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It is VERY concerning to me that EA asks reviews to change grades. What do you think?

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Old 08-12-2009, 01:43 PM   #17
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Re: It is VERY concerning to me that EA asks reviews to change grades. What do you th

2 days ago everyone was saying who the hell is Gaming Trend. Well no one is saying that now. Just throwing that out there.
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Old 08-12-2009, 01:43 PM   #18
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Re: It is VERY concerning to me that EA asks reviews to change grades. What do you th

god bless america right?
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Old 08-12-2009, 01:44 PM   #19
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Re: It is VERY concerning to me that EA asks reviews to change grades. What do you th

I read it in the print mag. It's a magazine I don't save otherwise I'd scan the article and post.

Basically they mentioned how hardcore players who were forum contributors for a long time were suspect when several posters swooped in the forum hyping aspects of the new version of a game that were obvious problems. I can't remember the details of the investigation but they were able to track the bogus users to India and discovered they were paid by the gaming company. After that they changed their strategy - such as starting out as a normal contributor, establishing community respect and being more subdued about their praise - and making sure not to hype elements that were not a total FAIL in the game.

One doesn't need that article to believe it. Business is cut throat, there's big dollars at stake, perks are being thrown around so this should be of no surprise to anyone. Shoot I could create 40 separate ID's here and hype Madden 10 all day if I want.

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Old 08-12-2009, 01:45 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rheerun
I've worked at various software companies my entire career... this is a pretty common practice ... particularly at larger companies that have lots of dollars invested in prod mgmt and marketing.

We didn't ask people to change their scores directly, but we would follow-up if it was a bad score to make sure we understood what the problem was, what led the reviewer to have that stance etc. More often than you might think, there are misunderstandings about certain features, certain settings etc. And, I've seen numerous occasions where the follow-up leads to more clarity in which case the reviewers actually apologize, thank us for the clarification then update the score as appropriate.

I'm not saying that's what happened in this case... just that its not as surprising to me as it might be for others...
What would your company do if it got an unrealistically high review? It is disingenuous to leave those out there. You mislead people. People buy your product based on reviews. If you feel it is your duty to provide clarity to a low score, you should do the same for high scores. If a client is misled and thinks your product cures cancer thanks to a review, you should probably say something, otherwise you face the wrath of angry, misled clients.

Also, what "features" does madden have that would possibly be unclear at this point? It's football. The lowest score was for gameplay. There isn't really anything that is difficult to understand there.
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Old 08-12-2009, 01:47 PM   #21
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Re: It is VERY concerning to me that EA asks reviews to change grades. What do you th

Quote:
Originally Posted by pjv31
2 days ago everyone was saying who the hell is Gaming Trend. Well no one is saying that now. Just throwing that out there.
exactly

the score was BS in the first place (74?) hell just from the demos I give it an 85 without seeing another thing.

they got what they wanted.
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Old 08-12-2009, 01:49 PM   #22
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Re: It is VERY concerning to me that EA asks reviews to change grades. What do you th

Quote:
Originally Posted by pjv31
2 days ago everyone was saying who the hell is Gaming Trend. Well no one is saying that now. Just throwing that out there.
Good point, on the other side of the spectrum a bottom feeding gaming website could post an abnormally low review score to gain attention and publicity. What's the troof?

Last edited by swaldo; 08-12-2009 at 01:51 PM.
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Old 08-12-2009, 01:52 PM   #23
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Re: It is VERY concerning to me that EA asks reviews to change grades. What do you th

The conversation went something like this:

EA: you scored the game to low

Reviewer: I think I gave a fair, objective review

EA: PLEASE CHANGE THE SCORE!!!

Reviewer: no, that goes against my morals

EA: what do you want?

Reviewer: an invite to Madden 11 community day

EA: done

Reviewer: and your new score is...
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Old 08-12-2009, 01:57 PM   #24
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Re: It is VERY concerning to me that EA asks reviews to change grades. What do you th

So don't read the review. Cheese and rice people! Momma always said "don't believe everything you read". It's honestly not that big of a deal. If you think they're not objective then write your own review, post it in a blog or a forum here and hope people read it. This isn't a madoff scandal your trying to uncover.
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