Originally posted by Distopia

Originally posted by niceguy3978

 

One of the biggest problems I have with viral marketing isn't the act itself, its the impact that it has on forums like these.  By that, I mean it becomes way to easy to simply accuse someone who likes a game that you don't, or that doesn't like a game that you do as being a shill/viral marketer.

This really has nothing to do with viral marketing, it's simply human weakness and an inability to be "wrong" that causes this. If you can't argue a point attack and discredit the source through any means possible.

I agree, but the fact that viral marketing exists allows someone to use those terms and potentially cloud the waters enough to make them appear to be illegitimate.

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Originally posted by Sorrow
It is called viral marketing something SOE started.

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Viral marketing has been around for hundreds of years.

So...do you think Bioware has planted agents on their own forum to counter all resistance? 

1) Yes they are manipulative and Mussolini-esque in their fascist controls and designs upon their own players and unsubscribers. Pure Evil (50 Dark Side Points)

2) Huh?  

3) Are you so delirious as to think they need to do such a thing. Listen I'm going to give you a number to a good shrink. He's  really   great with excellent professional mannerisms and your visits would be purely confidential . Look..I just want to do what's right. Do you have a pen and paper handy?. (150 Light Side Points)

Originally posted by BarCrow

So...do you think Bioware has planted agents on their own forum to counter all resistance? 

1) Yes they are manipulative and Mussolini-esque in their fascist controls and designs upon their own players and unsubscribers. Pure Evil (50 Dark Side Points)

2) Huh?  

3) Are you so delirious as to think they need to do such a thing. Listen I'm going to give you a number to a good shrink. He's  really   great with excellent professional mannerisms and your visits would be purely confidential . Look..I just want to do what's right. Do you have a pen and paper handy?. (150 Light Side Points)

LOL, nice response, man. These threads are silly as can be. Now that some don't agree to hate the game it must be the game developer! Just approximate numbers of 1.7 million, naw can't be any of them are actually enjoying the game. You folks try way too hard. You don't like the game. That's good and understandable. But not everyone will agree with you. Everyone has their own tastes, their own style and their own type of fullfillment. Just move on. These conspiracy theories are silly to say the least. Quick! Let's all get our tinfoil hats!

Originally posted by Zhauric

LOL, nice response, man. These threads are silly as can be. Now that some don't agree to hate the game it must be the game developer!

Shouldn't be surprising. You have just as many that claim anyone that doesn't like a game or brings up issues with it is a plant from other mmo companies.

They're all nuts far as I'm concerned.

All you need to do is go to a star wars convention or be outside one before it opens. They (EA/BW) don't need to have plants acting like psychiatric patients on holiday.

Remember this quote? It sums it up just perfect- 

Seriously, I can't stress this enough. Have you been to the official forums? Have you seen the 36 thousand pages of locked threads that ended in epic flame wars because someone pointed out that Boba Fett was an overrated character? These are not rational, intelligent, reasonable people - they are borderline mental patients who were given a gaming outlet so that they'd stop trying to gouge the midichlorians out of their day nurse with plastic Jell-O spoons.

   I wouldn't put it past any company to have a "viral marketing department", including Blizzard. There is alot of money at risk, "They" have found that even a crap product , well advertised , does well finacially. Who wouldn't lie for money? It's not going to hurt anyone playing a bad game (like TOR) or a boring game (like wow).

  As a side note, I spend alot of time online , I will gladly sell out my personal honour for a couple of bucks , it's the closest I will ever get to working in the "Industry".  We all have played MMO's long enough to know the difference between made up twaddle versus legitamate gripes.

  When you ask about a game and they string together BUZZ-words that sound lke they came out of a focus group, you know they are full of crap... It's like story driven, action-packed Star Warsy goodness with great replayability and jampacked with Balanced Player versus Player gameplay, now with less calories and no saturated fat!!

  Sites like this are supposed to be a bastion against the industry from pushing low quality products. IF you sell crap, we, collectivley, will make you famous for it!  Sadly too many people have a vested interest in sucking up to companies , too many people just like proving themselves right (even if they are wrong) in an argument. We should be demanding excellence from the industry.

I don't post much on the official forums anymore, think I have like 3 posts there since the forums came back up after the wipe.

I do read stuff there though, and there are a couple of posters who make my blood boil. And yeah, they're the ones people often reder to as 'biodrones'. Some of these guys post so much you wonder if they ever actually play the game.

I like SWTOR, I play SWTOR, but that kind of 'everything's perfect' nonsense grinds my gears, it's dumb as all get-out to think that the game doesn't need improvement in any area. It does, and it's pathetically silly to claim otherwise. Tbh, I find that more annoying than the die-hards who want a total redesign to make SWTOR into SWG2.

Do I think those guys are paid to post, nah. They aren't exactly embraced by the community, which you'd imagine would be the aim of any plant. If that's what they're doing (and I really don't think it is), it's backfiring.

I know we're in a 'social media manipulation is everything' stage of the Internet, but it didn't start with video games, or gaming forums. 'Manufacturing Consent' came out over two decades ago (damn I feel old, I remember having my mind blown by it in college) so shady tactics are for from new, but we're also more media-savvy now and able to spot the tricks. I think most forum-goers blot out the 'everything's rosy in the garden' posters as much as the 'chicken little' types. Well, I know I do at least. Can't be alone in that, can I?

Originally posted by Hopscotch73

 I think most forum-goers blot out the 'everything's rosy in the garden' posters as much as the 'chicken little' types. Well, I know I do at least. Can't be alone in that, can I?

Nope...you aren't.

Well, admittedly pending on my mood sometimes I purposely poke them with a stick for shits and giggles.

Yes, but they are not the most obvious.

The most fanatical and robotic are the people who AREN'T paid.

They are called useful fools.

Some people always seem to belive there must be some kind of centralized authority or coordination for these sorts of things.  There really does not.  Just because they are fools doesn't mean they are stupid.  And just because they are saying similar things doesn't mean they need to compare notes.  Fish don't swim in schools because some big fish is telling them how to.