The Reviewer's Club

[xela]

Hey guys!

I decided to start a little something here in preparation for the Harlequin launch and the very long awaited Deck Review board.

I am looking for some individuals to be official reviewers for AetherCards. You guys will get the products I release early and for free. The trade off is an obvious review, but a couple more things. Below I will list the benefits of being in the Reviewer's Club and what your duties will be.

Benefits:
- Free schwag! Every time an AetherCards product is coming out, you get it free.
- Potential free schwag from others! Sellers are always on the lookout for popular/talented reviewers and getting recognition through our review board is an excellent stepping stone.
- Your reviews are promoted in our Deck Review board and indexed in the official reviews thread.
- You get your decks before anyone else, including some retailers. No more paying an extra fee to get your decks early.
- You get a custom title on the forum of Deck Review Team Member.

Duties:
- Promote! You are expected to give back by posting a video review of the products you receive (duh) but also throwing up a video from time to time promoting an upcoming product or this site. The schwag you get is determined by what you contributed, though simply belonging to the team means you get free review material.

- Quality videos are expected. Full HD isn't necessary, but there has to be a trade off. You can't have videos in 280p that are 15 minutes long and have 25 views. Your like/dislike ratio has to be decent.

Requirements:
- You do not need a YouTube channel. If you have an outlet for your written reviews other than this site, that is acceptable as well. You have to show that you are a semi-reputable reviewer.

- If you own a YouTube channel, you must have at least 500 subscribers OR at least 500 views or more per video (average). It can be either one.

- If you're partnered with AC, then you forfeit the right to promote other products during selling seasons. In other words, the month that a Kickstarter is up and running, you can't post videos promoting another Kickstarter or new release deck. All non-fundraising times you can promote whatever you want, the content is 100% up to you. Non-fundraising times will be around 90% of the year. Content you can publish during a fundraising "season" is at my discretion. I'll probably say yes to reviews for other products going up, but no to promotional videos. Remember, this is a partnership and not a free handout. This clause only applies to those of you who want more than two decks for review purposes and plan on running promotional campaigns to get extra goodies.

- You must be a respected member of the card community. So if you partner with AC and become part of the review team, and then you start cursing out random people online, we will have problems.

- Fanboyism won't be tolerated. Yes, you can't promote other products during a fundraising season in most cases, but putting them down in contrast with something I am sending you is a big no-no. If you want to trash something, do it respectably if you can, and on your own time in a separate video. Some products out there are truly terrible but most are average or better. Putting down another designer is not okay in my book and will not earn you extra stuff. Unless that designer has to do with The-Con-Artist (ha!).




Applying is simple! Just post everything you want me to know about your channel/website/etc. below. Don't expect responses until the Harlequin Kickstarter. Make sure you include if you want to just post reviews, or post promotional videos as well. You aren't limited in what content you can post if you sign up for just reviews, but you also get less stuff because you're doing less work.

Everyone who doesn't get accepted or doesn't meet the requirements should keep in mind that the reasoning is only that I have a limited supply of how many decks I can give away. I had a limit of about 100 with the Vortex release. I hope those who don't get accepted still make reviews and such!

Let me know if you have any questions, guys. I'm excited about getting decks to reviewers in this method.

Oh! And before I forget, you are 100% eligible for free schwag if you don't do reviews but still own a card-related channel. Post what you do below and I will contact you about opportunities.

[Russell CircleCityCards]

This seems dangerous, it looks like you are buying reviews. Also, they can't promote other decks? I just don't see how this can remain unbiased.


I'm gone right nw, but I do want to elaborate on this more later.

[DeckReview]

This seems dangerous, it looks like you are buying reviews. Also, they can't promote other decks? I just don't see how this can remain unbiased.


I'm gone right nw, but I do want to elaborate on this more later.

I don't think biased reviews would be a problem.

Ign for example is paid to promote upcoming game titles yet their reviews are truthful (most of the time). An example would be Need For Speed the Run. They bashed that game for sure after all that promoting.

[Don Boyer]

This seems dangerous, it looks like you are buying reviews. Also, they can't promote other decks? I just don't see how this can remain unbiased.


I'm gone right nw, but I do want to elaborate on this more later.

The biggest issue would be whether Alex has restrictions on just what the reviewer says about his own products.  While he's restricting Club members from promoting other products during the fundraising period, he's not restricting them from reviewing other products during that period.  And he specifically wants them to behave professionally, not promoting his products by bashing other products in some public manner connected to AetherCards.


The second biggest issue would be whether the reviewers themselves could remain unbiased when they're receiving freebies in this manner.  But all reviewers receive some kinds of freebies, particularly free advance-copy decks to be reviewed (or for videogamers, free software; for film reviewers, free passes to the theater; etc.).



I'm curious to see how it works.  And it could indeed work, if handled properly.  That "properly" part is the key, and not just on Alex's part, but the members as well.

[DeckReview]

Anyways I want in on the Reviewer's club. I have more than 500 subscribers on youtube and my view per video usually platues at 700 views depending on the video I post.

I was sponsored by cards.and.decks a few times in the past. Currently I am not receiving any decks.

I don't know if I can promote your products but I can definitely review them.

I like to keep my reviews short but truthful and entertaining. Otherwise my channel is a very generic deck review channel, as my name suggests.

[xela]

Woah, sorry for the miscommunications in the original post. Levi sent me some questions and I answered them more directly:

You would not be allowed to bash for the sake of bashing. In other words, if you pretend you love the deck, then you get it and mock it to troll, that's a guaranteed kick from the partnership. However, I will be encouraging honesty with the reviewers. Talk about what you love, but talk about what you hate or dislike constructively. One thing I'd like to take away are useful opinions for future production. In the end that's what reviews are all about.

I may have been unclear in the post, but you can review other products during the funding season, but you cannot promote them. This is ONLY the case if you sign up to promote AetherCards decks, and is absolutely not the case for someone that just wants reviewing material. If all you do is review decks but you do not want to promote AetherCards, there is no content control on your channel. All I will judge when sending you decks is your popularity, quality, professionalism and channel content.

I hope that clears it up.

The reviews can be bias, but that's up to the reviewer, not me. The content restrictions ONLY apply if you choose to partner with me and promote AetherCards. You get paid as a result in decks and promotional material.

A good real world example is how Activision may advertise on Kotaku, and as a result Kotaku has content restrictions placed upon them. However, if your or I would simply get free copies of an Activision product for a review on our channel, but Activision does not pay you for ads, then we can bash the product or praise it however we want to.

Also, reviewers always have bias. I would always tout the fact that I was honest, but when I received free decks from Lance for example, I would be nicer about how I say things. Some of it is professional courtesy, the rest is the fact that it's hard to say "THIS SUCKS SO HARD" when you got it for free. That wasn't the case with Lance, but it's part of the reason I stopped doing sponsored reviews. The decks I would receive were often absolute garbage, and I don't want to be forced into reviewing something someone sent me at their expense and absolutely destroy it, and at the same time selling out is not something I am okay with.

So if you absolutely loathe the Vortex or Harlequin, for example, and are afraid that receiving them for free would force you to be nice, then don't sign up!

Also worth noting is that if you upload reviews on your channel that are not constructive when negative for ANY reviewer, you'll be kicked out of the program. Positive fanboyism is just as bad as negative trolling. Always be constructive, always try to change things for the better when they need changing, and keep the good intact.

[Joker and the Thief]

Alex I have a few questions about this
1. If we review your products are we allowed to review other products?
2. Can we pull out if we feel it is not working for us?

Thankyou Alex

James

[xela]

Alex I have a few questions about this
1. If we review your products are we allowed to review other products?
2. Can we pull out if we feel it is not working for us?

Thankyou Alex

James

1. No content restrictions if you sign up for simply reviewing decks. Content restrictions apply if you want to promote the company and basically partner with AetherCards. Those content restrictions may be anything, but 99% of the time will simply be no offensive videos, all videos must be quality, and no promotional videos for other cards or companies of any kind during a funding season. Promotional videos do not include reviews.

2. No, you cannot pull out. Part of the deal is that you sign over your soul. Souls are nonrefundable.

Of course you can pull out at any time, and likewise I can choose to remove anyone I want from the club. There are no contracts made.

[jriffel]

Are there any independant reviewers out there (those that don't receive anything free from producers)?  They are the one that I will listen to.  I will ignore the bought-and-pair-for reviewers

[NathanCanadas]

Would engaging ourselves mean we would have to be partners for every next release by AC, or could we pull out after 1 deck?

[sinsandman]

I am an independent reviewer. I have only done a couple reviews but intend to increase my numbers greatly. But for now, I am just starting.

[xela]

Are there any independant reviewers out there (those that don't receive anything free from producers)?  They are the one that I will listen to.  I will ignore the bought-and-pair-for reviewers

There are, but most people send their releases to reviewers for free. "Bought and paid for" is an absolutely silly term. You're giving them your product so they HAVE to review it, and not so they give you a positive review.

Movie critics, book critics, game critics and art critics get all that stuff for free. In a world where there are an infinite amount of things to review, and a very finite amount of things you are physically able to review, you have to give incentive to people to review your specific product.

Deck reviews are also changing now. All decks have similar handling, and no deck has flat out terrible handling. A handling review is next to useless now, since they all handle well and there is no way to get a durability review the first few days a product comes out (and that is when reviews matter). Art reviews are easier to do, but most reviewers have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to the artwork. "And this red contrasts well with this black and that looks so cool" may be fine, but what about the fact that the design is clip art? I'm going to be looking for reviewers that can consistently pump out great reviews to a decently sized audience.

So once again, I'm still not sure why some of you think there is some insane bias in reviews that someone got a free deck from. Look at my Gargoyles review, where I trashed certain aspects of the deck in a constructive way. Lance sent me free decks, and all that means is I won't mock his work. When I get around to reviewing a T11 deck or the Blades, I'm going to have fun with it. And even THEN it will be in a constructive manner.

I know that Savanna gets decks for free as well, and I see her trash various aspects all the time because that's what a reviewer does.

The only role a deck reviewer has nowadays is to showcase the deck, point out the features, dissect the cons and praise the pros.

[Don Boyer]

Most reviewers working for media companies will point out pros and cons, but unless a product being reviewed is so absolutely horrible, they don't pull an all-out hatchet job unless they no longer desire to stay in the field.  Reviewers have some "power" in the business in which they conduct reviews, but few if any are utterly bullet-proof and will simply alienate the others in the industry out of fear of a terrible review.  It means getting shut out of early releases and inside information, which means you'll always get scooped by the competition.  No reviewer wants to be last to the show.  You can point out negatives, but you don't have to trash a product to do so.

[vmagic]

Are there any independant reviewers out there (those that don't receive anything free from producers)?  They are the one that I will listen to.  I will ignore the bought-and-pair-for reviewers

I think I qualify under this category. I don't have any sponsors and don't get anything for free at the moment. Only once I got something for free when I was sponsored by pokerstud52 and that was it. I've reviewed over 200 decks and counting and everyone seems to like my reviews.

[DeckReview]

Deck reviews are also changing now. All decks have similar handling, and no deck has flat out terrible handling. A handling review is next to useless now, since they all handle well and there is no way to get a durability review the first few days a product comes out (and that is when reviews matter). Art reviews are easier to do, but most reviewers have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to the artwork. "And this red contrasts well with this black and that looks so cool" may be fine, but what about the fact that the design is clip art? I'm going to be looking for reviewers that can consistently pump out great reviews to a decently sized audience.


The only role a deck reviewer has nowadays is to showcase the deck, point out the features, dissect the cons and praise the pros.

haha I remember in the good old days, handling was the most important aspect of deck reviews.

Nowadays, I've noticed a large increase in art deck reviews emphasizing  card boxes, card faces, and bonus cards. I don't mind this new style because I find them very helpful when making a decisions for a particular deck. I just don't find them entertaining. Growing up from the ReviewXCM era of card reviewing does that to you I guess

[Don Boyer]

Deck reviews are also changing now. All decks have similar handling, and no deck has flat out terrible handling. A handling review is next to useless now, since they all handle well and there is no way to get a durability review the first few days a product comes out (and that is when reviews matter). Art reviews are easier to do, but most reviewers have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to the artwork. "And this red contrasts well with this black and that looks so cool" may be fine, but what about the fact that the design is clip art? I'm going to be looking for reviewers that can consistently pump out great reviews to a decently sized audience.


The only role a deck reviewer has nowadays is to showcase the deck, point out the features, dissect the cons and praise the pros.

haha I remember in the good old days, handling was the most important aspect of deck reviews.

Nowadays, I've noticed a large increase in art deck reviews emphasizing  card boxes, card faces, and bonus cards. I don't mind this new style because I find them very helpful when making a decisions for a particular deck. I just don't find them entertaining. Growing up from the ReviewXCM era of card reviewing does that to you I guess

I think of the "this is what it looks like" reviews of being more like previews - it's like showing you what came in the box without actually telling you a lot about what it does and how it works.  Now, if said reviewer were to take the effort to truly break in a deck BEFORE reviewing it, THAT would be a true review.  The only way to do that up right would be either getting that deck well in advance of the wide release and working it over, or start torturing it almost immediately after getting it.  You shoot "before" video to show it out of the box, then show "after" video of what they're like after hours of constant hard usage - perhaps even come up with a scientific standard of performance like the Consumers Union does for Consumer Reports magazine.  Show how well it held up after testing, and THAT'S a REAL review, not just a preview.

If we had those kinds of reviews, almost no one would have spent serious money on a deck of Massas.  Even the much-beloved Sentinels might have been just a little less beloved.

I should really become a reviewer! 

[wrassling]

I am very much interested in this opportunity.

My channel can be found @ youtube.com/wrassling. Now... I don't know if I meet the requirements, as in not all my videos have 500+ views since a lot of them are test videos, but the ones that I do put the time in to promote have around 700-1000 views. Not only that, but you'll find that my videos aren't the generic "look, I can do a pandora" videos. I am creative with what I do, and as such, I am creative with the format of my reviews. I will obviously try and be as entertaining as possible and try and deviate away from other reviewers who, quite frankly, bore me to death.

You and I both know I'm not a fanboy.

As far as review formats, I agree most reviews that focus on handling are crap because it's first impression. That has always bothered me. You can rest assured that I will break that sunofabeetch in and test it on all fronts. Although I think a lack of artistic knowledge is bad, I also am appalled at the fact that most reviewers can't properly break in and work a deck. I think there are some benefits in actually knowing how to handle a deck, and at the same time, not be an artistic dumbass. Hopefully I can do both. My mom says I'm an over achiever. 

I think I have decent editing chops as well and I'm known enough in the community that I can promote my videos fairly well, especially since we're talking about review videos here, which are in high demand as of late.

Come at me bro! http://youtu.be/QTXdrs0JLOo