Age doesn't matter. It's the passion.(and ofcourse the way you write)

Yup, and let's be honest, anyone who really likes aeroplanes is just a big kid anyway (in a good way).Al

Some real thick skin wouldn't hurt either. I've got to think all reviewers could attest to that.

Some real thick skin wouldn't hurt either. I've got to think all reviewers could attest to that.

amen...

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.

Pete, AVSIM reviews are generally on already released products, why would a NDA be required at all?

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.

I have been reviewing for about a year and a half now, and I started during my junior year of high school. I am not a journalism major (Aerospace Engineering and Naval Architecture appeals to me a bit more) but have written a ton of formal papers for school and transferred some of those skills to reviewing. Even at my young age, I've been a serious simmer for about 4 years now, with experience dating back to the early days of FS98. I started my reviewing career after a "Help Wanted" ad was posted on the front page by providing a sample review of a favorite freeware release. Since then, I've written a bunch of reviews for a wide variety of products, including a few reviews of a different format. The best advice I can give is to use your best formal and unbiased writing in your sample and see where it goes. I found that reading some of the more experienced reviewer's reviews and borrow some of their formatting and stylistic cues and adapted them to fit my writing. As far as the thick skin goes, it's definitely an asset, but not a requirement. After three years as a hockey official, I'm confident I can handle whatever an angry reader may throw at me ;). Good luck!

Pete, AVSIM reviews are generally on already released products, why would a NDA be required at all?

Certain things are not to be discussed.... I won't go into what.... But mainly it's a contract, however it does have some NDA portions to it...

Certain things are not to be discussed.... I won't go into what.... But mainly it's a contract, however it does have some NDA portions to it...

If the product is released to the public why is any form of contract needed and why should a reviewer sign one? What would happen if one wasn't signed?

How many AVSIM Reviewers are sports officials?! Mark, I would think given the population of zebras around here that being an AVSIM Reviewer would be a good training ground to be a referee, rather than the other way around. Where is the best place for me to shop for striped shirt? Jeff ShylukSenior Staff ReviewerAVSIM

How many AVSIM Reviewers are sports officials?! Mark, I would think given the population of zebras around here that being an AVSIM Reviewer would be a good training ground to be a referee, rather than the other way around. Where is the best place for me to shop for striped shirt? Jeff ShylukSenior Staff ReviewerAVSIM

I'm not sure how many other refs are among us Jeff, but it wouldn't exactly surprise me. I started reffing before reviewing, and I'm sure it's easier for me to take a bit of criticism (even if it is not earned) here after the kind of flak I've taken for something as simple as a correct offsides call. I'm sure it could work the other way around as well :)!

If the product is released to the public why is any form of contract needed and why should a reviewer sign one? What would happen if one wasn't signed?

the contract isn't done for each review, it's done when you sign up. The main things your not allowed to do are talk about internal affairs to the public and show the developers the review before hand and say something along the lines of "is this ok?".

the contract isn't done for each review, it's done when you sign up. The main things your not allowed to do are talk about internal affairs to the public and show the developers the review before hand and say something along the lines of "is this ok?".

I misunderstood. I thought the agreements being discussed related to the developers not to AVSIM.

well, start your own blog and type whatever you want.. when its good, a lot of people will read your reviews.

The ability to handle criticism helps, but the ability to know when to tell a developer that you don't care what they say helps more...Furthermore, having development experience yourself helps you in understanding limitations and what can and can't be done... One of the main reasons I don't like reviewing add ons is because I don't have much add on development experience, however I have software development experience, so I can easily tell when someone forgot to implement certain technologies that would fix frame rate issues...For anyone reading this, there are 4 main technologies out there right now that can help framerate issues, most have 0-2 of them, I have only seen a few with 3, and none with all 4...1. native Multicore support2. 64 bit support3. SLI/Crossfire optimization4. OpenCL/CUDA/Stream