Hi, highlyrefinedpirate, everybody likes a freebie, or most of us anyways. Not all of us check the FAAD daily, or at all. I do download some of the games they promote, some just do not interest me. FAAD gets a lot of top games as they are good at promoting them, and times are tough for games to get noticed in the appstore. My issue is one of methodology, not one of function. I am not understanding your last point, consumers are to blame for liking free games? If that was what you meant, interesting point of view to have. David
I would love to know how FAAD is self promoting to ICS Mobile. I can't even find anywhere on the site where it even mentions ICS.
Well, then you are one of the 1-star-raters? Seriously: ok, if that is your opinion. Just tell me exactly WHY it is the best thing ever. And always remember to take care and be responsible of the consequences of the things you do.
I'm not saying they're to blame for liking free games, but when they keep downloading free games (which, mind you, is the logical thing to do) then it is inevitable that the quality of games will increase, and some of them will be ones that you've bought before. I'm just saying that it's how the system works, and criticize it as much as you want, saying that people will stop buying indie games (I agree with this point) but it is because we have helped in allowing it to become as popular as it is.
Hi, This is the best argument in this entire thread! Finally someone who gets it! Wait, that phrase was used already, oh well. David
You have good points and sadly you're right. Even I helped them becoming popular in the first days by downloading free games - just before I noticed what I am really doing: taking from developers without giving anything in return.
Hi, Vovin, I understand your points on taking and not giving back but I would like to point out a few things. The game gets more visibility by doing the FAAD thing. More downloads means more potential customers for a developers other apps. Game moves up the chart, there is a kind of temporary effect here, sometimes. More copies in hands of gamers, more reviews, hopefully positive ones. I would like to think that developers are savvy enough to look at this service objectively, and decide whether the upside is more than what the potential downside is. Which is: Everyone downloads it for free and no one buys the game once it goes back to being a paid game. Does not see a big increase in downloads or movement in charts. Gets lots of negative reviews and makes less money before being free. I am just glad to not be a developer and have to weigh these issues. David
I agree with a previous point - to be given a rating the app has to be deleted and thus the people do not like the app. This would mean a lower rating for any app if more people buy it, as rarely are reviews left. Although these FAAD users may be 'spoilt' by games and take them for 'granted' (as far as you can with a game) it could be that people genuinely do not like the app, and TA members should get off their elitist high horse and accept that opinions are not fact.
Hi, I am pretty sure you can review an app right on your device without having to delete the app, or use your computer and do it through Itunes. This is very possible. People spoiled by free games, surely you jest. David
Yes, you can. But you are missing the point, which is that the majority of ratings are from those people who delete apps. Therefore, any rating becomes skewed negatively because the people who like the app have not deleted it and been asked to rate it. They are actually removing the "rate on delete" feature with the new iOS4 update, so it won't be an issue in a few days.
I like FAAD and I like buying games on the app store. No listen to me... some months ago I already stated that little 13-16 year olds kill the ratings with their 1Star Reviews on the app store and many bashed on me - bla bla bla ratings are not important. It pisses me off, to see awesome games getting one star because they are free. We have a kinda idiom here called: "was nichts kostet, ist auch nichts" meaning " the thing you get for free has no worth" When you pay for a game (lets say TTL) I laid my bucks down and my whole (personal) rating-process is settled on a complete different level, since it actually HAS some worth for me in that moment. I hope that the new iOS4 which disabled this "easy-faq-off-1-star-rating-at-hand" function will be a blessing. I load a app from FAAD., lets say its totally crap in my eyes, I DONT give a rating at all. because I know that behind those apps are people, with family and a fridge, they need to fill. Best example was the C64 app. Its crap, its retro, its cool, its awesome?!? it walkd from 4 Stars down to 1 Star. bashing and flaming in the store reviews. "Dont load it, completely shit". "Not worth the download". "boooooring". "shit, donw load, bla bla bahamba..." I didnt liked it either, but I dont rated it THAT is the other site of FAAD (and all other free gamessites).
Well - when do you finally start answering the questions I asked in my second or third posting? Your blah blah about 300-500k apps and some irrelevant data isn't really saying anything. Can you answer questions directly? Well, I guess no. Still you are cloaking yourself in shadiness.
Hi, Guess I used the "No Thanks" option and only rated it if I wanted to. Then again, I am a bit older than the target audience to your comment. David
I think a lot of the people are really missing the real problem here. FAAD is flawed simply because most people are stupid, greedy, self-centered asswipes that blame all of their moronic problems on others and couldn't care less about the developers that fill their meaningless existence with excellent entertainment to fill the time when they're not eating, sleeping, working, whining about how their problem are other peoples' faults, or relieving themselves. Obviously, anyone is going to love the idea of getting this entertainment for free, but if the developers didn't have the foresight to make the game to every single idiot's exact specifications, ONE STAR. But, in all seriousness, I can see the idea behind this service. That kind of publicity has its worth. Unfortunately, I think both FAAD and the average indie developer have neglected to fully take into accound their target consumer. Especially with indie games, you have to realize that most of the people who will be downloading these free games would probably give a five star rating to a game just for having pretty (3D) graphics (why do you think Avatar was so popular?). Unfortunately, most indie games will not represent the mainstream idea of "quality" (especially within their five second attention span). Take TTL, for instance. When you start that up, you get a pretty standard looking menu (as opposed to the flashy intro graphics and epic soundtrack nonsense you get with a standard console release). Already, your average consumer is likely put off by this, but the real hit come when you start the game. Unfortunately, fantasitic, creatively minimalistic graphics don't appeal to the average, the gameplay takes a while to really get started (attention span problem, again), and the game actually takes skill to play well. I've seen tons of one star ratings on numerous games for these or very similarly idiotic reasons. In short, the rating system is garbage, and I don't think anyone should be able to affect the rating of an application without taking a decent ammount of effort to do so. This would likely eliminate a very large portion of the problem. What it won't fix, however, is the (much smaller) group of people that are legitimately pissed off that the (free) game they just downloaded is actually hard and will actually take the time, in terrible english, to bitch about it at great lengths. I, personally, give mostly 5 star reviews (to the best of the best, of course) and one star reviews (to worthless, broken garbage that wasted my time). I don't give bad reviews to apps simply because it wasn't my kind of game. Also, ICS Mobile, if you want to ANYONE to take you seriously, maybe you should try actually writing in comprehensible English. Your weak arguments and overreactions to critique are annoying enough without being presented in sentence/paragraph hybrids. See those two keys at the bottom right of your keyboard (they look somewhat like "," and ".")? I really don't think it takes that much effort to reach down there and press them.
