›
If you have an email ending in @hotmail.com, @live.com or @outlook.com (or any other Microsoft-related domain), please consider changing it to another email provider; Microsoft decided to instantly block the server's IP, so emails can't be sent to these addresses.
If you use an @yahoo.com email or any related Yahoo services, they have blocked us also due to "user complaints"
-UE

A question

GLORIOUSLeaderGLORIOUSLeader
edited 2011-09-05 15:14:39 in Philosophy
When in Turkey, ROCK THE FUCK OUT
So a gamer goes to the book store, looking for a gaming magazine to buy. He sees one promoting "Super-Massive Fantasy RPG Funtime!", and eagerly reads it. There is a lot of hype built up in the magazine for the game. So when he sees, next month, the same magazine giving the game a 10/10, he goes right to the store and buys it. Then he plays it and realizes, no, it's not actually very good at all. So he returns it for 25 bucks.

Whose fault is this?

A) The gamer, for buying into the hype
B) The magazine, for promoting the hype
C) The publisher, for creating the hype
D) The developer, for creating a bad game
«1

Comments

  • MillerCrossMillerCross
    You can change. You can.
    geez, another thread about this

    anyway:

    > B
    > D
  • BobBob
    edited 2011-09-05 15:17:23
    E) Subjectivity's fault for making people feel differently about things.

    But honestly, I'd say A), only because he could have looked into different sources besides the magazine before buying, D), and maybe B) if the game really was all that bad but they gave it a high score anyway.
  • MalkavianMalkavian
    MORONS! I'VE GOT MORONS ON MY PAYROLL!
    E) All of the above.
  • GLORIOUSLeaderGLORIOUSLeader
    When in Turkey, ROCK THE FUCK OUT
    Alright, I'll come out and say it: I'm pissy that The Escapist gave Dragon Age II a perfect score. What the hell is wrong with them?
  • BobBob
    Eh, it's not all that bad, but a perfect score? How did that happen?
  • GelzoGelzo
    Pony Sleuth
    Fault is kind of a strange concept. The entire situation would not have happened if any one of those parties didn't do what they did.

    But if the question is, how should we best prevent this sort of thing from happening and do so ethically? We shouldn't restrict freedom of speech, so I think it's probably best to leave it up to the consumer to learn a lesson from his poor purchasing decision.
  • GLORIOUSLeaderGLORIOUSLeader
    When in Turkey, ROCK THE FUCK OUT
    Because they were able to slap in enough generic praise to justify it. The fact that they review the Xbox 360 version is damning, too, when you realize that it's a PC game, and the only possible reason for them to review the non-PC version is because it's not as good.
  • MillerCrossMillerCross
    You can change. You can.
    Truth be told, all parties are at fault, yeah, but one of them is misinformed (The customer) and the other is doing their job. Only two of those failed at their actual jobs, hence why I chose what I chose. 

    Yes, a gamer should be inform themselves throughly before buying a game, but the problem is that with the current state of affairs, learning about what games are worthwhile and which ones are not is a daunting almost impossible task.
  • GelzoGelzo
    Pony Sleuth
    There's always checking out consumer reviews, asking friends, renting...

    Hell, you could even pirate a game and spend money on it later if you decide they deserve it.
  • BobBob
    Not to mention, you could always try to find a demo or trial version. Sure, it won't be representative of the full game, but it's better than nothing and still gives you a fair idea of what the game will be like.
  • MillerCrossMillerCross
    You can change. You can.
    There's always checking out consumer reviews, asking friends, renting...

    Well, that's true, I suppose, but again, consumers and friends don't have the same value to the Average Joe than a journalist. After all, this is someone who gets paid to talk about these things. Surely his opinion counts for something, no? The problem is that he instead gets paid for gushing, rather than reviewing. And AJ in this case doesn't know that.

    Not to mention that friends can have different tastes than you and all that. And consumer reviews tend to be problematic and just bashful/gushfu, rather than an actual review telling you why the game is good or bad.

    As for rentals and demos, they can work, yes, but the first one involves still spending money and time on a shitty product and the second one involves judging a game on an unfinished version. I don't see how either of those are particularly better than better reviewers.
  • BeeBee
    edited 2011-09-05 16:27:02
    A) The gamer, for buying into the hype

    Yes.  Rent a game first.  This should be common sense now.


    B) The magazine, for promoting the hype

    If the game was objectively crap, yes.


    C) The publisher, for creating the hype

    If they knew it was crap, yes, though hype is a pretty necessary part of business.  Generally speaking though, hyping something you know to be crap will hurt you more in the long run by making you seem untrustworthy.  Mostly though, the damage from the publisher applies more to D...


    D) The developer, for creating a bad game

    Depends on why it was bad.  There are a lot of stupid things that come down to the developers being tards -- Sonic 2006's city being a state machine that had to constantly reload itself comes to mind.

    Mostly though, there's a remarkable amount of executive meddling possible that the developer can do jack shit about.  Unreasonable deadlines, stubborn demand for certain (possibly conceptually doomed) mechanics that siphon man hours, demand for Kinect support siphoning man hours for the sake of a feature that will be at best functional but negligible and no I'm not annoyed about this at all WHY DO YOU ASK, schizophrenia on what difficulty is being asked for.
  • NovaNova
    If you must eat a phoenix, boil it, do not roast it. This only encourages their mischievous habits.
    Yes.  Rent a game first.  This should be common sense now.

    You can't even rent games here.
  • MillerCrossMillerCross
    You can change. You can.
    Exactly. That's another problem. Game rental is not as widespread as you think it is.
  • GelzoGelzo
    Pony Sleuth
    It's also a waste of money if you rent a game if through other means you're able to figure out you'll enjoy it enough to want to own it.
  • MoeDantesMoeDantes
    no longer cuddly, but still Edmond
    E) All of the above.


    This.
  • MillerCrossMillerCross
    You can change. You can.
    Yeah, I'm not saying that game rental is a bad choice. All I'm saying is that we shouldn't need it. I know, idealistic bullshit, but I think that it's the duty of a critic to give a semi objective opinion as to why a game is good or bad. And they're not doing that.
  • GLORIOUSLeaderGLORIOUSLeader
    edited 2011-09-05 16:30:57
    When in Turkey, ROCK THE FUCK OUT
    ^^^^^ Well, that's because Australia hates video games, for some reason.

    Honestly, in my opinion I would've chosen B and D, because it's likely that C didn't care that D was making crap and knew that if they paid enough to give exclusive interviews and features that would draw more reader attention to B and steal the limelight from indie games that deserve better than that and FUCK YOU EA
  • MillerCrossMillerCross
    You can change. You can.
    the thing about C is that it's their job. What do you expect them to do? To fail at making the game known on purpose? It's like being a lawyer. Hell, it technically is being a lawyer, as you're advocating for something being good when it isn't. It'd be unprofessional and unprofitable to not promote the game because it ended up being crap.
  • GLORIOUSLeaderGLORIOUSLeader
    When in Turkey, ROCK THE FUCK OUT
    I know that it's the publisher's job to hype up games. But I see it as fraudulent that they can get away with buying out exclusives and whatnot for their Super Über-Modern Call of Battle 23: Elite Commando Package Deluxe Platinum Blu-Ray 3D Edition when smaller games that may be just as good, if not better, get the shaft. 
  • MillerCrossMillerCross
    You can change. You can.
    That's capitalism for you.
  • NovaNova
    edited 2011-09-05 16:39:49
    If you must eat a phoenix, boil it, do not roast it. This only encourages their mischievous habits.
    ^^^^^ Well, that's because Australia hates video games, for some reason.

    Awww man, and here I thought we actually liked them just as much as you, what with our current lack of censorship and all.

    But I see it as fraudulent that they can get away with buying out exclusives and whatnot for their Super Über-Modern Call of Battle 23: Elite Commando Package Deluxe Platinum Blu-Ray 3D Edition when smaller games that may be just as good, if not better, get the shaft. 

    You see it as fraudalent that they get away with good business decisions and actually make enough profit to market their games?
  • GLORIOUSLeaderGLORIOUSLeader
    When in Turkey, ROCK THE FUCK OUT
    Yes.

    And that's terrible.
  • NovaNova
    If you must eat a phoenix, boil it, do not roast it. This only encourages their mischievous habits.
    Yes.

    And that's terrible.

    People make good business decisions and actually succeed in the current market? Well that's just unfair to the little guy! How dare they succeed >:|

    I don't know if that's what you're suggesting, but that's what it sounds like.
  • BobBob
    >current lack of censorship

    >MK 9 banned

    ???
  • NovaNova
    If you must eat a phoenix, boil it, do not roast it. This only encourages their mischievous habits.
    Previous censorships are still in place, but the old censorship laws are being overturned with the new introduction of an R18+ category.
  • MalkavianMalkavian
    MORONS! I'VE GOT MORONS ON MY PAYROLL!
    I tend to blame myself for buying poor games. I mean, no doubt Rockstar thought they were producing a good game with L.A. Noire and I don't know enough about the reviewers who gave it good reviews to claim they were being shills. I should be more hesitant.

    That said, game reviewing really needs to start having a more scholarly bent to it, rather than just reading like grocery lists with jokes in them.
  • ViviVivi
    $80+ per session
    One of us should become the Roger Ebert of games.
  • GelzoGelzo
    edited 2011-09-05 16:53:31
    Pony Sleuth
    ^^Weird, I have a friend that loved playing that game.

    ^MOVIES AREN'T ART
  • MalkavianMalkavian
    MORONS! I'VE GOT MORONS ON MY PAYROLL!
    ^Bitch I will cut you.
Sign In or Register to comment.