BioWare Employee Busted in Dragon Age 2 Review Scandal - UPDATED

[Labcoat Samurai]

For one, just voting on it and putting a review up are different things,

A user review is just a score vote plus a comment. If the problem is that he's altering the aggregate score, then it's the same as a vote on IMDB. If the problem is that he's saying good things about the game without disclosing his affiliation, then it's the same as a comment on a forum. Is the combination of the two somehow greater than the sum of the parts?

hell, if only for the fact it's close to impossible to distinguish whether or not it's an honest opinion.

Which is always the case. I could go write a lie review right now. It's an internet user community with virtually no accountability. There is no expectation that people will be unbiased in their reviews, so why is it critical to disclose factors that indicate bias? Another reviewer might be a massive Final Fantasy fanboy who always gives poor reviews for western RPGs even without playing them. We have no way of knowing. And honestly, we have little reason to care.

For another thing, have you read the review? I've said it before, either the guy's a complete moron going by what he wrote, or he's lying through his teeth. Either way, no respect to be given whatsoever. Ignoring for a moment the glaring conflict of interests.

Yes, I read the review. It was a short paragraph that basically amounts to "The game is really good. A lot of people are overreacting, because it wasn't what they wanted, but for what it is, it's excellent."

Maybe you read a different review? Because that sounds pretty reasonable and accurate to me.

 

[Hatchet90]

Whatever, once Mass Effect 3 comes out everyone is going to hop on the bandwagon and say, "OMG BIOWARE IS THE BEST EVAR!".

Also I don't see how this is a big deal, I agree with the statement that voting for yourself isn't wrong.

 

[mastiffchild]

While I don't LIKE what EA/Bioware employees have done here it pales into insignificance when you look at the behaviour of Greenawalt and T10 around the release of Forza3. doesn't it? This kind of thing wouldn't have been reported on when they had employees rigging polls and chief execs badmouthing the competition and bandying round words like "definitive" when their game failed to have damn features other racers had in past generations let alone this one. the nearest thing to definitive they did was in displaying exactly how I don't want a dev to behave. Ever.

So, T10's arrogance and assumption we were all dim was a lot worse than this and I guess the raps DA2 took in user reviews from RPG purists unhappy with the change in combat and/or the lack of the PC isometric view was way more understandable-wasn't it? Sure, they look daft after being caught doing it but aren't we over reacting when many devs do much worse things all the time? Like the Gerstmann affair? Like Eidos being accused of score fixing over Underworld? Like the wanton, ignorant arrogance of Kotick and his slash and burn approach to series management and lack of any concern for whether gaming exists two years from now(when he'll claim a balance sheet success and move, vampire like, to his next victim industry as gaming's bigger franchises die in his wake?

So, this is silly, sloppy and a little amusing but hardly a scandal, is it? In fact,. the only mildly wrong thing they did was not say who they were in their user reviews.

 

[THEoriginalBRIEN]

Last time I checked, anyone could post a review on Metacritc.

 

[LetalisK]

What pisses me off the most is this is probably going to fuck up my March Mayhem bracket since I had Bioware to win.

 

[mikespoff]

Of course "that's how it works". Seriously, this is not a major published review - it's a user comment on freakin' Metacritic. This is like an author getting their dad to say something nice about their book in an Amazon user review.

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

The situation first came to light when a Reddit [http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/g3td7/dragon_age_2_conspiracy_highest_rated_metacritic] user noticed that the top Dragon Age 2 user review on Metacritic, written by the aforementioned Avanost

The top user review? What does that even mean? As if hes the only one to give it a 10.

This is a non-story. The author of the story talks about deceptive it is that the reviewer wasnt forthcoming. But they seemingly forget we are talking about user-reviews, where probably half of the 10/10 ratings and nearly all of the 0/10 ratings are from fanboys or anti-fanboys who never even played the game.

User-reviews are there for anyone to post, no questions asked. The review could be from a fan, from an employee, from a journalist, from Saddam Hussein's ghost. It doesnt matter. Because no one reads them anyway. They are there to generate traffic because fan boys love to argue. This will become scandalous when people take user-reviews seriously.

 

[CaptainVanguard]

The game is good.

As Arishok would say:

There is nothing further to discuss.

 

[PrinceofPersia]

UPDATE: Electronic Arts has apparently decided to balls it out with a statement to Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/#!5782097/dragon-age-ii-dev-rates-his-own-game-on-metacritic-ea-bets-obama-voted-for-himself-too] that actually defends the review as no big deal. "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."

Okay face palm time just turned into head smack time.


Seriously though EA STOP IT! And Bioware meet me at camera four:

Bioware, I know EA bought you guys and has shares in your company but don't follow down their deceptive path. Sure the profits look delicious, but the taste is bitter and foul. Remember who you guys are: you're storytellers, developers of goodness, and purveyors of epic-ness. You don't need to sink to EA's level. You don't need to sell your souls to create great games, just be yourselves. And remember,
The Force will be with you always [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hFWz145aJc]

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

UPDATE: "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."[/B]

Actors and musicians don't disguise themselves and use their talents to deceive judges. Politicians are liars, but that's why no one likes them. Because they lie, not because they vote on themselves.

No one is upset because a Bioware employee is pulling for their success. It's the act of deception that people are objecting to. A Bioware employee who checks a mark to vote for DA2 for Game of the Year is just voting on himself. A Bioware employee who poses as a user of a commercial product rather than the developer and posts a review in order to deceive others into buying the product is being deceptive.

He didn't just vote on himself. He voted on himself and also deceived meta-critic readers.

 

[Skratt]

I've played the demo. It's nothing special. The dialogue to character motion is the biggest problem I had. It might be fun for a spin, when the game drops in price.

Sorry Bioware, I still love you, but please stop pulling bullshit stunts like the EA lapdog we all hope you aren't.

 

[vxicepickxv]

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.

I wrote a single review under user reviews. Where do my interests lie? I think it's mostly because I haven't bothered getting around to writing another one, more than anything else.

 

[vxicepickxv]

UPDATE: "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."[/B]

Actors and musicians don't disguise themselves and use their talents to deceive judges. Politicians are liars, but that's why no one likes them. Because they lie, not because they vote on themselves.

No one is upset because a Bioware employee is pulling for their success. It's the act of deception that people are objecting to. A Bioware employee who checks a mark to vote for DA2 for Game of the Year is just voting on himself. A Bioware employee who poses as a user of a commercial product rather than the developer and posts a review in order to deceive others into buying the product is being deceptive.

He didn't just vote on himself. He voted on himself and also deceived meta-critic readers.

I'd rather get user based reviews from a collection of blog sites and independent forums than a single user review site. Of course, if I'm feeling like I want my brain to melt, I could just go ask the /b/tards.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I must be crazy. I liked Dragon Age 2 just as much as Dragon Age: Origins.

 

[ArmorArmadillo]

This isn't shocking at all. I've posted fake reviews for my company, and yes I felt dirty but if you spent some time poking around cnet you'd find that tons of the reviews are fake. Same with google apps and the Apple store.

Ask yourself this, why wouldn't they? Why would they not take every effort to market a game they invested this much money in?

The only really shocking thing is that the guy would make such an obvious blunder with a perfect review, a smarter employee would have made sure to pepper in some fake criticisms and have a positive but not super-glowing review.

This is what comes from letting everyone write in anonymous opinions. This is why people need professional critics.

 

[Sacman]

"Anything negative you'll see about this game is an overreaction of personal preference. "

Well I agree a bit with that... though some complaints are genuine...

But honestly he's just being childish about this...
Then again, however, it's just one user review I don't see how this really effects it...