BioWare Employee Busted in Dragon Age 2 Review Scandal - UPDATED

[dj Facchiano]

As I have said before. I do not see the issue in a single user review.

It's not actually just a single review. There's been several Bioware employees who have written 10/10 reviews on Metacritic, it's just that Avanost is getting more attention because of /v/.

actually no, it really was just one guy.

 

[honkyjesus]

Well, at least they didn't do a Rockstar and pay for reviews. I thought the demo was atrocious.

 

[SelectivelyEvil13]

Positives: Everything!
Negatives: My mom doesn't quite hate it!

I don't think that conflict of interest really matters under normal circumstances, but the employee(s) should have clearly stated such a status. Giving a glowing review and not saying "by the way, I had something at stake with that which I am praising" leaves me, at least, as a reader of the review, rather suspect of the content of the message.

 

[Velocirapture07]

"I was critical of Bioware for their entire stunt with asking the community if we agreed with a design desician... giving people a heavily predetermined protaganist (ie Hawke), getting a negative response, and then acting like it was a positive one and going ahead with it anyway. I think this says a lot for their current mentality, and their tendency to want to try and create the reception that they want. It's pretty sad, but honestly them trying to load the metacritic scores for advertising purposes as opposed to letting them game succeed on it's own merits does not surprise me."

EDIT: This was meant to be a quote... sorry. I did not say the above paragraph, I was agreeing with the original poster Therummancer.


WHAT?! I didn't really know that. I remember reading about dragon age 2 early on and hearing that it would be mass-effect-ified and being very disappointed. No race or expanded dialogue choices....why?

If they'd asked me I would have told them I'd rather jump off a bridge into lava then agree to that change.

What I hate the most though is the quote from one bioware employee or designer before the game was released (i can't remember his name) when he was interviewed. "people hated that the main character didn't talk" (paraphrase). Wait...what? Who? The crap-ton of people who bought the game and enjoyed it? The people who allowed it to become an unanticipated success? Sure, that makes a lot of sense idiot.

I totally agree with you on most of your points. Bioware has lost its way, and I'm quite afraid that they won't be able to find their way back.

 

[Mr. Socky]

This just makes me, a genuine fan of the game, look like a Bioware employee.

I can't say I blame the guy though, you would want to try and do something positive to balance out the negativity towards something you worked on. The best intentions, right?

Yeah, no kidding. Not to mention that half the negative reviews were done well before they could've possibly finished or even played DA2 (speaking of fraud...). The Bioware guys were idiots. Unfortunately, the internet is full of people that make them look like freaking geniuses. Color me apathetic.

So, I'll be starting with a nice shade of grey, then moving into more of a slate blue. From there we'll add touches of brown, and finish off with a lovely trim of black.

OT: Is there definite proof that this guy actually made this post, and it wasn't just a troll trying to make the company look bad? People apparently decided to hate the game before they even knew it from all the responses I've read here, so what's to stop someone from trying to throw an employee under the bus?

Excellent color choices. I'll order five dozen of those.
OT: Exactly. It's the internet. People will take credit for things they didn't do, pass blame on to people who didn't do it, and leave little proof as to who is actually being an asshole. Of course, given the recent quote from EA, it's probably legit. On the other hand, you can't disagree with their logic. To quote:
"Of course the people who make the game vote for their own game," a senior PR manager said. "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."

 

[Danpascooch]

This just makes me, a genuine fan of the game, look like a Bioware employee.

I can't say I blame the guy though, you would want to try and do something positive to balance out the negativity towards something you worked on. The best intentions, right?

You don't blame the guy for committing fraud? Yeah I would want to do it, but there are plenty of people I want to punch in the face too, but I know I shouldn't do it

This isn't fraud, it is a man who likes the product he made. He never identified himself as someone other than a Bioware Employee in the review he left.

Part of the definition of fraud is gaining an unfair disadvantage by dishonesty, deceit, or trickery.

Deceit by omission is fair game legally if the information omitted is important enough.

 

[Danpascooch]

Why the hell do people all of a sudden care about Metacritic? Before this, all anyone did is dismiss it as stupid. Why now is everyone pointing to it as proof for DA2's shortcomings?

Because it's strong evidence of DA2's shortcomings.

People can yell that Metacritic is flawed all they want, but that doesn't change the fact that every other Bioware game on Metacritic had to deal with the exact same set of flaws, and don't have a score like this one.

So then why hasn't anyone used Metacritic to show a game's good points?

Mass Effect 2 has a 9.0 user score on Metacritic, that score highlights all of its good points, and the reviews there are largely positive.

Are you saying the media doesn't freak when games get good scores, only when they get bad? Because that's not a problem with Metacritic, or with the scoring system, that's a problem with the reporters.

The media is giving Dragon Age 2 fantastic scores. Its the community thats freaking out and pointing to metacritic. What I'm saying is that I haven't seen anyone point to metacritic to point out that a game got great review scores, but bad user scores. Or at least done so in a way thats as big as them doing it to Dragon Age 2.

How is that really relevant to anything? That may be true (though I'm not sure if I agree) but how does the fact that people don't point to it make DA2's score somehow invalid?

The critics gave DA2 substantially lower scores than basically every other major Bioware RPG.

I'm not saying its invalid. I'm just wondering why everyone is pointing to Metacritic to prove DA2 is worse when they've just dismissed everything else about the site before all this.

I think it's because an upset of this severity hasn't happened in a really long time, nobody expected this game to be so poor in comparison to other Bioware RPGs

 

[Shirokurou]

Back to Extra Credits' Open letter to EA with you guys.

 

[Danpascooch]

Why the hell do people all of a sudden care about Metacritic? Before this, all anyone did is dismiss it as stupid. Why now is everyone pointing to it as proof for DA2's shortcomings?

Because it's strong evidence of DA2's shortcomings.

People can yell that Metacritic is flawed all they want, but that doesn't change the fact that every other Bioware game on Metacritic had to deal with the exact same set of flaws, and don't have a score like this one.

One could argue that it's stronger evidence of Metacritic's flaws.

This doesn't seem like the kind of thing everyone should get uppity about. It's so easy it has almost definitely been done before. Just stupid to get caught.

Didn't I just say that's not valid because all of these games are on Metacritic? They all deal with the same set of flaws so the playing field is level, the only difference is the game being reviewed.

It is valid though, and this is because of said flaw with Metacritic. You cannot possibly account for the sample of people that will get off their asses to score a game. It seems to me that this is more likely to be people who are angry that they've spent money on a game they don't like. Maybe that's a dim view of people, but I don't know.
The point I'm making is that low scores like 1 and 2 can be attributed to a game that is, for most intents and purposes, pretty damned good. The visuals are very nice, the gameplay is at the very least engaging, and the writing is not terrible.
Standards vary from person to person, and a person who feels angry at a company for being betrayed by them is likely to think more in hyperbole than a rational scoring system.

Anyway, I don't see these flaws that everyone is pointing out, I'm just saying you cannot possibly state that metacritic is a wide, fair sample.

You are absolutely right that people who are angry are more likely to get off their asses and review it, which begs the question, why are there more people angry with this game than other Bioware RPGs?

The playing field as far as Metacritic is concerned is equal, the game being reviewed is the only major change, if you want to get really technical even the weather outside on release day could have influenced the score, but we're not talking about a 0.5 point drop here, we're talking about a 9/10 for ME2 vs. a 4.2 for DA2

You see, I don't think the playing field is equal. I think that there are more factors than before.
If you consider, for example, this having happened before (to a lesser degree) with Mass Effect 2. Some people who didn't complain before might be more inclined to do so now.
Also, this game is a sequel to a game that was for all intents and purposes, quite like Baldur's Gate. That game is old. Lots of great childhood memories. So if you change that, you upset people. Not me, but some people. The Mass Effect/Mass Effect 2 rift didn't suffer from this problem.
So, I put it to you that, even though all of BioWare's games are subject to MetaCritic, they do not all reach the same fanbase, and this one in particular has a variety of reasons people might feel unhappy or betrayed at the changes, see?

I doubt the unfounded rage is 6x greater than Mass Effect, 50% greater maybe, not 600%.

Anyway, the critic review scores were pretty low too, not low low maybe, but certainly low for a Bioware RPG

 

[Aaron Kern]

Here's my issue. BioWare makes incredible games. They are one of, if not the, best developer in the industry right now. Yes, they don't quite have the extensive history of a Nintendo or SquareEnix. But, I would put the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series in an elite class of games. 99th percentile.

This "scandal" if we can call it that, just distracts from an excellent experience. Would I give DA2 a perfect? No. But, can you make an argument that it is a 10? Certainly.

More importantly, this just adds to EA's latest run of marketing nonsense. Please, just publish the games and tell people about it. BioWare built it...they will come. (Also, please do not take away my license to play Dragon Age 2, kthxbye).

 

[thethain]

Is it worth mentioning that the original review is up on the site, and I have never seen ANY requirements on metacritic stating that to review a game you cannot be tied to it, (or even have played it in case of trolls).

I am leaning towards this is just news grandstanding. But I don't know, as I am not buying the game because they felt it necessary to F steam users by not offering it for pre-order until the DAY after signature edition was no longer available. And then rather than just show some honesty and say "We didn't want to lose the potential money" they tried to shovel the BS line that it just happened to happen like that and that steam wouldn't accommodate them.

I will wait until it hits a steam weekend sale.

 

[Popido]

I'm a judo coach, and I will always support the ones I train. In a match, they will always be in the right, and the judge will be in the wrong. If he judges against us.'

Point is, of course they are defending themself. Why shouldn't they be allowed to? If an author gave his book a good review would we care about it then?

What if a chef told you that he runs a 5 stars restaurant, when in fact its just hes own opinion?

...god damm, I miss honest reviews.

Are you suggesting that a review doesn't contain opinions?

Are you implying that Im wrong on this?

That depends.
Are you suggesting that a review does not have the authors opinions within it?

In that case.
Are you implying that the authors opinion is not biased when judging hes own work?

Are you going to answer my bloody question or just play games? If you're going to keep dodging a simple question I don't see the point in talking with you.

His opinion may or may not be biased, but it doesn't really matter in this context.

I'll give you a hint: Hes opinion is biased. Whatever he says is null.

When you make your null look like a 10 and slap it on to your work as a selling point, you're being dishonest.

While reviewing matters in restaurant business, it doesnt in gaming. Because its homogeneous, therefore null. Game reviews have no meaning as they are null. Even so, people still connect them with other forms of more honest reviews. Game publishers and devs knows this. Thats why they still pay sites to give them better scores.

Shit is so corrupted that they dont even try hide it.

 

[Knight Templar]

I'm a judo coach, and I will always support the ones I train. In a match, they will always be in the right, and the judge will be in the wrong. If he judges against us.'

Point is, of course they are defending themself. Why shouldn't they be allowed to? If an author gave his book a good review would we care about it then?

What if a chef told you that he runs a 5 stars restaurant, when in fact its just hes own opinion?

...god damm, I miss honest reviews.

Are you suggesting that a review doesn't contain opinions?

Are you implying that Im wrong on this?

That depends.
Are you suggesting that a review does not have the authors opinions within it?

In that case.
Are you implying that the authors opinion is not biased when judging hes own work?

Are you going to answer my bloody question or just play games? If you're going to keep dodging a simple question I don't see the point in talking with you.

His opinion may or may not be biased, but it doesn't really matter in this context.

I'll give you a hint: Hes opinion is biased. Whatever he says is null.

When you make your null look like a 10 and slap it on to your work as a selling point, you're being dishonest.

People who created something are able to look at their work critically, but given the context it does not matter.
Also since you have ignored what I have said with every post in addition to falling to answer my question, I don't think you care what I have to say.

 

[rsvp42]

Another brick hits BioWreck.

When will this stop? Maybe someone will remove its EA hat and realize their in the deep end.

Oh and if you think, as an employee working for developer, to artificially inflate the score of said employer's release, at least have the brains to use a nickname that can't be linked back to you.

Really, a dumbass move.

To me, after ME3, it's goodbye to BioWreck. It saddens me, but at this point I don't have much choice. I profoundly hate unethical people/companies. That was the last straw.

A bit overdramatic of you. So the Metacritic score goes from 4.2 to 4.2001? That's "inflating?"

Whatever, if people want to get up in arms about BioWare on this site for stupid reasons, that's their choice. The belligerent self-righteousness on the Escapist is getting almost unbearable.

This has nothing to do with Metacritic. I don't care if they succeeded in kicking their rating up. What I don't and will never digest, is companies using their own workforce to try to compensate for their own lacks. DA2 has serious issues for me as a RPG fan, I disemboweled it on my personal blog and I'm sure BioWreck has read it (I could look up the IPs but I'm too lazy to do so and it also wouldn't serve crap). The thing is, they made a shoddy, fast-tracked game (we can all thank EA for that, again) that displeased many, many RPG fans. As me, several of these people were vocal and made their feelings known.

Now, because of the backlash, BioWreck whom I, for a very long time, have loved and, dare I say it, worshiped, is trying to push themselves out of the muck. Granted, it might or not work, but here it's the intent that counts.

I have nothing against them asking their user-base to go and fix the rating, although I would think that if these users loved the game so much they would've already made their thoughts known.

In one short sentence: This is unethical. It's biased, and BioWreck will reap the "benefit" of it, one way of the other.

How cute, you have a little pet name for them.

BioWare didn't order anyone to do this. It's not their company policy to send people out to make fake reviews for their products and if it was, they would cover their freaking tracks. This is clearly just one employee who made a hasty decision to support his studio and its work. Can we really fault him for that? I'm working on a feature film right now and you better believe I'll give it a good user review if I see others bashing it. I respect the work that we do here and the artists that do it.

As for DA2, I'm sorry to all the "RPG purists" who felt let down. Really, I am. But if we instead look at the game as just a fantasy action RPG with a focus on fast combat and a story that explores the life of a character instead of his/her quest to destroy a big bad boss, then isn't it better? When I play games or watch movies, I take them for what they are and what they try to do. The simple fact of the matter is that DA2 is NOT trying to be DA:O. I don't know if BioWare ever intended it to be like DA:O, but clearly the final product is its own piece of entertainment. Are there flaws? Yes, my main gripe is the repeated environments/dungeons. But as a smaller scale experience with dynamic combat and fun characters/story, DA2 is successful. It's not BioWare's magnum opus, no, but it does what it sets out to do.

You're free to hate BioWare and call it whatever stupid name you want, but I think any reasonable person should just chalk this up as a "meh" and move on. It's like everyone is taking it personally.

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

What a non-issue. 1) He is an individual. 2) He may actually be enthralled with the game, ESPECIALLY after working on a small part of it (apps are far from level design, sorry). 3) He posted a USER review.

This article is an overreaction and a blemish on the Escapist name.

I'm trying to think of something... it might be important...

I remember!

Conflict of Interests.
Bias.

Your argument is invalid.

 

[Always_Remain]

And here I am . . . Playing the game(well. taking a break) . . . Trying not to give a single fuck about this shit storm it has created. It's all kind of amusing really.

 

[TheDrunkNinja]

Question:

Why do people still give a shit as to what Metacritic says? Everyone knows it's as accurate as fuck whether the game is a pile of shit or one of the gateways into enlightenment.

 

[rsvp42]

What a non-issue. 1) He is an individual. 2) He may actually be enthralled with the game, ESPECIALLY after working on a small part of it (apps are far from level design, sorry). 3) He posted a USER review.

This article is an overreaction and a blemish on the Escapist name.

I'm trying to think of something... it might be important...

I remember!

Conflict of Interests.
Bias.

Your argument is invalid.

It's still an overreaction. Everyone has a bias, some stronger than others. The slew of 0 scores on there is evidence of that. It's like no one can have an opinion anymore without divulging their entire personal history. Even Greg Tito was accused of being paid off for his review of DA2. Haters of DA2 should just be happy with their successful review bombs and leave it at that. One or two BioWare employees making their opinions known, even anonymously, is hardly a problem and the Escapist calling it a "scandal" is an overreaction.

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

What a non-issue. 1) He is an individual. 2) He may actually be enthralled with the game, ESPECIALLY after working on a small part of it (apps are far from level design, sorry). 3) He posted a USER review.

This article is an overreaction and a blemish on the Escapist name.

I'm trying to think of something... it might be important...

I remember!

Conflict of Interests.
Bias.

Your argument is invalid.

It's still an overreaction. Everyone has a bias, some stronger than others. The slew of 0 scores on there is evidence of that. It's like no one can have an opinion anymore without divulging their entire personal history. Even Greg Tito was accused of being paid off for his review of DA2. Haters of DA2 should just be happy with their successful review bombs and leave it at that. One or two BioWare employees making their opinions known, even anonymously, is hardly a problem and the Escapist calling it a "scandal" is an overreaction.

But he worked on the game and his lively hood is built into the games success.
By anonymously posting his review he has lost all credibility due to conflict of interests. If he had said "I am a Bioware employee, but this is really how I feel about the game" then he may still be accused of foul play, it would be far less of an issue.

 

[rsvp42]

But he worked on the game and his lively hood is built into the games success.
By anonymously posting his review he has lost all credibility due to conflict of interests. If he had said "I am a Bioware employee, but this is really how I feel about the game" then he may still be accused of foul play, it would be far less of an issue.

Where did it say he worked on the game?

And what credibility? It's a section for user-submitted reviews. There's no way of knowing if anyone on there even played the game, so all "credibility" goes out the window anyway.

So yeah, calling this a scandal is a huge overreaction.