62: "I'm Evil"
- Thread starter The Escapist Staff
- Start date
An interesting article. It is a lot of food for thought.
It's hard for me to comment on this. I hate the idea of somebody pretending to be something they aren't so that they can sell me on a product they don't like. I don't have any issue with them doing so to support a product they DO like. But, you wouldn't have to pay someone if they would sell your product anyway. I think the money spent on convincing people to promote your product that sucks could be better spent creating a better game.
- Tom
It's hard for me to comment on this. I hate the idea of somebody pretending to be something they aren't so that they can sell me on a product they don't like. I don't have any issue with them doing so to support a product they DO like. But, you wouldn't have to pay someone if they would sell your product anyway. I think the money spent on convincing people to promote your product that sucks could be better spent creating a better game.
- Tom
Devious tricks, indeed, but I don't think we are going to ever have to worry about undisputed industry leader Sony resorting to shabby tricks like this. After all, when you are the maker of the PlayStation(R) brand of video game systems, you don't need to resort to cheap tricks such as this. Take the PlayStation 3, for instance: You never see OGM's pushing the PlayStation 3 on communities because it is so innovative, with Blu-Ray player and true 1080p high definition capabilities... people are going to be lining up on launch day to buy it! It would be a waste of marketing dollars for Sony to pay OGM's to flaunt how awesome the PS3 is, because the consumer already knows that it is the best.
I've already got mine pre-ordered at GameStop! How about YOU?!?!
I've already got mine pre-ordered at GameStop! How about YOU?!?!
I don't mind this tactic. I think it's creative and would be amusing to do, for a short while at least, and as long as you keep in mind that you're not actually hurting anybody.
It's funny to think of the obvious ones and how they would get banned forever right away.
It's funny to think of the obvious ones and how they would get banned forever right away.
Until today I didn't even know this sort of thing happened. But yeah, I'd have to say that would be a fun job at least for a little. I'd be curious to see how good I'd be at it.
What I would like to know (and it seems am never likely to find out) is if I've ever completly unknowingly had a conversation with one of these people, or even bought a game that they recommended to me?
What I would like to know (and it seems am never likely to find out) is if I've ever completly unknowingly had a conversation with one of these people, or even bought a game that they recommended to me?
I disagree, it does hurt people, no-one likes buying crap games, especially if you buy it brand new and hav to lose alot of money on resale(I virtually never buy games new though, for this reason)snyper256 said:
buy coke
How does a company measure the income it recieves from this 'marketing' scheme against what it pays into the tactic? That's the real question.
Online ads have click-thru rates & eyeball counts, newspaper ads have subscriber numbers - what does this have? Number of forum members? Thread views?
The Escapist: did you find this guy, or did he come to you? My guess from his quotes is he came to you.
Though not a businessman myself, I wonder how companies justify this practice monetarily?
Online ads have click-thru rates & eyeball counts, newspaper ads have subscriber numbers - what does this have? Number of forum members? Thread views?
The Escapist: did you find this guy, or did he come to you? My guess from his quotes is he came to you.
Though not a businessman myself, I wonder how companies justify this practice monetarily?
Forums in general maybe, but thats the whole point. These guys contribute to forums on a regular basis to gain the trust of the regulars at that forum. By acting like just another guy (or gal) on the forum. Are you honestly telling me that if someone you had been "speaking" to on a forum for 6 months or so told you that a game you had never heard of was worth looking into, you wouldn't pay any attention to it?FunkyJ said:
You may have no qualms about lying to idiots, but how about lying to people that you know are intelligent consumers that you had spent the last couple months building up a friendship with purely to aid in the lie?
This sort of job is much more akin to an undercover cop or a spy than a sleazy car salesman. I have no doubt that it would be tough at times. But then again, if these guys really didn't want to be doing it they wouldn't.
In my opinion, they're more akin to travelling advertisers, except that in general, they actually give useful information (you can't really promote stuff in forums without giving information) (well, some travelling advertisers also give useful information. Unsurprisingly, they also fare much better at product promotion that those who just scream "Buy my stuff!"). Whether I hate them or not is dependant on one thing alone: if what they're advertising is actually good. If it's good, kudos for them on getting paid to promote something good. If it's crap, shame on them for lying.
To put this in perspective, I would treat them equal to any normal forum-goers, since it's nearly a practical impossibility to differenciate one from a) a secret marketter, b) a member who actually has something useful. Similarly, it's also a practical impossibility to determine the true gender of a person based on purely online interaction, thus it's safer to just treat both genders as equals.
Of cause, there's the non-secret type of marketter, who acts as a person from a company. In this case, the trick is to appear unbiased (example, if your company does something wrong, admit it, and convince readers that something is being done) while providing "insider information" which for most purposes, would probably go through the marketting department to determine exactly how much and what type of information to deliever.
In conclusion: trust no one but yourself for final judgement. Information from others are useful, but take note that occasionally people may deliever inaccurate information, be it intentional or otherwise.
To put this in perspective, I would treat them equal to any normal forum-goers, since it's nearly a practical impossibility to differenciate one from a) a secret marketter, b) a member who actually has something useful. Similarly, it's also a practical impossibility to determine the true gender of a person based on purely online interaction, thus it's safer to just treat both genders as equals.
Of cause, there's the non-secret type of marketter, who acts as a person from a company. In this case, the trick is to appear unbiased (example, if your company does something wrong, admit it, and convince readers that something is being done) while providing "insider information" which for most purposes, would probably go through the marketting department to determine exactly how much and what type of information to deliever.
In conclusion: trust no one but yourself for final judgement. Information from others are useful, but take note that occasionally people may deliever inaccurate information, be it intentional or otherwise.
This is an excellent point, Remember that any and all advice you recieve on any matter has a personal bias attached. Right for someone else does not mean right for you. Whether or not the person is lying to get you to buy a game they personally don't like but are being paid to promote, if you take all advice with a grain of salt and rely on game demos, screenshots, many many different reviews from sites which traditionally don't agree, (or ones that normally agree with YOU). You should end up with a pretty good feel for whether or not you'll like a game. There's always a chance of failure, but doing the proper legwork before hand is a lot smarter than dropping 60 bucks on a game because someone in a forum told you it was the best thing since sliced bread.Psaakyrn said:
- Tom
Its hardly marketing when you tell people on a gaming forum that the new macs are nice but they are no good for gaming.rblaa said:
But the point you raise is relevant. You could go to just about any gaming forum and find somebody saying good things about a game that someone else has bagged in the same thread. I've been very guilty of being a fanboy for certain products myself and I'm not afraid to say so. The difficulty is in telling the difference between someone who is doing it for love of the product and someone who is doing it for love of their paycheck.
Treating piracy as a valid form of testing games isn't very nice to say on a gaming forum. IMHO, a better solution would be the re-introduction of shareware, which the Live services seem to get getting about doing so. Of cause it's nothing that we can actively do (unless you're a publisher), but at least there's good news about the whole issue.LordCancer said:
(Oh, and one nitpick. Could you please use some capital letters in your posts?)