If I cared about Fallout it would be really interesting to compare the WIP script with the finished article. There are several versions of the Avatar scripts floating around and they are all pretty interesting.
Kotaku's Blacklisting........discussion
- Thread starter Persistantthug
- Start date
If I cared about Fallout it would be really interesting to compare the WIP script with the finished article. There are several versions of the Avatar scripts floating around and they are all pretty interesting.
Kotaku has done a lot of great and a lot of shitty reporting. What comparable sites do you think are better?
Then release the WIP script after the game is released.
D
Deleted member 11852
Guest
A lot of gaming journalists have not had a formal (or informal) training in the classic sense. When you read about opening in the gaming press they're after people who like games and who can write well. It's not like gaming journalists are following leads and running down stories like the more traditional news press. So, yeah..
What I've seen is word for word. From the opening monologue to the lines of key characters.
perhaps they're sensationalist items but you think both these are not worthy of being reported on?
http://kotaku.com/five-years-and-nothing-to-show-how-doom-4-got-off-trac-468097062
http://kotaku.com/leaked-e-mails-suggest-bethesda-misled-gamers-about-pre-1149092622
upnorthsox are you disagreeing with me and saying that there is not a place for real journalism in gaming?
Sigfried1977
Legend
Gawker's MO (by the CEO's own admission no less) is to publish anything and everything, no matter how truthful, shady or potentionally damaging it may be. Sometimes it backfires and bites them in the ass, like in the case of the Hulk Hogan scandal, and now with Kotaku's FO4 script leak. There have been plenty of blacklisting cases over over the course of the last decade where concern was truly warranted. This is not one of them.
Last edited:
The way I see it, I don't even mind the click-baiting, or "ruining" games by publishing leaked scripts or whatnot. That kind of stuff happens to all other mediums all the time and it's never been the end of the world. People who don't want to have surprises spoiled have full ability to not read that sort of info, and 99% of the actual consumers don't even get to know that stuff had leaked, nor care.
If Kotaku wants to be the guys that do investigative journalism, and ask the tough questions, and so on, then GREAT. By all means, keep doing it, it be great to have that sort of website doing that sort of thing. But if they want to take that route, then hell be prepared for it. Don't cry about publishers doing whatever is in their power to try to keep you from ruining their marketing plan, because it should have been obvious that they would do exaclty that.
If Kotaku wants to be the guys that do investigative journalism, and ask the tough questions, and so on, then GREAT. By all means, keep doing it, it be great to have that sort of website doing that sort of thing. But if they want to take that route, then hell be prepared for it. Don't cry about publishers doing whatever is in their power to try to keep you from ruining their marketing plan, because it should have been obvious that they would do exaclty that.
Avatar or Fallout 4?
Kotaku is a company and thus can not cry. Do you think that Kotaku should NOT tell its readers/clickers why they are not getting the coverage they expect for Betesda and Ubi games?
90 % of what the traditional press is doing is repeating PR stuff or rewriting other media's stories.
I do think they should be open about it, yes. And don't know how they work internally, but they should be prepared for that kind of retaliation, and admiting it is a form of fighting back to some extent. I don't remember what the tone of their article was, and won't bother re-reading it, but they shouldn't act as if those companies are being overly evil. They are only doing things perfectly whithin their right to do. If they've acknowledged that, then great.
If you can't be bothered to remember or look up facts, isn't it pointless to discuss things? And telling companies like Kotaku what to do when you have no idea what they are actually doing is pretty ignorant.
D
Deleted member 11852
Guest
Fallout 4.
I think that while this is of course a free society and publishers can blacklist whoever they want for whatever reason they want, it's just not very classy.
You take the good with the bad and deal with it. Blacklisting parts of the press because they might not agree with you is a bit crass.
You take the good with the bad and deal with it. Blacklisting parts of the press because they might not agree with you is a bit crass.
Personally, I wish Santa Claus would come down from the North Pole before Christmas and help publishers and gaming websites understand the folly of engaging in relationships that undermine the integrity of gaming journalism.
Last edited:
I must say. I bow to you. That's a level of intellect I lost a long time ago.
No intellect required. Just an observation where just about everywhere else, websites aren't heavily dependent on the advertising from the products they cover.
Its rather obvious that someone putting money in your pocket will never be comfortable with the ideal of you disparaging their products even in the name of journalism.
Pubs aren't stupid and EA, Ubisoft and others are run by business men, not gamers. These types of relationships are ways to buy influence which is probably why they indulge in this type of advertising/marketing so heavily. Gaming sites aren't stupid either as they are run by business men, not journalists. They indulge in these relationships because they want all the perks (easy and early access to yet to be released titles) which allows them to be as competitive with timely releases with all their other peers who partake in these relationships. Its makes their jobs easier and they aren't dependent on doing more laborious work with more thoughtful and engaging content to make up for the lack of access.
Usually its the news organizations with their high journalistic integrity that would avoid these types of relationships in an effort to remain unbiased and independent. But since we don't have that, might as well "wish" that pubs work against their own best interest. Wishful thinking doesn't usually have to operate in the space of logical reasoning.
I think I'll go back and edit my above post with something more amusing.
Last edited:
Silent_Buddha
Legend
Bethesda didn't blacklist Kotaku because they disagreed with them. Over the past year+ Kotaku has posted LOTS of things that have been unflattering to Bethesda. That is business as normal. And Bethesda took it on the chin as that is the risk inherent in giving the Press early access to things for PR purposes.
Kotaku got blacklisted for posting confidential information that can potentially be harmful to Bethesda and its customers. If the script had been leaked a year AFTER the game's release, then Bethesda probably wouldn't have done anything about it. But during the Holiday season when the game is released? When a company expects to get as much or more revenue than the other 3 quarters combined? The Holiday quarter that can make or break a company?
It's a pretty big difference. In the first case, they didn't get blacklisted for saying what they think about Bethesda. In the second case, they got blacklisted for publishing something that is concrete and confidential and during a time when it is extremely relevant to Bethesda's bottom line and potentially to customer's enjoyment of the game.
Leaking the script to the game wasn't an opinion piece. It wasn't a review. It wasn't seeking to expose some wrong the company was doing or was planning to do.
It served no journalistic purpose at all. No media outlet with any self respect or integrity would have published it.
You can bet that Bethesda isn't the only publisher or developer that has taken notice of it. Kotaku will be under close watch and pubs and devs are likely going to be less willing to give Kotaku official access to things.
Basically Kotaku appear to want to become the Enquirer of gaming media sites.
Regards,
SB
Similar threads
