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Ethics and Video Game Reviews
Obiwan Kenobi continues:
The junket used in the article as an example was Ubi Soft's recent Rainbow Six: Raven Shield launch, where the writers got to dress in SWAT garb and have a paintball battle against mock terrorists and disable a dirty bomb. Things like this happen all the time, even more so in the movie industry (which the gaming industry is quickly mirroring).
Not that I was a big-time reviewer or anything. Back in 1997 or so, I ran a small website of my own (hosted on my ISP webspace) called Obiwan Reviews. Since I was just getting out of high school and into college (read: broke), I reviewed Quake mods, such as AirQuake, Quake Rally, After the Fall and others. Soon I tried to spread my wings a little and get a gig at a real gaming site, which would give me the ability to review retail titles. I found that site, frag.com, and the position was given to me by Jonathon "ZyFly" Works after many requests. Though the site itself is no longer with us, the experience was certainly eye-opening.
Technically I only reviewed two retail titles, Tomb Raider 2 and the X-Men Quake mod. I also got Dungeon Keeper and its expansion, The Deeper Dungeons, though I never got around to writing about that one.
In my first "professional" review, I lavished praise on X-Men, which deserved about 75% of it, and the last 25% was, I fully admit (now that I'm nowhere near this "industry") given just because it was free and I'd never gotten a free game before. Yes, it was unethical as hell, but I was under the deluded thinking that if you trash a free game the free games stop coming. I wish I could tell you I knew better, but back then I did not.
An upshot of that bloated thinking came a week later when I got an email from the guys who made that X-Men mod. They thanked me for the kind words and the payoff for some of their hard work.
This is not something that a biased reviewer needs to hear.
This put me in the mindset that "everything is great, just tell em what they want to hear." That way I could get in the industry and be loved by all! Or...so I thought.
After Tomb Raider 2 dropped on my doorstep, I played it for a few days and was very disappointed. Terrible clipping, clunky controls, sometimes buggy levels and graphics. Not that it was all bad, I still had a good time with a few levels, but the majority of the game was a misfire.
But this didn't stop me from hyping it up, telling everyone it was the greatest thing to come out yet.
A week or so later I got another email. Not from the developer, but from a reader. And he was pissed.
While I don't have the email any longer, I certainly remember the gist of it: He bought the game and he saw through my candy-coated review in about thirty minutes. He had trusted my words and was out $50 thanks to me.
I felt terrible and conflicted. I wasn't sure I wanted to review any more at all, considering that I knew there would be others who would purchase titles based on my words. And if those words were false, who was gaining here? The studios producing the titles or myself? The guilt was tough, but the review had ran and a retraction of my gushing paragraphs would mean that nothing I did from then on would be taken seriously. Not that those who purchased TR2 because of my review would do so any longer, but hey, I've got the rest of the readership to worry about.
After some soul searching and mid-terms, I made my decision.
That was my last review for frag.com, and my last video game review. Though I have since written hundreds of movie and DVD reviews, I still look back on those reviews for a free humbling experience any time I need one.
The points that are brought up in articles like the one at Online Journalism are very much factual. If you let yourself be taken in by the free food, games, flights, and gala of a modern-day junket, your reputation is at stake. Roger Ebert has since stopped letting movie studios pay for anything in regards to press gatherings and interview sessions, and I highly commend him for it. Everyone else would be happy to throw a few hundred loving words toward a bad movie because they got to shmooze with the stars and eat an expensive meal alongside them.
This thing happens all the time.
Trust me, I know.
Anyone else think this has really become a problem at penny arcade lately? It seems like every other post is something along the lines of "And microsoft took us out and bought us lunch and showed us this game they are making and its really cool!! It might cost a lot but its so cool!!! Were not selling out, you'll know when we sell out!!!"
It seems like people just know how to work them to get favorable press on anything, and Tycho and Gabe are super willing to just roll over for a free corn dog.
it doesn't show much respect to the victims of the war (both American and muslim)
Making the war sound like it's American vs Muslim just proves you're an idiot trying to stir up trouble. Go back under the rock you crawled out of and die.
Oh, yeah... "Shock and Awe"... That's a **GREAT** idea for a game....
;)
ME: Let's see, disk in Playstation: Check.
ME: Power on: Check.
ME: Memory card: Check.
ME: Controller: Check.
ME: Ahhh, nothing quite like getting a new video game....
PS: (PS boot sequence) Dee-do-dooooooo
PS: **SHOCK**
PS: **AND**
PS: **AWE**
PS: (20 minute intro cinematic).
ME: Woah.
PS: Press START to Begin...
ME: [START]
PS: "Iraq is run by the evil tyrant Saddam Hussein. Press [X] to begin SHOCK AND AWE campaign to remove him from power."
ME: [X]
PS: ****BOOM****
PS: **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM**
PS: **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM**
PS: **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM**
PS: **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM**
PS: **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM** **BOOM**
(....30 seconds later.....)
PS: Congratulations! You have defeated Saddam's forces and liberated the oppressed people of Iraq.
PS: YOU WIN!
PS: (20 minute end credits cinematic)
I mean, honestly: It probably took you longer to read this dumb-ass post than it would to win THAT game.
Stupid Sony.
I can't wait to get the "Civil Unrest Police Action" and "Humanitarian Aid" mission packs.
"Lawyers are for sucks."
- Doug McKenzie
you're an AC you fucking moron!
Come on dickless, post logged in so that I may monitor your bullshit posts and point out how your tiny brain is not capable of forming any real thoughts. You have the mind of a nigger, a dirty, no-good nigger. You should be ashamed of yourself for being so fucking stupid but you're too stupid to realize that you are stupid. Thus, we've got a catch-22. Now, I'm sure if you get around to reading this you'll think, "hey, i'm not stupid. this guy is stupid. fuck him.". but don't you see, that's just the stupid in you; not understanding my intellect and furthermore, not understanding your own stupidity. i will personally pay to have you shipped back to africa. i'm sure if my ancestors had known you people were going to be so much trouble, we would have picked the fucking cotton ourselves.