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is EA paying people to defend their game?
Pongo_
Member UncommonPosts: 38
interesting post on the SWTOR forums
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=530961
its about the user Andryah, and if she's a bioware/EA employee
i guess some people are getting suspicious of her constant and fanatical defence of bioware/EA in allmost every thread.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Of course, I would also hire fanboys to hype my game if I were bioware.
Who wouldnt ?
But a smart (payed) fanboy also allowes some small critic to hide this identitiy.
I must be doing it wrong then.
I guess I could be considered as a defender of SWTOR too but I am not getting paid anything
Note: Not that I would have told you, hehe
2nd
Come on,just look at sites like this and others,look at the glowing reviews this site gave of swtor.
Of course they pay people and gaming sites.
Paid to troll..?
Dammit, if EA is paying people to defend their games on forums I want in on the action!!!
But no, I really don't believe they are actively paying outside people to do this, but I could see their actual employees doing so because after all, it's their jobs that are on the line.
While EA may be an evil entity to many of the posters here, its staffed by people who are just trying to make a living like you and me, so it would be understandable if they took action to keep their jobs safe.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Every MMO has it die hard defenders. Not something limited to SWTOR. Latest example is GW2, are you telling me Anet is also hiring people to defend their game? because i know some who see absolutely no fault in GW2 and would go to any length to defend it.
Is it possible? maybe but it is something exclusive to SWTOR.
Bite Me
To be fair, its probably more a case of giving a glowing review to encourage them to use the site for advertising than a back handed bribe.
Its interesting that so many posters on the SWTOR forums want to lay the banhammer (even libel claims) on the guy for actually only asking. Maybe he is trolling (though seems innocent to me), but surely strict action is only taken if an accusation is actually made.
There have been rumours of this before including one tell-all regarding a shill who got his games from EA for free and his part of the deal was to frequent forums and defend it's stable of games and he did it ferociously.
My mind turns to thinking that they soon cannot afford to do this and I already see forums like this more balanced and less shilly, their budgets must be getting tighter.
Many times acussations are in the form of a question. I could ask someone, "Why do you hate children?" and then say, I was only asking a question.
But ultimately what does it matter if a company did hire somone to defend their game on a forum, has anyone ever changed their mind on a forum?
Few months ago some guy claiming he was an EA viral marketer, put on a blog or interview or something explaining how EA does these things. Somewhere in this site is a thread on it but I'm not doing the homework. That thread cost me a star or two and a week off from posting here LOL. I did find the quote in a different forum and if you Google MMO viral marketing you'll find lots of good info.
Here's the quote from the guy claiming to have been a paid troll for EA.
"There's about 560 full and part time people that do my (old) job at EA. Other companies have people in similar positions, no idea how many though.
So that post or thread you think is viral marketing might just be.
I actually researched TOR and there was no legitimate defense I had for it.
The best I could do is derail threads into GW2 sucks and other random nonsense. That was actually surprisingly effective and entertaining
And ME3 basically hyped itself."
Did he say the name he was posting under as a shill, so we could verrify that he was truely doing these things?
+1
I have yet to find a game that didn't have fans who think that their game is the greatest thing since sliced bread. They are as consistent in gaming as the people who spend all their time bashing a game left and right.
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
There may be people paid to defend SWTOR, but I suspect this is not a method only employed by EA, even if EA might be more prone to doing so. Ya know, cause of their soul less nature and all
But, the trend on these forums for some users to go about just trashing other games is even more worrisome imo. Are they paid to trash these other games besides the one they work for, or are the lives of some people so empty that they really feel compelled to sit here on this site all day trashing every new game that comes out? I sincerely hope they are paid, because that sounds like a miserable existence. But if they were paid, then those companies would be pulling some really dangerous crap then... that goes beyond questionable ethics. I don't know if any company would be that stupid though...
Regardless, the cold truth is that some games are better than others, but almost every game has some redeeming qualities. SWTOR was fun for awhile with its immersive story and getting to swing light sabers at Darth Malgus' head. It had a lot of epic moments, but lacked in some other areas. I know when it goes F2P I will go play sometimes just to finish my Agent's story if nothing else, and to run around the fleet on my Sith Warrior jumping from the VIP area trying to land on lamp posts.
Do I think that SWTOR is on the level of GW2 (which of course is the most current comparison given timing)... I don't even think that is a fair question. GW2 is my current favorite MMO, but even though they might both be MMO's, they are two very different games with very different design philosophies. SWTOR has a place in my game collection, even if I don't want to go there to do end game content.
Good article
Those workers on the Death Star knew what they were getting into.
"I am not in a server with Gankers...THEY ARE IN A SERVER WITH ME!!!"
I enjoyed SWTOR a lot to be honest just dont have time to play it, I think illium was a bit of a disapointment and I am not sure what illium is currently like, but the storys and flash points were good fun.
I am just waiting till it goes FTP to start up again.
SWTOR biggest issue was reacting slowly I think and I think its a lot of games issue theres a mad rush to add new servers as they get swamped but when the wave settles companies take way way to long to do the oppposite and allow character transfers and server mergers so that theres servers that are too unpopulataed and disenfranchise people.
I will tell you this, GW2 I do not like, I am on a popular server there is no chat in local hardly, no reason ever to group up have to seen a single reason to join a guild, end game is present from start becuase its pvp and pve outfits are useless and your giving max level when in pvp so why level.
People will find fault in any game.
In general I liked SWTOR and though ti was worth the 6 months I played it.
Yeah, you can not argue with a roofer's personal politics...
Viral/Forum/YT marketing is pretty common for the larger companies.
So yes, they did/are.
This is the case.
I work with/know a number of folks at several PR agencies and that is part of their "full spectrum" press for a given item/issue.
It is a common practice to have paid staff hit review sites, blogs, plus twitter/facebook/all the rest in the course of things and pump up the scores.
The question is not did EA have paid shills, it is why weren't they found out eariler and how many other people use them? Take a look over at gamespot.com and see all the 10s in there for even crappy games. Not an accident, not fanbois (exclusively).
And for games/MMOs, official forums are the worst, because the companies also control moderation, as we have all seen in this case.
If the only thing a poster does is defend the developer/publisher, then yeah I would be inclined to believe they work for the company or are married to someone that does. Because someone that loves a game that much must want to do more than spend all their time on the forum protecting a company and arguing.
They've apparently figured out her name and that she's does audio work for Bioware.
The EA/Bioware stuff get some of the most viral marketing.
Check 4Chan /v/ and /vg/ boards for good examples, watch the really well written posts - and the ones repeated day after day after day, especially concerning games not even released yet. It's pretty interesting to be honest - one huge social experiment.