Do you know if the item was even sent to him directly? It could have been sent to the 1ups staff as a whole and someone shuffled it off to him or they held a staff lottery.
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Rare Bayonetta Promo Item on eBay -- Sold by Former Game Journo
- Thread starter Syriel
- Start date
Do you know if the item was even sent to him directly? It could have been sent to the 1ups staff as a whole and someone shuffled it off to him or they held a staff lottery.
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
On it's face this seems slimey. But the guy only got $500 for it and it was a buy it now, he must be desperate for cash so I'm not gonna pass judgement.
I thought Giant Bomb and most large sites don't accept any of that stuff anymore for the very reason of the appearance of bribery.
I don't think this is really that unethical. I get free shit from my job sometimes too, if I want to sell it off that should be up to me.
Like, given the platform and the attention I'd say don't do it while you're still employed at the outlet you got it from. But years later, and the outlet no longer exists? Sure.
Like, given the platform and the attention I'd say don't do it while you're still employed at the outlet you got it from. But years later, and the outlet no longer exists? Sure.
Servbot #42
Unconfirmed Member
I for one i'm sick and tired of game journalists breaking their ethics by receiving gifts from publishers and now one wants to profit from those same gifts?! This is preposterous gaf and i demand outrage NOW. If only there was a movement where people could use as a platform to discuss ethics in games journalism......
LOL this is dumb i see no problem
Wickerbasket
Member
I'm aware of how pervasive it is in the gaming community, what I'm saying is that it's wrong and should stop. Journalist's should know that it's wrong, so I think it's shameful that they continue to accept these gifts when they cover their products.
Journalists shouldn't be accepting bribes, it's one of the reasons why people think gaming journalism is a joke.
Does it matter? Journalists shouldn't be accepting bribes. The item should have been sent right back to Sega.
I'd get fired if I accepted a free gift. I can't even accept a free sandwich.
SirMossyBloke
Member
Well depending on the job, of course certain people can. I know I'm not allowed to accept extra gifts. That's not the same for all jobs though.
Doctors get free lunches all the time from pharmaceutical companies and reps. Policies on this vary drastically from field to field.
ReturnOfTheRAT
Member
Wish I knew about it sooner.
Nose Master
Member
What "people" are you talking about here? The only ones who have such a hard-on for credibility are hyper-nerds that keep abreast of whatever the hot button issue is for that week. You think the majority of the CoD playing audience give a fuck that the dude who wrote that 9/10 score in the latest Game Informer got a shirt in the mail?
Schweinehund
Member
Why?
SirMossyBloke
Member
Exactly. This isn't some wide scale bribery ring that we've now discovered and can blow the lid off. There's going to be no #reviewerbribery twitter campaign. This is some guys getting little more than fairground prizes as a thank you.
Wickerbasket
Member
Most jobs require the bare minimum of integrity; usually not accepting bribes is one of those minimum requirements.
It's fine if you don't give a shit about the coverage of your hobby, but don't shit on those that do care.
Gaming journalists like to act surprised that people don't think they're real journalists, but it's because of shit like this that no one trusts their opinions.
Actually several states have made that illegal and many universities will fire you if you are caught accepting them.
I can sell fairground prizes for 500 bucks? Man sign me up for that fair.
A useless piece of plastic isn't a bribe.
The fact that it has a resell value is solely because they only made a handful and that Bayonetta has lots of dedicated fans. If it had been a shitty game trying to buy review score with swag, the item would have been completely worthless, and if the reviewer didn't like the game some plastic junk of a game he hates isn't going to make him very happy.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324695104578414530096553710
Seems like it's still very much a thing.
SirMossyBloke
Member
You should stop telling people how they feel just because their opinion differs to yours.
Wickerbasket
Member
Funny you say that, because doctors here can't even accept pens from pharma companies here because it would be seen as tainting their opinion on what drugs to issue. So yes, a useless piece of plastic can certainly be a bribe, especially if it reminds you of the company.
They shouldn't be accepting bribes, it taints their opinion on everything.
I haven't done that. Maybe you've read something wrong.
I said it's fine if you don't give a shit about it, but don't shit on people who do.
Yes but many places are going after it because it can have an effect on a doctors care. Now comparing a doctor accepting gifts to a game writer is stupid. But it does show that it can have tangible effects on peoples decisions.
SirMossyBloke
Member
People are buying shitty landfill rescued ET cartridges off eBay. Just because someone paid $500 for it doesn't mean its worth that.
The difference is that in this case it would be like giving a nurse the free lunch instead of the doctor. We don't even know what coverage he did for Sega.
Schweinehund
Member
Lactose_Intolerant
Member
this is all that needs to be said.
they don't give this "useless junk" out for no reason.
Wickerbasket
Member
Nurses aren't allowed to accept gifts either.
In fact, nurses in the UK can be fired for accepting gifts from patients/family members as it can lead to preferential treatment being given to certain patients.
TheBryanJZX90
Member
It just really doesn't matter in the end. I care about the opinion that was expressed in the review, not the reason why the opinion was expressed.
If someone says a game was good and I disagree, I still disagree whether the author actually believed every word he wrote or whether he was influenced to write something a little nicer than what he really thought.
If someone says a game was good and I disagree, I still disagree whether the author actually believed every word he wrote or whether he was influenced to write something a little nicer than what he really thought.
And your point? What is the value of that sega swag? Going by the data we have on hand it is 500 dollars. Why do you think sega went to so much trouble to individually number it and make a fancy case?
This would be like Roger Ebert's work associate at the Tribune getting a T-800 hand.
The Broken Ska Record
Member
I honestly don't see how this matters. He's selling off stuff that he owns. It's his prerogative.
SirMossyBloke
Member
It wasn't my point, it was yours. You claimed because some guy decided it was worth $500 to HIM/HER then its not some shitty plastic trinket.
They definitely are in the US, there are restrictions of course though.
Chose to auction it or Extra Cash instead.
If you meant the Chicago Tribune they would probably be fired if they did that.
Look at part 8
If it sold for 500 it is worth 500. Thats kind of how we value things. I am not certain what you are arguing about. If I had a stuffed bear that cost $20 to make and sold for $5000 then it's value is $5000.
CartridgeBlower
Member
Bingo.
Are people really that sheltered when it comes to ethics in journalism? You're not supposed to accept ANYTHING. Period. Why are people so quick to defend this bullshit in the games industry? If you want games to be thought of as highly as film/books/television, then we should collectively start holding game journalists feet to the fire in terms of these type of 'gifts' -- just like almost every other industry does.
You should be hard on the industry you love, especially when it comes to stuff like this.
Nose Master
Member
If you care this much about the ethics of game journalism (I was wiggling my fingers there), you should view reviews like most gamer-marks do. You find a group of journalists that you trust and agree with, and you base your judgement and buying habits off of their personal opinions.
That does not mean that you have the right to stamp your feet and cry foul when they give your GOTY a 7.5, or when they don't go through the pain in the ass it is to return free trinkets. It means that you use their opinion as a base for yourself. You shouldn't go out and buy every game that gets 10's across the board, but you should seek more information. Watch some videos. Rent the game. Play a demo. Ultimately the opinion of any media is subjective (outside of reasonable technical fuck ups and the like). If you blindly follow any review and purchase a game based on someones written opinion about it, you only have yourself to blame if it isn't what you expected.
Some companies will just send you stuff anyways. Publications who don't want them will either A) have a freebie table of stuff publishers have sent that anyone can have, B) donate the items or, C) throw it out.
Anyways, anyone making a big stink about this is just looking for something to be angry about.
7DollarHagane
Banned
If he wanted to sell it the proceeds should have gone to charity.
In fact there was just recently a huge game industry charity event about 3 weeks ago...
In fact there was just recently a huge game industry charity event about 3 weeks ago...
SirMossyBloke
Member
And if the others have been or will be sold for different prices, what then? I'm not the one arguing here, you are. All i stated was that these gifts are mainly no more than fairground prize level stuff. Trinkets, stuff not amounting to much. Just because this one sold for $500 because some guy wanted to pay that, doesn't mean much. I've seen farts in a jar sell on eBay for $10. Farts in a jar are not worth $10.
We don't know what the value of the gun was five years ago. It's worth $500 now. He could have sold it right after Bayonetta released and gotten $50 for it. Note also that the Tribune is a major newspaper company. A better comparison would be tech journalist companies and their policies towards stuff.
Oh I know. I am not as invested as a ton of people in this thread I am just pointing out that accepting gifts like this is generally frowned upon in a lot of things because it can have an effect on people. But as people have pointed out the items he is selling were given to him and belong to him so he is free to do with them as he wishes.
Krappadizzle
Member
Sucks if you were a fan and wanted it. But, it is his to do with as he pleases. I don't see the problem. If you want shit like that for free, be a journalist. If you don't want to be a journalist, be rich and buy it from them.
Deadly Cyclone
Pride of Iowa State
What about the free review copies?
If you follow newspaper guidelines that is considered necessary to do their job so it would be allowed like a movie reviewer receiving screening tickets or a book reviewer getting an advance copy.
It was worth more than a keychain otherwise Sega wouldn't have gone to the trouble of numbering them to point out how exclusive they are.
The only reason it's worth anything at all is that people really like Bayonetta, so it wouldn't exactly work as a bribe to buy review scores for a shitty game.
Unless the journalist is playing the long game and inflating his review score in the hope that more people will buy it and increase the potential market for his rare swag...
Their policy on events are different in that you're allowed to accept tickets but seemingly something like a physical game would be off the table.
The thing looks like it cost at most $20 to make. I'm not even sure the gun is made out of metal.
hunchback
Member
I got a fancy Fish Lure for a Pc game I reviewed in the late 90's. Looked at it once and gave it to my father in law. It had no effect on the review. I actually gave the game a bad score. I understand that a fish lure is not as cool as Bayonetta swag. There are some people that have negative reactions to that type of thing.