupid to read the manual or has a single bug. The author fixes it for them and mr 1 star doesn’t update his review.
TLDR?
Unity’s review system for asset store 1 star. Will maybe update this review if they fix it… brb unreal etc
I wish that competing asset developers call this out as unethical. Sadly, it hurts both devs, not just the one getting the bad reviews. I watch my asset store dev friends struggle with all this, the reviews used as weapons to get what they want in an asset, the blackmails…do this or I will leave a bad review, the 1 star review with “bad asset” and no explanation, etc. The downvotes are ridiculous and Unity should do away with them. They are absolutely used to hide good reviews of competing assets. Very cheap blow, sad among other developers.
One thing we should remember when considering buy an asset. Those bad reviews? Are they similar to other reviews>? An asset with a problem, such as bad support, a bug, misleading info in the description, etc., will be discussed in other reviews as well, not just one. Does the review even look like the person used the product? Look for this with free assets. Does the reviewer compare it to their beloved competing asset or do they mention their favorite developer to prove their loyalty? Do they use a different name from the one they use on the forums?
If so, be suspicious. Scroll through and look for the reviews you can trust and use those to make your decisions. Competition drives innovation and ideas cannot have patents or copyrights. If they did, most games would not be made. Competition is what creates new innovative assets that improve on the ones that before.
So I am now a victim of the downvote war. I happened to mention a certain asset, and my review on Vegetation Studios, which received a lot of upvotes, suddenly now received 4 downvotes.
I think if anyone needs proof of the misuse of reviews, look at that asset review list. The goal is to get rid of any review that mentions Microsplat. So who competes with Microsplat? Notice that those reviews are now sinking to the bottom of the list.
Why are these people doing this? Who is setting them up to do it? I am very curious. I really wish Unity would do something about this.
We will be asset store developers very soon. We have one asset almost ready to submit and another that is in the works. Will we be targeted now because I posted this?
What happened to the professional community that Unity created?
To be clear, I could care less about getting downvotes. But…I do care that excellent assets are being sabbotaged on the asset store by so called professional developers. It is not only ridiculous, but absolutely against Unity’s policy of Democratization.
Do something about this, Unity. Let us see who is downvoting at least. I bet that would stop it.
Hippo, I hope you do not close this. It is so easy to close down discussions, but this is one that needs to be had.
Or better yet, only allow likes, like the forums do.
You can still filter based on most liked then, but at least no one can abuse the system quite as bad.
Remember the new forums? They tried this there too and it failed badly. Please, this is the reason most legitimate places other than Youtube do not have dislike buttons. This is not social media, it is a market.
Competition is what creates new innovative assets that improve on the ones that before.