The biggest problem I have with any "reviewer" or "correspondent" from any of these game sites, is that many sites do take advertising money from some of the companies that produce games they review. This is not "tinfoil hat" stuff or accusing anyone of taking bribes, but it is an industry practice.
In the financial press, any analyst or reviewer must disclose whether they, their family or company owns any of the stocks or funds they review. It would be nice if there were some form of disclosure like this in other areas, but alas, there is not.
This is why I NEVER take "official" reviews at face value, any longer, and neither should anyone else.
I read the forums in "mostly" neutral gaming sites to get the good and bad of any game, before I throw down $50 for any more titles. I have bought too many bad games in the past, to believe any "official" reviews again.
If Avery is posting outright lies about AOC on the forum, are we allowed to call him out on it?
Of course you are. But just with any user - do it civily. If you insult him or call him a liar you will be banned. There are ways to state you believe someone is giving false information without insulting them...granted this requires maturity - something that is not that abundant on these forums as of late.
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.
Ah, I see what you guys are doing. It sounds great, except for one problem. Having a special title under their usernames adds more validity to their posts. Picture yourself as an average user of this website. You see a post claiming AoC to have over 10 million active subscribers. Now if it was made by someone like me, a poster without a special title, you would be more inclined to doubt my post. However, if the same post was made by someone with a "Age of Conan Correspondent", well, would you even think of doubting his words? And therein lies the problem.
I think many people completely misunderstand this program. We are looking for these people to give us a feel from "inside the game" as a regular player. The kind of things we want from them:
Spell lists Class guides Zone overviews Dungeon walkthroughs Starter Guides Expansion overviews Patch note overviews
We are not trying to get them to spill their opinions, we assume they already love the game or at least like it - or they would not be in the program. This is not for editorial or unbiased content - we have Jon Wood and his writing team for that. This is to generate content for people that use our site that are looking for game resources that they currently get at other websites...
That list you have there, and the content that we're actually receiving are two different things. Lets see some overviews of patch notes and walkthroughs then, and less public relations material that attempts to salvage FC's already dwindling reputation.
In otherwords, lets bottom-line this whole thing. Actions speak louder than words! You say a game correspondent is supposed to do one thing, in reality I am seeing something entirely different.
-drslice
The correspondents are just normal forum members. What they post on the forums is not what we are asking them to do - when they post they are equal with you. They have zero powers on the site. The materials they are producing are daily articles. If anything, that title should alert you to "possible fanboi" since they are a correspondent. We have only had these new correspondents produce 5 articles so far and these are them:
Whatever these users are doing on the forums is not part of their job as a correspondent...at all. Unless they are reply to the comments thread about their own article in the news forum thread.
Well at least I now know not to waste my time reading stuff posted by correspondents. Sifting through the huge amounts of bias would take as long as finding this information myself and be half as good after I did it.
Since in general its best to assume the worst and hope for the best. And the worst is a gigantic vortex of hype funneled from the party line of a PR department I think I will take a pass.
The biggest problem I have with any "reviewer" or "correspondent" from any of these game sites, is that many sites do take advertising money from some of the companies that produce games they review. This is not "tinfoil hat" stuff or accusing anyone of taking bribes, but it is an industry practice. In the financial press, any analyst or reviewer must disclose whether they, their family or company owns any of the stocks or funds they review. It would be nice if there were some form of disclosure like this in other areas, but alas, there is not. This is why I NEVER take "official" reviews at face value, any longer, and neither should anyone else. I read the forums in "mostly" neutral gaming sites to get the good and bad of any game, before I throw down $50 for any more titles. I have bought too many bad games in the past, to believe any "official" reviews again.
Please don't lump reviewing and corresponding together...this is two seperate sides of this company managed by two seperate people. Correspondent matierlas will always be slanted, if they state opinions - it is content made by FANS OF THE GAME. But if you are readinga spell list or zone guide who in the heck cares? You are obviously playing the game and are lookikng for resources.
As for reviews, Jon Wood handles all of that. I handle all ad sales. I am in Hawaii and Jon is 6000+ miles away in Nova Scotia Canada. In order for ad sales to slant reviews I would actually have to write, email or talk to Jon and say "give this game a good score or whatever" - this would be the stupidest thing I could do. Jon could very likely take a job next week for a game company or competing site and he would have all the dirt in the world to bring down this website or any other companies involved.
I am not saying that this kind of thing cannot happen at other websites - I am just saying it does not happen here.
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.
In regards to the "conspiracy theory crap" you mentioned about earlier...nobody would put forth such comments or implications if the powers that be understood how to run a proper shadow govt./conspiracy lol. The gaming industry has alot to learn about this.
Remember the quote from Vanilla Sky: "The answer to 99 out of 100 questions is money"
Well at least I now know not to waste my time reading stuff posted by correspondents. Sifting through the huge amounts of bias would take as long as finding this information myself and be half as good after I did it.
Since in general its best to assume the worst and hope for the best. And the worst is a gigantic vortex of hype funneled from the party line of a PR department I think I will take a pass.
I'm still not sure you understand the program. You would not be reading a correspondents article typically unless you were already a happy player of whatever game they are writing about. This material will be to help existing players - not to create new ones or sway opinions. For most of these articles there will not be room to give opinions, I mean how do you do that in a class guide or spell/ability list?
To be honest the first 5 articles are not 100% the content I was hoping for. But this program is brand new and we are going to mold it as it goes - I really want to see more hard resources for players like crafting guides, class guides, spell lists, dungeon tips and tricks, etc.
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.
Well at least I now know not to waste my time reading stuff posted by correspondents. Sifting through the huge amounts of bias would take as long as finding this information myself and be half as good after I did it.
Since in general its best to assume the worst and hope for the best. And the worst is a gigantic vortex of hype funneled from the party line of a PR department I think I will take a pass.
I'm still not sure you understand the program. You would not be reading a correspondents article typically unless you were already a happy player of whatever game they are writing about. This material will be to help existing players - not to create new ones or sway opinions. For most of these articles there will not be room to give opinions, I mean how do you do that in a class guide or spell/ability list?
To be honest the first 5 articles are not 100% the content I was hoping for. But this program is brand new and we are going to mold it as it goes - I really want to see more hard resources for players like crafting guides, class guides, spell lists, dungeon tips and tricks, etc.
If this is truly the case why is Avery posting stuff like the fury server fiasco which has absolutely no value beyond pr trying to sway opinions?
Personally I thought Dom faced more shit than warranted. He was only trying to bring up to date info when he invited Famine to this forum. There is no doubt of all the Mods at AoC, Famine is the most honest. Not much praise but praise non the less.
Well at least I now know not to waste my time reading stuff posted by correspondents. Sifting through the huge amounts of bias would take as long as finding this information myself and be half as good after I did it.
Since in general its best to assume the worst and hope for the best. And the worst is a gigantic vortex of hype funneled from the party line of a PR department I think I will take a pass.
I'm still not sure you understand the program. You would not be reading a correspondents article typically unless you were already a happy player of whatever game they are writing about. This material will be to help existing players - not to create new ones or sway opinions. For most of these articles there will not be room to give opinions, I mean how do you do that in a class guide or spell/ability list?
To be honest the first 5 articles are not 100% the content I was hoping for. But this program is brand new and we are going to mold it as it goes - I really want to see more hard resources for players like crafting guides, class guides, spell lists, dungeon tips and tricks, etc.
My suggestion is to make a forum section for "FAQs, Tips n Tricks, Guides etc" for each game that needs it. Especially since these things tend to change fast in a lot of games and then the 1 or 2 corr's for each game will have a hell of a time updating their articles all the time (very much so for AoC at this time hehe ). Giving 1 or 2 persons all this job is too much imo, it usually takes a whole community to do this succesfully.
I think many people completely misunderstand this program. We are looking for these people to give us a feel from "inside the game" as a regular player. The kind of things we want from them:
Spell lists Class guides Zone overviews Dungeon walkthroughs Starter Guides Expansion overviews Patch note overviews
We are not trying to get them to spill their opinions, we assume they already love the game or at least like it - or they would not be in the program. This is not for editorial or unbiased content - we have Jon Wood and his writing team for that. This is to generate content for people that use our site that are looking for game resources that they currently get at other websites...
Admin hit it dead on. This is what a Game Correspondent SHOULD be.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Well at least I now know not to waste my time reading stuff posted by correspondents. Sifting through the huge amounts of bias would take as long as finding this information myself and be half as good after I did it.
Since in general its best to assume the worst and hope for the best. And the worst is a gigantic vortex of hype funneled from the party line of a PR department I think I will take a pass.
I'm still not sure you understand the program. You would not be reading a correspondents article typically unless you were already a happy player of whatever game they are writing about. This material will be to help existing players - not to create new ones or sway opinions. For most of these articles there will not be room to give opinions, I mean how do you do that in a class guide or spell/ability list?
To be honest the first 5 articles are not 100% the content I was hoping for. But this program is brand new and we are going to mold it as it goes - I really want to see more hard resources for players like crafting guides, class guides, spell lists, dungeon tips and tricks, etc.
I think what most people here are looking for is for the admins to acknowledge that what Avery posted about the Fury server is inappropriate and counter-productive to what the correspondant program is trying to accomplish and that actions (such as a warning) has been taken.
If there is no impartiality demanded of the GC, if they are there to post their slanted opinion, and spin the data and media, what makes them different from anyone else posting? Also, given they are admitted defensive fans of the game, why would any one give these articles cred?
Spell lists Class guides Zone overviews Dungeon walkthroughs Starter Guides Expansion overviews Patch note overviews
Well at least I now know not to waste my time reading stuff posted by correspondents. Sifting through the huge amounts of bias would take as long as finding this information myself and be half as good after I did it.
Since in general its best to assume the worst and hope for the best. And the worst is a gigantic vortex of hype funneled from the party line of a PR department I think I will take a pass.
I'm still not sure you understand the program. You would not be reading a correspondents article typically unless you were already a happy player of whatever game they are writing about. This material will be to help existing players - not to create new ones or sway opinions. For most of these articles there will not be room to give opinions, I mean how do you do that in a class guide or spell/ability list?
To be honest the first 5 articles are not 100% the content I was hoping for. But this program is brand new and we are going to mold it as it goes - I really want to see more hard resources for players like crafting guides, class guides, spell lists, dungeon tips and tricks, etc.
Ok let's take a specific example that WoW article on Wintergrasp. Its pretty fair in my opinion. For example he mentions the Infamous silithus PvP. Which as a player qho quit WoW right around that time I can attest to the fact that is was extremely weak.
But that is just the thing a more fanish person, of whom we know exist and have the correspondent title, could easily have injected all sorts of silly typical PR BS and said that feature was "Pioneering in the world PvP realm" or whatever other tangential BS that misleads without truly stating an untruth.
Fine you say you want pure data resources and guides. Great. Not a bad idea. That is not what those are. And in addition you have people with official tags on their names and ties to the game companies posting PR in your forums.
Are their wackos with silly conspiracies theories? Yes. Are you giving them ammunition and lending credence to their otherwise silly theories? Yes.
Just because some of these people are crazy does not mean in this they do not have a point.
Personally I thought Dom faced more shit than warranted. He was only trying to bring up to date info when he invited Famine to this forum. There is no doubt of all the Mods at AoC, Famine is the most honest. Not much praise but praise non the less.
/agreed
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
I don't know this Avery guy but as Correspondent he has made 2 threads that I can see:
a) a post about Fury server being full, a topic that has no insight or value to the players of AOC but has the familiar ring of a "this game is so popular!" Funcom PR release -- and one that is based on also familiar purposely falsified data
b) a post that "boobies are coming back to AOC", which is also of dubious value and contains little insight apart from the pubescent libidinous priorities of the person posting it
At worst, you got a paid funcom employee or shill doing PR.
At best, you got an unpopular fanboy with no credibility who is writing drivel on topics that are of no interest or value to the AOC-playing community.
When that's your best case scenario, it might be time to consider another guy.
I did not create this post to tie Avery to a whipping post. We should not be pointed fingers to any specific individual. What I am trying to convey (and Admin did a good job explaining it) is that a correspondent can create threads to inform the current/potential/former users of a specific MMO to give insights into various subjects that pertain to the "operation" of the game and not the "PR" side.
Ive seen correspondents post about the game they represent without "exagerrating" certain things to make the game seem great (or bad). It's hard to do if you love the game you corrspond to (and rightly so..anyone should love the game they represent) but one has to remain as neutral as possible.
You can post walkthroughs, game diaries, interviews, etc without PRing everything and just remaining neutral. If you remain neutral you will have a lot more people reading your thread versus a virtual flaming pitchfork banging at your forum door.
Age of Conan needs to be taken very delicately. A lot of people feel that the developers lied and were pretty much mischevious about a lot of things. Rather it remains true or not is open for debate but the fact is a LOT of people are bitter against funcom.
Rather than a correspondent posting to try to reverse the negativity he or she should be posting helpful hints, update information, etc.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Age of Conan needs to be taken very delicately. A lot of people feel that the developers lied and were pretty much mischevious about a lot of things. Rather it remains true or not is open for debate but the fact is a LOT of people are bitter against funcom.
I can't think of many games that don't have a trove of angy people claiming they have been lied to and nearly had their lives destroyed by the "evil developers." We really see this with almost every single game that launches and is covered here. I have been here a long time and I can tell you it is the same pattern, over and over and over.
Again, Avery is just another community member here, he has no special privledges and when he posts - it is not part of the correspondence program. We might just do away with the special titles to end the confusion. The main reason we had the titles is so that when they posted in their own comment threads on their articles you would know the author was replying to your questsions. It was also our hope that these correspondents might become some kind of "mentor" for the game they represent helping out new players with questions and such. We were not looking to have them hunted down like witches.
I mean, don't you think that 100 other hardcore fans or "fanbois" have posted false or stretched information on this website to get people to play their favorite game? Do you expect MMORPG.com to fact check everyones posts and ban people who post false information?
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.
Here's what I don't get , if Avery posts it's false information (yet he plays) however ,not one of those complaining about this would refute known exaggerations in terms of flaws in aoc .Something i've seen many times is those who are the most vocal ,supporting posts offering completely false information . (the removal of M content?) (bug fixes will come with the expansion). or my favorite the posts that include the word "Everyone's".
I don't see any more bias out of Avery than I do from anyone here , he just happens to be the at the totally opposite end of the spectrum than most. I actually find this reaction a little deplorable .I commend MMORPG.com for letting it go on as long as they have.
If there was someone who played that wanted the JOB , who was neutral "in your eyes" what difference would it make? Hell Dom isn't even a regular here and he got just about the same reception .I only know of a handful of people here who even play the game , that posts regularly . I think that there are plenty of people here who represent the opposite of what avery does ,Nothing will change whether he has a title or not.
How can any of us that don't play do this Job properly?
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Do you expect MMORPG.com to fact check everyones posts and ban people who post false information?
I do expect mmorpg.com to fact check, before or if questions arise - after, all information posted by official mmorpg.com writers/editors/admins/game corr's.
And yes I do mean if Fireball does 10002 damage or 1002 damage in your spellguide.
- if Boss X is immune to fire and not frost as stated in the dungeonguide.
- if Server Y, due to the success of the game, is suddenly FULL or if it is not in your serverguide.
- if Feature Z in the game is working as advertised by the devs or not in your FAQ.
Do you expect MMORPG.com to fact check everyones posts and ban people who post false information?
I do expect mmorpg.com to fact check, before or if questions arise - after, all information posted by official mmorpg.com writers/editors/admins/game corr's.
And yes I do mean if Fireball does 10002 damage or 1002 damage in your spellguide.
- if Boss X is immune to fire and not frost as stated in the dungeonguide.
- if Server Y, due to the success of the game, is suddenly FULL or if it is not in your serverguide.
- if Feature Z in the game is working as advertised by the devs or not in your FAQ.
Correspondents are not official staff members. They are fans and regular site members like you that we ask to contribute articles to give resources to players. When they post in the forums it is not part of their role as a correspondent.
I'm not sure how to be more clear on that.
Yes, we do want only facts in the articles they submit to us - a guide is useless if it is not accurate of course. But what these users post in the boards is their business, and we are not going to follow them around and police their comments just because they contribute to our correspondents program.
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.
Age of Conan needs to be taken very delicately. A lot of people feel that the developers lied and were pretty much mischevious about a lot of things. Rather it remains true or not is open for debate but the fact is a LOT of people are bitter against funcom.
I can't think of many games that don't have a trove of angy people claiming they have been lied to and nearly had their lives destroyed by the "evil developers." We really see this with almost every single game that launches and is covered here. I have been here a long time and I can tell you it is the same pattern, over and over and over.
While I do agree with that statement, it is getting worse over the passing years. For the most part a lot of players are just getting tired of the run around. I mean...since I have been here since 2003 I have seen it get worse. While there is those who feel that their lives were destroyed by those "evil developers" (which are those who just take things too far) there are also those who have seen Developers over the last 5 to 7 years produce half-assed games that were launched on hype rockets and those people wont take it anymore (you seen it get worse....Dark and Light and Vanguard are two notable ones I rememer. Vanguard went from 250K to 20K in three months and a company folded. Why? I believe its because players have grown tired of the quick buck developer. Its only going to get worse. The Developers wont have that forgiveness like they did 5 to 7 years ago.
Again, Avery is just another community member here, he has no special privledges and when he posts - it is not part of the correspondence program. We might just do away with the special titles to end the confusion. The main reason we had the titles is so that when they posted in their own comment threads on their articles you would know the author was replying to your questsions. It was also our hope that these correspondents might become some kind of "mentor" for the game they represent helping out new players with questions and such. We were not looking to have them hunted down like witches.
I totally agree. Avery doesn't have any special privledges. I think for the most part many people just want Correspondence Members to post helpful information versus "my dad can beat up your dad...here's the links." Now, Im not saying Avery does this. Im just saying in general that if there aren't general guidelines for the Correspondents maybe there should be. If there are guidlines then that is great.
I mean, don't you think that 100 other hardcore fans or "fanbois" have posted false or stretched information on this website to get people to play their favorite game? Do you expect MMORPG.com to fact check everyones posts and ban people who post false information?
Yes, but when your a Game Correspondent you should not put yourself in the 100 other hardcore fans or fanbois who have posted false or stretched information. Thats what seperates a Correspondent from a Member. Even if it isnt a special privledge to be a correspondent they will naturally held to a higher standard among their peers.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Age of Conan needs to be taken very delicately. A lot of people feel that the developers lied and were pretty much mischevious about a lot of things. Rather it remains true or not is open for debate but the fact is a LOT of people are bitter against funcom.
I can't think of many games that don't have a trove of angy people claiming they have been lied to and nearly had their lives destroyed by the "evil developers." We really see this with almost every single game that launches and is covered here. I have been here a long time and I can tell you it is the same pattern, over and over and over.
Again, Avery is just another community member here, he has no special privledges and when he posts - it is not part of the correspondence program. We might just do away with the special titles to end the confusion. The main reason we had the titles is so that when they posted in their own comment threads on their articles you would know the author was replying to your questsions. It was also our hope that these correspondents might become some kind of "mentor" for the game they represent helping out new players with questions and such. We were not looking to have them hunted down like witches.
I mean, don't you think that 100 other hardcore fans or "fanbois" have posted false or stretched information on this website to get people to play their favorite game? Do you expect MMORPG.com to fact check everyones posts and ban people who post false information?
I wouldn't get rid of the special titles just because of this. These guys deserve the recognition for the time and effort they go through. I think the main problem is that many people were just a little confused by the whole "correspondent" thing. Perhaps just tweak the job title to "Gameplay Advisor" or something. Or just make a good description of what the correspondent is, that they are just gamers who play the game and are here to help others who play the game, and just make it a sticky that people can be referred to.The main thing is to just remove the misconception that the correspondents are dev flunkies for whatever game they are assigned to.
Comments
The biggest problem I have with any "reviewer" or "correspondent" from any of these game sites, is that many sites do take advertising money from some of the companies that produce games they review. This is not "tinfoil hat" stuff or accusing anyone of taking bribes, but it is an industry practice.
In the financial press, any analyst or reviewer must disclose whether they, their family or company owns any of the stocks or funds they review. It would be nice if there were some form of disclosure like this in other areas, but alas, there is not.
This is why I NEVER take "official" reviews at face value, any longer, and neither should anyone else.
I read the forums in "mostly" neutral gaming sites to get the good and bad of any game, before I throw down $50 for any more titles. I have bought too many bad games in the past, to believe any "official" reviews again.
Of course you are. But just with any user - do it civily. If you insult him or call him a liar you will be banned. There are ways to state you believe someone is giving false information without insulting them...granted this requires maturity - something that is not that abundant on these forums as of late.
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.
Ah, I see what you guys are doing. It sounds great, except for one problem. Having a special title under their usernames adds more validity to their posts. Picture yourself as an average user of this website. You see a post claiming AoC to have over 10 million active subscribers. Now if it was made by someone like me, a poster without a special title, you would be more inclined to doubt my post. However, if the same post was made by someone with a "Age of Conan Correspondent", well, would you even think of doubting his words? And therein lies the problem.
That list you have there, and the content that we're actually receiving are two different things. Lets see some overviews of patch notes and walkthroughs then, and less public relations material that attempts to salvage FC's already dwindling reputation.
In otherwords, lets bottom-line this whole thing. Actions speak louder than words! You say a game correspondent is supposed to do one thing, in reality I am seeing something entirely different.
-drslice
The correspondents are just normal forum members. What they post on the forums is not what we are asking them to do - when they post they are equal with you. They have zero powers on the site. The materials they are producing are daily articles. If anything, that title should alert you to "possible fanboi" since they are a correspondent. We have only had these new correspondents produce 5 articles so far and these are them:
WoW Wintergrasp: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/15/feature/2100
EQ2 - Eyes of a Noob: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/2/feature/2097
WAR - About those cuts: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/239/feature/2092
AoC - PvP System: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/191/feature/2088
LOTRO - Mines of Moria: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/45/feature/2086
Whatever these users are doing on the forums is not part of their job as a correspondent...at all. Unless they are reply to the comments thread about their own article in the news forum thread.
Well at least I now know not to waste my time reading stuff posted by correspondents. Sifting through the huge amounts of bias would take as long as finding this information myself and be half as good after I did it.
Since in general its best to assume the worst and hope for the best. And the worst is a gigantic vortex of hype funneled from the party line of a PR department I think I will take a pass.
Please don't lump reviewing and corresponding together...this is two seperate sides of this company managed by two seperate people. Correspondent matierlas will always be slanted, if they state opinions - it is content made by FANS OF THE GAME. But if you are readinga spell list or zone guide who in the heck cares? You are obviously playing the game and are lookikng for resources.
As for reviews, Jon Wood handles all of that. I handle all ad sales. I am in Hawaii and Jon is 6000+ miles away in Nova Scotia Canada. In order for ad sales to slant reviews I would actually have to write, email or talk to Jon and say "give this game a good score or whatever" - this would be the stupidest thing I could do. Jon could very likely take a job next week for a game company or competing site and he would have all the dirt in the world to bring down this website or any other companies involved.
I am not saying that this kind of thing cannot happen at other websites - I am just saying it does not happen here.
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.
Admin:
In regards to the "conspiracy theory crap" you mentioned about earlier...nobody would put forth such comments or implications if the powers that be understood how to run a proper shadow govt./conspiracy lol. The gaming industry has alot to learn about this.
Remember the quote from Vanilla Sky: "The answer to 99 out of 100 questions is money"
-drslice
I'm still not sure you understand the program. You would not be reading a correspondents article typically unless you were already a happy player of whatever game they are writing about. This material will be to help existing players - not to create new ones or sway opinions. For most of these articles there will not be room to give opinions, I mean how do you do that in a class guide or spell/ability list?
To be honest the first 5 articles are not 100% the content I was hoping for. But this program is brand new and we are going to mold it as it goes - I really want to see more hard resources for players like crafting guides, class guides, spell lists, dungeon tips and tricks, etc.
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.
I'm still not sure you understand the program. You would not be reading a correspondents article typically unless you were already a happy player of whatever game they are writing about. This material will be to help existing players - not to create new ones or sway opinions. For most of these articles there will not be room to give opinions, I mean how do you do that in a class guide or spell/ability list?
To be honest the first 5 articles are not 100% the content I was hoping for. But this program is brand new and we are going to mold it as it goes - I really want to see more hard resources for players like crafting guides, class guides, spell lists, dungeon tips and tricks, etc.
If this is truly the case why is Avery posting stuff like the fury server fiasco which has absolutely no value beyond pr trying to sway opinions?
Personally I thought Dom faced more shit than warranted. He was only trying to bring up to date info when he invited Famine to this forum. There is no doubt of all the Mods at AoC, Famine is the most honest. Not much praise but praise non the less.
Waiting for the next thing
I'm still not sure you understand the program. You would not be reading a correspondents article typically unless you were already a happy player of whatever game they are writing about. This material will be to help existing players - not to create new ones or sway opinions. For most of these articles there will not be room to give opinions, I mean how do you do that in a class guide or spell/ability list?
To be honest the first 5 articles are not 100% the content I was hoping for. But this program is brand new and we are going to mold it as it goes - I really want to see more hard resources for players like crafting guides, class guides, spell lists, dungeon tips and tricks, etc.
My suggestion is to make a forum section for "FAQs, Tips n Tricks, Guides etc" for each game that needs it. Especially since these things tend to change fast in a lot of games and then the 1 or 2 corr's for each game will have a hell of a time updating their articles all the time (very much so for AoC at this time hehe
). Giving 1 or 2 persons all this job is too much imo, it usually takes a whole community to do this succesfully.
Admin hit it dead on. This is what a Game Correspondent SHOULD be.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
I'm still not sure you understand the program. You would not be reading a correspondents article typically unless you were already a happy player of whatever game they are writing about. This material will be to help existing players - not to create new ones or sway opinions. For most of these articles there will not be room to give opinions, I mean how do you do that in a class guide or spell/ability list?
To be honest the first 5 articles are not 100% the content I was hoping for. But this program is brand new and we are going to mold it as it goes - I really want to see more hard resources for players like crafting guides, class guides, spell lists, dungeon tips and tricks, etc.
I think what most people here are looking for is for the admins to acknowledge that what Avery posted about the Fury server is inappropriate and counter-productive to what the correspondant program is trying to accomplish and that actions (such as a warning) has been taken.
@Admin:
If there is no impartiality demanded of the GC, if they are there to post their slanted opinion, and spin the data and media, what makes them different from anyone else posting? Also, given they are admitted defensive fans of the game, why would any one give these articles cred?
Spell lists
Class guides
Zone overviews
Dungeon walkthroughs
Starter Guides
Expansion overviews
Patch note overviews
I'm still not sure you understand the program. You would not be reading a correspondents article typically unless you were already a happy player of whatever game they are writing about. This material will be to help existing players - not to create new ones or sway opinions. For most of these articles there will not be room to give opinions, I mean how do you do that in a class guide or spell/ability list?
To be honest the first 5 articles are not 100% the content I was hoping for. But this program is brand new and we are going to mold it as it goes - I really want to see more hard resources for players like crafting guides, class guides, spell lists, dungeon tips and tricks, etc.
Ok let's take a specific example that WoW article on Wintergrasp. Its pretty fair in my opinion. For example he mentions the Infamous silithus PvP. Which as a player qho quit WoW right around that time I can attest to the fact that is was extremely weak.
But that is just the thing a more fanish person, of whom we know exist and have the correspondent title, could easily have injected all sorts of silly typical PR BS and said that feature was "Pioneering in the world PvP realm" or whatever other tangential BS that misleads without truly stating an untruth.
Fine you say you want pure data resources and guides. Great. Not a bad idea. That is not what those are. And in addition you have people with official tags on their names and ties to the game companies posting PR in your forums.
Are their wackos with silly conspiracies theories? Yes. Are you giving them ammunition and lending credence to their otherwise silly theories? Yes.
Just because some of these people are crazy does not mean in this they do not have a point.
/agreed
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
I don't know this Avery guy but as Correspondent he has made 2 threads that I can see:
a) a post about Fury server being full, a topic that has no insight or value to the players of AOC but has the familiar ring of a "this game is so popular!" Funcom PR release -- and one that is based on also familiar purposely falsified data
b) a post that "boobies are coming back to AOC", which is also of dubious value and contains little insight apart from the pubescent libidinous priorities of the person posting it
At worst, you got a paid funcom employee or shill doing PR.
At best, you got an unpopular fanboy with no credibility who is writing drivel on topics that are of no interest or value to the AOC-playing community.
When that's your best case scenario, it might be time to consider another guy.
I did not create this post to tie Avery to a whipping post. We should not be pointed fingers to any specific individual. What I am trying to convey (and Admin did a good job explaining it) is that a correspondent can create threads to inform the current/potential/former users of a specific MMO to give insights into various subjects that pertain to the "operation" of the game and not the "PR" side.
Ive seen correspondents post about the game they represent without "exagerrating" certain things to make the game seem great (or bad). It's hard to do if you love the game you corrspond to (and rightly so..anyone should love the game they represent) but one has to remain as neutral as possible.
You can post walkthroughs, game diaries, interviews, etc without PRing everything and just remaining neutral. If you remain neutral you will have a lot more people reading your thread versus a virtual flaming pitchfork banging at your forum door.
Age of Conan needs to be taken very delicately. A lot of people feel that the developers lied and were pretty much mischevious about a lot of things. Rather it remains true or not is open for debate but the fact is a LOT of people are bitter against funcom.
Rather than a correspondent posting to try to reverse the negativity he or she should be posting helpful hints, update information, etc.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
I totally agree with you Enigma, I think we all feel that's what a correspondent should be doing
That's not what I'm seeing here
I can't think of many games that don't have a trove of angy people claiming they have been lied to and nearly had their lives destroyed by the "evil developers." We really see this with almost every single game that launches and is covered here. I have been here a long time and I can tell you it is the same pattern, over and over and over.
Again, Avery is just another community member here, he has no special privledges and when he posts - it is not part of the correspondence program. We might just do away with the special titles to end the confusion. The main reason we had the titles is so that when they posted in their own comment threads on their articles you would know the author was replying to your questsions. It was also our hope that these correspondents might become some kind of "mentor" for the game they represent helping out new players with questions and such. We were not looking to have them hunted down like witches.
I mean, don't you think that 100 other hardcore fans or "fanbois" have posted false or stretched information on this website to get people to play their favorite game? Do you expect MMORPG.com to fact check everyones posts and ban people who post false information?
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.
No, I agree it's up to the other people on the forum to do the research all call out the liars when they post misleading information
I guess as long as players are willing to make the effort to check the facts and call people out on things, we're ok here.
Here's what I don't get , if Avery posts it's false information (yet he plays) however ,not one of those complaining about this would refute known exaggerations in terms of flaws in aoc .Something i've seen many times is those who are the most vocal ,supporting posts offering completely false information . (the removal of M content?) (bug fixes will come with the expansion). or my favorite the posts that include the word "Everyone's".
I don't see any more bias out of Avery than I do from anyone here , he just happens to be the at the totally opposite end of the spectrum than most. I actually find this reaction a little deplorable .I commend MMORPG.com for letting it go on as long as they have.
If there was someone who played that wanted the JOB , who was neutral "in your eyes" what difference would it make? Hell Dom isn't even a regular here and he got just about the same reception .I only know of a handful of people here who even play the game , that posts regularly . I think that there are plenty of people here who represent the opposite of what avery does ,Nothing will change whether he has a title or not.
How can any of us that don't play do this Job properly?
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I do expect mmorpg.com to fact check, before or if questions arise - after, all information posted by official mmorpg.com writers/editors/admins/game corr's.
And yes I do mean if Fireball does 10002 damage or 1002 damage in your spellguide.
- if Boss X is immune to fire and not frost as stated in the dungeonguide.
- if Server Y, due to the success of the game, is suddenly FULL or if it is not in your serverguide.
- if Feature Z in the game is working as advertised by the devs or not in your FAQ.
I do expect mmorpg.com to fact check, before or if questions arise - after, all information posted by official mmorpg.com writers/editors/admins/game corr's.
And yes I do mean if Fireball does 10002 damage or 1002 damage in your spellguide.
- if Boss X is immune to fire and not frost as stated in the dungeonguide.
- if Server Y, due to the success of the game, is suddenly FULL or if it is not in your serverguide.
- if Feature Z in the game is working as advertised by the devs or not in your FAQ.
Correspondents are not official staff members. They are fans and regular site members like you that we ask to contribute articles to give resources to players. When they post in the forums it is not part of their role as a correspondent.
I'm not sure how to be more clear on that.
Yes, we do want only facts in the articles they submit to us - a guide is useless if it is not accurate of course. But what these users post in the boards is their business, and we are not going to follow them around and police their comments just because they contribute to our correspondents program.
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.
I can't think of many games that don't have a trove of angy people claiming they have been lied to and nearly had their lives destroyed by the "evil developers." We really see this with almost every single game that launches and is covered here. I have been here a long time and I can tell you it is the same pattern, over and over and over.
While I do agree with that statement, it is getting worse over the passing years. For the most part a lot of players are just getting tired of the run around. I mean...since I have been here since 2003 I have seen it get worse. While there is those who feel that their lives were destroyed by those "evil developers" (which are those who just take things too far) there are also those who have seen Developers over the last 5 to 7 years produce half-assed games that were launched on hype rockets and those people wont take it anymore (you seen it get worse....Dark and Light and Vanguard are two notable ones I rememer. Vanguard went from 250K to 20K in three months and a company folded. Why? I believe its because players have grown tired of the quick buck developer. Its only going to get worse. The Developers wont have that forgiveness like they did 5 to 7 years ago.
Again, Avery is just another community member here, he has no special privledges and when he posts - it is not part of the correspondence program. We might just do away with the special titles to end the confusion. The main reason we had the titles is so that when they posted in their own comment threads on their articles you would know the author was replying to your questsions. It was also our hope that these correspondents might become some kind of "mentor" for the game they represent helping out new players with questions and such. We were not looking to have them hunted down like witches.
I totally agree. Avery doesn't have any special privledges. I think for the most part many people just want Correspondence Members to post helpful information versus "my dad can beat up your dad...here's the links." Now, Im not saying Avery does this. Im just saying in general that if there aren't general guidelines for the Correspondents maybe there should be. If there are guidlines then that is great.
I mean, don't you think that 100 other hardcore fans or "fanbois" have posted false or stretched information on this website to get people to play their favorite game? Do you expect MMORPG.com to fact check everyones posts and ban people who post false information?
Yes, but when your a Game Correspondent you should not put yourself in the 100 other hardcore fans or fanbois who have posted false or stretched information. Thats what seperates a Correspondent from a Member. Even if it isnt a special privledge to be a correspondent they will naturally held to a higher standard among their peers.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
I can't think of many games that don't have a trove of angy people claiming they have been lied to and nearly had their lives destroyed by the "evil developers." We really see this with almost every single game that launches and is covered here. I have been here a long time and I can tell you it is the same pattern, over and over and over.
Again, Avery is just another community member here, he has no special privledges and when he posts - it is not part of the correspondence program. We might just do away with the special titles to end the confusion. The main reason we had the titles is so that when they posted in their own comment threads on their articles you would know the author was replying to your questsions. It was also our hope that these correspondents might become some kind of "mentor" for the game they represent helping out new players with questions and such. We were not looking to have them hunted down like witches.
I mean, don't you think that 100 other hardcore fans or "fanbois" have posted false or stretched information on this website to get people to play their favorite game? Do you expect MMORPG.com to fact check everyones posts and ban people who post false information?
I wouldn't get rid of the special titles just because of this. These guys deserve the recognition for the time and effort they go through. I think the main problem is that many people were just a little confused by the whole "correspondent" thing. Perhaps just tweak the job title to "Gameplay Advisor" or something. Or just make a good description of what the correspondent is, that they are just gamers who play the game and are here to help others who play the game, and just make it a sticky that people can be referred to.The main thing is to just remove the misconception that the correspondents are dev flunkies for whatever game they are assigned to.