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Should game journalists be subjected to law and game companies anti-bribary??
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I think the "fine line" here is, "How much money?" Is it worth the court and legal fees for a $60 code? Maybe the 10 to 100 games sold by that paid reviewer may make it worth it, but like you said, proving this would be tough.
Volkswagon got hit with a suit a year or so back for inflating their gas mileage (miles per gallon) numbers. That's a big dollar item and worth the court costs and legal fees. Notice their ads no longer list the mileage?
It's another problem inherent in our (the US) court systems. It's NOT about justice or who is right or wrong, it is all about money and winning.
/steps off soapbox
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
It's not legal, but I don't believe it's rampant or causing tremendous harm... for now.
False advertising could apply, but false advertising laws in America are stupid weak.
And your quoting of the Constitution is misleading, as well. The Supreme Court has never held that all speech should be protected.
The amendment states quite clearly, "Congress shall make NO LAW ...abridging the freedom of speech." Nowhere does it say "acceptable speech", especially "decided by MadFrenchie."
If the Supreme Court rules otherwise, they're NOT doing their job, are they? I have known they are not doing their job for a long, long time.
Also, what's the difference between paid reviewers and paid spokesmen? Should Dr. Oz advertising some medical gimmick, that really doesn't work be held accountable? How about Ray Liotta for endorsing Chantex, that may work differently for different people? Where is the line drawn?
Slippery slopes are everywhere and some refuse to see them.
PS: I am in NO WAY endorsing fraud and bribery. I AM suggesting caution in what you want to happen.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
There's not a game on the planet that, if I received a copy for review purposes, would be worth enough to me to write a "glowing review". If I like a game, I'll say so. If I don't, I won't. I'd need a lot more than a free game to make me write a great review for something that, in fact, isn't.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Now days a blogger might get a copy and so on, but have you been bribed simply by being given the game? For example if the game is that bad are you going to feel this was a fantastic bribe?
To me evidence of bribery is needed and this means money transfers, jollies for those doing the reviews and so on.
You can walk back that statement and return to reality, but I won't engage further while you're shouting platitudes that just aren't in tune with reality.
Human rights like freedom of speech aren't absolute. They have a core area that enjoys (nearly) absolute protection, but then on the edges of that right the government may place limitations on stuff like rules on how advertisements and promotions of services must be made so that they aren't misleading, how people in certain professions must keep confidential information secret, how you aren't allowed to use your freedom of speech to plan certain crimes or otherwise violate rights of others, etc.
Gee, I wish I had any of that. Let's see...no boats, one condo and a single Ford vehicle...sure. I'm really livin' the life, ain't I? FFS
But cutesy stuff aside, let's see if I can word it more succinctly, though I assumed what I'd already written was pretty simple.
The general idea of this thread is that any writer / journalist who receives a free copy of a game to review is somehow being "bribed" to write a "great review" even if it's not what they believe and that they will "cover up" shortcomings.
1. Free games do NOT equal great reviews. Writers, as others have said, state their opinion about a game and it would be nearly impossible to prove that, simply because their opinion is different than a reader's, they didn't write their genuine opinion.
2. Neither I nor anyone I know has ever been offered financial recompense for writing reviews or posting articles about any game.
Personally, I'd rather law enforcement went after criminals. The world has a lot more serious problems than game reviews you don't happen to agree with.
This whole thread is just....comic gold, breathtakingly so. LOL!
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
It doesn't mean that literally all speech is constitutionally protected. But the exceptions are pretty narrow--and much narrower than they are in most other countries, including most others that you'd intuitively think are about as free as the United States.
For example, advocating that people immediately go do something illegal (e.g., let's go murder that particular person) is not protected.
But there is not an exception for speech that you'd really like to censor, or more colloquially, "hate speech". To the contrary, the point of the constitutional protections for free speech is precisely to protect speech that a lot of people would like to censor.
And even the exceptions that do exist are pretty narrow. There are exceptions for libel and slander, for example. But it's just shy of impossible for a public figure to win a libel case, no matter how grotesque and damaging the lies told about him are.
Even for non-public figures, the libel and slander laws are pretty narrow. The Covington Catholic lawsuits will basically test whether recklessness in spreading malicious lies without even a cursory check as to whether the claims are true can ever constitute libel or slander--and legal experts disagree on whether they have much of a case. They probably would have a case against the hoaxster who started the lies, but he doesn't have much money, so there's no sense in suing him.
The false advertising laws are also pretty narrow. In order to run afoul of them, among other things, you have to make factual claims that are clearly false. Claims of opinion cannot constitute false advertising, no matter how outlandish or unpopular the opinions are.
I would say then, that some folks answers would not be so black and white.
Always more than one way to look at things...and more than one way people or companies with lots of juice can take advantage of others.
And there is not a law out there, or proposed that can really stop a powerful group from "farming" reviews. All it takes is a company to send out 200 copies of games and advertising dollars to sites. On the next game they send out 100 games and those advertising dollars to the places that they got those "good" reviews.
Not rocket science. And perfectly legal as well, and they never had to say a word to anyone at any of the sites.
EDIT: And no i am not picking on you particularly @SBFord just making a point.
The review system for anything these days is completely corrupted. There are nearly no movie review sites anymore than don't bend over to major movie developers. Same goes for gaming and anything entity that exists online (including news services to various degrees).
There needs to be a global change, and I don't see it happening. We are in the information wars.
You stay sassy!
If you want a new idea, go read an old book.
In order to be insulted, I must first value your opinion.
But you guys should be more concerned with spin on hard news about important things IRL - especially from governments and politicians - than whether opinion pieces about entertainment media is honest opinions or not.
Talk about tempests in teapots lol.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
There is no incentive to report things in a strictly factual manner, because most folks don't want to read or hear that. There's a reason Fox News, which is almost wholly opinion and not news, is highly popular. It's not because they stick to relaying facts.
If you're not on a "team" facing down the "enemy", you're irrelevant.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED