What happened to the ‘doing research before you buy anything on the internet’ thing?
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While I agree in principle, in practise at least one person has to buy it sign unseen, to tell the world what it’s like, so we actually have something to research in the first place.
And I don’t include paid influencers as their opinion will already have been bought and paid for. Not all of course, but just a precautionary rule of thumb. Some are big enough to afford to be honest.
I don’t follow his channel but Swiss001 does not pull his punches.
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“What happened to the ‘doing research before you buy anything on the internet’ thing?”
I’m suggesting new players might skip that step because they are purchasing from within the “Microsoft” game, that plus the spurious five star ratings inspire false or fraudulent confidence
The Marketplace promotes:
- New releases
- Discounted items
- Large bundles
- Products with high star ratings
This creates a feedback loop:
- A few early 5‑star reviews push the product up the list.
- Casual buyers see it and assume it’s good.
- They buy it and leave more 5‑star reviews.
- The cycle repeats.
Mooncalf above hits it exactly IMHO
‘I’m suggesting new players might skip that step because they are purchasing from within the “Microsoft” game, that plus the spurious five star ratings inspire false or fraudulent confidence’
The maxim of English law ‘caveat emptor’ applies let the buyer be aware
They might. And if they‘ve never bought anything elsewhere with a rating system or are completely ignorant/naive about the world out there, they might be in for an ugly surprise. Still, I‘d expect exactly those to leave a one star rating then. But that needs someone you actually bought that product and is really dissatisfied.
Perhaps Asobo needs to put an advisory on MP landing page for folks to research products before buying. Then it is caveat emptor!
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But as I have pointed out earlier in this thread, there’s NO product that consistently gets only 5 star real reviews. 90% five star reviews with a smattering of 4 or 3 stars is believable. 100% five stars in that quantity is not. So your theory that everyone who actually buys it is leaving five star reviews only is beyond the bounds of probability.
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Ofcourse those 100% 5 stars are pure fake! They are manipulated, just like those google “reviews” to get an website on page 1. And I’ve already seen honest buyers, giving those fake 5 star reviews a real honest 1 star review. So, in the end honest reviews will prevail.
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Most of the products bought on MSFS 2020 marketplace turned way below the ratings those received. One expects from a company of Asobo/Microsoft to be having some concern about the condition/ workability and authenticity of the product.If they can’t except a trial then a system of refunds is a must.But then I have seen such requests/wishlists thrown into a dustbin.
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Bottom line is there should be “ written reviews “ for these products so users can say exactly what is good what is bad the pros and cons etc .. as verified purchasers .
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Written reviews can be bought too. Best place to know how good or bad something is, is to search the forums. Some very good youtube reviewers too like AVangel, Jon Beckett, TwotoneMurphy Avgeek and so on.
I don’t know what others experiences are in re leaving reviews/rating a product, but when I was on PC I discovered that ratings I would leave would not be kept by the system. I like to use a product a bit before giving any rating and so I tend to rate several products at one time and so I would do that and then come back the next day to notice that my rating had disappeared. The number of existing votes was as it was before my vote and my rating capability had been reset. I’ve noticed that things work better on X Box but the system still doesn’t like to keep my votes/ratings.
Since its obvious that some of the ratings are beyond improbable and I can’t reliably place my own vote, I find the ratings system to be nearly worthless. Checking with reviewers is a nice idea but I find that, with airports, there are rarely any reviews and for the ones that exist, the reviewers I’ve seen are mightily focused on things I don’t care about while ignoring things I do care about.
In the end you just have to take a chance on a developer and if they do what you like then keep buying.
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In some ways using the in-sim marketplace is like shopping on temu
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So is the probability that no one buys it and leaves 1 star reviews.
And MS also says they’re top selling aircraft. It’s a bit of a conundrum.
My theory is that they have a set of fans that for whatever reason like their aircraft. They do always drop 5 stars. All the people who really care about quality like us don’t buy them, and therefore leave no 1 star reviews. It’s the only thing that makes sense.
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Which is why there should be comments on the reviews, so we can know whether they’re made in good faith and we take them seriously.
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I am dumbfounded that people continue to bother discussing MScenery.
I am now an MScenery fan. I am actively rooting for them.
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I think it started because there’s always some people who want things they don’t like removed from general consumption. [Moderator edit: removed political examples; the rest of this post is fine.] “I don’t like it, so I don’t want you to have it either.” Along with, “I don’t like this, so I simply can’t believe no one does either!”
But I do admit all the 5 star reviews are a bit sketch. Eventually I was pulled to that side. They clearly sell a ton of aircraft though, yet there’s no 1 or 2 star reviews. That… is interesting.
In the end I think the problem has solved itself. Either people like them, or people don’t and don’t buy them, either. That’s the only explanation to no low star reviews.
I’m curious, do you really trust written reviews on sites like Amazon? I’m afraid adding comments to Marketplace reviews would only increase the burden of having to moderate them without really providing any benefit.
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Completely? No. Written reviews are not a panacea.
But what someone says, how they say it, and how they communicate does give me more information to use. You need to look at comments from both positive and negative reviews and usually a picture will start to form.
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This. A well-written review can be very useful.
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