I have to question the independent stance of MMORPG.com when they are forming an official guild in Guild Wars 2, which has members of their staff in it. Does anyone know if this has happened before for any other MMO’s?

It means we must question any reviews and so on about GW2. I appreciate that sometimes reviews for a MMO are made by staff or reviewers who are fans of the game, but having the staff of a site like this with a guild in a MMO is taking things way too far.

Anyone who has been in a guild knows the feelings of loyalty to the guild and therefore the game that being in a guild evokes. This is simply incompatible with the critical journalistic process needed to review games.

Having Bill wax lyrical about why he likes GW2 on the MMOFTW review is fine, that’s what we want to hear, and not shy about issues with logging on either. Having a group of staffers invested in a guild which links players to our names on this site to ensure brand loyalty is not sound practice and you really need to think again.

---

Originally posted by Scot
I have to question the independent stance of MMORPG.com when they are forming an official guild in Guild Wars 2, which has members of their staff in it. Does anyone know if this has happened before for any other MMO’s?

It means we must question any reviews and so on about GW2. I appreciate that sometimes reviews for a MMO are made by staff or reviewers who are fans of the game, but having the staff of a site like this with a guild in a MMO is taking things way too far.

Anyone who has been in a guild knows the feelings of loyalty to the guild and therefore the game that being in a guild evokes. This is simply incompatible with the critical journalistic process needed to review games.

Having Bill wax lyrical about why he likes GW2 on the MMOFTW review is fine, that’s what we want to hear, and not shy about issues with logging on either. Having a group of staffers invested in a guild which links players to our names on this site to ensure brand loyalty is not sound practice and you really need to think again.

---

Yeah, I dont know. IM gona apply on friday because it seems like a fun thing to do, But..

I could see ethical issues arising like having an altercation with a staff member in game, and will that translate to how they are moderated on the website?

Originally posted by Ausare
Frankly I find any "professional" review to be questionable. I like user reviews better.

Anything you read on the net is questionable, ESPECIALLY user reviews.

OP, you think the popel that work here don't play the games they are talking about? I don't see how having an offical guild makes any difference to that.

Oh FFS. Not everything is about money sometimes it really is just for fun. I think you are on the wrong track OP. It is not at all uncommon for website user groups to get together and form guilds for the games they play. Games and posting forums are both social activities by nature. Some are even hugely successful. Just look at the Goons and TEST in EVE Online. As a matter of fact I would love to see an MMORPG.com group get big enough in EVE to wipe both those guilds like a dirty bottom just so the game could smell fresh again. Only problem is that I don’t think we love one another enough here to ever make something big happen.

I blame the jerks. ;)

Originally posted by Vesavius

Originally posted by Ausare
Frankly I find any "professional" review to be questionable. I like user reviews better.

 Anything you read on the net is questionable, ESPECIALLY user reviews.

Yup.  There really aren't any editors getting paid to remove bias (might be a few putting it in for ad revenue). 

With users, nothing but "I like what most resembles my imagined ideal", in essence unfiltered and unresticted bias.  Which is fine, if your ideals closely resemble the reviewer's... 

Ten minutes reading this site should serve to demonstrate just how rare that really is.

Tinfoil hat-squad....ADVANCE!

Come on, man! These guys (and gals) play the same games we do. You don't think it's cool that they might like to hang out with their community in-game? I'd much rather see this than the meet-and-greets that they do at cons. Of course, I'm anti-social IRL, so...........

You do know no matter how many facts slip into a review by a critic it is still an opinion, right? The only way to have a completely unbiased review is for you to actually decide yourself. I used to care about reviews until a few years ago, now I just watch some gameplay videos, read up on some of the facts of the game, and make my own damn decision based off of what I have either played before or if I got to preview the game myself.

Here's a recent example, Kingdoms of Amalur, recieved mediocre reviews, and was met with an overall "meh". I still find it fun as hell. Will I agree with them on some technical aspects of the game? Probably, but am I having fun? Yes. 

Point is, we only really read reviews to reaffirm our own view with another's.

Originally posted by Nightgroper

Point is, we only really read reviews to reaffirm our own view with another's.

Well, not quite.  Surprisingly large number of people read reviews to save themselves the work of researching a game for themselves.

GW1 showed those results.  Number of players who did not even read the box was pretty enormous, back in '05.

90% of all reviews ain't objective. If large websites critize a game too much, then the developer says "screw you, you get no beta keys for our next game".

As such: it doesn't matter.

Originally posted by Icewhite

Originally posted by Nightgroper

Point is, we only really read reviews to reaffirm our own view with another's.

Well, not quite.  Surprisingly large number of people read reviews to save themselves the work of researching a game for themselves.

GW1 showed those results.  Number of players who did not even read the box was pretty enormous, back in '05.

Are we really that lazy now a days? That and most the of the reviews I have seen from larger sites recently, ign, kotaku, here, have not really informed me about, whatever game, itself. Yeah they talk about development, pad the hell out an article, and very rarely do they ever get to mechanics of gameplay, community, or just fun, and who might have fun with the game.

Being in an active guild is something that you NEED in order to give a proper review of an MMO so I don't see how the staff being in one would compromise the journalistic integrity.

Surely if they weren't in a guild then the reviews they make would be lacking?

---

Originally posted by DaezAster
I think they have one for tsw as well which also has a free ingame mmorpg t-shirt in game. I don't see it as an issue or conflict of interest. 

---

We joked about this at the midnight pre-launch in Mumble.

Ya'll have nothing to worry about.

I'll let Bill or Suzie or someone chime in.

Originally posted by Crazy_Stick

Oh FFS. Not everything is about money sometimes it really is just for fun. I think you are on the wrong track OP. It is not at all uncommon for website user groups to get together and form guilds for the games they play. Games and posting forums are both social activities by nature. Some are even hugely successful. Just look at the Goons and TEST in EVE Online.

Agreed.

@OP,

The staff is made up of gamers and gaming enthusiasts. Are you suggesting they shouldn't play these games? Are you suggesting they should only be allowed to play MMOs after they write the review for them?

The tinfoilhattery is strong in this one.

Lets not forget the fact that very few players these days have any loyalty to guilds. Most play with zero player accountability, meaning if they do something worth of a guild kick, its no big deal. They can change thier char names, char looks, factions, and or servers with relative ease < in most games > So it becomes impossible to hold people accountable. With no repercussions many act lawless in games these days...sadly.

I , for one, am not the Least Bit Suprised that a site About MMO's has members on its staff that play MMO's. In fact i'd be upset and probly Not Read anything here if they DIDNT play them.  So why all this folks being upset because they review games here and actually play them to enjoy as people!  Would you believe a food critics review of a place they dont eat in? I think not!

ITT: OP is scared because people who run a MMORPG discussion and review site actually play MMORPGs.

Because we all know that people who play games are always objective and never have any personal investment in games they spend hundreds or thousands of hours on. 

We have had concerns about review impartiality before, but this site is like any other, it has its ups and downs as regards to how we see them doing. It is the effect having MMORPG.com guilds will have on staffers impartiality that is my concern and the consequences of tying posters on here by forum name to those guilds.

Yes reviewers should be allowed to have fun and play the games they review, that’s fine. I did already say that in the OP, but it seems some thought I said otherwise. It is creating a MMORPG.com guild brand that only plays certain MMO’s and ties posters here into those MMO’s which is questionable.

I take objection to the idea that I am known for alarmist rhetoric Icewhite, if your reaction to not agreeing with someone’s opinion is to label them, you are saying more about yourself than you might wish.