BioWare Employee Busted in Dragon Age 2 Review Scandal - UPDATED

[Crystalite]

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?

This is not about the games shortcomings. This is about people who are biased trying to influence the voices heard concerning their product.
Not that it really should surprise anyone, it is not exactly a new idea.
But to do it and get caught is not a smart thing to do, simple as that.

 

[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.

 

[ProtoChimp]

DUMBASS. Not exactly the best looking way to get a promotion now is it... dumbass.

 

[Timbydude]

Well, this sure isn't going to help my March Madness bracket where BioWare wins the whole thing...

Seriously, though, their PR for Dragon Age II has been an absolute nightmare. A vocal minority is non-stop bashing the game, that guy got banned from playing for saying that BioWare sold its soul to EA, and now this.

 

[Ancientgamer]

So they were astroturfing? That's seriously illegal shit in the EU. This could have major repercussions if it turns out they were ordered to post the reviews.

Well, this sure isn't going to help my March Madness bracket where BioWare wins the whole thing...

Seriously, though, their PR for Dragon Age II has been an absolute nightmare. A vocal minority is non-stop bashing the game, that guy got banned from playing for saying that BioWare sold its soul to EA, and now this.

Vocal minority? This game's got the worst (professional) review scores of any bioware game in the last decade and near universal disappointment from one of the most loyal fanbases in the gaming industry.

If anything it's a vocal minority still heralding it a new masterpiece.

 

[Sephychu]

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.

 

[Irridium]

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?

 

[Crystalite]

So they were astroturfing? That's seriously illegal shit in the EU. This could have major repercussions if it turns out they were ordered to post the reviews.

I don´t think it will ever, simply because it can not be proven. Even if the names are linked somehow, nothing would be stopping me from creating an account with that name (provided I´m quick enough) and post with it.
But I thank you for my new word of the day, astroturfing. It was new to me.

 

[Arisato-kun]

Because one Metacritic user score really matters right? God forbid an employee likes a game from the company they work for. I don't consider this a big deal at all.

 

[GrandmaFunk]

...You don't blame the guy for committing fraud...

while it's not a very ethical thing to do, this isn't fraud.

 

[Ignatz_Zwakh]

I'm still looking forward to playing this..but that's just weak.

 

[Mittens The Kitten]

Ooooh, busted!!!

Maybe this is BioWare trying to counter those several million 3/10 user review scores....

It probably isn't bioware, if it was, why would an engineer and a designer be doing it in thier actual forum names instead of some PR guy with an anonymous name. To me, it makes a lot more sense that the two offenders felt jilted by the criticality of the reveiws of a project that they worked very hard on. It also doesn't seem like they're trying to be deceptive because they are using thier real names.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

Doesn't this show how unsecure even Bioware employees are about their product? I mean look at Dragon Age: Origins. It was universally acclaimed as being one of the best RPG's of the year, if not decade. There was no controversy sorrounding it. At least no controversy worth nothing. Here comes Dragon Age 2 and not only is is poorly received by players but you've got Bioware employees attempting to inflate the score. I think Bioware's losing it. Or is it EA who's losing it? I don't know, but what I do know for sure is that Bioware was better off as an independent studio.

 

[ComicsAreWeird]

Ouch. Bioware is having a tough month with the "sold your solds to EA " thing and now this.
If this is true, they are losing a lot of fan cred. A shame, since i still think their games are good (though i have to admit i didnt play DA2 yet). Will March Madness be affected by this?

 

[Baneat]

...You don't blame the guy for committing fraud...

while it's not a very ethical thing to do, this isn't fraud.

Is there an ethical distinction between a misleading truth and a lie?(No idea btw, I think it depends on if you're lawful or chaotic)

I just came to realise what DA2 is missing the most, and that's the D&D aspect of the game. The first game to me felt like a D&D campaign, with that overhead chess-piece style gameplay, mana, elves blah blah, and most importantly, you could play in most of the 9 areas of morality.

Now you have "Good","Evil","Dick", and they're not even properly fleshed out.

 

[BloodSquirrel]

Seriously, though, their PR for Dragon Age II has been an absolute nightmare. A vocal minority is non-stop bashing the game, that guy got banned from playing for saying that BioWare sold its soul to EA, and now this.

\

Maybe it's time to admit that the "minority" isn't so minor.

This isn't surprising, though. The entire DA II marketing campaign has been full of Bioware lying to people who had serious concerns about the game. We were told to just wait and see- there?s a bunch of stuff we don?t know yet! Then it turns out that, no, we were pretty much dead on with the whole ?dumbed-down? thing from day one.

The optimist in me hopes that Bioware will take this as a warning and put some actual effort into DAIII. The optimist in me is probably wrong.

 

[Woodsey]

This is all getting so fucking ridiculous. To be honest, I'm almost willing to side with them after all the excessive bitching about the game being "dumbed down", which it hasn't. I see no reason why his one 10/10 rating is much less legitimate then all the people who haven't played the game giving it 1s, 2s and 3s.

[sub]*sips from his BioWare employee-of-the-month mug*[/sub]

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?

Fraud? He's written a positive review of a game under an anonymous username. That's not fraud, surely?

If the company itself had tried to manufacture an official review and then stuck it on all the official coverage and game box , then it'd be so. There was a film a while ago, where the company behind it invented a publication, made up a quote from its "review" and stuck it on all the billboards for the film.

I'm pretty sure it just says the guy works at BioWare too, not that he even worked on the game.

 

[David Bray]

Hated the demo, didn't like Dragon Age: Origins, despise this. I shall not be getting DA2 as I feel Bioware, one of my favourite developers, has dropped the ball with this franchise, made abundantly clear by seeing the need to bolster and fake stats for its benefits.

Shame on you.