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Astroturfing. And the control and manipulation of opinion.
littlemonkey
Member UncommonPosts: 61
Who are you talking to?
littlemonkey
"Every month more evidence piles up, suggesting that online comment threads and forums are being hijacked by people who aren't what they seem. The anonymity of the web gives companies and governments golden opportunities to run astroturf operations: fake grassroots campaigns that create the impression that large numbers of people are demanding or opposing particular policies.
I was contacted by a whistleblower. He was part of a commercial team employed to infest internet forums and comment threads on behalf of corporate clients, promoting their causes and arguing with anyone who opposed them.
Like the other members of the team, he posed as a disinterested member of the public. Or, to be more accurate, as a crowd of disinterested members of the public: he used 70 personas, both to avoid detection and to create the impression there was widespread support for his pro-corporate arguments..."
Read more here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/feb/23/need-to-protect-internet-from-astroturfing?INTCMP=SRCH
{mod edit - edited title. Please do not copy entire articles from other sites. An excerpt and link is fine}
{OP edit - tried to re-edit title, unable. Inserted text from article OP wanted.}
Comments
Don't really see what it all has to do with SWTOR, but okay.
It's strange that you would link this, I have had my concerns over this for quite some time.
There are companies out there that gain and lose clients i.e. customers, they stand to gain or lose a lot of money. Take Blizzard for example, they just lost 2 million subscribers. Do you think they just sit back and let that 30 million dollar a month income go away? No, they hire people to use forums to get people away from what their reports display is drawing their customer base away. Spend 500,000 on payroll to employ people to get back lost revenue.
It only makes sense, but sometimes I do feel like a paranoid conspiracy theorist, but I do have to admit, it makes a lot of sense.
I know that companies and governments already use this method to gain popular opinion, why would'nt those other large companies who are worth as much as small countries.
I am not saying that it is being done, but I have had my thoughts about this. This could be a topic for my next story... How Disney secretly took over the world... Duh Duh Duhhhhh.
Now I'm off to speculate how events in Roswell and Aliens in ancient Babylonia co-existed in different dimensions... Just kidding!
Maybe=)
Edit: I am not saying Blizzard or Disney is doing this mind you, Attention: legal departments=)
Plausible situtation, but why post it about SWTOR only? It should be about all MMOs, or do you belive that, if it is done, only EA/BW are doing it?
Edited.
I sure hope I'm not a Cylon
The problem with this is that only a very small part of the entire gaming community uses forums. Banking a 5 or 10 or 20 million subscriber empire on what they hope a bunch of slack jawed forum goers can muster through their "connections" (to other forum go'ers) isn't exactly a recipe for success.
Would YOU put out a lot of viral marketing on these forums? Do you really think anything we say here matters to ...well.. anyone other than ourselves? At the end of the day we're all going to make up our own minds (or have already made them up) about what we're playing... forum PvP is just a mini-game in our MMO of life.
If you are trying to imply from this message that EA/Bioware is planting sleeper agents to flood forums with positive posts regarding SWTOR, you may have too much thinking time on your hands.
If they were concerned about the quality of their product and whether or not it would succeed, thus prompting them to plant these types of individuals @ specific game-related sites, I don't believe they would have lifted the NDA one month before their launch.
I haven't read a single legitimate post after the NDA was lifted that completely bashes the game. Bioware probably has better things to do (like get ready for Dreamhack) then worry about silly forum posts.
Most of us have known about these kinds of operations for a while now, but those things are only done in regards to issues that really cost serious money. MMORPG's do not fall into that category for one, for another, there's no real need to create that kind of perception about a game as most gamers can't help themselves and will try anything new. We also know that hype deosn't do a damn thing for player retention, that falls solely on the merits of the game. The movie / TV industry makes a lot more money than the gaming industry, yet they don't resort to those kinds of tactics. What you're speaking of is the primary interface between governments and big business in regards to taxes, laws and political policies and even the interface between the electorate and their own government when special interests interfere.
Did anyone else wonder at the U.S. Air Force asking for software assign ip addresses? They arguably have the most advanced hardware on the planet, yet they are struggling with a dns/dhcp server?
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
interesting stuff. of course it does .. or at least can .. go both ways. Blizzard makes fake accounts to talk crap about swtor .. swtor makes fake accounts to talk crap about Blizzard .. cold wars are sad.
LFD tools are great for cramming people into content, but quality > quantity.
I am, usually on the sandbox .. more "hardcore" side of things, but I also do just want to have fun. So lighten up already
If you are not a Lemming, then what does it matter?
People need to think for themselves. Not just parrot what they have read and heard.
And as the others, why is this about SWG? Has nothing to do with it.
the only companies i have known to do this(well, get caught anyway) are microsoft and EA with a few shills on gamefaqs and neoGAF, like 6 years ago.
oh, and Bioware earlier this year.
Hey guys, check out my new invention: It's called a Jump To Conclusions Mat!
Link?
LMAO
The following statement is false
The previous statement is true
I am old enough and smart enough to formulate my own opinion and create on that with no outside source changing that opinion unless I was presented strong evidence to the contrary. There are a lot of people out there that go with the flow per se. If the common opinion is to hate something, they will in fact start to lose interest or build their own disinterest in that topic.
There are far more people surfing the internet than you give credit for, anyone and I mean anyone who plays an MMO has access to the internet, they have to. Why would they not exercise that right to information and apply it to gathering information?
I have seen a lot of games released in my time playing MMO's, 99' was when I started. None have recieved as much hatred and anger as SW:TOR pre-release. The internet is a buzz with people fighting over why we should see their opinion or attacking "Fan-Boys" It is a domino effect when you see this in action, 5-10 people representing 100-500 fake personas spreading disinterest and hatred towards a topic is far more powerful than you give credit for.
I do a lot of research, earlier this year this topic was part of that research. I'm sure there are others out there that have a lot more information about this than me, I'm just a writer, I learn just enough to make a good story about it then I move on to the next topic of research.
The human voice is one of the most powerful forces of this day and age, swaying that voice to do your bidding is an artform. Hello Politicians=)
How is this news? Don't people know companies have been paying reviewers to do similiar practices for ages? Only makes sense that they might inject their work through forum users or commenters, specially with people being more influenced by social media opinion. I'll bet a good bit of posative SWTOR (just since its the section, can relate to any game really) is actually done by such a format. While I'm sure some 'negative' versions are being influenced, I'll bet a good majority of those comments are the possative ones. Its a lot easier to praise your own work and fill up a forum faster then to flood several dozen other games to make your product look better.
Oh, and while I feel SWTOR is guilty of this in a larger part, I feel that pretty much every single game company does this to some degree, whether its a swarm of these users and posts or just a single employee supportive of their product they push it towards everyone else.
It would be a challenge to pull this off on this forum. We tend to see a few people with 1 post spam the forum sometimes, but they are instantly labeled as an agent of a game. The truth about MMO tends to surface rather quickly on these forums, especially games like SWTOR which many people will try. I base my opinion on the community as a whole, and not a single individual.
The only developer to ever admit to implementing viral marketing was Brad McQuaid back when Vanguard was being developed. Yet even then, there was no money spent on buying a bunch of people to spread the word, it was mostly a small group of the developers themselves who visited third party sites to promote their game. The kind of subterfuge being discussed in this topic is just too big and too expensive to be implemented for any kind of gaming, let alone MMOs. Of course there is sporadic, individualized viral marketing going on, but then, there are quite a few regular posters on these boards that appear to have their own agendas as well.