What kind of user spontaneously leaves a rating on a game? In my experience, there are primarily two kinds:
- Someone who’s really delighted and pleased with what you’ve made, so much that he or she takes the time to open up the Google Play app or go to the website, and leave you a rating and maybe a comment
- Someone who finds something about your game that they don’t like. Too easy, too difficult, too stupid, too many ads, too many crashes, whatever. These people will almost always leave you a comment telling you why your game sucks
In my experience, the second kind of user is much more likely to leave a rating than the first. And this isn’t just related to app and game reviews, you’ll see it all over the internet. Look at user reviews on anything – electronics, hotels, lawn mowers, it doesn’t matter. Most of the people who’ve put in the effort to rate something, have done it because they have a complaint. This doesn’t mean the product is generally bad, it just means that people who are satisfied with it don’t leave reviews.
You can create an app or a game that will amaze everyone, and then you’ll get lots of spontaneous feedback. But in the real world, that doesn’t work so well. I’m sure you’ve been in this situation. You have a fairly decent game, your analytics are showing that people are playing it and enjoying it, but the only people leaving ratings are the ones who hate your game.
So what can you do about it?