Should game developers be allowed to post on other gaming forums?

I agree, BF (and any other site) should moderate this. I too, have been the victim of this - it's a partial reason why I left PF!

Hi all,

Yup, I think I understand what everyone's saying. I'm not sure how much detail I can go into without looking like I'm attacking a particular game developer. But I did see something just today as I was browsing the Big Fish forums that bothered me a bit.

In the example I pointed out in my first post, there have been more posts to it. Basically, they were all people from the game developer's site assuming that the BFG member who made the negative criticism has never played that kind of game. One or two such posts would probably be nothing but there were like 5 posts exactly like that and maybe it's just me but it seems to be an attack on the original poster for having such an opinion. I have considered letting a BFG moderator know about this behavior but then I've seen it happen in the past. Not very often but it does happen and although I did try to let BFG know about this, they didn't do anything about it so it made me think that trying to report it again would be useless. I suppose I consider that on any forum, consideration and tolerance should be the norm for any member but some unfortunately just don't do so and end up resorting to personal attacks and such to do so. I've seen this from a few game developers, too, and a few of my friends have been victims because of it. Even I don't always feel comfortable posting a negative opinion because of this very reason.

Anyway, I suppose I don't like game developers strongholding-not sure if that's the right word but I think it's close-members on sites that are not their own to like their games when members simply may not feel that way.

Not sure if I'm explaining myself well, though.

You got it right Shamashe, and who knows there is so much going on with BF right now, there's no telling what is actually going on behind the scenes and actually right in front of our noses.

I sure hope they don't do like PF and just mess over their members, that would be so wrong.

Hey Mohala,
Just so I understand - I think what you're trying to say is that a company like BF may be allowing and even using overly negative or coersive comments as a tool to gauge the like/usability of their games. Do I have that right?

While I solidly agree to our right to free speech, I, like you, I object to personal attack. Especially about entertainment. If a person doesn't like a game, they don't like a game! It's a personal preference issue, not politics and certainly not someone else's business to make them change their mind. Much different than marketing incentives to try something else as a comparison. How would this be different than the movie or TV industry?

We can post reviews and agree to the rights to voice our opinions, likes, dislikes etc. as a matter of course when we sign up on the forums, but I thought there were rules about content. If BF is not enforcing those rules simply to QC their games, then I think they themselves are breaking their own rules and not administrating properly, which leads to a much bigger moral debate about the downhill slide...

Anyway, I have thought for some time that there could easily be a place for other game developers or sites like Razzles to advertise or post - if people want to check it out they can.

More later?

I guess I may not be getting the full picture here or my brain may be on vacation. (lol) I think that anyone should be able to post on any site as long as they are not there to cause problems. Everyone has thier own opinion, and are allowed to speak it, as long as it does not rseult in personal injury to another person.

As far as a developer convincing another to like their games on a site other than their own, is just PR business to me.

It's just like posting about your personal site on other game sites. You are trying to get members and in the game developers case, customers. So if they are just posting to advertise or sell their games as long as the site they are on, does not mind it's ok to me.Now if they don't sell that game developers games on their site then that may be different, but again if they allow it to happen it must be ok.

They may simply be there to hype up the members, and sell the good points of their games especially the ones that are not doing well.

But Im surprised that BF would allow anyone on their site to act in this manner because, as I have learned for instance you can't go on there and talk about MyRazzles. So if they do not sell the developers games then maybe the developer is trying to get the members to request that they do, and BF is just trying to see just how the members feel about the games,by allowing the developers to post there. Still PR business to me. (lol)

As far as straight out attacking someone because of their preference in games, now that is not right. But I don't see how anyone can force someone to like something that they after trying it did not like. They may choose to agree to put an end to the debate, but no one can make you like anything that you have tried and simply don't like.

Hopefully I gave an actual answer to the question and not just a bunch of ramble.

~Mohala~

This topic is sort of a combination of a rant and debate although I think it leans more as a debate. It's something I wanted to bring up because it's been on my mind for a while and what I saw today has only affirmed my opinion on the matter.

I do want to make it clear, though, that this is in no way aimed at any particular game developers. I'll mention where I saw this but only as a reference point and nothing more.

If the mods/admin feel that this topic is inappropriate, please feel free to lock, move, delete it as you will and I apologize in advance for the intrusion.

Now most game developers, companies, etc., especially the big ones like Playfirst, Sandlot, etc., don't usually post on other gaming forums. I mean, the employees of those companies, of course. lol But I have seen and even recently instances where smaller game developers have been posting on other gaming forums.

I know-you're all wondering why I'm bringing this up as a debate. lol I'll explain. Well, in itself, it's not so bad but what has disturbed me a bit is that these game developers are posting on these other game forums as a way of forcing people who may not happen to like their games to like them. I'll give an example to illustrate my point.

On the Big Fish forums, I was browsing through a particular game forum. I won't mention the name of the game or the developers. Now most of the posts were gameplay questions. However, there were opinions posted about the game and some of those opinions were very unfavorable. Now on a site like Big Fish where it hosts a lot of games, I consider it to be neutral and I think members have a right to post their opinions, however favorable or unfavorable they may be. However, after a member posted an unfavorable opinion, another member posted that this person probably doesn't like that kind of game, etc. It sounded to me like he was forcing this person to like the game and bringing down this person for not liking it. Also, I don't think he should have assumed that. That member may have very well played that genre of games but didn't like that particular one. Now I find that to be a little disturbing-I mean, there is a concept called free speech. lol In other instances, the developers themselves-and they've pointed out who they are-have made it a point to force people who may not like their games to end up liking them. I don't like this behavior myself and I haven't posted in that particular forum area because I certainly do not wish to be the subject of unwarranted attacks for having an opinion that doesn't agree with theirs.

So my question is this-should game developers be allowed to post at all on game forums other than their own? I think they shouldn't because having them do so sways people towards one direction-to like the game when they may not feel that way. I suppose I'm one who can't stand when people try to force their point on others or end up resorting to personal attacks when someone refuses to be swayed into agreeing with them.