BioWare Employee Busted in Dragon Age 2 Review Scandal - UPDATED

tkioz

Fussy Fiddler
May 7, 2009
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I think it might have had something to do with the people who hadn't even played the game giving it 1/10 on the day it came out because they considered it "dumbed down for the console tards".

Of course a developer would get pissed that people that haven't even played the damn thing are dissing it and be tempted to make a counter point, doesn't make it right, does make it understandable.

Personally I'm enjoying DA2, it's different to DA:0 but meh, it's good and fun, and I don't find it dumbed down at all.
 

SpaceCop

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Feb 14, 2010
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It isn't already becoming too gauche to complain about the EA-ification of BioWare, I hope, because damn a lot of their decisions of late smack of publishing house meddling.

I preferred Dragon Age II to its predecessor, but this is a dick move. People may be able to vote for themselves at the Oscars, but they don't sit disguised in the audience telling everyone how flawlessly awesome their performance was.
 

Ellen of Kitten

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Nov 30, 2010
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smut said:
I don't think 2 Bioware reviews is going to counteract the hundreds of zero reviews left by 4chan. They raided Metacritic to leave bad reviews, I saw the thread on 4chan with my own eyes.
Why'd they go and do that? (even 4chan tends to have some reason... even if it's for lols. :p)
 

beema

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Aug 19, 2009
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Wow, that's mindbogglingly stupid.
EA looks stupid for defending them too.
 

cypherslock

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Dec 25, 2008
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Funny, I had this feeling that I should just stick with DA:O (considering the wealth of DLC I've not yet gotten to). I'll be doing that I think.
 

Gormers1

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Apr 9, 2008
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I wouldnt call this a candal and I dont see why anyone would be riled up about it. Its unethical I guess but he might actually like the game a big huggy bunch himself. Like metacritic would loose its *grand integrity* by having something like this happen.
 

cefm

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Mar 26, 2010
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No, this is not a problem. If this BioWare employee was ALSO running a video game rating site under an alias and was consistently pimping BioWare games and slamming the competition, then maybe there would be an issue. Or if BioWare were to pressure GameSpot into firing a reviewer or altering his review because it was critical of one of their games (I'm looking at YOU Kane & Lynch) then it would be an issue.

But this is one guy posting his own opinion on a site that encourages users from the public to post their own opinions of games.

What exactly is the problem? As the EA guy said - "I'm pretty sure Barack Obama voted for himself in the last Presidential Election".
 

Levethian

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Nov 22, 2009
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Just a user review?
It's lame, but it doesn't much surprise me given all the unwarranted 0/1 scores it got from angry DA:O fans. I'd be peeved too. Hardly a scandal.
Many of the DA2 user reviewers have only reviewed 1 game as well, or DA2 on various platforms. Why not investigate where their interests lay? We might find them all to be the same vehemently angry D&D nerd mourning the loss of isometric tactical RPG's.
 

shurryy

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Nov 7, 2010
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This really isn't the kind of stuff I want to read. I end up doing it and feel really bad afterwards as if I want to take a second look at my games and question myself: "Are these Bioware Titled games really that good as they appear...?"

And I came to lots of unfortunate conclusions. :(

Why?
 

Saviordd1

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Jan 2, 2011
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*facepalm*
Bioware, im a huge fan, all of your games are awesome (including DA2) But i cant support you if your idiots like this, just stop while your not 100% dead and let the trolls troll and make DA3 a good middle ground between the first 2 then we can all go back to loving each other
 

Labcoat Samurai

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Feb 4, 2010
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maantren said:
Anyone who can't see why disclosure of a conflict of interest is important in these sorts of things needs to crack an ethics book or just grow up by a few years.
Disclosure of a conflict of interest is important to journalistic integrity, but this is the same forum where this review appears:

This is the worst steaming pile of poop i have ever played. I am not joking. This second is not even comparable to DA1. And to top it off they paid reviewers and are making fake reviews for it on metacritic. Wow... This is sad and probably the worst sequel i have ever played. If you are considering buying this dont, its a total step backwords in every way. Worst game i have played in a while
Metacritic user reviews are a slight step up from Youtube comments. I don't think there's the same expectation of journalistic quality, here.
 

Murmillos

Silly Deerthing
Feb 13, 2011
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I'm sure this activity isn't just in the gaming world. I'm sure on autos.yahoo.com, some BMW designer is writing a glowing owners review right now.
Or on some gun form. Somebody from S&W pretending to be a user is poetically masturbating about their new handgun.
If there is a rating system for something, somebody whos had a hand in making it has self rated it.
Everbody who is pretending that it shouldn't happen or is raging on how immoral it is is just being overly dickish.

Just as you should never believe in a single "professional" review, you should never believe in a single user review either. Its going to happen and trying white knight the siutation by calling people out on only makes everybody involved look like a pile of dicks.
 

Labcoat Samurai

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Feb 4, 2010
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Carnagath said:
How you find nothing wrong with a developer reviewing his own game with a perfect score and under an alias is beyond me. I understand that you like Bioware and stuff, but surely that doesn't filter all the logical processes of your mind...?
User reviews are biased as hell anyway. People give a 0 score when they can't possibly think the game is that bad just because they want their review to count for more. I remember years ago there being periodic review wars between Shawshank Redemption fans and Godfather fans on IMDB. Neither of those movies deserves a 1 by any sane reckoning, but look how many 1/10 reviews they have. Some people mod down games that are console exclusives just because they own the other console. Some people mod a game down for its press. Some people mod a game down because they are fans of another game that competes with it.

These reviews are already completely lacking in integrity. Its the sheer volume of them and the "was this helpful?" vote that is intended to separate the wheat from the chaff.
 

DevilWolf47

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Nov 29, 2010
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Seriously...? I thought BioWare was better than that.

EA, now even the smaller companies under your control are turning into stupid jokes. You see what you're doing to us with your bullshit controversies and now your bad reviews?
 

Labcoat Samurai

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Feb 4, 2010
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plikis1 said:
I hope the guy gets sacked.
Really? Has the internet lost its mind? You want a guy to lose his job over this? Posting a positive user review on metacritic is about as meaningful as posting a positive comment on the escapist, or clicking a star rating on IMDB.

I myself have a real life job. I work for a real life company (not a game company, though). And I could totally see myself, in my free time, jumping to their defense if I thought people were unfairly ragging on them. Would I feel the need to disclose my connection? Probably not. I'm a person, not a corporate shill, and I trust myself to give my honest opinion. So if I did so, I guess you'd think that I should be kicked out on the street and have to start cashing out investments to pay my bills.

EDIT: I'm going to add to this, because I'm still just blown away by how crazy this seems. A guy comes out and says "This game is really good. A lot of people felt like it wasn't the game they wanted and are overreacting, but for what it is, it's great", and this is apparently a craven and nefarious attempt on the part of a greedy megacorporation to drive up sales, and everyone involved (who is probably just the one guy), should be ashamed. And the guy himself, who is probably a reasonable and nice enough guy for all we know, should be thrown out on the street.
 

Labcoat Samurai

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Feb 4, 2010
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plikis1 said:
Yeah, has the internet lost its mind? Since when has honesty ceased to be a fucking value around here?
I guess if that wasn't his honest opinion, he was being dishonest. I see no particular reason to believe that was the case, but let's say, for sake of argument, that it was. If Natalie Portman went on IMDB and voted 10/10 for "The Black Swan", do you think she should suffer serious career repercussions? It's essentially the same thing.
 

Worr Monger

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Jan 21, 2008
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vrbtny said:
Ooooh, busted!!!

Maybe this is BioWare trying to counter those several million 3/10 user review scores....
Basically this... Apparently there are plenty of bullshit reviews out there already. This will just be another one.

Big deal, I'm sure they aren't the first people to have done it.

Bottom line... You can't fully rely on the reviews of Dragon Age II... you'll just have to play it and judge for yourself, or not play it... Just like every other game, go figure...
 

Labcoat Samurai

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Feb 4, 2010
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Murmillos said:
Or on some gun form. Somebody from S&W pretending to be a user is poetically masturbating about their new handgun.
I've heard of people waxing poetic, but this is the first time I've heard of people whacking off poetic.

(I also considered "knob polishing" poetic)