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Bioware employee busted!
rendus
Member UncommonPosts: 329
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
rendus
Member UncommonPosts: 329
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I care more about the Escapist review giving it a 100, than a random user who happens to work for Bioware doing a customer review. Bioware employs thousands of people across the country & Canada. The only person I know from IRL, that works for a game company works for Bioware. They are one of the biggest game industry employers and but his job title says "Application Developer" which means he probably works on tools, servers, and all the other things that make games happen and don't actually have anything to do with the games themselves.
Who the hell gives anything a 100? Isn't that something that's like impossible? Kind of like taking a Percentile Test? Not to mention the slew of bad reviews for DA2.
I like some of the Escapist's Articles, but they have very biased, and probably paid for, game reviews.
Got a Game Idea? Look Here!
This was originally on reddit btw.
Not really surprising, I'm sure lots of game companies have this happen. I do think its funny how the user review and the "critic" reviews are so conflicting though. Their both off though imo, the critic reviews are way to positive, adn the user reviews overly negative, probably because of dissapointment leading after da:o. It wasn't as good, but it wasn't horrible. Nothing really stood out at all about the game, was very average, even lacking compared to others rpg's. I'd give it around a 7.
I saw it on 4chan before it was there.
Now with 57.3% more flames!
Any official word yet?
>Google's 'Avanost' which is hardly a 100% unique name.
>Finds a profile where the real name is Chris Hoban.
>Linkedin spews out ten results, one being for a certain someone that works at Bioware.
So not only do we assume that 'Avanost' is unique, we also assume that the Chris Hoban from Bioware is the culprit, and not the 9 others.
I'm not buying it.
Eleanor Rigby.
Taking into account that EA answered that they did it and seemed rather proud of it, I think it's safe to assume it did happen.
So Engineering the Tools To Make the game in the first place as no impact on how the game itself will look like?
Sounds rather contracticting....
Just my tought..
and to go back on Topic... This type of false Publicity (by employees or Related people) , or even bribery, as existed in all Domains since the dawn of man lol. (thats an over-exageration but it fits well with the naiveness of The people in this world.)
Well I do know personally that Bioware was originally started in Edmonton, AB. I knew someone who worked for the lawyers office that first setup their company. I had gotten a pre-copy of Shattered Steel for my MSDOS based pc...if I remember right it was my 486dx 66Mhz ..yikes lol.
No, not really. They make the game happen, they don't really effect anything other than the development of the game and can be used for more than just 1 game.
What you're saying is like saying that if Stephen King used Open Office instead of a Typewriter, it would make his stories different. The method he uses to write the stories has no effect on the stories themselves. Sounds kinda stupid now, doesn't it?
Got a Game Idea? Look Here!
Yup, and three quarters of the ice berg is under the water. And that goes for probably the most game releases.
My brand new bloggity blog.
i liked the quote from one of the stories about this.. people were shocked that a Bioware employee had done this.. but.. more people were shocked that people were shocked..
i dont particularly think Bioware are any more guilty of that kind of thing than other MMO companies.. its just that they got caught with their hands in the cookie jar.. its happened before.. it'll happen again.. but.. lousy timing for Bioware, definitely good news week for them..
There is supposed to be a line between a review and marketing bullsh**. One of the main gripes I have with this site is that the new crew of "reviewers" loves everything (that is advertised on the site) and only will slam f2p asian titles.
EA, through the defense of the "reviewer", ahs shown first their ignorance and secondly that they really can care less about their customers.
Lets look at EA's defense:
Electronic Arts has not denied the chicanery, with a rep telling Kotaku: "Of course the people who make the game vote for their own game. That's how it works in the Oscars, that's how it works in the Grammy's and why I'm betting that Barack Obama voted for himself in the last election."
1: OSCARS = Yes they vote for themselves, it is an award given by the film industry to itself. There is a difference and I am not your first grade teacher therefore I am not going to walk you through the inherent differences.
2: Grammy's = Yes they vote for themselves, they are awards given to musicians by the music industry. Again, there is a difference.
3) Obama voting for himself = Traditionally there has not been a US president that has ever cast a vote for themselves. The tradition being that if it really is going to boil down to the one vote each candidate casts then they have other problems. Its not only in politics that there is some semblance of tradition and honor (cough lol) but look anywhere - Biker Build Off - ALWAYS vote for the other guy. The only one's that don't are those winningest examples of what America stands for: survivor and other reality tv bs.
Unfrotunately it appears that EA has sunk its claws into BioWare and I really expect the worst going forward as far as TOR is concerned. If you hire and defend unethical douche bags then you are, an unethical douche.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7300033012
A game review by a person employed by the developer of the game turned out to be a scam? While perhaps a tad unethical, nothing shocking really. What I get upset about more is "official" critical reviews that seem to be very biased or just ill informed. There have been too many positive reviews of recent MMOs in the past few years that failed (as defined by massive declines in population rather quickly).
"(Puts on his robe and tinfoil wizard hat)" ("Stroaks beard") Interesting...
I am entitled to my opinions, misspellings, and grammatical errors.
Be careful on that one, they swing the ban hammer fast around here when anyone questions the "ethics" of the reviewers here.
Even tho it is clear that 1. This site reviews games that it is paid to advertise, and 2. Almost all of those reviews do their best to "accentuate the positive" and "minmize" or omit the negative.
I no longer put any stock in the reviews of this site, I have been relying more on the composite score of metacritic as time has gone on.
The Bioware employee should be flayed alive...or just ignore his review.
PS: The best thing a person can do is look at forum posts of reviews of the game on this site and then view the post count and past posts of the reviewer to get a clear picture of their bias.
So what? Is it forbidden to rate your own game?
Sheesh people, give it a freaking rest.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
This just in.
It has recently come to my attention that the president of the United States. Voted for HIMSELF
Oh the horror, the HORROR!! ^^ So, people who happen to work for game companies aren't allowed an *opinion* on games? Thats ALL *any* review is, just the OPINION of the person reviewing it. People should be expected to do their own research and make up their own minds. Just because X, Y or Z site(or reviewer) likes or hates a game does not change that in the least.
I LOL'd
Remember Old School Ultima Online
Back in second grade, I created a drawing for an art contest. I said it was the best. I went around saying it was the best.
I didn't win.
Double. You. Tee. Eff. Mate.
Which is why something like this is problematic. It is not new that these sites are an extension of the marketing arms of different publishers, which is why metacritic has become, for some, the go to source to get an idea of the quality or lackthereof concerning different titles. If the publishers and developers are purposefully pouring their marketing drivel into metacritic then that is borderline fraud because they are putting forth information with the intent of pushing you to buy it. Now, that is not unlike advertisements, however there are laws which prevent companies from portraying themselves as an uninterested third party in an effort to part you from your money.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7300033012
PSST:
Review sites also accept bribes to promote a game...
And companies also make posts about "such & such old game sucks compared to *new game*".
They also hire people to post consolidated "positive only" user comment threads on a gaming convention demo.
They also have several blogs posing as unique people to promote various products (though this is more common the porn industry)
I could go on and on with the list of tricks they use and how people are idiots to actually fall for that crap...
(
if the game has no demo, its not worth buying!
if the game has a demo, try it, and if u like it, buy it, if you don't, then don't buy it!
if you get caught by a 1/2 finished game, just never buy from any name on that box again, just like the saying goes... Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shill
In some jurisdictions and circumstances this type of activity may be illegal. In addition, reputable organizations may prohibit their employees and other interested parties (contractors, agents, etc.) from participating in public forums or discussion groups in which a conflict of interest might arise, or will at least insist that their employees and agents refrain from participating in any way that might create a conflict of interest. For example, the plastic surgery company, Lifestyle Lift, ordered their employees to post fake positive reviews on websites. As a result, they were sued, and ordered to pay $300,000 in damages by the New York Attorney General's office. Said Attorney General Andrew Cuomo: "This company’s attempt to generate business by duping consumers was cynical, manipulative, and illegal. My office has [been] and will continue to be on the forefront in protecting consumers against emerging fraud and deception, including ‘astroturfing,’ on the Internet."