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[Art Teitlebaum]

This isn't the first time this issue has come up either. I remember not too terribly long ago wasn't G4 or someone caught using viral marketing on reddit?

There was definitely a thread about it here and I didn't have an account at that point but man ever since I've been looking and just sometimes my jaw drops at how a gaming site can tolerate such obviously anti consumer anti gamer sentiment without banning the living fuck out of certain people.

These really make my blood boil. I mean, if there are paid monkeys to hype up a game you can't really see the difference to enthusiastic fans.
But shills who defend corporate bullshit that harms gamers interests just for profit are unbearable for me. And there have been members on GAF who defended the worst excesses of corporate greed.

 

[Zeliard]

Anyone here could be one of them!

Time for some good ol' McCarthyism

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Thing is, I think those are mostly just overzealous fans.

It happens every generation with fans of a certain company's output, when that company is the least popular platform holder of the choices available. People get frustrated that "their" company isn't doing better (why can't they all just see how superior the product is?) and go off the rails.

Nobody who capitalises all the letters of the word "Sony" can ever be trusted.

 

[cuevas. PhD.]

The 8 Remaining Worst Company In America Contenders Sure Are An Elite Bunch!

[IM]http://static1.consumerist.com/wcia_bracket_2012_round3.png[/IMG]

SCHEDULE OF ROUND 3 BOUTS:
March 27
* Bank of America vs. Ticketmaster
* PayPal vs. Walmart

March 28
* 10:00 a.m. ET: Facebook vs. AT&T
* Noon ET: Comcast vs. EA

http://consumerist.com/2012/03/the-...in-america-contenders-are-an-elite-bunch.html

10 years ago would anyone make one of these brackets without Microsoft?

 

[sp3000]

Nvidia had a whole bunch of these people on Beyond3D. They all got outed when one of them finally quit his job and outed the rest of them and there was a huge scandal about it, especially since people had always suspected them for their constant ATi bashing and pro Nvidia distortion. They also got free Nvidia cards at every major launch.

 

[Grymm]

So you think we should ban every user that has ever written any post deemed "anti-gamer"?

Good luck with that one.

I kind of do, yeah.

If they're anti gamer why are they posting and tolerated here on a gaming forum? That's pretty much the textbook definition of trolling, isn't it?

 

[Wiz]

Crazy to think how many viral marketers are among us on this forum and many others. I can understand a few, but 560? Holy jeez.

 

[Jarmel]

Nvidia had a whole bunch of these people on Beyond3D. They all got outed when one of them finally quit his job and outed the rest of them and there was a huge scandal about it, especially since people had always suspected them for their constant ATi bashing and pro Nvidia distortion. They also got free Nvidia cards at every major launch.

Could you find that? I would love to read that.

 

[Tron 2.0]

I appreciate that the general consensus here is, "Well, obviously."

 

[~Kinggi~]

Nvidia had a whole bunch of these people on Beyond3D. They all got outed when one of them finally quit his job and outed the rest of them and there was a huge scandal about it, especially since people had always suspected them for their constant ATi bashing and pro Nvidia distortion. They also got free Nvidia cards at every major launch.

God damn. You know it was always one of those things i thought would make sense for shitty companies to exploit but i still never thought it went so deep.

 

[CrunchinJelly]

Nvidia had a whole bunch of these people on Beyond3D. They all got outed when one of them finally quit his job and outed the rest of them and there was a huge scandal about it, especially since people had always suspected them for their constant ATi bashing and pro Nvidia distortion. They also got free Nvidia cards at every major launch.

I will never look at Toms Hardware in the same way again.

 

[I H8 Memes]

500+

Jesus. You know, I've often wondered about a select few GAFers and their pimping of games. I might not be paranoid afterall!

This pretty much confirms Dennis is employed by the Two Worlds 2 devs.

A staff of 1. Must get lonely in that office.

 

[ShinobiFist]

Wow, that's ridiculous.

I never knew EA was NBC.

Oh shit, lol.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

I kind of do, yeah.

If they're anti gamer why are they posting and tolerated here on a gaming forum? That's pretty much the textbook definition of trolling, isn't it?

You're missing the point here.

What is considered anti-gamer? Some would consider saying that the devs need to get paid is anti-gamer.

 

[speedpop]

With thousands of members and the new batches having hundreds it would be tough to track them all down. Not to mention they can use their home Internet so it's not an EA/Ubi IP or use a proxy. I'm sure they're out there. There's one group of fans who I don't think there's many, if any, viral marketers and that's Nintendo fans. They're too passionate about it to be marketers... part of their charm.

I seem to recall people hitting the Skyward Sword review thread trying to witness the meltdowns due to certain review scores and being dreadfully dismissed at the notion of not a single Nintendo fan being upset.

Compare that to the outrage on GAF with Uncharted 3 receiving an 8/10 from Eurogamer and that makes the reception over Gamespot's 8.8/10 for Twilight Princess even blush.

 

[Zeliard]

Times like these I recall ghst's excoriating critique of those gaudy, multi-post OPs for certain games. That seemed to curb those things pretty effectively, heh.

 

[RurouniZel]

And here I am doing Obsidian's and Gust's viral marketing for free! (Not that they could afford it)

You too? Man, we should be paid for the promotion we give them! XD

 

[SolarPowered]

I don't like EA at all, but I'll peddle that Mirror's Edge sequel on GAF like it's crack.

Get at me EA!

Those Reggie avatars.... they were hiding in plain sight.

Nintendo is too cheap to pay for viral marketers lol.

 

[WrenchNinja]

that makes the reception over Gamespot's 8.8/10 for Twilight Princess even blush.

It was pretty bad, but not even close to TP.

Unless youre speaking of only GAF.

 

[-PXG-]

We should have a witch hunt.

 

[Afrikan]

I can't wait till the day a list of forum names is released of major game companies' viral marketers..

a list of the Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo workers on various forums and their post history.

again, I don't care about the ones who pimp a game or system....but the ones who bashed or spread misinformation are the ones who hurt gaming in the long run.

 

[Grymm]

You're missing the point here.

What is considered anti-gamer? Some would consider saying that the devs need to get paid is anti-gamer.

No that's anti piracy.

Anti gamer would be but not limited to

please take away features and charge me for them
hook that day 1 dlc up to my veins
please charge me more money
32 meg game on a 4.4 gig disk for $40? GOTY
I liked Dragon Age 2
please ban users from playing games based on what they do on your forums
please make your game saves un erasable to lower resale value

I realize those examples I just wrote there might not be the best and frankly I didn't put much thought into them, but those are some anti gamer anti consumer things that i've seen people actually trumpet as good when really they're not good for anyone but the companies.

We're gamers and consumers, not companies. It shouldn't be tolerated IMO.

 

[Shogmaster]

Jeez, 560? Embarrassing

Has to be a Gaffer in between one of those

You can bet your momma's panties that gaffers are among those 560. And 560 is JUST FOR EA! Can you imagine how many more if you add up Sony, MS, Nintendo etc? Maybe virals outnumber normal folks at GAF! lol.

 

[WanderingWind]

I work in marketing and viral marketers stick out like a sore thumb, due to their temperament, language and general ways of doing things . We absolutely have a few here. Nobody seems to mind much though.

 

[Zeliard]

I work in marketing and viral marketers stick out like a sore thumb, due to their temperament, language and general ways of doing things . We absolutely have a few here. Nobody seems to mind much though.

They've gotten banned when caught red-handed. The problem is finding hard evidence, since the line between fanboy and viral marketer can be a thin one.

 

[sp3000]

Could you find that? I would love to read that.

The whole episode was in 2005, which as far as I'm aware makes Nvidia one of the first major tech companies to do this.

http://forum.beyond3d.com/archive/index.php/t-28337.html

A good summary of the whole thing

How about a real summary. Max 50 words.
Nvidia started a small scale (4 Members) Viral Marketing operation, AEG is the Marketing Group that directs it.
The plan, like any other Viral Marketing operation, was to ask influential members of online communities to "beta test" some of the latest product. In the process Nvidia expect to create some positive buzz around their latest product via the posts those members will make on various forums.
In other world, you find influential posters, you give them the latest products, and you let them do the rest (You do not ask them to post any scripted stuff).

This operation wasn't explicitely disclosed, as most Viral Marketing operations, I must add, therefore when someone discovered about it, there was some noise about that, with all the conspiracy theories possible (Hundreds of paid posters (A.K.A. Guerrilla marketing) flooding the forum with lies and spreading FUD about others IHV's products and the like) and plus some outraged fan persons claiming that they're unpaid for their FUD spreading and their corporate cheering of multi Billions worth companies.

Then one of the members of this operation decided to explain what it was all about. That Nvidia send them some products, and that they asked them to test them and provide some feedback. Of course, this kind of "Focus gropus/Beta tests" can (and should most of the time) create an relational link between the member and the corporation (Simply put it can create supporters).

AMD has started the same thing however it is much more recent. It's the same idea though, in that you get a focus group of a few people, send them hardware, and then tell them to post opinions about it on forums. They could write negative things if they wanted to, of course they never did because a guy who gets free hardware is not going to be objective when writing negative things could stop their flow of hardware. In Nvidia's case, they hired AEG to do it.
http://alienbabeltech.com/abt/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=24247


I remember it was really bad around 2006, where you literally had threads with AMD marketers and Nvidia marketers slinging mud at each other for pages. It was impossible to tell who was a fanboy and who was actually getting free hardware.

 

[WanderingWind]

They've gotten banned when caught red-handed. The problem is finding hard evidence, since the line between fanboy and viral marketer can be a thin one.

And usually they're now paid to work from a home computer, and the general way of doing things is to hire an already existing member of a community to work the viral angle. Gone are the days of the embarrassing Beyblades type viral shenanigans. Well, for companies who know what they're doing.

 

[Jake Tower]

please take away features and charge me for them
hook that day 1 dlc up to my veins
please charge me more money
32 meg game on a 4.4 gig disk for $40? GOTY
I liked Dragon Age 2
please ban users from playing games based on what they do on your forums
please make your game saves un erasable to lower resale value

please lock part of the finished product on the disc and charge me $20 for it later

 

[crimsonheadGCN]

Could you find that? I would love to read that.

Here's something from 2006 about nVidia's Community Outreach program:

http://74.200.65.90/showthread.php?t=26199

 

[sTeLioSco]

I work in marketing and viral marketers stick out like a sore thumb, due to their temperament, language and general ways of doing things . We absolutely have a few here. Nobody seems to mind much though.

in some forums,microsoft must have persons that push its windowsphone......!

 

[sp3000]

And usually they're now paid to work from a home computer, and the general way of doing things is to hire an already existing member of a community to work the viral angle. Gone are the days of the embarrassing Beyblades type viral shenanigans. Well, for companies who know what they're doing.

This is also very common. Nvidia selected a few longtime members of the forum so their reputation would not be in question. They usually don't pick people who are new. That is why it's hard to determine who is a fanboy and who is actually getting paid.

 

[BeauRoger]

Last numbers that went public show it is doing pretty well. General new MMO doomcalling, but it isn't true as it was with something like WAR.

OMG! EA viral marketer caught in the act!!!

 

[WanderingWind]

OMG! EA viral marketer caught in the act!!!

And here's the other thing. It's easy to dismiss any claim of viral marketing as paranoia or just the delusions of some super/anti fan. Except...we know they exist and that it's very smart of a company to hire them.

But you know. On that other board. Not here. Stop being paranoid.

 

[colinp]

SSX thread am cry.

Spoiler

not surprised in the least

As insidious as viral marketers are community outreach campaigns which is basically just making a superfan a viral marketer without actually paying them except with early access and maybe a free copy of the game as a thanks. Insane.

 

[RedSwirl]

I want to be a viral marketer for Atlus.

The job would probably involve making Atlus games look good on EA and Activision forums and whatnot. Huh...

 

[Freyjadour]

I seem to recall people hitting the Skyward Sword review thread trying to witness the meltdowns due to certain review scores and being dreadfully dismissed at the notion of not a single Nintendo fan being upset.

Compare that to the outrage on GAF with Uncharted 3 receiving an 8/10 from Eurogamer and that makes the reception over Gamespot's 8.8/10 for Twilight Princess even blush.

In its heart even GAF understood how mediocre Skyward Sword was/is.

Ba dum tish.

 

[First Name]

Time for some good ol' McCarthyism

I have here a list of 57 NeoGAF posters who are known to be members of viral marketing programs. We must root them out and make an example.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

I seem to recall people hitting the Skyward Sword review thread trying to witness the meltdowns due to certain review scores and being dreadfully dismissed at the notion of not a single Nintendo fan being upset.

Compare that to the outrage on GAF with Uncharted 3 receiving an 8/10 from Eurogamer and that makes the reception over Gamespot's 8.8/10 for Twilight Princess even blush.

To be fair, 2006 was a very different time and TP had the weight of nearly a decade of expectation on its shoulders and was launching a new console to boot. People were rabid for a "true successor to OoT" in the spirit of the Saceworld tech demo and didn't realise that wasn't quite what they wanted.

SS, on the other hand was long overdue and released on a successful, if dying, system. The fact that motion controls aren't everyone's cup of tea and that it's very easy to just "do it wrong" was well established by that point. Nobody was surprised that reviews were mixed.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

No that's anti piracy.

Except that some people have posted that they don't care if devs go broke. All I'm saying is that everyone has a different idea of what "anti-gamer" is.

Anti gamer would be but not limited to

please take away features and charge me for them
hook that day 1 dlc up to my veins
please charge me more money
32 meg game on a 4.4 gig disk for $40? GOTY
I liked Dragon Age 2
please ban users from playing games based on what they do on your forums
please make your game saves un erasable to lower resale value

You'll need to do better than strawmen arguments and "you are not allowed to like certain games".

I realize those examples I just wrote there might not be the best and frankly I didn't put much thought into them

*facepalm*

but those are some anti gamer anti consumer things that i've seen people actually trumpet as good when really they're not good for anyone but the companies.

Like I said before, every one of the things you just listed is a strawman. I've seen the same posts that you are talking about (hell, I've made some of them), but you are boiling people's opinions down to a very one-sided sentence.

 

[Totobeni]

So.....who is EA gonna buy out next that everyone will hate?

one of THQ studios I guess, Volition(Saints Row), Vigil Games(Darksiders) or Relic (Warhammer )..or maybe all of them.

 

[realraptor]

Any time there's a thread dedicated to a game [especially when it's about to launch], I always wonder if they work for said company. This is not just on GAF but just in general.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

one of THQ studios I guess, Volition(Saints Row), Vigil Games(Darksiders) or Relic (Warhammer )..or maybe all of them.

Volition.

 

[truly101]

I have no problem believing a few board denizens are viral marketers. I have a harder time believing any of them are privy to any real substantial information about the company, sales and acquisitions and that sort of thing.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

I have no problem believing a few board denizens are viral marketers. I have a harder time believing any of them are privy to any real substantial information about the company, sales and acquisitions and that sort of thing.

I'm a plant, and I said Volition, so it's gonna be Volition.

 

[Basileus777]

I have no problem believing a few board denizens are viral marketers. I have a harder time believing any of them are privy to any real substantial information about the company, sales and acquisitions and that sort of thing.

Well even he presents it as some vague comment he heard from his boss, not real legit information.

 

[Jake Tower]

one of THQ studios I guess, Volition(Saints Row), Vigil Games(Darksiders) or Relic (Warhammer )..or maybe all of them.

 

[Grymm]

I've seen the same posts that you are talking about (hell, I've made some of them)

And with that I bid you adeiu.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

And with that I bid you adeiu.

Have fun on your internet.

 

[JustinBB7]

Please don't buy Volition EA, I want Saints Row 4 on Steam. And actually play it...

 

[Socreges]

This is ridiculous. In no way could I see EA hiring people to pimp their games. Instead of reading this rubbish you guys should be playing the exciting new SSX available RIGHT NOW.

soultron!?!?