http://www.edge-online.com/features...re-community-shaping-the-games-medias-agenda/
Some qoutes..
Some qoutes..
Times have changed. NeoGAF is becoming more conspicuous and influential with every controversy it fuels, and every leaked screenshot it houses. It spotted Orth’s tweets, dissected them, and brought them to the games media’s attention, prompting an apology and now, apparently, has played its part in someone actually losing their job.
Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack joined NeoGAF to promote Too Human in 2008, and was the next industry figure to feel its wrath. “He called out the entire NeoGAF userbase by making a thread entitled ‘Too Human – stand and be counted,’ where he insisted that NeoGAF members pledged to be either for or against Too Human, with users in the ‘losing’ camp being branded depending on the game’s critical reception,” explains Malka.
Dyack’s post read: “When the game is released and everyone plays [the] game all the speculation will be over. If I am wrong and gamers in general think the game is ‘crap’ then I am comfortable with getting tagged ‘Owned by the GAF’. However, if I am right and it is received well, I would like to see those ‘Against’ to be tagged with ‘Owned by Too Human’.”
It ended badly. The title was released to critical indifference, and amid ever-escalating criticism on the NeoGAF, Dyack launched a tirade against the site on a 1UP podcast. Malka banned Dyack as a result, and the matter was reported across the games media, just like the Bell affair.
Malka describes NeoGAF as his life’s work. He joined the community when he was fourteen, took it over when he was 19 and has been running it as a full-time job since 2006. He is now 28, and tells us that he has turned down seven-figure offers from large corporations and gaming networks to buy his site.
NeoGAF might be seen by some as a lawless playground for harder-than hardcore games enthusiasts, but that’s not the case, Malka contends. “We have strict rules about user behaviour, strict rules against bigotry and discourse that resembles Youtube comments, and the enforcement of these rules is backed by the difficulty in obtaining an account,” he tells us.
There will be other Jeff Bells, Denis Dyacks and Adam Orths. It’s not always comfortable viewing, but NeoGAF’s influence is nonetheless a reflection of how the lines are blurring between the media and the communities its serves.