Episode 20
We report on our Rock Band session and our other gaming experiences, Jason brings us the week in gaming, and we end up round tabling whether or not mainstream game journalism is relevant anymore while attempting to round up our favorite gaming news sources.
| Introduction | 00:00:00 |
| What we’re playing | 00:04:16 |
| The week in gaming | 00:21:27 |
| MAME update | 00:42:44 |
| Contest update | 00:46:02 |
| Round table and rant | 00:49:54 |
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a comment on the roundtable.. and the site redesign.. but I figured it’d fit in here a bit better.. lol.. Anyway.. you guys were talking about mainstream sites and the use of advertisments.. yes I agree that sponsors will effect your judgment and what info you put out to the public, but on the flip side they also act as a control feature reducing fabrications and smearing.. you are accountable to your advertisers for your good or bad.. you wanna just slam a product cuz you didn’t get an exclusive, well as a blogger you totally could.. no accountability.. it’s a senario that’s about as likley as a mainstream site doing a fluff peice when the game is actual crap…
what it boils down to for me at least, I look to a site with major advertisment (quality not quantity) for new.. and look to blogs for rumor and editorial info…
the way it stands now, the big guys can’t really do complete “Oh Pong is the greatest New Game on the market” stories cuz the little independents would be telling the truth “Pong was awsome 20 years ago.. but come on.. it’s 2 color!!”.. ok.. nuffsaid me thinks…
For any questions or comments please email Jim at Male@channelmassive.com
The roundtable part where Jason and Mark debate advertising. Jason was just wrong, how he completly missed Mark’s point, is beyond me. Marks point was very simple, if your site has more advertising then content, there is a problem.
There is pretty much one simple rule about “Who Do You Trust”, you can usually trust someone who has nothing to gain or lose by telling the truth.
WORD! Vindicated at last! Suck it down Jason, SUCK…IT…DOWN!
Honestly, I don’t think I missed the point at all.
“There is pretty much one simple rule about “Who Do You Trust”, you can usually trust someone who has nothing to gain or lose by telling the truth.”
You obviously agree with Mark that if a website has more banner ads then content/reviews/whatever then it must not be a credible source of information since their opinions may be influenced by advertising dollars.
In other words, they are selling out.
Even worse, if the website just laid out a review for the latest and greatest game out there and it’s front page is splashed with banner ads promoting the game then it must be totally biased right? Surely that game got a 5 star killer review? Right?!
Wrong.
Someone should have explained that to Jeff Gerstmann. He might still have a job if he hadn’t deleted the “Give all games a 5-star review even if it sucks big time because they pay our bills” memo.
My point is that editors are usually going to give a game a honest review, regardless of ad dollars. Give them a little credit.
Ironically, most people who miss the point tend to say that they don’t think they missed the point.
My point wasn’t:
“… if a website has more banner ads then content/reviews/whatever then it must not be a credible source of information since their opinions may be influenced by advertising dollars.”
My point was that you have to question the motives of a site that has sold out to advertising from the start as opposed to sites that do what they do out of love for gaming or whatever their chosen topic is. They’re not beholding to anyone, be it advertisers, publishers offering exclusive previews or scoops, or any other motivation other than that of expressing their passion for what they’re discussing. I personally tend to trust those whose motives I judge to be the most pure. I’d rather buy a used car from someone selling privately than a used car salesman, for instance. Both could be out to give me a great deal or screw me over but my personal preference is to avoid the used-car salesman.
There’s a subtle difference between the words you keep putting in my mouth and what I keep reiterating.
Your point is great but is not mutually exclusive to my own. You trust who you trust and I trust who I trust. That was the title of the discussion after all.
this is funny.. you both just basically repeated what I said above.. You both missed my point..
Anyone have a universal translator handy?
Quote 1 : “… if a website has more banner ads then content/reviews/whatever then it must not be a credible source of information since their opinions may be influenced by advertising dollars.”
Quote 2: “…you have to question the motives of a site that has sold out to advertising from the start as opposed to sites that do what they do out of love for gaming or whatever their chosen topic is.”
I honestly don’t see any difference in those two statements. The words that I’m saying and the words I apparently keep putting in your mouth look the same to me.
Please…explain. Jason…must…understand. Error…Error…Faulty!…Faulty!…Must sterilize!
Noah! Beam me out of this thread before my head explodes!
Jason:
I guess the distinction is that I DON’T believe their (sites with tons of ads) opinions are influenced by their advertisers since so many of their ads aren’t even gaming related. I DO believe that by putting out a site to make money, with ads all over the place, they turn me off and remind me of a slimy used car salesman. I hope that helps. All hailing frequencies open.
Kanker:
I think I get your point which is that you trust blogs for one thing and major, ad supported, websites for another. I can agree with that to an extent though I personally tend to trust the bloggers to at least be true to themselves. I think we all get sick of this blogger or that blogger’s crazy obsession with some game or another which they view as perfect despite being played by 1/10 of 1% of the gaming population but damnit, at least you know what they believe in.
hahaa.. exactly my point.. opinion peices on average are going to be better from a blogger than from an Adver Site.. the blogger can just spout whatever crap that happens to jump in their head with out any repercussions.. you will get a more ‘Honest’ editorial from them than you will get from a sponsored site.. However, by the same token, a sponsered site will have much better access to ‘Breakin News” or documented factual info.. so ya.. what you said..
damnit.. it removed my “Excellent” praise of the Lagunitas and Thunderhead IPA’s.. mmmm.. hoppy beer FTSoaMFPW…