There is a way to review games already.

Also, what's "Beyond"?

Become a BYOND Member, and you can post reviews on your blog -- you can do this as a non-member too, but they won't be visible anywhere but directly on your site.

http://www.byond.com/members/?command=games_index

This already exists. It has it's own section dedicated to game reviews and information.
It is technically in the blog section, but it is found in it's own sub-category.

The issue with that is that if a game owner doesn't like the review for whatever reason, he/she could just delete it from there hub. This was a topic brought up not to long ago. Hub makers should have the power to delete things they don't want form there hubs. But of the game is bad and the hub owner only shows good reviews. whats the point in even having a review section? Then all games end up looking good and no one gets a real idea of what they are actually walking into.

XD That's a pretty good way of putting it as well. :P

Go somewhere else like where? Its not like BYOND is a popular engine and Game informer writes articles on the good games. I can't just Google search a specific BYOND game and find 30 or 40 review sites that have information on the game. So the only way we can get reviews is either from the hub itself, or from someone who just happened to make a blog post about it at some point.

As for playing the game, the whole point of a review is to tell you about the game so you know whether you want to play it or not. Why waste the time playing a game that you aren't going to like or that you will be abused by the staff on if you could read a couple of comments warning you about the game and can avoid it? Because in the end we kind of are paying for it, with our time.

And I already addressed that if you read my last post correctly.

"So the only way we can get reviews is either from the hub itself, or from someone who just happened to make a blog post about it at some point."

But as we all know, people don't just go about making blog post on every game they play on BYOND. Especially since only BYOND members can make blog post.

I just checked it out and you are correct anyone can make a blog post, however, only members can make Reviews and polls. and only members can have there blogs searched and appear on the front page. So essentially, anyone who did make a blog based review who wasn't a member would have to link there review to people in order for it to be found or read and/or I would have to have subscribed to there blog to get updates. So it is pretty much as though only BYOND members can do anything with the blogs.

That being said, I am completely for people being allowed to message on hubs without the owner's control over the content.

First of all it wouldn't be right on the front of the hub, it would be in a review tab. So only people looking for the reviews would see it.

Secondly, hub owners have many different ways to advertise there games which include but are not limited to, The BYOND forum, BYOND blogs by members, BYOND Reviews by members, Creation of its own website and/or forums, Advertisements on popular channels such as facebook or other large gaming related sites, etc.

Thirdly if the material being added to the reviews is truthful then there should be no issue with it being shown to potential players. This is a great way to allow the staff working on a game to see what people really think about a certain game. And if honest constructive criticism was being sent then as a developer it should be welcomed.

If the material however is just spam or useless then the owners have every right to ask for it to be removed. And for those who send useless messages that don't do any good if they continue they can have there reviewing rights taken away. This could also be a members perk only, which would drastically limit the amount of people who can make a review.

And of course I feel the owner of the game should be able to constructively and not childishly combat or explain why things are the way they are by making comments on the reviews. This way if it is something big that has been handled the owner can tell those who wrote the reviews in the hopes that they might change it. Or if a particular review is incorrect for some reason, the owner and explain why letting those who read the reviews judge for themselves.

We see things like this commonly through everyday life. For instance, when you buy something on Amazon, you are likely to read the reviews of the product by the company and the other people who bought it before you buy it. Why? Because if 20 people buy a $200 shower head and all the information the company says looks wonderful, but only 5 people who actually bought the shower head liked it and the rest had problems using it or it broke on them. You will be less likely to waste the money on an item that might not last, and will look for something better else where.

If you go on GameStop's website and look at the new games. You will see that users are allowed to post there comments and reactions to the games. Some are good some are bad. But this and a over all rating from the professionals as well as the regular gamers help people to determine if they want to buy the game or not.

Another prime example of this is when Game makers create public forums for there games, and add sections for reviews and comments questions and complaints. These sections of the forum are open to anyone and everyone to read, good or bad. They do this so that they can gain information on what players feel they are doing right and wrong in the game making process, in order to fix there mistakes either in patches to the game, or in the next game or version changing how things operate and are handled.

So I really don't see the different here with BYOND. We have a small player base, and an even smaller member base. So having the added perk of being able to review games and see reviews on games by real players and not just propaganda allowed on the hub by the hub owners doesn't really harm anyone or anything.