ETHICS

Explosion Network will not accept gifts of any kind with any commitment to provide favourable reviews, comments regarding a product, or to feature a product more heavily in our content.

Companies may provide us with review codes or copies of their product to allow more fluent and informed discussions, or for an honest review and video streaming purposes. Explosion Network does not accept any product under the condition that a review must be provided or discussed to any specific degree or for a favourable score or comment.

Advertising & Commercials

The Explosion Network will plainly and honestly disclose any sponsored content, segments or videos. Any sponsored content would be labelled as such and would be created with us, or in tandem with the person(s) sponsoring the content.

We do not accept pre-written articles/videos as sponsored content.

We may post links to retailers (e.g Amazon, Humble Bundle) and receive a kickback if you purchase something through affiliate programs.

We may accept sponsorship/advertising pitches for any of our podcasts. If we do so, the ads shall not feature at the very beginning of the show, nor shall they shall be delivered as anything other than an ad reading.

Any advertising & sponsorship featured on explosionnetwork.com shall be things we think are beneficial, or fit our audience. We will not promote gambling, drugs or other illegal and illicit materials.

REVIEW SCORES

The Explosion Network utilises a 20 point scale on all our games (not including early access), movies, tv and gear reviews. Our readers are implored to pay more attention to the written word than the final number. Anything with “.5” is falling just short of the next score up, and here’s what the 20 point scale represents: 

  • 1: Awful – The worst of the worst.

  • 2: Stinker – Not quite awful, but it stinks.

  • 3: Lousy – A product that at least a few people will love, trust us.

  • 4: Bad – It’s bad, but it’s closer to being okay than it is garbage.

  • 5: Okay – An okay product, and we all love a few 5/10s around here.

  • 6: Decent – An decent product that is close to being good.

  • 7: Good – It’s good, but it’s not quite good enough to be great.

  • 8: Great – You’re in the presence of greatness, and you don’t want to pass on anything from this score above.

  • 9: Amazing – A class above the rest. Anything that’s a 9/10 is amazing, and nearly a 10/10, and why get hung up about scores at this point?

  • 10: Exceptional – Explosion Network recommends this as exceptional with our highest score, and you’re doing yourself a disservice by not checking it out.

We reserve the right to update reviews when a video game receives an overhaul or patch, but we will preserve the original review and score in a footnote. 

Early Access games shall be reviewed with a thumbs-up/thumbs-down rating and will not receive a score until the final release. 

At a glance, the thumbs ratings translate as:

  • Double Thumbs-Up: Worth buying into the Early Access period right now.

  • One-up, one down: Depending on the player or what they want out of the game, it may be worth buying into the Early Access now or waiting a couple of months.

  • Double thumbs-down: As of this review, we do not recommend you buy into the Early Access release of this game.

Most television series shall not receive a full score until the series is complete, although we can and will score episodes separately. We may score reality tv, competition shows and alike after several episodes, given the nature of the programming.

DVD/Blu-ray releases will score the movie and the product separately. The movie score will use our regular movie/tv 20 point scale, while the DVD/Blu-ray package is scored using our thumbs ratings.

  • Double Thumbs-Up: A great package that you should pick up as soon as possible for your collection.

  • One-up, one down: For super-fans, this could be worth picking up; otherwise, maybe wait until it’s on sale.

  • Double thumbs-down: This isn’t a great release even for die-hard fans.

COMMUNITY

The Explosion Network strives to build a fun and accepting community. Following a few simple guidelines will help foster this community spirit:

  • Don’t be a dick — It’s not asking a lot and it covers a lot of ground. If you think you’re upsetting someone, just stop. Bullying of any manner will not be tolerated. Remember there is a person behind every username.

  • Don’t be a troll — constructive criticism is fine, but we all know there is a line at which point what someone is saying loses all value.

  • Spamming — it shall be deleted regardless of if you’re a robot or not.

  • Everyone is accepted: Regardless of age, gender, beliefs, race, or sexual orientation, everyone who follows the first guideline is welcome in the Network community.

With that said, interaction and participation are a crucial element of the Explosion Network community and your opinions regarding content are always welcome. Please remember the golden rule: don’t be a dick.