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Unbiased Game Reviews Through Micropayments

Posted by Hemos on from the cool-ideas dept.

a reader writes:"Fed up of games reviewers giving in to advertiser pressure to go easy on high-budget turkeys? A group of distinguished British videogames journalists has set up an independent site called Digiworld. It's funded by an interesting micropayment system: you pay 50 pence (about 80 cents US) a week for full access, although new content is available for free on weekdays (details here). For extra geek appeal, the look of the site imitates the 8-bit Mode 7 graphics of Teletext, a British system that uses spare TV signal bandwidth to transmit pages of textual information (some of the staff previously worked on a Teletext gaming page called Digitiser). Even if you're not a gamer, the bizarre humor and characters make the site worth checking out."

7 of 48 comments (clear)

  1. Micropayments don't work by NetDanzr · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Having unbiased reviews is certainly a good intention, but in the current competitive environment, micropayments don't work. They are moderately successful in small, niche markets or foreign languages, but not in gaming review sites written in English. If you really want unbiased reviews, you head to sites like Gamerankings that lists all reviews, and you'll find something you need.

    The only time micropayments work is if everybody else in a niche uses some sort of payment. This niche can be either topic-oriented or language-oriented. The important thing is that it has a limited audience that is unable to reach quality free content.

  2. This is marketing bullshit by BobTheLawyer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    80c per week is not a micropayment: it's just a low subscription fee

    A micropayment is when a vendor charges an amount which is almost imperceptible to the purchaser. The example normally given is a teenager paying a few cents to listen to one-time-only Britney Spears single on their mobile phone.

    Mobile phones are ideal for micropayments, because their fee structures are designed for charging lots of small amounts. Credit cards are not, and the fees merchants are charged reflect this, which is why this website uses Paypal and Nochex. Personally I wouldn't trust either: they are as fragile as any other internet business and when they go bust you are most unlikely to see your money again. (And, getting off-topic, it's scandalous that they are effectively acting as banks but not regulated as such - expect much wailing and gnashing of teeth when people lose money.)

  3. gah. horrible site design by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If I'm going to pay 80 cents a week, as low as that is, I want to be able to read the site. God, the design of that site is *horrendous*. I gave up after the second 'tour' page and just started randomly clicking. It turns out the entire *site* is just that bad.

    I've got a 1920x1200 screen but their pages display about 30 words per page, have awful colors and one of the stupidest navigation systems I've ever seen.

    I can only imagine that a half-decent game review will take up perhaps 3,000 words which, at the words per page rate of the examples I saw, would take probably 50 pages - not including any screenshots they may want to offer.

    Gaaah. My head hurts.

  4. MicroPayments by Johnny+Mnemonic · · Score: 4, Insightful


    Simply paying for content isn't enough to make it unbiased; I pay for subscriptions to Electronic Gaming Monthly and IGN, and that doesn't guarantee bias-free reporting.

    The only thing that would help is to have ad-free mags, which means that the readers would have to pay enough to support the entire costs of the mag, and I don't see that happening with micropayments. And even at that, it would only be part of the puzzle--developers would still be able to hold out carrots like "privileged access to employees", "exclusive first reviews" and access to games and hardware to hold over the head of reviewers they don't agree with.

    --

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    $tar -xvf .sig.tar
  5. why pay? by roegerle · · Score: 3, Informative

    why pay when there are sites like www.snackbar-games.com honest and humorous reviews...enjoy

  6. Slashvertisement by DavidLeblond · · Score: 3, Funny

    Here are 2 tips on how to spot a Slashvertisement:

    1. The submitter's name is "a reader"
    2. The article praises the site's design, when the site's design looks like it was done by a five year old.

  7. Best Server Error Ever Award by coryboehne · · Score: 3, Funny

    I just went there and was attempting to check out their site when I received this error,
    """
    Digi-me-don't: Unsuper Mess-up 500
    Mrrrrrr rrrrrr brrrr nrrrrrrr. Brrrrr nrrrrgh grrrrrr nrr rrrr.
    /
    Man, you've managed to bust us up good. That was no ordinary error, it was a 500 server thing, which means the Digi SCIENCE has coughed up its lungs. A report is on the way to famous technician Coleman Tillman so he can unbung the rubbishness. If you think you might know what went wrong, you can contact him: here: 500-me-do@digiworld.tv.

    In the meantime, poke listlessly at your browser's Back button or restart Digi. (The latter'll log you out, mind.)
    """

    Now, I agree about the teletext, but the error is just clever as hell...