Players being 'rewarded' for submitting reviews? MomoStorm Entertainment has been handing out in-game currency (diamonds) to those reviewing mobile port Epic Cards Battles on Steam. 100 words or more get a little extra.
The developer defended its offer in a now deleted forum thread saying they "never ask any players to write POSITIVE reviews" to 'earn rewards'. Player time is "precious and deserve reward" for writing feedback, they said.
The general consensus on Steam is this little 'reward scheme' is bad news and shouldn't be practiced given how it could easily skew the aggregate player review system on Steam, which isn't known for being the most robust of indicators but still.
Negative reviews have started trending for Epic Cards Battles on Steam.
"We wish to express our deepest thanks to all players, without your support and passion, ECB wouldn’t be what it’s like today launch on Steam. We know the best way to reward you is game diamonds. Please send a screenshot of your review on Steam page," read an in-game message.
20 diamonds was offered to any review submitted for the mobile port of Epic Cards Battles, but an extra 10 diamonds got thrown your way if the review was over 100 words.
"We repeat, we never ask any players to write POSITIVE reviews anytime,” said MomoStorm in a now deleted post. “Player is rewarded no matter positive or negative review. To gather players’ reviews, so we know how to improve it in future updates."
“And to write a review especially long and informative review takes a lot of time. In our option, player’s time is precious and deserve reward for time spent.”
Even if the studio weren't asking for positive reviews people will take advantage of this and the system will likely get flooded with generally unhelpful 'reviews' where players just phone-it-in for quick rewards. This alone should be reason enough to end such a contentious scheme.
What you can get away with on mobile platforms doesn't translate very well on Steam, and the community is now making their views quite clear on the matter for Epic Cards Battles.
