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[Sn4ke_911]

Who cares or reads user reviews on metacritic?

 

[DaBuddaDa]

I don't see the user Avanost's review there anymore, but I do see BioWareEmployee who gave 10s to Dragon Age 2 on all three platforms. He only has 3 reviews, maybe he should be more subtle?

BiowareEmployee giving DA2 all 10s is clearly someone's playful jab at this avanost story that's been floating around the past few days.

 

[Zeal]

Destroyed.

Bioware, this is embarrassing.

 

[Truant]

Who cares or reads user reviews on metacritic?

Bioware?

 

[Windom Earle]

Wow

 

[iNvid02]

idiot

 

[Lebron]

How the mighty have fallen

 

[taoofjord]

I did not like the Dragon Age 2 demo and am annoyed that the was rushed to the market. That said, a Bioware employee reviewing his own game is more funny than it is anything else. I see no reason to get upset or up in arms over it.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

This place or not, it's kind of mind blowing someone did so much detective work just to get to the bottom of that "10." I'd love to say "Who gives a crap?" but apparently enough people do.

It's got to be really, really disheartening for the detectives of the world when someone can do two minutes of looking at top Google results and be credited for exhaustive detective work.

Also the stalkers.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

This place or not, it's kind of mind blowing someone did so much detective work just to get to the bottom of that "10." I'd love to say "Who gives a crap?" but apparently enough people do.

You know what I say? Good on that Bioware guy. Him and his team probably got their ass beat working on that game (regardless of how people feel it turned out) and he just wants to give it a little praise. Who really gives a crap in the grand scheme of things?

Also, I doubt he got fired. Companies love it when people do this sort of stuff. Places I've worked for (not in the game biz) do this sort of stuff all the time. It's cheap, but whatever.

It's not about getting your ass beat. If you love what you do and know what you did was the best doesn't mean the entire product is the best. You don't see George Clooney spazzing out and saying Batman and Robin is fucking amazing. If people don't like your product, then man the fuck up and live with it. Posting a review where you state that everyone giving it bad review has a personal grudge is fucking stupid.

Oh and your company is fucked up for openly supporting astroturfing.

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

This happens all the time. I'm sure they've paid off a good amount of those media reviewers as well.

Nothing new or shocking. But it is disgusting.

 

[Rapstah]

Funny thing is, I think the username got changed to "BiowareEmployee". There's a user now who fits the profile in the OP (only 3 reviews, all for Dragon Age 2, giving 10's with effusive praise). Maybe he changed the name himself to give "disclosure" once he got caught (I don't think Metacritic would have changed it)? Or maybe it's a parody by someone else. Screencap below.

EDIT: the review texts seem to be different, so it seems to be a parody. Original reviewer must have taken his down.

http://i51.tinypic.com/34hjl3r.jpg

I don't think it's the same account, the original guy gave one of the versions a 9 (lol) so this is someone joking around unless Metacritic was very meta about the whole thing.

 

[kswiston]

Is DA2 really as bad as the 4.2 user reviews suggest?

Isn't that like Lair bad? Actually, someone needs to go look up the average user review score on Metacritic for Lair, lol.

Nah, just a bunch of angry nerds lowering the score. I'm sure half of them haven't even played the game. The same thing happened with Civilization V. If you look on Amazon, half the user reviews gave the game a 1/4 because of the HORRIBLE changes made to the game.

Civ V, like Dragon Age 2, may be a step down from the last game, but it is still fun, and I am sure that the majority of people playing it would find it a worthwhile purchase.

 

[Ruud_Luiten]

If true, this is the next step. Finally they do it themself instead of targetting reviewers.
Normally they use game-websites or magazines for their propaganda.

Free trip, some free stuff + free beer and chicks == high rating by 'respected' reviewers.
If this isn't needed anymore, less budget is needed per game.

I like this!

 

[JaggedSac]

This is almost as sad as people giving 1s and 0s to games on metacritic.

 

[Camwi]

I love detective-GAF.

 

[Rahxephon91]

Shit, can't argue with that.

Yes you can. A lot of choices in DA2 can be argued as being factually bad. There's no excuse for the shitty level design or removal of features from the first game.

 

[MisterHero]

How do you know it's not Chris Hoban from Allstate Insurance?

Spoiler

lols

 

[BattleMonkey]

It's got to be really, really disheartening for the detectives of the world when someone can do two minutes of looking at top Google results and be credited for exhaustive detective work.

Also the stalkers.

I don't know, it's pretty funny people are researching users of random user reviews to me. If I posted my genuine positive review to a game I truly liked, to have someone doing internet searches on my suddenly because they don't agree.... it's pretty odd.

 

[Brannon]

I'd give the game a 5: completely average.

 

[Canova]

Sad. Game reviewer is such a joke title nowadays

Fake/bribed reviewers praised shitty games like dragon age 2 to heaven while punishing truly great games from small developers

 

[kswiston]

Sad. Game reviewer is such a joke title nowadays

Fake/bribed reviewers praised shitty games like dragon age 2 to heaven while punishing truly great games from small developers

User Review

 

[DeadRockstar]

I don't know, it's pretty funny people are researching users of random user reviews to me. If I posted my genuine positive review to a game I truly liked, to have someone doing internet searches on my suddenly because they don't agree.... it's pretty odd.

I agree there's weird stalkers out there, but this isn't a random review. It appeared at the top next to the critic reviews and the actual text sounds wicked shady. Basically calling out anyone that disagrees.

Most companies are shady in this or some other way though, so it's hardly shocking.

 

[Rolf NB]

DA2 would make an excellent case studio for how dysfunctional and manipulable the games press is today. Get on it, sociology GAF.

 

[WanderingWind]

Who cares or reads user reviews on metacritic?

Things like bonuses, future projects and other perks are more and more being tied in to overall Metacritic score. Not to mention the future of the series would be tied to the score.

 

[Dwight Schrute]

You just got Chris Hoban fired :'(

 

[FunnyBunny]

I can't say I'm surprised. Publishers pay interns to post fake book reviews to Amazon to get a book more exposure.

 

[Ushojax]

Civ V, like Dragon Age 2, may be a step down from the last game, but it is still fun, and I am sure that the majority of people playing it would find it a worthwhile purchase.

It's the same situation as KOTOR 2. Some people will be able to slog through a clearly unfinished and comically mashed together game just because it's more Dragon Age. Some people won't.

 

[Santerestil]

That's why this place is scary sometimes. You probably just got him fired.

Yeah. But, well, if he used a different nick, nobody will had caught him out. And I'm only partially sarcastic here.

 

[kswiston]

Things like bonuses, future projects and other perks are more and more being tied in to overall Metacritic score. Not to mention the future of the series would be tied to the score.

They are tied to the actual critic score. Not to whether SquallFan43 and Masterchiefrules22 liked your game. Again, User review.

 

[bababouille]

What an embarrassing situation..

He was probably raging from all the negative ratings. Or thought that would boost sales or something.

 

[hamchan]

Things like bonuses, future projects and other perks are more and more being tied in to overall Metacritic score. Not to mention the future of the series would be tied to the score.

I don't think that includes user reviews.

 

[Rahxephon91]

Sad. Game reviewer is such a joke title nowadays

Fake/bribed reviewers praised shitty games like dragon age 2 to heaven while punishing truly great games from small developers

I'd like to believe this if you actually had proof of this. Especially when the praise for Dragon Age 2 isn't truly that great, but yeah I guess people can't have a positive opinion on it can they? Have you even played DA2?

 

[ymmv]

You can usually factor out the super low scores of 1s and 0s right away. Even with that though user reviews tend to be more credible then "professional" reviews. At least I've found that to be case over the years. More likely to get a truer idea from those playing the game for simple enjoyment and not to meet some deadline or because they are being paid and have to keep advertisers happy. The user review score would more then likely still be on the low side of what paid reviews gave it all the same.

I don't trust user reviews that much. There have been console fanboy wars where 360 owners gave 0 point reviews to PS3 games and vice versa.

 

[WanderingWind]

They are tied to the actual critic score. Not to whether SquallFan43 and Masterchiefrules22 liked your game. Again, User review.

I don't think that includes user reviews.

Fair enough. The second part (IE the part that interests me as a gamer, and not a employee of BioWare or a shareholder) still would be valid. If not, then why bother astroturfing in the first place?

 

[Sanjay]

I guess online stalking is fun?

This would actually be really good gaming journalism.

 

[BladeoftheImmortal]

nah,... they'll just suspend/ban his account...

But then he couldn't play his own game.

 

[Dabanton]

.

 

[Oyashiro]

It's just a user review.

 

[Orobi]

Metacritic user review = FAIL

 

[aerts1js]

To OP: Get a life.

Christ, it's a user review.

 

[V_Arnold]

So if I create a user named Ghostcrawler and review WOW:Cataclysm as 10/10 on Metacritic, then Blizzard sucks for bad viral marketing.

Right? Right?

 

[Angry Fork]

Just worth noting to people who say the user score is useless, obviously a lot of times the user reviews are trolls rating down, BUT the user reviews on Dragon Age 1 is 8.3, while the user reviews on Dragon Age 2 is 4.1.

Obviously this means Bioware had to have done something bad to the series in order for people to feel so much disdain for the sequel. And it's not a matter of success because Mass Effect 2, their most successful game, still has an 8.8 user score for the PC version.

In this case it seems like the user scores for Dragon Age 2 is justified (not the 4.1 score itself, but the hate people have towards the game that would make them rate it so low in the first place), whatever Bioware did completely shitted on the series (at least in the face of fans who enjoyed the first one.)

 

[Wolves Evolve]

A Tour Through the de Blob 2 User Ratings on Metacritic
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

User: "Walshey"

De Blob 2 - Xbox 360 - 10!
De Blob 2 - PS3 - 10!
De Blob 2 - Wii - 10!
(Never reviewed any other games)

He loved the game so much, he reviewed it three times on separate platforms!

User: "Obelisk8"

De Blob 2 - Wii - 9!
(Never reviewed any other games)

User: "M40R4"

De Blob 2 - Xbox 360 - 10!
De Blob 2 - PS3 - 10!
De Blob 2 - Wii - 10!
(Reviewed one other game, ever)

User: "cal1998"

De Blob 2 - Xbox 360 - 10!
De Blob 2 - Wii - 10!
(Reviewed two other games - and gave Epic Mickey a 6/10)

User: "RastamarlinFer"

De Blob 2 - Wii - 9!
(Never reviewed any other games.)

 

[Rapstah]

Oh god, I tried finding out if some of the other 10/10s who had only reviewed Dragon Age II were fakes too. You'd be surprised at the amount of people who sign up to porn sites with the same user name as on their regular sites. And make playlists.

 

[Effect]

I don't trust user reviews that much. There have been console fanboy wars where 360 owners gave 0 point reviews to PS3 games and vice versa.

True. I don't make my purchasing decisions off of them. I tend to filter out the low and really high ones right away and look at those in the middle. If some are hitting the same aspects of the game I might pay more attention to them. There have been some games over the years where "professionals" slammed a game or an aspect yet user reviews differed and gave a fairer look at things. Conclusions I've come to after playing different games. I don't play that many PS3/360 games so that could be a factor as well. With Wii and PC games they've usually been helpful. Especially with Wii games were I've encountered outright lies at times in reviews.

 

[Neuromancer]

Have they not issued any kind of apology, beyond pulling the review?

Even if it was the action of an individual, as a company I think they're responsible for at least responding to this in some way.

Also it's probably too late but this would have made for a better OP:

First post ever, but I think you'll find this interesting...

Checked out Metacritic for Dragon Age 2 reviews (after hearing about all the changes from Origins, was a bit skeptical). After seeing it got a generally favorable score, I checked out the user reviews, since they usually offer a more accurate portrayal of how a game actually plays.

Right off the bat, I notice there's something...off with the top user review (by 'Avanost'). It reads almost like a press release. I do not trust it:

"The immersion and combat of this game are unmatched! A truly moving and fun epic. Anything negative you'll see about this game is an overreaction of personal preference. For what it is, it is flawlessly executed and endlessly entertaining" (emphasis added).

Sketchy to say the least.

So I check Avanost's Metacritic profile (http://www.metacritic.com/user/Avanost), and, whaddya know, he’s only ever written one review. On Dragon Age 2.

So I Google ‘Avanost’, because I’m starting to not trust this motherfucker. And a Plurk (WTF is Plurk) profile shows up (http://www.plurk.com/avanost), revealing a name.

So I Google the name, all the while cautioning myself that this could be a completely different Avanost, and not to jump to conclusions, and WHAT THE FUCK HE’S AN ENGINEER AT BIOWARE. (Linkedin profile)

I have to laugh, because this really borders on farce.

Despite reeking of impropriety (and the fact there has to be a rule against doing this in the Bioware employee handbook), ole Avanost has no problem writing a review with zero disclosure of his industry ties, as long as you pick up a copy of the “flawless” Dragon Age 2 at your nearest retailer.

(Disclosure: Sensationalist title to garner interest.)

EDIT 1: This is a matter of ethics and integrity. A consumer requires objective information in order to make an informed decision about purchasing a product. If the line between editorial article and product review is skewed, then the consumer is being deceived at the cost of their eventual trust and loyalty to the company responsible. This is why disclosure of industry ties is necessary to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

EDIT 2: For those of you frothing at the mouth in the comments about how anyone who doesn't like Dragon Age 2 is retarded (including me), take a deep breath and relax: I like the game. I was checking out the reviews because I wanted to read what other people thought of it (I've since borrowed it from a friend; piracy at its finest). That does not mean I wanted to read reviews written by Bioware employees cloaked as genuine. That is not okay, under any circumstances, for any employee, of any company. (And for those saying it might not be the same guy...yes, I'm sure this is all one big coincidence. He just happens to respond to, and simultaneously dismiss, the most prevalent criticisms of Dragon Age 2 in one fell swoop.)

EDIT 3: So they're going into damage control mode, and the review has been deleted. Cache is now gone as well. Thanks to SnakeLinkSonic: a breakdown of my 'investigation'.

EDIT 4: Okay, so now 4chan is just bombarding Metacritic with fake reviews again, so let's pretend I didn't compromise my integrity by referencing them earlier. (Also, TIL about 'astroturfing'.) If anyone finds another verifiable fake review from Bioware, feel free to post it.

EDIT 5: Russian Bioware forum. (Original.)

EDIT 6: Story picked up by CapsuleComputers, GamerTell, Pubvo, VividGamer, Nexus404, PixelApocolypse, TechSpotlight, ********. And Thumb-Culture (where my attempt at investigative journalism is referred to as "slightly stalkerish". Thanks to everyone sending me links, tough to keep up.

FTC Testimonial Guidelines: "bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service."

Twitter search.

EDITED BECAUSE I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO USE REDDIT.

http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/g3td7/

 

[WanderingWind]

To OP: Get a life.

Christ, it's a user review.

Grow up.

 

[DangerStepp]

That's why this place is scary sometimes. You probably just got him fired.

Yeah, I was actually wondering if anyone knows how the policy on this kind of stuff goes.
Can anyone on the inside chime in on the ethics concerning these types of situations?

I know that an employee supposedly represent his or her company at all times and should conduct themselves in a manner that falls in line with the company culture, but I wonder how a situation such as this is handled. Do they deter this type of behavior and he was only careless?

 

[Rahxephon91]

Just worth noting to people who say the user score is useless, obviously a lot of times the user reviews are trolls rating down, BUT the user reviews on Dragon Age 1 is 8.3, while the user reviews on Dragon Age 2 is 4.1.

Obviously this means Bioware had to have done something bad to the series in order for people to feel so much disdain for the sequel. And it's not a matter of success because Mass Effect 2, their most successful game, still has an 8.8 user score for the PC version.

In this case it seems like the user scores for Dragon Age 2 is justified (not the 4.1 score itself, but the hate people have towards the game that would make them rate it so low in the first place), whatever Bioware did completely shitted on the series (at least in the face of fans who enjoyed the first one.)

The User Reviews for Call of Duty BLOPS and MW2 are in the 6.0 area. You know those games that sell millions and lots of people love? I just don't think user reviews mean much.