Steam Worshop

[1S811985]

For the handful of good scenario's I've had from Workshop there's been five times that number of duds.

What's a dud? Eye of the beholder, I suppose.

For me, anything thats outrageously unprototype, allowing for both the limitations of the allowed DLC and a generous degree of licence with regards to formations, train types and operating rules, definately counts as a dud. Poor instructions, or the total lack thereof, also earns a dud in my book. Now some might say that this attitude reek's of snobbery and dismiss it as elitism but I make no apology for setting my own standards and arriving at an opinion based upon them.

Then there's the small matter of whether the scenario is actually any good, as even the most realistically portrayed and well instructioned effort can fall down if it's just dull or uninspired as a drive. And this isn't a pop at Workshop alone as there's plenty of bundled scenario's that take a tumble at this particular hurdle.

Now don't get me wrong, I didn't expect to get an endless supply of top-drawer scenario's out of Worshop and I fully anticipated that there would a fair amount of dross to sift through but I have, in all honesty, been a litle dissapointed with whats been served up to date.

And yes, before anyone asks, I'm allowing for the fact that lot of people are trying their hand for the first time and are learning the ropes. For that reason I'd be loth to cite any examples of dudery in a thread such as this. What I've not seen within Workshop to any great degree are attempts being made to provide constructive criticism or indeed much in the way of feedback at all. It's just click a thumbs down button and go, rather than offer advice or opinion which could help improve an existing scenario or provide lessons for future attempts.

Which brings me to the ratings system which, alas, is proving to be of questionable worth when it comes to separating the wheat from the chaff. It's simply beyond me how some of the highly scored scenario's have earned their stars.

The one thing that Workshop has going for it is ease of use. Otherwise there's no way I'd be willing to sit through the first ten minutes of half a dozen duds in order to find the ocassional gem.

1S81