December 3, 2007 -
While GameSpot and its parent company CNET remain mum, gamer outrage over the Jeff Gerstmann firing continues.Employees of competing video game website 1up.com staged a demonstration on Friday outside GameSpot HQ in San Francisco. The impromptu gathering was a way of showing support for Gerstmann and the integrity of the game review process in general.
Meanwhile, GameSpot user Subrosian, who has maintained a detailed chronology of events related to the Gerstmann scandal, is calling for a "Blackout Monday" in support of the fired editor:
Please do not go on GameSpot, GameFAQs, CNET, Download.com, TV.com, et cetera... do not go on ANY CNET site... Don't come on the site, don't Google the site, don't click on a link to the site - don't do ANYTHING that generates a page view, search engine hit, or *anything*
...*we'll show CNET our silence*.
This issue is bigger than you, it's bigger than me - it's bigger than GameSpot. This is about big business being able to use *buy* public opinion...
GP: The ball would appear to be in CNET's court...
Comments
I, for one, will not be visiting GameSpot, CNET, or GameFAQs until they apologize or issue reasonable justification for their actions.
Gamers will never have the respect that we deserve until we are willing to make a stand for ourselves. I am disappointed (though not surprised) that so many of the commenters here demonstrate so little self-control.
On a whim I checked out the consumer "reviews" on GS and laughed, 1.0 that claimed to have played the game instead of just saying that they had never played the game and were just giving it a 1.0 because they were upset at GS and had nothing but rumors to be upset about, I can see why these would be purged. They are lies and disinformation that are damaging to a company. At least the Christians on Amazon have the stones to say they give books on evolution a low score because it is about evolution.
Again, just as Mr 8.8 can't give the details about this, GS and Cnet cannot either. Don't expect anything to be released in the near future. Go on with your lives, earn money, buy other games, ignore other reviewers... oh and go on with your lives.
-Turns on 1950's-esque game industry news reel-
The forces of gaming free enterprise marches on! Smile friends, and wave at your friendly neighboorhood gaming executive; these fine upstanding citizens work hard every day to ensure that the products you and your children play are wholesome and good. Uphold the proud American consumer tradition! Do not question the quality of a product or how it was made, smile and buy! Do not be bothered by nay-sayers and do-gooders, smile and buy! Remember folks, buy and play as much as you can, except when it would make you late for work at one of our valued partner's firms, SMILE AND BUY!
Believe the truth! Recent labor protests are a sign of a SOCIALIST CONSPIRACY AGAINST AMERICAN FAMLIES AND VALUES. Mr. Jeff was released ONLY for qualatative reasons! Your friendly neighboorhood executive assures you of this fact!
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Yes, continue to smile and buy.
Those with a functioning mind and value system will recieve vindication for why this industry has devolved into a franchised shitfest devoid of value and quality, a lackluster medium controlled, defined, contextualized, and monopolized by the consumer demands of children and the dollar.
All because consumers like you are oh so willing to SMILE AND BUY!
Just to used to that in the corp world myself. Every time someone leaves, that is all we hear. They left. No reason given. When asked you get told they are no longer with us and that nothing else can be said. "This person no longer works here." It is the norm in the corp world it seems. Usually legal reasons are cited for not saying why if it involves the person's behavior. Possibly worried about blackballing them and being brought to court? Who knows.
They gave the unspecified "Other reasons led to his dismissal" reason and were called liars on it. People won't accept anything short of a well documented account of why he was fired. Even then the people may not accept it and still call them liars. CNet can't win on this one so they have no choice but to ride it out.
The majority of people who use CNET's services either:
1. Don't know.
2. Don't care.
About this issue. That the industry pays for good reviews is nothing new. I can't recall what movies it was for, but didn't Sony create a reviewer that spoke in glowing terms about Sony films?
I understand the argument about corporate influence on consumer review.
I understand that Gamespot was the first resource I ever came across for games on the internet that was organized.
But to be honest, I don't see the boycott as having a serious effect overall. CNet did their thing, for good or ill. And there ARE other resources to draw on. Even 1up is one such site. And while 1up is considered "competition", it really is just another resource platform for information. Either someone can choose their favorite single resource, or actually look over several resources for information.
Frankly, in the end, while the professional reviewers are interesting to read or watch, it's the general consumer I get the most information from as there are more of them. Similar to product reviews on various sales sites. While reading the professional reviews are ok, I place more focus on the customer reviews and the number there, positive or negative, as being my main decision maker.
So, while I'm disappointed in the decision of Gamespot and think that one of many decent reviewers may have been treated badly, for me, it isn't a monsterous loss.
Now, if they started blatantly deleting negative consumer posts and information that were negative, I'd be far more upset.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower
I just don't trust it, 1UP employees have too much to gain by promoting the idea that gamespot is the devil.. this whole situation reeks... of greed.. opportunism and hypocrisy..
I'm tired of those pop-ups too. I want the page I clicked on, not an advert.
They HAVE been deleting negative consumer posts. The Eidos forums have been completely censored and any threads relating to this matter were locked and purged.
As for the boycott, yes it will have an effect if enough people follow it. If a company is completely shut out in the cold due to their behaviour it will either end them completely or force a U-turn, period. A company cannot continue without customers and if a significant proportion of their customer base leaves them then they end, see the effect of bad press on Northern Rock in the UK - Fears over their assets led to widespread withdrawal of money and their shareprice and liquid assets plunging markably.
The real question is, will enough of the consumer base actually adhere to the boycott to make a difference?
RelaxGuy:
I think 1UP might well have the best of intentions in this case. It would be all too easy for them to just write article after article encouraging the C-Net crowd to move their way, but I think in this case they just fear for the affect it might have on their indutsry as a whole. It's a cynical world and it's easy to presume the worst, but in this case I would hold off judgement for now.
Stopped reading there. How can they expect me to give up my beloved GameFAQs for a whole day? Besides, I don't give squat about reviews, they're always biased and crappy anyway (see also: recent PA comics). I just play the stupid demos and form my own hasty opinion.
It's this type of consumerism that is fueling the sequelized trash that is modern gaming industry.
If they can't speak on the issue, then we'll show GS our silence - if Jeff Gerstmann can't go in to work on Monday morning, we won't go on the site.
Sorry, but I gotta check out the downloads section at least once today to see if they got the latest patch for Crysis. :P
The reason I say "admits/denies" is because they haven't done either, and that's my issue with the whole thing. They're turtling. All of their press releases regarding this debacle have been vague at best. The least they could do is say "No, we did not fire Jeff Gerstmann over his poor review of Kane & Lynch"...but they're not even doing that, which to me reeks of guilt.
Don't forget that tons of users have been banned on the GameSpot forums for posting the direct link to the Video Review after GameSpot desperately tried to remove every link to the Video Review from the Kane & Lynch section of the Website.
If you have read my past comments in other threads you would have noticed I said that K&L should be the one generating a media sensation instead of Manhunt. In the very first level I think you kill in the neighborhood of 50-60 police officers (doing nothing more than their job, trying to keep convicted criminals from escaping, i.e. being good cops). This is not a "wholesome" game as your fail sarcasm put it.
However, if you would consider the legal limits when someone is let go from a company, you would know that nothing can be said outside of "This person doesn't work here anymore." and not much else. So all this (un)righteous gamer outrage will not change anything and just makes us look petty and stupid. Remember when he gave Zelda:TP an 8.8 and people were threatening this very same person (with death threats no less). Now it is like he is a god that can do no wrong (Not a judo-christian god mind you, just a god). Did I ever say smile? Nope, did I ever say to be happy about it? Not that I see... Did I say get on with your lives because being a pissed off little troll will get you nowhere? Yes. So shut up, get back to work (unless your job is really to troll GP, then please go take a break from work).
While checking out a support threat for Jeff on one of the Gamespot forums, I saw that Gamespot mods were locking every other post made on the topic. chuma already mentioned Eidos's reaction. So there is some censoring of the backlash.
Kotaku did the same thing. I hadn't visited GameSpot in years but I wanted to see what kind of boycott people were planning. Oops. :(
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Papa Midnight
(Insert liberal extremist propaganda here)
The problem there is twofold.
1) If they come out and say, "Yeah, we fired him because of his review of Kane & Lynch," the frenzy will be even worse. At that point you KNOW Gamespot sold out a reviewer for 30 pieces of silver (they'd have admitted it). The internet would re-explode over this.
2) If they come out and say, "No, of course we didn't fire him over this review," then everyone will accuse them of being liars, child molesters and Pope abusers. The internet would re-explode over this.
This is a no-win situation for C-Net, and they deserve every bit of it.
Good question. I gave up on 1UP because their reivewers seem full of themselves. If they truly cared, why not offer to employ one of the long-timers, who obviously has a following...
They deserve everything right now. Firing someone high up like Gertsmann right after he gave a low score on a game that was heavily advertised? Sorry, too much coincidence. They need to fess up or point out what really happened. They are screwed no matter what though.
So how the hell do I apply it here?
Well, see if I resubscribe then.
Yes, I was a paid subscriber to GameSpot.
And I was satisfied with what I was getting for the price.
But if they are going to start screwing with the consumers themselves... How did it go?
"Homey don't play dat!"
And watch me blast them in my Facebook Group "Parents For Education, Not Legislation" when I get home tonight.
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Well there is the big problem. They can't really "come clean" about this. Legal reasons prevent them from saying why.
Even if they could come clean and post an entire tome of reasons why this guy was let go that was as obvious as looking up and seeing the sky as blue, the rabid internet would call them liars.
"They can’t really “come clean” about this. Legal reasons prevent them from saying why."
That's generally not true for private companies. They, having all of the rights of "personhood" certainly have the right to freedom of speech. That's sometimes not the case with governments, so maybe that's where you're confused. Of course, none of this is to say that GameSpot won't hide behind legalisms and "corporate policy" when asked about the firing.
Because this *appears* to be such a huge ethical lapse, the public has every right to ask the company to justify its actions (and, likewise, the company has every right to explain itself). A little accountability is all anyone is really asking for here. Am I just a dinosaur for remembering when people didn't accept unspecified "legal reasons" as an excuse to avoid accountability?