what qualifications are needed to write a review for avsim?

[Guest evanxmcr]

Do you need to be a real world flier? certain age? and do you pay for the product you are reviewing?(not being cheap i really just have no idea)

[Robert W 3]

Real world flyer? No, but an avid, experienced simmer. Having real world experience is an advantageA certain age? Well if you're a high school student, I've found that you don't have the writing skills yet.Do you pay for the product? No, once you've been accepted as a reviewer, we will supply you with the product to review and it's yours to keep as your "pay".How do you become an AVSIM reviewer? Send me a sample review of something you already own in a style similar to what you have seen previously published (without the screenshots), and I'll evaluate it and if acceptable, we'll offer you a position.I have lots of material to review and we're always looking for new reviewers. You have to be honest, unbiased and some technical knowledge about flying.Need more details? Email me.

[Guest evanxmcr]

Ok I am a high school student so that might be a drawbackand supplying the product as pay sounds just about the most fair job I could ever do :)Im buying my first addons shortly, picking up a prepaid credit card on friday and follow the format of other reviews and see from there. PS dont judge me from my posts on here Im sure like most people my writing style varies between forum and formalI do have some knowledge of flying I plan to start flight lessons as soon as I can afford it and have been reading through a flight manual my friend who is also a pilot got for my birthday and that answers all my questions so thank you very much :)

[Chock 17,769]

Something worth bearing in mind, is that although it certainly is an advantage to be able to draw on real piloting experience when writing a review of flight sim stuff, it is not absolutely necessary in order to write an interesting review. Lots of people who buy flight sim stuff have never even been in a cockpit, let alone flown a real aircraft, and so writing from that standpoint, providing your research is good, can offer an equally valid focal point for a review. Other areas of expertise can be as useful as a bit of stick time, such as computer systems knowledge, programming knowledge, or experience with a vast number of different operating systems etc.If you are writing from the standpoint of someone who has not got a lot of real world piloting experience, then you should make that a focus of your writing, rather than attempting to mask it and risk errors creeping into what you write. It can be entertaining to read about the difficulties a person can have getting to grips with something, and it will strike a chord with many simmers; so an interesting focal point could be how good or bad the documentation is, or how easy/confusing a particular add-on will be for someone without much real piloting experience or knowledge.In short, you can turn what might seem like a disadvantage into an advantage if you think about an intelligent angle for your copy, and that will mean that you can connect with simmers in a similar position to yourself. The ability to connect with people in your writing is always a good thing, and is one of the fundamentals of good copywriting.Al

[Tim_Capps 474]

And all the Cessna 172 time in the world won't necessarily help you with a 767.(The pointy end goes first, right?)

[Peter Clemenko 0]

2 things...First of all, IIRC you have to be 18 to legally sign an NDA, if not you have to have your parents Cosign (IIRC) (Tim could you please confirm/deny this one for me?)Next, as for when you do write reviews, trying to show a sense of humor helps.Finally, chock is right about using experince in related areas. I myself have a heavy computer background, and as such, what I lack in RL piloting experience (I've only flown an aircraft once, that was a C172) I make up for with being able to diagnose tech issues that may cause headaches for users. I will even on occasion link to programming docs on various sites just to prove a point.Finally, some products, you may have to buy yourself if you want to review them. AVSIM can contact the developer/publisher and ask for a review copy, but if you really want to review it, and they won't respond or provide one, you may have to buy it yourself. I have had to do this on my DCS Black Shark review. You can also buy it yourself and then turn it into a review like Chock did with the 737.*edit fixed an error in my statement.

[meshman 109]

Finally, some products, you may have to buy yourself if you want to review them. AVSIM can contact the developer/publisher and ask for a review copy, but if you really want to review it, and they won't respond or provide one, you may have to buy it yourself. I have had to do this on my DCS Black Shark review, and chock had to do this on the recent 737 review he did.

Just for clarification purposes, Al bought the Ariane plane to check it out and it turned into a review, best I recall. Did Al or Avsim ask Ariane for a copy to review and were turned down?

[Peter Clemenko 0]

Just for clarification purposes, Al bought the Ariane plane to check it out and it turned into a review, best I recall. Did Al or Avsim ask Ariane for a copy to review and were turned down?

Good point, I stand corrected.As for him asking, if he did, judging by the heavy history between AVSIM and Ariane, I doubt they would have given a review copy out.

[Tim_Capps 474]

Sorry, Peter, I'm soley criminal defense. Give me some DNA alleles, a police interrogation and an interesting blood spatter and I'm happy, but I don't know the legal age for agreements, especially across national boundaries. Transactional law was never sexy enough to attract my attention.I can tell you I wrote a couple of user reviews, and the next thing I know Al Bradbury is saying "I say, old bean, I like the cut of your jib, wot" so I offered my services. Nothing like strutting your stuff and it is good practice, and good for everyone, too, because it gives more perspectives.

[Chock 17,769]

To clarify on that Ariane question. I never actually asked Ariane for a review copy meshman, I simply took it upon myself to buy it to find out about it, and then about five seconds after having bought it, decided it might be an idea to review it. But it is worth noting that prior to doing that it was not quite that spontaneous a decision, I had discussed the possibility of reviewing 'an Ariane product of some kind' with Robert Whitwell, so it had at least some pre-emptive approval of becoming an AVSIM review.I think it is unlikely Ariane would have sent AVSIM one (they never had done so before, which is probably because of the spat between Ariane and AVSIM a long time ago, although I don't know for sure if that is the reason). I don't think they make a habit of sending out review stuff anyway. I have heard from at least one other very well known source of FS reviews that they were offered an opportunity to come down to Ariane and have the product demo'd to them when they asked for a review copy, but were not offered a free copy to review.Once Ariane were aware of my intentions, they were a little suspicious, but I was able to assure them that all I wanted to do was a fair review like AVSIM does with everything else. Once they knew that, they quickly got on board with the idea, although I'll admit they took a bit of convincing.Al

[Guest evanxmcr]

Sorry, Peter, I'm soley criminal defense. Give me some DNA alleles, a police interrogation and an interesting blood spatter and I'm happy, but I don't know the legal age for agreements, especially across national boundaries. Transactional law was never sexy enough to attract my attention.I can tell you I wrote a couple of user reviews, and the next thing I know Al Bradbury is saying "I say, old bean, I like the cut of your jib, wot" so I offered my services. Nothing like strutting your stuff and it is good practice, and good for everyone, too, because it gives more perspectives.

Ooo i love blood splatter :D Im pretty sure its around 16 17 ish here because my girlfriend 2 years older then me was able to sign stuff with me, Im turning 16 in a couple of monthsand if they dont let me sign my parents would most likely allow me to sign.(with the death/injury wavers with the stuff I enjoy doing, a contract to write a review will definatly be a breath of fresh air to them ;))

[Peter Clemenko 0]

Sorry, Peter, I'm soley criminal defense. Give me some DNA alleles, a police interrogation and an interesting blood spatter and I'm happy, but I don't know the legal age for agreements, especially across national boundaries. Transactional law was never sexy enough to attract my attention.I can tell you I wrote a couple of user reviews, and the next thing I know Al Bradbury is saying "I say, old bean, I like the cut of your jib, wot" so I offered my services. Nothing like strutting your stuff and it is good practice, and good for everyone, too, because it gives more perspectives.

Alright, understood. I've seen some NDAs that require you to be 18 to sign, and to my knowledge, that's the legal age required to sign a legal agreement in the states, however I'm not sure myself if that's 100% accurate.

[Guest nicholas987]

Alright, understood. I've seen some NDAs that require you to be 18 to sign, and to my knowledge, that's the legal age required to sign a legal agreement in the states, however I'm not sure myself if that's 100% accurate.

Well... can you authenticate this age issue?Thanks cisco exams

[Robert W 3]

Well... can you authenticate this age issue?Thanks cisco exams

All,Age is not an issue here. If you can write a comprehensive, understandable, unbiased review of a product that's out there, then we want you.As the Editor, I have no problem figuring out when a 16 or 17 year old High School Student has submitted a review sample.No offense to our young simmers, but it's usually poorly written, in poor English, and the writer has 2-3 years of simming under his belt. Trust me it shows. Of course there are the exceptions and I have had a High School student write reviews.....this fellow was obviously going to be a journalism major in the future.

[Guest joyu24]

Well, i applied last year, and was rejected because i forgot some vital parts of the review(like sound :( ).I later used Robert's suggestions when i applied for a reviewer job for Flightsim.no, and got accepted. I don't have that position anymore because the site manager wished people over 18 only because of certain reasons.And i should say, im only 15 ;)