FTC Complaint about Anthony Burch / Destructoid

[Velventian]

For everyone who missed it (like i till a few minutes ago)

http://attackongaming.com/gaming-talk/borderlands-2-writer-outs-destructoid-as-corrupt-in-wake-of-gamergate/

So apparently Anthony Burch calls us misogynists cause we didn´t act when he used his friendly relationship with destructoid to get Borderlands 2 a better score. So were you dissapointed with Borderlands 2? Have you bought it based on good scores only to see it not living up to the promise? Well now we know who to thank for that!

So who are we to deny the man!

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/Information#crnt&panel1-1

I am sure the Feder Trade Commission would just love to hear about someone posting online that he used a personal relationship to give his product a better score. I mean after all that is lying to you customers and selling them a false product.

So choose from the right however you please and make sure the FTC knows how much solidarity Anthony Burch is showing his beloved co-devs!

 

[DataSnake]

Yeah, he's just citing that as an example of a dev being friends with publishers, not saying there was anything illicit going on. His entire point is that this so-called "corruption" isn't actually a big deal, and nobody treated it like one until it presented an opportunity to harass women.

EDIT: also, I'd advise against wasting the FTC's time with this. I'm not sure if filing a frivolous report is a criminal offense, but why risk it?

 

[Panda Pandemic]

So... people talk about worries of SJWs ruining games, but it seems it's that side that wants to cause financial trouble for a game I do like and it's totally not at all because the writer spoke against them.

He also didn't say he used connections, he's pointing out the kind of connection that people complained could lead to it

So dishonest narrative here and trying to cause trouble for a writer of a game I like. Yeah I feel pretty comfortable standing on the other side when it is this nonesense now and nothing good like the TFYC thing.

 

[Mikeybb]

He doesn't state the connections were exploited in any way.

He's disclosed them, albeit as an attack on gamergate.
The disclosure is the important aspect.

Now, if in the future one of the listed people/sites gives an amazing review to something that other places are criticizing, then there may be an issue.

 

[Velventian]

Of course this is meant mostly a shot across the bows. But honestly if someone wants to try filing a report i`m not stopping anyone.
That guy steps up insulting people claiming how he could have done it.
Thats like someone running up to you yelling at you how he could break open your car. He´s probably not gonna do it but you still would wanna give that guy a whopping.
So the guy should be scared that someone actually filed a report, which given this is the internet we are talking about, we can be pretty sure someone already has. Just pitch the idea to 4chan and they will dog-pile him.
Thats exactly they kind of behavior from devs/journalists that keeps making this mess worse and worse and this was just an attempt to dis-encourage that.

 

[EternallyBored]

Some poor unpaid intern or low-level government bureaucrat is going to have to waste time reading any false reports sent in, don't waste that persons time with something that the FTC has no concern over.

Major companies and lobbyists do far more morally grey things everyday, the FTC is not there to punish people you personally consider to be unethical, and no, a single employee being friends with a product reviewer is not a violation of anything legally, even if he had actually used that friendship to get the games he worked on reviewed better (which he doesn't actually state, and good fucking luck proving that to a real legal body's satisfaction).

There is nothing in those tweets that indicates any sort of wrongdoing that would warrant even considering submitting a complaint to the FTC, don't waste the governments time and resources because someone on the internet was being a jerk to you.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

He's annoyed because during this research into game journalist corruption no one made the link between his good game getting a good review because a single employee used to work for the gaming website.

But it's likely this flew under the radar because Borderlands 2 got good reviews from everyone. It was actually fairly objective to praise the game since it was a good game. Why would we start to scrutinize reviews that have nothing seemingly wrong when there is so much crazy crap happening down in the indie 'Frisco scene?

When we backtracked to look at corruption, we started with Quinn and worked our way out. Well liked AAA games reviews haven't been scrutinized because we haven't worked our way out that far, if we ever get round to it. Heck I don't think we have actually left the indie scene yet because it's such a spiderweb of connections especially since the indie game awards shows were shown to be possibly fraudulent due to the winners connections to the management of the thing.

 

[Eacaraxe_v1legacy]

Oh for chrissake.

We all know Butthurt is a raging asshole. His entire fucking point is moot, because when he brought on his sister to voice act in BL2 he was openly questioned about it by gamers until he made a public statement. She did good in the role and everyone was happy, except Butthurt because he lived up to the nickname and was rightfully questioned for it.

Every other goddamn gaming journalism controversy we all know about by now contradicts his point. If he genuinely doesn't know about this, he's ignorant and tone-deaf; if he does, he's completely full of shit and just pushing "the narrative".

Bitching because devs have casual friendships and contacts with journalists is irrational, unreasonable, and missing the point. If they're close friends the journalist should disclose or recuse, as appropriate, to avoid appearance of impropriety, sure.

If you keep this crap up, you're just giving journalists fuel to keep ignoring our complaints and claiming this is all about misogyny. So, stop. Let Butthurt be butthurt, and tell Gearbox and Destructoid to piss up a rope by voting with your wallet and browsing habits.

 

[Pogilrup]

I'm afraid that since he did just broadcast it on Twitter that does count as a disclosure of sorts. So there is no point in reporting it to the authorities.

On the upside though, he has managed to disgrace himself in public.

 

[The Lunatic]

If you went into the police department and said "This guy said he was going to break into my car, he yelled at me in the street about it."

They'd tell you to wait until he did it. Because that's how the police work.

Unless you're a women in the UK, if a recent and worrying trend it to be believed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-29034943
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2623316/Twitter-troll-42-posted-sickening-messages-praising-killing-teacher-Ann-Maguire-jailed-eight-weeks.html
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/twitter-trolls-jailed-over-menacing-abuse-sent-to-feminist-campaigner-caroline-criadoperez-9082213.html

All I did was google "Twitter Troll UK" and these are the top results.

It seems very rarely abused aimed at males is treated equally as that aimed at females.

 

[The Lunatic]

Snip

Ah, yes, the good old fashioned "That's not relevant at all" despite the fact it clearly is and you obviously haven't actually read up on what these are about.

I'm not going to waste time on debating such things.

Let me know when you want to actually talk about things rather than just instantly discounting it because it's not what you want to hear. There's very little point in discussion otherwise.

 

[1Life0Continues]

Snip

Ah, yes, the good old fashioned "That's not relevant at all" despite the fact it clearly is and you obviously haven't actually read up on what these are about.

I'm not going to waste time on debating such things.

Let me know when you want to actually talk about things rather than just instantly discounting it because it's not what you want to hear. There's very little point in discussion otherwise.

What are you talking about? First off, I was using the original 'threatening to break into someone's car' analogy and you used 'stalking and threatening to rape' as the same thing. They aren't.

Secondly, I don't know what country you live in, but laws are different in every country for a reason. Stalking laws in the UK are different than in the US. And what those people were doing weren't just making idle trolling comments on twitter, they amounted to what more or less is stalking (I'm an American, I think it may be defined as something else, but that's how the law was spelled out to me on their UK .gov page). That is against the law in this country.

You can't compare something that is actively against the law in one country to something that is completely legal in another. Also, I didn't shut down the debate, you did. I debated my side, stating my case, and you are the one that said I didn't read up on them. I read the news articles, then I went and read the .gov site, seeing as how I actually live in the UK and this would personally effect me (as I actually have a stalker and have had to put in numerous protection orders in America that went no where).

I looked through it, and came to those conclusions. That it's not the same at all. He didn't make any idle threats on twitter, he made statements about his relationship with a journalist.

Moreover, he lives in the US. Which means any law that is outside of the US doesn't apply to him. I mean, he would be put to death in some countries for being openly bisexual. But thankfully he lives in the US and doesn't have to worry about that. Also, the Daily Mail and the Standard are known for click baiting and for hyping up stories. If you want a good story that is somewhat more general and unbiased try Reuters UK.

But that's right, you didn't want to debate me. Or is it, you wanted to try to throw some stories at me, and when I had some sort of brain inside my head, it was too much to bear? That happens a lot to me. People can't stand that I have a brain. I really should just get it removed and start parroting what everyone else around me is saying. Seems like you guys have it much easier.

*applause*

You are quickly becoming one of my favourite posters here. Sharp as a tack, on point and frankly a breath of fresh air from the usual circle jerking that seems to happen in these kinds of threads.

Thank you.

 

[Hoplon]

"Why are you guys complaining about Zoe Quinn? I've also had journalist friends give me biased reviews! Wait... that's also bad? ....shit."

I honestly don't see how Burch implicating himself was a in any way a smart move. That being said, not exactly sure why the FTC needs to be brought into this.

Because he didn't sat that, just that Gearbox has lots of connections to sites that have actually given games he's worked on positive reviews.

Unlike Quinn.