Abriael Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 (edited) Actually most people see trailers etc before they go by reviews from people because most SANE people know that reviews can be skewed by the media or they just don't care what someone they don't know thinks of something. You'd be surprised. I used to think like that before I started to work in the industry (a long time ago, mind you). The simplest thing is that the SANE people (or at least your idea of someone sane) are the vast minority. Most people will let their opinion influenced by external factors, and not by a small margin. Mind you, that works for reviewers as well. There's no unbiased reviewer on the face of earth. But they're not biased for the reasons you think. They're biased for the same reasons anyone else is, because they like or dislike a game, they like or dislike a genre, they like or dislike a platform. Some like independent games, for instance, and will be disproportionately generous towards them to "encourage" the small studios. A good percentage will have a degree of professionalism that will let them place a limit on that bias, but none of them will ever manage to completely remove it. In the large picture this "bias" is pretty much irrelevant, as it balances out between different reviewers. Some will come to a game with a positive attitude from the start, some will come with a negative attitude from the start (IGN and Eurogamer are opposite examples of this in this case. It's obvious that the IGN reviewer really loved the game to the point of erring on the positive side, while it's obvious on the other side that the Eurogamer one was preemptively jaded against it, and he's well known as a big WoW supporter). The payoffs simply don't exist. You're somehow assuming that EA is paying reviewers to praise this game, but you don't seem to understand that there's a whole industry that journalists have to work with, not only EA. If the industry as a whole paid reviewers, they'd have to raise the scores of everything, with the obvious result that negative reviews wouldn't exist. Dunno about you, but I read quite a lot of those, even of big games, published by big publishers. I'll tell you a secret, but keep it for yoruself mh? A lot of reviewers, when they get a highly hyped game and advertised to review, will actually err on the opposite side than you think. They will nitpick on it as much as they can and possibly give it a lower score than it deserves. Why? Two reasons: 1: it makes them look more competent. If a game is highly praised, nitpicking on it makes you look like a better critic than the "mass" of uncouth writers that gave it between 9 and 10 2: it creates controversy, bringing their site more hits and traffic (and traffic = revenue). There's nothing that drives traffic better than a mediocre score given to a big game. Guaranteed. of course (and thankfully) not all do that. But if there's a shady practice in the gaming press, this one would be it. Edited January 17, 2012 by Abriael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fixiooo Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Just hit 50, all your problems will be solved Not sure if sarcastic or not, but I'll bite. The problems started when I hit 50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
United_Strafes Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Well they do make money from selling games.... its like farming and saying your crops taste like poop. My grandpappy was a poop farmer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khryn Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 THE CONSPIRACY CONTINUES. Oh no. They are patching TONIGHT. MUST MEAN MONEY AND SOMEONE GOT PAID OFF SOMEWHERE. Hide the children. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liquidacid Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Oh I forgot to mention Gamestop is forbidden from saying a game is bad, and yes I know this for a fact because I know 2 people who quit (1 a manager the other a CSR) for that very reason, they are told to say it is a great game to try and sell it. so they quit because they were told to do exactly what every single employee of every single business has been told to do since the beginning of society? ... they must be exceptionally intelligent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunryu Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 So I posted this question on Facebook Let me ask you guys something...........do you go by reviews before seeing a movie or playing a game or by movie/game trailers? Also do you think reviews can be bought and paid for?[/Quote] and got these replies I go by the trailors, some times word of mouth by friends but rarely the reviews Im sure for the right price they could be bought[/Quote] reviews are often unreliable. I go by trailers and word of mouth[/Quote] I go more based off of trailers than reviews because I find reviews often times are wrong or don't share anything I have in common and yes reviews can be paid[/Quote] I go based off of the trailers that I see, and yes I do think reviews can be bought[/Quote] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liquidacid Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 (edited) So I posted this question on Facebook and got these replies well the opinion of 4 random people on face book are irrefutable proof... CASE CLOSED Edited January 17, 2012 by Liquidacid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunryu Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 so they quit because they were told to do exactly what every single employee of every single business has been told to do since the beginning of society? ... they must be exceptionally intelligent Actually for the longest time they gave what they honestly thought of the game and had many people who would come to get an honest opinion on a game, when they had to start lying about it those people stopped asking, so yes they quit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunryu Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 well the opinion of 4 random people on face book are irrefutable proof... CASE CLOSED Call your friends and ask them, walk up to any stranger on the street and ask them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khryn Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 (edited) So I posted this question on Facebook and got these replies For having an awesome quote in your sig, you sure have some silly friends. Trailers are meant to entice and intrigue. The tin foil hat about every positive reviewer being paid is downright silly. I will admit, yes, a lot of them get paid and/or free stuff. But not every one of them. I definitely didn't get free swag and I've posted great reviews for this game. I'm not a professional, but by your logic EA/Bioware should have sent me some $$$. Edited January 17, 2012 by Khryn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liquidacid Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 (edited) Actually for the longest time they gave what they honestly thought of the game and had many people who would come to get an honest opinion on a game, when they had to start lying about it those people stopped asking, so yes they quit. if I was their boss I would have fired them for not doing their job and selling the products... Gamestop employee's are paid to SELL games not chit chat and hand out biased opinions Call your friends and ask them, walk up to any stranger on the street and ask them. any sane person knows that game reviews are nothing more than opinions and are perfectly capable of extracting something useful from them and weighing it for what it is worth now you on the other hand just told me to go ask random people what their opinion is about random reviews opinions .... please stop and think for once Edited January 17, 2012 by Liquidacid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abriael Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 So I posted this question on Facebook and got these replies Lol are you seriously making up a statistic out of four replies? Also, there's a wide difference between what people will tell you, and what people will DO. Are you seriously expecting many to actually tell you in non-anonymous form (and even anonymous replies are skewed) "hey, I don't really think with my own head"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunryu Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 For having an awesome quote in your sig, you sure have some silly friends. Trailers are meant to entice and intrigue. The tin foil hat about every positive reviewer being paid is downright silly. I will admit, yes, a lot of them get paid and/or free stuff. But not every one of them. I definitely didn't get free swag and I've posted great reviews for this game. I'm not a professional, but by your logic EA/Bioware should have sent me some $$$. Did I say every single one? No, but knowing it happens makes me not trust any review compared to me experiencing it myself, seeing a trailer, or asking people who has seen or played something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunryu Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Lol are you seriously making up a statistic out of four replies? Also, there's a wide difference between what people will tell you, and what people will DO. Are you seriously expecting many to actually tell you in non-anonymous form (and even anonymous replies are skewed) "hey, I don't really think with my own head"? Dude, seriously, you are a fool, go ask any strangers on the street what makes them play a game or watch a movie, hardly anyone goes by reviews unless it's by people who have paid money to see or play it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abriael Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 For having an awesome quote in your sig, you sure have some silly friends. Trailers are meant to entice and intrigue. The tin foil hat about every positive reviewer being paid is downright silly. I will admit, yes, a lot of them get paid and/or free stuff. But not every one of them. I definitely didn't get free swag and I've posted great reviews for this game. I'm not a professional, but by your logic EA/Bioware should have sent me some $$$. Paid. No. Swag yes (unless they have an editorial rule not to accept swag, many do), but that hadly moves opinion one way or another. Writers that accept swag receive it from every single company in the industry. They're pretty much immunized from it's effects. The only ones that will be swayed by swag are the small bloggers/journalist wannabe that make big puppy eyes when they receive a T-shirt because it's not something usual for them, but those hardly matter, as their visibility is minimal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazyjeffy Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Can this thread please die so I stop seeing it on the front page and thinking "oh not again" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunryu Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Paid. No. Swag yes (unless they have an editorial rule not to accept swag, many do), but that hadly moves opinion one way or another. Writers that accept swag receive it from every single company in the industry. They're pretty much immunized from it's effects. The only ones that will be swayed by swag are the small bloggers/journalist wannabe that make big puppy eyes when they receive a T-shirt because it's not something usual for them, but those hardly matter, as their visibility is minimal. If you don't think advertising revenue for magazines and websites isn't being paid you're more lost than I could imagine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abriael Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Dude, seriously, you are a fool, go ask any strangers on the street what makes them play a game or watch a movie, hardly anyone goes by reviews unless it's by people who have paid money to see or play it. Sorry mate, but calling people fools hardly adds more solidity to your arguments. I have been nice and explained how it works to you, if you want to disbelieve it so much, hell, help yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hata Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 (edited) My grandpappy was a poop farmer. Then i hope he sold that poop like it was diamonds! Edited January 17, 2012 by hata Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abriael Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 (edited) If you don't think advertising revenue for magazines and websites isn't being paid you're more lost than I could imagine. Oh goodness. Writers don't see that revenue. Those that are volunteer don't see any (as they are unpaid, and there are many in the industry), those that are paid, are paid whether they give good reviews or not by their publisher/site. Not by advertisers. The only ones that receive ad money directly are very few and far between bloggers that manage to hold a whole blog all by themselves and still get enough visibility to persuade publishers to place some ads directly. You really don't get it, do you? The ones with the most weight in the exchange are the press, not the game makers. If a game publisher were to go to a site and tell them "raise the score or else" who do you think has more to lose from that ludicrous exchange? The site that can and will get advertisement from other sources anyway, or the publisher that risks being exposed by the site (thing that would generate a TON of traffic -> revenue for that site by the way)? You're losing track of realism more and more with every post. Edited January 17, 2012 by Abriael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunryu Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Oh goodness. Writers don't see that revenue. Those that are volunteer don't see any (as they are unpaid, and there are many in the industry), those that are paid, are paid whether they give good reviews or not by their publisher/site. Not by advertisers. The only ones that receive ad money directly are very few and far between bloggers. You really don't get it, do you? The ones with the most weight in the exchange are the press, not the game makers. If a game publisher were to go to a site and tell them "raise the score or else" who do you think has more to lose from that ludicrous exchange? The site that can and will get advertisement from other sources anyway, or the publisher that risks being exposed by the site (thing that would generate a TON of traffic -> revenue for that site by the way)? You're losing track of realism more and more with every post. The writers can also be told they will be fired for a bad review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hessen Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Anyone know if the lockouts for Karaggas Palace are being reset as part of the patch? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darthdoll Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 The writers can also be told they will be fired for a bad review. Name one time that that happened. Rumor: GameSpot Editor Was Fired for ‘Larger Reasons' Was a link in the link you provided, it was a rumor. Please stop spreading lies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Behrit Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Just hit 50, all your problems will be solved Yeah, then you can go fight all of those world bosses, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liquidacid Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Name one time that that happened. Rumor: GameSpot Editor Was Fired for ‘Larger Reasons' Was a link in the link you provided, it was a rumor. Please stop spreading lies. but spreading lies is fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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