Welcome!

You have now entered the Review Game. Any harm, mental instability, or obsession that may be created upon your person cannot be held against the Review Game. Reading that line has hereby made you sign the unwritten contract that shall not be spoken of. I am glad you agree.

Ahem. Despite this post's length, please read it through (at least the rules). It contains your rights and obligations should you play in the Review Game.

First, I must mention that this is not a group you can become a member in. We have no members, only players. Come and go whenever you like. All we ask is that if you do play, follow the rules, or you'll end up without a review.

There are different kinds of categories to play in, in the Review Game, so find the one most fitting for you.

And don't forget: Be nice! This is regarding your entire activity here on the forums. We want no arguments. If its that important, take it to the PM's. If it has to do with the review game, tell the moderators. But don't bother others about it.

Here are all the headlines in this post:

FOR QUESTIONS/PROBLEMS

GOT SUGGESTIONS?

CATEGORIES

BASIC STRUCTURE OF THE REVIEW GAME

BASIC STRUCTURE OF RG MULTI-CHAPTER

BASIC STRUCTURE OF FIGHT FOR THE FREEBIE

RULES FOR ALL GAME THREADS

ADDITIONAL RULES FOR THE REVIEW GAME MULTI-CHAPTER

RULES FOR FIGHT FOR THE FREEBIE

PUNISHMENTS

FOR QUESTIONS/PROBLEMS

Go to the thread that deals with Problems/Questions. Be sure the problem is not already spoken of in the rules. Aside from this post, that holds all common rules for all the four review games, each review game have its own additional rules depending on how to construct a review.

GOT SUGGESTIONS?

Go to the Suggestion topic and present your idea there.

CATEGORIES

Review Games:

The Review Game: Stories -Depth-

Here you come to review a story and get a review for your story in return. As this is Depth, your review must naturally contain more depth. For further information, look at the first post at that topic

The Review Game: Stories -Easy Fix-

Here you review and get a review for a story, but as this is Easy Fix, it does not hold the same standards and much less effort on your part is required. For more information, look at the first post for that topic

The Review Game: Poems -Depth-

Like the same for stories, but the categories differ slightly. And this is for poems. For more info, look at the first post at that topic

The Review Game: Poems -Easy Fix-

Like the one for stories, except this is regarding poems.

The Review Game: Multi-chapters -Depth-

This is intended for stories with 4 or more chapters. So to get to later chapters, there is a reviewing process of several chapters at a time. This RG is more complex than the others, so you will have to follow the guidelines carefully. The review requirement is depth.

The Review Game: Multi-chapters -Easy Fix-

This is intended for stories with 4 or more chapters. So to get to later chapters, there is a reviewing process of several chapters at a time. This RG is more complex than the others, so you will have to follow the guidelines carefully. The review requirement is easy fix.

It is entirely optional for an author, that has more than 4 chapters in their story, to go to the normal RG Stories, or to the RG Multi-chap! They can play in neither, either, or both! No restrictions as long as their story and reviews given fulfills the criteria established.

Our competitions:

Review Marathon

Since January, we've started this to have as a monthly event, where we spread reviews all over the site. The Review Games produces a lot of in-breeding here, so it's nice to get some time-out from all that and see other people's works. Those who spread the review love the most gets some loving back, too. Read the first post in the Review Marathon topic for further details.

Fight For the Freebie

This forum already had review exchanges, and it had a monthly competition. But it did not have a regular freebie give-away. That's what this topic is for: when someone feels generous but don't know where to direct that overwhelming emotion, just let others fight for it, instead! So now that this forum has reached number one on the forum list, we are glad to introduce Fight For The Freebie: a friendly competition for all to play.

BASIC STRUCTURE OF THE REVIEW GAME

Person 1 says: Review "My Lucky Dream"!

Person 2 says: Ok, I reviewed it. So can the next person please review "Stereotypes" or "Window"?

Person 3 says: Done (I did "Window"), so can the next person review "Stranger"? Thanks.

And at such it carries onwards. Should both person 2 and 3 have reviewed person 1, Rule 10 applies. Then it goes like this:

Person 1 says: Review "My Lucky Dream"!

Person 2 says: Ok, I reviewed "My Lucky Dream", please look at "Window".

Person 3 says: I reviewed "My Lucky Dream", please read "Stranger". Thanks!

Person 1 does: He reviews Person 2, as he got two reviews. The review to person 2 is a makeup review, and Person 3 is left to be reviewed by the next participant.

Person 4 says: Okay, I reviewed "Stranger". "Without me", please!

BASIC STRUCTURE OF RG MULTI-CHAPTER

Person 1: Please review "This."

Person 2: I reviewed two chapters of "This." please review two chapters of "That."

Person 3: I reviewed five chapters of "That." please review five chapters of "Yay."

Person 4: I reviewed five chapters of "Yay." "Story" only has four chapters, so please review all of them.

(This is more complex than other RGs so read the first post in these RGs and the rules here carefully)

BASIC STRUCTURE OF FIGHT FOR THE FREEBIE

Freebie 1: I give one free review to anyone who can guess my country!

1: Russia?

Freebie: Bingo, 1! Spot on! What do you want reviewed?

1: My poem "Animal"

Freebie 1: CLOSED

Freebie 2: I give 3 reviews to the person who posts here first! (I only review stories)

2: Me! Please review "Skyscrapers"

Freebie 2: CLOSED

RULES FOR ALL GAME THREADS

1) The Review Game is optional. No one is forced to participate. But if you do, do it according to the rules, and don't leave flames.

2) You may enter The Game how many times as you'd like. But you can't make two posts containing your stories (or other people's stories) at the same time without someone else having posted in between. And reviewing yourself doesn't count either.

3) About reviewing: *you* must review the person above your future post *before* posting (the most recent post, so to speak). Thus you have earned yourself a review. Aka, before Person 2 can post, he had to review Person 1 first. How the review is constructed, view the first post of the Review Game you wish to post in.

4) In your post, you will state what story/poem you want reviewed. Be sure to choose right thread. If you want a story of yours to be reviewed, don't go to the poem Review Game. You will not be counted as a participant then, and thus won't earn a review, even if you have given one.

5) Keep the unnecessary posts in the Review Game threads at a minimum. I want it to be clear who is supposed to read what story. For discussion and questions, etc, go to the Problems/Questions thread.

6) If the story above yours is a multi-chap, you are only obliged to leave one review. Remember: *One* review is required as the minimum. Going above it is not discouraged, however.

7) There is no obligation to review the person that reviewed you. The only person you must review is the latest addition.

8) You are allowed to leave several suggestions in your own post for a story of yours the person after can review. *But* the person after you is still only obliged to leave one review on whichever story they choose from your selected ones.

Also, you are allowed to leave a story *not* your own as the one to be reviewed, if perhaps for a friend that you know wants some feedback.

9) If you have already reviewed the above story, *prior* to this challenge (or have promised to review it, *prior* to this challenge), you can not use that as a free pass. That is cheating. I hereby allow others to ignore those who do that, and thus not leaving them a review (instead, they should review the person that was not originally reviewed).

Exception of that rule: *However*, if you have not reviewed all chapters, you *are* allowed to review one of those un-reviewed, thus legally earning yourself a position in the game (ie, out of a 4 chapter story, you had only reviewed 2 chapters. If you now review the 3rd one due to wanting to enter The Game, you have left the mandatory review and you're thus all set) Again, I repeat, this does not count for those that have made prior promises to review all/certain chapters before committing to The Game.)

10) Should it be, that in the rare case of two or more people reviewing your story (and posting), the person that got reviewed multiple times will review back. So, if two reviewed the same story, the author will review to the first of the two that posted. The last one is to be treated like a normal poster that is to be reviewed by a new one. Example:

Person A posts. Person B reads, reviews and posts, shortly followed by C (that reviews A's story too). Person A will then review B back, and C will be treated like any normal participant, since he was last.

11) If you feel any injustice has happened to you, for example you were missed out of the opportunity to get a review, and the person who is supposed to review has not, please contact any of the mods here, and also state on the Review Game thread you are playing that this person has not reviewed, and thus do not deserve to be reviewed, either.

12) When you write an off topic post, other than stating it is an off topic post, ALSO state which story is up for being reviewed. People will get confused otherwise.

ADDITIONAL RULES FOR THE REVIEW GAME MULTI-CHAPTER

13) You must have at least 4 chapters for the story you want to play with in these two RGs.

14) This RG reviews several chapters at a time. Your minimum to review is what the person above asked you, or if they have not specified: the same amount that the person above reviewed themselves. But you can review more, of course. If you review more than requested, you can also request more.

15) You always have the option to request less, as long as it is not below 2 reviews.

16) The minimum of reviews you can request is 2. The maximum number of reviews you can request is 6. If a person request a number of reviews that do not go between two and six, it means they have not read the rules. Thus the next person can freely choose any number from two to six, assuming the person waiting to be reviewed otherwise fulfills the criteria.

17) There is a restriction to the above rule. If your request includes a chapter with more than 4,000 words, you can only request up to 4 chapters max. Even if you had to review a six chaptered story. And if you have more than one requested chapter over 4,000 words, you can only request a maximum of 3 chapters.

18) You can only enter stories, not poems.

19) If the person above you have not specified any number of chapters to review, you cannot review less than what they have reviewed. Ie, they reviewed 3 chapters. So you cannot review 2 chapters from them.

20) Naturally, for every chapter you read you give a review to. You do not give a single review of all the chapters when you finished reading. If you read two chapters, you must have left two reviews, etc.

RULES FOR FIGHT FOR THE FREEBIE

1) There will be no review exchanges. The person who asks a question (the review-giver) is obliged to give away at least one review to the person who gets it right.

2) There can only be one competition at a time. When one closes, another may begin.

3) The person who starts a new competition is the one who is to give away at least one review. Their first post will ask the question (or ask them to do a specified action). That question/requested action will be written in bold. When the review-giver has a winner and knows what to review, they make a post saying CLOSED. This must also be in bold.

4) The review-giver must ask the winner what they want reviewed before closing. But unless the winner wants another person than themselves to be reviewed, the review-giver is allowed to choose a different story of the winner.

5) The questions/actions must be reasonable and be possible to accomplish. It is allowed to be hard, but if it is, the review-giver must be ready to give helpful hints along the way.

6) If several people say the right answer, the review-giver is only obliged to give a review to the first winner.

7) If the contest has no winner within 5 days, it will be closed, and a new one may start.

8) The review-giver is allowed to give hints. They are only obliged to if there is no winner after 3 days.

9) The review-giver is allowed to limit their demographic by saying they will only review stories or poems, or any other reasonable limitation.

10) The winner is allowed to request the review(s) for a story/poem that is not their own.

11) You can guess how many times you want. But it won't help if you guess the same as someone else. First to guess right is first to win.

12) Your guessing-post can only contain 4 guesses max. For further guesses you have to make another post, etc.

13) The review-giver can never close a competition until he/she has asked the winner what they want reviewed

14) If a winner have been announced, but the winner isn't online to claim what they want reviewed, the review-giver may still close the contest if they PM the winner in question and can thus communicate that way. This means the review-giver has to have the PM function. Otherwise waiting is the only option. But they must still have fulfilled rule 13.

15) If a review-giver open a competition but abandons it thereafter, it will be closed after one day of inactivity from the review-giver. This will not happen if other people have not replied for over a day.

PUNISHMENTS

We here at RG all love to keep it nice and friendly. But this is not always the case, so we have to take counter measures. First things first: We take reviews and reviewing seriously. RG is all about giving and getting reviews. If someone does not live up to their end of the deal, there will be consequences.

In RM: If you do not review the three winners with reviews that fill up the requirements before the two week period is over, you will be banned.

In RG: If you do not review a person you should review according to the rules, and you have already gotten a review yourself, it may lead into being banned. However, this is not done automatically as opposed to the RM scenario.

In Freebie: If you open a competition but do not return, you are not allowed back into the Freebie topic. Not as a freebie giver, and not as a contestant.

Naturally, these aren't set in stone. You can always redeem yourself. If you got banned because of the RM fault, you will get unbanned just by reviewing the winners properly. Then make a PM to Imalefty and state you have done so, and can thus be un-banned. It is vital you PM Imalefty and not me (Fractured Illusion) as it is I that do the banning, and when I ban a person they cannot contact me.

Same goes with the RG treatment: you get unbanned as soon as you review what you are supposed to review.

For Freebie, you are let back in if you show activity on the RG forum in a consistent manner. Not sporadic. Ie, play the RG a few times or chat a bit in the Off Topic, etc.

We reserve ourselves for the right to ban for other reasons. If us mods are not obeyed properly, or if someone is behaving very rudely to others, warning and/or banning will ensue.

We do PM and warn of these things prior, thus it will not come out of the blue.

HAVE FUN! ^^ (and yes, I am crazy about the bold)

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