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Paid to hype/rubbish games on forums?

furq

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furq

furq

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About three or four years ago a senior marketing exec of a top publishing company was telling me about this - basically, people being paid by publishers to hype/promote games on forums like this.

Word of mouth, of course, is absolutely vital in the games industry where a multi-million pound game can be written off before it's even reached beta.

I've seen a marketing company allude to the tactic in an advert but, to be honest, I'd forgotten all about it until yesterday - when a senior partner of another top publisher told me privately that one of its rivals was using the tactic to rubbish its games. (The exec had no reason to lie - he wasn't trying to impress me, and had no reason to put down the other company).

Anyone got any more info on this kind of marketing?!?

Of course, these people are among us. And it's their job, despite what you may think, they're not going to be obvious about what they do.

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Cyhwuhx

Cyhwuhx

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.::: Hmm, maybe me and Cacky.... Him for Metro3D me for Atari. :P;)

Havn't noticed it though. And in such cases the game itself would need to be enjoyable at a basic level ate least, as the backlash can be worse than the initial praise on a forum.

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Cyhwuhx

Cyhwuhx

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I reckon its happened with Halo more than a few times here.

.::: Despite me not loving it to bits; taht's far from a rubbish game. ;)

Then again are these people actively promoting stuff like GbtG? If anything this here forum seems to be a bit problematic to infiltrate at the very least...

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Burai

Burai

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I remember that there was a Rockstar plant on Edge who posted that "Are The Edge Out of Touch?" thread in which this guy was completely angered that "The Edge" had given the "amazing" GTA3 just 6/10 (which was a typo).

The Edge peeps traced the IP back to Rockstar which was conclusive prove that this angered fan was just a Rockstar lackey sent out to drum up business.

The thread also exposed the whole "We had to go out and buy it because we wouldn't put it on the cover and give it 8/10" sham as well which made Rockstar look like double-arseholes.

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El Geet

El Geet

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I remember that there was a Rockstar plant on Edge who posted that "Are The Edge Out of Touch?" thread in which this guy was completely angered that "The Edge" had given the "amazing" GTA3 just 6/10 (which was a typo).

The Edge peeps traced the IP back to Rockstar which was conclusive prove that this angered fan was just a Rockstar lackey sent out to drum up business.

The thread also exposed the whole "We had to go out and buy it because we wouldn't put it on the cover and give it 8/10" sham as well which made Rockstar look like double-arseholes.

That was the one I was thinking about.

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DJ Sack

DJ Sack

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Midway do it as ive seen it recently for one of their latest games on other forums. Companies should pay me to do it, the amount of love i give to games...but they dont.

You know where the PM button is folks! I accept cash, cheques and BACS.

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furq

furq

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I think some of it is VERY subtle though.

A game mentioned to me yesterday was an 8/10 or 9/10 game released in the Xmas rush. Several messages in either direction "it's good but it's been over-rated"/"it's game of the year!" across several forums could have quite an effect, no?

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Burai

Burai

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No. We all have friends with which to enjoy the bountiful multiplayer larks.

Remember the DD review came from the pre-Mott Edge which required that all multiplayer party games be played by a suicidal depressive sat on his own in darkened room for 30 minutes max whilst listening to the sound of laughing, playing children in a distant playground through a filthy, barred window.

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Flockheart

Flockheart

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No. We all have friends with which to enjoy the bountiful multiplayer larks.

Remember the DD review came from the pre-Mott Edge which required that all multiplayer party games be played by a suicidal depressive sat on his own in darkened room for 30 minutes max whilst listening to the sound of laughing, playing children in a distant playground through a filthy, barred window.

hmm....Mario avater...obviously biast! ;)

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MK-1601

MK-1601

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Pretty sure Codemasters did it with Severance after they saw the Edge review (or was it just a load of ticked off PC zealots?)

Nope. Severance was a good game and that review was a farce.

"Real medieval castles had tapestries on the walls", for fuck's sake.

...

Publishers generally don't bother 'astroturfing' forums when it's more effective to butter up magazines and news sites.

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kamrantaz

kamrantaz

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Halo always touched me as a prime example of this. It was decided this game was a classic before it was even released. I remember Edge blastic it as generic and nothing special when it was on the MAC but then suddenly it was the next best thing.

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Poet

Poet

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BECAUSE IT WAS AN RTS THEN.

We've been over this before.

And the fact that it actually turned out to be the next best thing didn't hurt Edge's credibility when they announced it as such too much either.

But yes, it's all me! Now go out and buy Galleon, the lot of you. When you can.

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Alex W.

Alex W.

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And the fact that it actually turned out to be the next best thing didn't hurt Edge's credibility when they announced it as such too much either.

Lord, not again! ;)

If it was just Edge, it would be suspicious. If it was just Edge and offical mags, it would be suspicious. If Edge and everyone else hadn't started hyping it like crazy from the first playable preview (the XBox version, coincidentally) onwards, it would be suspicious. As it stands, most of the goddamned games media, and a hefty chunk of the mainstream media decided it was fantastic after they got their hands on it. Not many of them seemed to think it was fantastic when it was a cross between Dropship and Ground control. Maybe your opinion differs.

THIS DOES NOT EQUATE TO A GRAND APOLLO-ESQUE CONSPIRACY MANAGING TO ENCOMPASS ALL BUT A SMALL MINORITY

And since when did Edge announce it as an RTS? I don't recall them ever making that comparison. In fact, I'd say you're the first person to make that comparison that I've heard of (no, Bungie saying how it evolved from an FPS doesn't count).

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kamrantaz

kamrantaz

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I didnt think much of halo, so i think you lot have been brain washed. The only good thing about it was that the basic pistol was/is probably the best bog standard weapon is any game.

The rest is MEH. I prefer that command and conquer renegade.

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