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?

Good grief, overreact much?  I'm sure we're all grownups here who can make our own decisions about things.  I never give much credence to games sites that rely on advertising from game companies anyway, and I'm sure the VAST majority of people think as I do.  When I frequented Allakhazam, many years ago, I'm sure they had a guild in Warcraft, and nobody shed as much tears about it as you just did.

Originally posted by Scot

I have to question the independent stance of MMORPG.com ...

Independent? Good joke.

It should be common knowledge by now that MMORPG.com is here to promote and to support the gaming industry. Every new title from one of the big publishers will get positive reviews here and will get good promotion in form of published interviews, previews, reviews, press releases and editorials.

Nothing wrong with having an MMORPG.com guild.

Who cares. I don't trust mmorpg reviews one bit and don't read them anymore.

And with don't trust I mean they have no clue about what a good game is or they are  taking money. (in the form of free trips, preview copies, etc.)

Don't worry, the senario where the MMORPG staff write a bad review and the guild rage-disband won't happen.

Nor will the guild members telling the staff what to write happen either.

What difference does it make whether there is an official MMORPG.com guild, they had one for TERA, TSW and now GW2.

Do you think the reviewers/editors here don't play MMORPG's on their own free time?  Of course they do, you even know which ones they favor (Pokket likes WOW, Mike B likes SWTOR etc).

I see no correlation and why would reviews ever be unbiased, they always have to be taken into account of the personal taste of the reviewer.

I assure you, a sandbox lover is going to downgrade a theme park no matter what, and if there ever was a quality sandbox title you can bet it would get lower scores from a reviewer who favored themeparks.

Just the way of the world, humans can't be impartial, just not possible.

Yeah there was one for Tera and TSW. I don't really see the big deal here. They are just harboring a community, nothing wrong with that. 

Personally I do not trust ANY review from ANY site which has commericial ad space available, BUT for the most part, the recent reviews on Tera, TSW, and GW2 on MMORPG.COM have been pretty straight forward and imitate exactly  how i felt about said games when I played them all.

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.

TSW and TERA both had/have official guilds.  At least at launch, no idea how active they are now.

Honestly, I'm confused Scot.  What exactly do you take issue with? The community is running the guild (though I admit I did make the emblem today /flex).  We're just participating and interacting with you all, the same way we do here.  I'm not telling anyone what I'm going to score the game, and most of my "editorial" comments about the game in Guild Chat have been: "I love Vista Hunting" or "The bomb kit is absolutely nuts." 

I'm not sure what you're getting at, I guess.

Edit: Is it because you think that me being in a guild with you lot, means I'll like the game more and rate it hgher? Wouldn't being in a guild in any MMO do the same? Playing with people is kind of the point.  

Originally posted by niceguy3978

 

TSW and TERA both had/have official guilds.  At least at launch, no idea how active they are now.

Not very. But that's indicative of the games' ability to retain folks as well, methinks.

The guild is about you guys, not us. It was turned over right away to star and whoever else decided to take up the mantle and help out. It's our way of supporting our community not just here but inside games that interest you. It has absolutely zero to do with editorial content.

We want to play with you guys and we'd love to help you guys play games with each other. You spend so much time conversing with each other on the boards, there's no doubt that many of you have become friends and we simply wanted to support you in finding a common place to call home in Guild Wars 2 (and other MMOs).

Originally posted by BillMurphy

Honestly, I'm confused Scot.  What exactly do you take issue with? The community is running the guild (though I admit I did make the emblem today /flex).  We're just participating and interacting with you all, the same way we do here.  I'm not telling anyone what I'm going to score the game, and most of my "editorial" comments about the game in Guild Chat have been: "I love Vista Hunting" or "The bomb kit is absolutely nuts." 

I'm not sure what you're getting at, I guess.

Edit: Is it because you think that me being in a guild with you lot, means I'll like the game more and rate it hgher? Wouldn't being in a guild in any MMO do the same? Playing with people is kind of the point.  

 

It's all about fun for me.

Hats off to you guys for just trying to give your visitor's some fun things to paticipate in.

I think the issue is similar to the issue of U.S. military members publicly supporting a particular political candidate.  The military is supposed to be a neutral party which provides benefits to all members of the community, no matter what political views they may have.  If the military were allowed to support a political candidate, the citizens who do not feel the same way would end up being alienated from the military.  Their feeling of not having full support of their military is the reasoning behind laws which prohibit military members from publicly supporting a candidate.

Personally, I have no issues with MMORPG.com's guild.  I think it does walk that fine ethical line described above.  As long as the staff are careful to not show favoritism or link guild drama to their news website actions, it should be fine.  If that line does get crossed, I hope someone can remain neutral enough to recognize the issue and correct it.

“The guild is about you guys, not us. It was turned over right away to star and whoever else decided to take up the mantle and help out.”

I did not realise this, it seemed to me that the Staffers were running the guild. That is a better way of doing it for sure.

As a general principle it is just a good idea not to be too hand in glove with a product you review. When I brought this idea up here, people laughed as if they expect all reviews on here and elsewhere to be totally biased. I do not think reviews on here are that biased, yes they can be over enthusiastic and the staff want to support MMO’s, but you take that into account. It is way too cynical to think everyone is on some sort of retainer as some have suggested.

“As long as the staff are careful to not show favoritism or link guild drama to their news website actions, it should be fine. If that line does get crossed, I hope someone can remain neutral enough to recognize the issue and correct it.”

This is the sort of concern I have, linking forum accounts to guild members is questionable. I see the reasoning, create a community of game members who are on the site so must be enthusiasts. And as one guy said maybe it will make posters more responsible, but I think it will also handicap them. I played SWTOR for 6 months and while doing so both praised and criticised the game on here. I was also a officer in a guild there, if my two identities were connected I would have definitely not wanted to criticise the game here. Out of loyalty to my guild, that’s the sort of issue I see. Maybe for some players this would not be an issue.