"I'm Evil"

[Kareeah Indaga]

@Jerrie: That was it! Thanks. : )

[Sir Charles]

Okay, maybe I'm too naive, but I'm blown away that this actually happens. If promoting your game through normal means isn't enough to generate the buzz to increase sales....you either aren't promoting the best (most interesting) aspects of your game or you aren't promoting it in the best place OR you simply don't have a product that intrests many people. Are these guys actually PAID to do this crap? *shakes head sadly*
Edited on Sat, Sep 16 2006, 11:58 by Sir Charles

[DaemianLucifer]

Let me give you a quote that show how marketing works:

- Didnt you have adds in 20th century,fry?
- Sure,but only on TV and radio...and on walls and cinemas and buses and milk cartons and written in the sky.But not in our dreams!

[CloudRiderX]

I wish I had a job that easy.

[Psychobabble]

Okay, maybe I'm too naive, but I'm blown away that this actually happens.

So that makes one person who responded to this in a similar way to me. I'm honestly surprised at the number of people who seem to be cool with it, but maybe lying for money isn't seen as such a bad thing anymore? I mean, I had thought in the abstract that it might happen, but like I said, I'd never run across anyone admitting that they had done it before this article.

[Kalah]

Well, I for one don't listen to just one person when asking for recommendations... I try to get input from several sources, including the bad ones - in fact, especially the bad ones, as they give me an idea of what flaws to expect. Then I determine if I think I can live with them.

[CloudRiderX]

I know how you feel Psychobabble.

This annoys me quite a bit, mostly about the part where you create a fake ID, and join a fansite for the sole purpose of getting people to buy a game instead of actually being a fan. The deceit factor makes me very angry. Tell those dirtbags to get real jobs and real lives.



The HoMM series doesn't need OGMs; it gets fans on its own steam and good gameplay.

[Psychobabble]

Yeah, i got no problem with some random spam bot/advert guy coming a long and just posting a link saying "this is a good game, buy it!", but that's not what was being described in the article - that involved a whole 'nother level of deception.

[DaemianLucifer]

So that makes one person who responded to this in a similar way to me. I'm honestly surprised at the number of people who seem to be cool with it, but maybe lying for money isn't seen as such a bad thing anymore?

And this from a lawyer

I know how you feel Psychobabble.

This annoys me quite a bit, mostly about the part where you create a fake ID, and join a fansite for the sole purpose of getting people to buy a game instead of actually being a fan. The deceit factor makes me very angry. Tell those dirtbags to get real jobs and real lives.

Yes,like painting a huge shiny add,or yapping the whole day on the phone to random people about how great their product is.

What is so suprising about marketing to you?First there were just signs,then people coming to your house to sell you stuff,then mailing you,then phoning you,then emailing you,so this is just the same.Its just an evolution of advertising.

[Psychobabble]

And this from a lawyer

Law student . And one who has got a job lined up for a government agency next year. As an economist, primarily.

[Mytical]

Government Economist. That means you get to spend money OPM without worring about things like oh say spending caps and what the money is actually used for right? Anyhow, marketing like this is the norm, but that doesn't mean we have to like it. Places like CH should be left alone from this type of ploy. I don't visit links unless I personally know the person, and usually then only links to other forums . Seems the mods do a good job keeping this in check. Don't attack a person just because they do that, that just encourages them. Ignore them, they will go away when they find out there is no money to be made.

Edit : of course I can't say much about a GE...I get paid (sometimes) thousands of dollars to find hundreds of dollars mistakes. Makes sense to me, hey who am I to complain about being paid to do that? And I was laughing at my own statement, just to clarify .

[DaemianLucifer]

Law student . And one who has got a job lined up for a government agency next year. As an economist, primarily.

So,youll be a lawyer for a goverment agency then?You have so much to learn in the following year.First,lets try with the basics:

Read the following sentence out loud,without even the smallest grin,or a blink:The colour of this text is blue.Practice until you make it perfect,then we can go to some advanced stuff

[HodgePodge]

I'm not surprised at all that this kind of stuff happens, and often. Particularly when I think back to some of the posts that actually touted StarForce as "the best copy-protection available" … not caring who might get hurt by this lie.

Anyhow, I do feel rather vindicated by the acknowledgement that these forum plants do actually exist and get paid by various companies to be so deceptive.

[Corelanis]

Im rather insulted by this it shows that the companies doing it believe that people in forums are so easy to manipulate that one or two "plants" could lead us to buy something.

[ThunderTitan]

The problem is that they're right. Even 1 person falling for it is a plus to them. Hopefully the backlash from getting a bad product cause of OGM will get the company later in its life.

[Psychobabble]

The problem is that they're right. Even 1 person falling for it is a plus to them

Not really, I mean they are paying the guy doing it a decent salary. Given the actualy profit per unit on games, I wouldn't be surprised if the plant would have to convince 10+ ppl per day to break even, and I wouldn't be surprisd if it's significantly more than that.

[ThunderTitan]

I never said it's profitable. Plenty of marketing campaigns aren't either.

[asandir]

none of this is new, and has been ongoing for years, one of the first practitioners of this was the "religion" of scientology, which has members trolling for material they don't like and then have people use any means to discredit it, or have it removed ....



i think it is insidious

[Rion]

I think that each person like different types of games, and will only follow a link if its to game type they like. I, for example only like strategy games, but i've got tons of them, so i would'nt follow a link to a new First Person Shooter game. But, if a person talks about a new strategy game, and it sounds cool, i would follow the link. And therefore i see ii as the person helped me by providing the link. But of cause I would'nt just buy the game if a person says it's great I would gather more information about it, and if it really is worth buying, then I would buy it, and that person really helped me, wether he is a salesman or not.

[Lady Farquad]

Actually I think it is not such a big deal. If one of the people I usually find around CH forums (for instance) recommends a game, I might check the link but I will not be compelled to buy anything just because of the advice. That happens on TV all the time.

So what's the difference here? Feeling cheated by someone you consider your "friend"? Well, this is the internet and the XXI century after all.
Edited on Mon, Sep 18 2006, 15:46 by Lady Farquad