The Game Of Critique

Whether you made a game and put it up the forums for others to download and play it, or whether you played the game someone made, sooner or later a funny little word enters the scene: Feedback. Or critique; call it what you like. If the game somehow touched you, giving a little feedback is polite. "Crits" are a game played by two, though- there are many ways to crit a game, and there are many ways to recieve and respond to critical comments.

Let's start with you being the critic. Your job so far was easy; someone made a game, and you played it. Having an opinion is natural, but how to communicate it?

The worst thing you could do is saying NOTHING AT ALL. Maybe you think the game'S not even worth a small sentence. Maybe you think your opinion doesn't matter. Maybe you can't say much that has not already been said. But saying nothing is impolite. Really, it is. And if enough people think like you and say nothing at all, the result is some unspoken "Your game, dude, didn't matter." Few unspoken sentences bite harder.

If the game really was not good, for whatever reasons, or if it was superb, and you either loathe or love it, don't just go and write the hackneyed "Dude this sucked, give it up!" or (equally bad) "Great game!".
Just scoffing a game is lazy and rude. Even simple games with template graphics and buggy gameplay obviously had some work being put into them, and the devastating one-liner is nothing but rude. It doesn't offer any hints WHY the game sucked. It's not critique, it's just an insult, even if it MAY be justified (god knows there are a lot of bad games out there).
While a short, positive response arguably sounds nice, it also doesn't offer much to the game's author. Apparently the game was good. But what exactly? And could it have been better? Game authors MAY be attention whores, but they are also (usually) keen on feedback that is more specific.

A critical comment that is both honest and useful will usually mix good points and bad points. It will point out flaws in the game, but also point out things you liked, enjoyed, or found promising. As soon as you get rid of the old black-and-white mould you'll realise that almost every game has at least something that you liked in a certain way, or that it COULD have had these things were it not for some flaws. As soon as you realise that, you can write constructive crits.
"At first I was really disappointed with the game. After all the hype- and after being in the making for three years- my expectations were probably too high. The intro was lengthy and far too convulted, and there was a clear lack of animation. Watching three people flapping their lips for over an hour really didn't set the mood, and I really wanted to skip on all the dialogue about apparently random, everyday stuff. I sat through it, though, and once the first few puzzles unlocked and things got into motion, I started to warm up for the game. I noticed that halfway through the game the animations became a lot better, and later backgrounds were of considerably better quality. I think the long development time made you "forget" to update older parts, for whatever reasons, and that is a shame: The last third really shines, the characters show a good deal of depth, the puzzles tie together nicely (especially the one about the Orrerey, which really is a little coding masterpiece), and the final sequence where everything is resolved really made me wish the whole game had been of the same quality. Unfortunately, the same last third is full of typos and plaqued with small bugs. None of them broke the game, at least for me, but it gave the impression of a game being rushed to meet an already missed deadline.
All in all, the good outweights the bad, but it's a close shave. You may easily lose a lot of players for the stale intro and the weak "first five minutes", and for a main character that becomes likeable only half-way through the game."
And so on. See what I mean? You can point out flaws without sounding rude and simple. You can say that a game didn't "make it" while offering tips about how it would have done.

Since crits are a game for two, the author, who is at the receiving end of tall the stuff you just wrote, should respond equally polite and open-minded. You made the job easy for him by using polite language, offering tips and justifying your opinion.

Just some thoughts... hope you can get something out of them ;)