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[Zeliard]

Thanks for taking the time and effort to post this.

As well as clearly labeling the company she works for.

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

This is a pretty fascinating case. Here we have a guy who worked in marketing so long that his own natural speaking became that of marketing-speak, thus making him indistinguishable from a viral to the point that he was shot through the heart.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Great thread!

I think the lesson learned here is that its terribly naive for one poster to try and sway GAF's opinion of a game that we know isn't very good. Whether detective GAF came through or not on this one, this thread was never going to convince anyone.

:lol

Didn't know you were official spokesperson for GAF. Particularly for a game that's getting good, if not great, reviews.

 

[John]

I read three pages but must stop here. I preordered it already and the backlash would have me regretting it already.

 

[[Nintex]]

"Master Wayne, why do we fall?"
"To run ourselves into the ground?"
"Exactly!"

 

[Chrange]

Great thread!

I think the lesson learned here is that its terribly naive for one poster to try and sway GAF's opinion of a game that we know isn't very good. Whether detective GAF came through or not on this one, this thread was never going to convince anyone.

That would only be true if Borderlands wasn't very good.

 

[TheRagnCajun]

:lol

Didn't know you were official spokesperson for GAF. Particularly for a game that's getting good, if not great, reviews.

=/ I'm actually an anti-borderlands viral marketer. sshhhhh.

Spoiler

No actually I take back what I said. I dont' know jack about this game.

 

[sparky2112]

I see stupid people...

<haleyjoewillis.gif>

 

[xbhaskarx]

This thread totally set me on the warpath last night. I'm the person at 2K Games who would be in charge of setting this kind of stuff up - and I wanted to let you guys know that I've had a policy against any kind of shill for years. We simply don't do that. Why he posted this is beyond me, but we didn't send him. Both 2K Games and Gearbox would not do this to gamers.

Are you suggesting that he decided to do this independently, without authorization and without being paid, even though he runs a company that does the exact same thing for its clients?

 

[BobFromPikeCreek]

This thread is actually a tad bit upsetting. This moron had nothing to do with Gearbox or 2K, and yet the thread has turned into a giant, unwarranted hate-fest. I feel bad for everyone involved with the making of this game.

 

[2K Elizabeth]

For what it's worth, there's a similar negative response from another dev over at Shacknews about the shill. They could obviously both be doing damage control, but I've known the other one for a long time, shrug.

I stated the same thing over on Shacknews (post there all the time, you might be thinking of me over there) but you're probably going to hear a similar response from all of of us.

 

[Captain Tuttle]

This is a pretty fascinating case. Here we have a guy who worked in marketing so long that his own natural speaking became that of marketing-speak, thus making him indistinguishable from a viral to the point that he was shot through the heart.

:lol

 

[Arde5643]

OP should be modified with the awesome Borderlands shill video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmUJrKGN3C0

So that people will want to buy Borderlands again. :lol

 

[Dude Abides]

Perhaps this was an unsolicited audition.

 

[SundaySounds]

yeah... you guys should just bail out of this thread and jump on the official thread.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

I don't know about anyone else, but this thread makes me want to play Borderlands more because it reminds me that I could be playing it if I weren't committed to the best/cheapest version.

Damn week long delay.

 

[K.Jack]

This thread is actually a tad bit upsetting. This moron had nothing to do with Gearbox or 2K, and yet the thread has turned into a giant, unwarranted hate-fest. I feel bad for everyone involved with the making of this game.

Pretty much.

There was no paper trail leading back to 2k. I can understand how the conclusions were easy to make, but a mistake apparently has been made in the process.

EDIT: And the assumption that the 'girlfriend gaming' thread was about Borderlands is even further out there. :lol

 

[2K Elizabeth]

Are you suggesting that he decided to do this independently, without authorization and without being paid, even though he runs a company that does the exact same thing for its clients?

I guess he did. Don't ask me to get inside his brain, but I'll vouch on my mother's grave for you if that will help - we didn't do this. There's no way I'd do that to gamers.

 

[Jive Turkey]

I see stupid people...

<haleyjoewillis.gif>

Who?

 

[Lostconfused]

Really its not even if he was a viral marketer or not. He just makes lousy posts.

 

[DaveKap]

As an ex-viral marketer, I can tell you this guy broke a lot of rules to keep yourself hidden, which makes me inclined to believe he was never contacted by 2K or Gearbox and was more or less practicing. Unfortunately he failed to be a good forum poster as well.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

It's not unheard of that a self-professed viral marketer would, well, go rogue and act on their own.

Does no one remember Wii Will Rock U? He had no affiliation with Nintendo, but tried to advertise Layton virally through a twitter account and GAF thread advertising said twitter account because he "thought the game needed the exposure." You know, that million-selling Layton game that he apparently considered an underdog?

If 2K says they didn't contract him, then I believe they didn't. Doesn't make Lee any less scummy, though.

 

[Afrikan]

This is a pretty fascinating case. Here we have a guy who worked in marketing so long that his own natural speaking became that of marketing-speak, thus making him indistinguishable from a viral to the point that he was shot through the heart.

so, there is a such thing.... I think I have came across a couple of people like that.....weird people they are.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

There was a guy a couple of years ago that loved Sony so much that he saw it as his personal duty to evangelize and sell their products, which eventually lead to adding "(tm)" whenever he referred to their systems.

I don't remember if it was ever confirmed he worked for Sony, but it was damn suspicious.

 

[Calcaneus]

Now there's a twist if I ever saw one. Shyamalan-ian if I say so myself.

 

[Tobor]

This is a pretty fascinating case. Here we have a guy who worked in marketing so long that his own natural speaking became that of marketing-speak, thus making him indistinguishable from a viral to the point that he was shot through the heart.

I really think this is what happened here. It's good that we rooted out a viral marketer, but Borderlands is being unfairly thrown under the bus as a result.

 

[Google]

Both 2K Games and Gearbox would not do this to gamers.

Even though it's been happening for years in some form or another?

 

[Rollo Lawson]

im confused as hell

 

[RSTEIN]

As an ex-viral marketer, I can tell you this guy broke a lot of rules to keep yourself hidden, which makes me inclined to believe he was never contacted by 2K or Gearbox and was more or less practicing. Unfortunately he failed to be a good forum poster as well.

Another explanation: he was doing this to pitch himself to Gearbox/2k. "Hey, look at this thread on NeoGAF, for example. This is an example of what I can do for you. See, the thread got 100,000 hits! Nobody knew I was a viral marketer!"

 

[Brannon]

Damn, dude drank his own kool-aid.

 

[LQX]

I kind of see a bigger problem with this thread in that it fits right in with what you will find here on GAF to an extent. Many, many threads come off as viral. Its come to a point I don't even trust some threads especially the "I just got a PS3 what game should I buy" ones. I refuse to believe so many seem to have been living under a damn rock for the past 2-3 years.

 

[EviLore]

I'll accept 2k Elizabeth's explanation and run with the assumption that this guy was operating on his own.