Nydius
Member
Exactly. We're fully down the Matrix rabbit hole!
Be right back, looking for the woman in the red dress.
Crap, all I found was Sarah Bond.
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“Xbox Fans Are Paid”, Says Former World of Warcraft Designer
- Thread starter Spyxos
- Start date
Be right back, looking for the woman in the red dress.
Crap, all I found was Sarah Bond.
Rocco Schiavone
Member
I highly doubt that Klobrille and Colt Eastwood are AI.
ManaByte
Banned
2013 GAF Is back.We will execute every last mother fucking one of you astroturfers!
darrylgorn
Member
Who's taking applications?
Spitfire098
Member
StueyDuck
Member
i mean it's pretty obvious if you even step foot on game oriented social media,
why the hell a jezzy poo poo pants and randal thor have any sort of popularity is kind of proof of this.
but I think what is kind of being missed here is that they ALL do it. I'm fairly certain that fox account is a PS plant and so on. Even if they aren't getting directly paid these arseholes receive care packages and gifts and so on from these companies.
why the hell a jezzy poo poo pants and randal thor have any sort of popularity is kind of proof of this.
but I think what is kind of being missed here is that they ALL do it. I'm fairly certain that fox account is a PS plant and so on. Even if they aren't getting directly paid these arseholes receive care packages and gifts and so on from these companies.
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harry mason 1989
Banned
oh man the point he raises about AI is something I hadn’t even thought of…
Microsoft is definitely the type that’s going to take advantage of that, why keep paying astroturfers when they can just have AI do it?
01011001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110111 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01101101 01101001 01110011 01110011 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100010 01110010 01101111 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010
This game warned us about the Ai danger
These things will be dangerous if it gets out of control
Billions of people will lose there jobs
Cuz big tech will start using Ai more and more
I anticipate the year 2024 will be the year of the Ai future
Unknown Soldier
Member
I lived through the HD DVD vs Blu-ray format war. MS has always done this, nothing here is new news.
The Fuzz damn you!
Gold Member
Of course this happens. It is well known and a fundamental part of Microsoft’s marketing strategy.
They resorted to this back in the early 2000s when, funnily enough, they were the subject of an anti-trust investigation:
They were caught again, a decade later, trying to confuse, via astroturfing, that same behaviour that led to the anti-trust investigation:
www.pcworld.com
They relied on this to generate buzz for the Xbox One at launch, as outed on Reddit:
There are detailed reports about exactly how it works:
Hell, there are detailed reports from Microsoft:
So be very, very suspicious of anyone trivialising, satirising, dismissing, normalising, equivocating or outright praising this process, and look very closely at anyone attacking or smearing it’s source.
A reminder that FUD has defined Microsoft’s marketing approach in the presence of a sting market leader since their inception, starting with IBM. Plenty of sources for that one on Wikipedia:
en.m.wikipedia.org
So yeah, any time you see a pro-MS post that is called out and then be doubled-down upon while the critic’s integrity is called into question: that’s a paid shill.
They resorted to this back in the early 2000s when, funnily enough, they were the subject of an anti-trust investigation:
They were caught again, a decade later, trying to confuse, via astroturfing, that same behaviour that led to the anti-trust investigation:
Microsoft caught ‘astroturfing’ bloggers again to promote Internet Explorer
Microsoft pitches a high-profile venture capitalist to write paid blogs about its new Internet Explorer browser experience.
www.pcworld.com
They relied on this to generate buzz for the Xbox One at launch, as outed on Reddit:
There are detailed reports about exactly how it works:
Hell, there are detailed reports from Microsoft:
So be very, very suspicious of anyone trivialising, satirising, dismissing, normalising, equivocating or outright praising this process, and look very closely at anyone attacking or smearing it’s source.
A reminder that FUD has defined Microsoft’s marketing approach in the presence of a sting market leader since their inception, starting with IBM. Plenty of sources for that one on Wikipedia:
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt - Wikipedia
So yeah, any time you see a pro-MS post that is called out and then be doubled-down upon while the critic’s integrity is called into question: that’s a paid shill.
Pelta88
Member
reinking
Gold Member
When Xbox first launched I was manager of a EB Games. In less than four years I had been given 3 Xbox consoles (full disclosure, one was Halo edition and won in a company sales contest). I can't even tell you how many Xbox Live Gold codes and games I was given. I was gifted things by Sony and Nintendo but the amount of Xbox swag was staggering. I saw it work first hand. We had some managers (more than not) in my district that swore by Xbox because they did not want to lose the "free" swag. Why would I doubt that in today's social media society MS would not go all in on paying influencers?
I don't mind people that are obvious like Colt Eastwood. Most of those types tend to be preaching to the same circle and probably have little advertising impact. However, I do take issue with ALL companies that use their advertising power to influence reviews and stories in gaming publications/sites.
I don't mind people that are obvious like Colt Eastwood. Most of those types tend to be preaching to the same circle and probably have little advertising impact. However, I do take issue with ALL companies that use their advertising power to influence reviews and stories in gaming publications/sites.
The Fuzz damn you!
Gold Member
…an example of FUD (a joke, so cireza says, but unironically exactly what you will see elsewhere)
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bitbydeath
Member
Sony don’t have that sought of money.Sony in the corner likewe would never do that too.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Why would I throw money in the trash, I'd rather use it to buy Xbox™Game Pass Ultimate™ for consoles and PC, featuring Xcloud™ and enjoy hundreds of fantastic games, including the upcoming blockbuster space RPG Starfield™
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
1- The moderation team on neogaf has done several purges of xbox astroturfers before. Evillore can confirm or deny, but it was well known that xbox astroturfers were found out by one of the mods and banned.1- The guy who has been creating a call effect for several days saying little less than MS is the devil and that he hates big companies because they want control and squeeze users with microtransactions...
2- A guy who worked for Blizard who was criticized for his policy of squeezing the user by showing his hopocrisy.
3- The Xbox community (it is clear that most of them are fanatics and trolls) responds with insults and points at him.
4- The guy reacts by accusing an entire community being paid fans and bots at the service of MS. Clearly showing his bias and anger to the Xbox community.
5- Someone in Neogaf sees fit to open a thread insinuating that the words of the ExBlizard guy is some kind of confirmation that MS pays all the fans that are attacking him.
6- Moderation sees this consolewars thread as appropriate even when several usual suspects here appear to attack and bullying to several of the users here with preferences towards Xbox.
7- At the moment my answer is filled with emoticons of laughter, shame and empathy...
All right in this healthy community. Proud to participate in this forum
Enough ingredients for open a tread here against Xbox and its entire community...
2- This isnt some hidden program. MS fanboys are known to have been invited to xbox events. We have seen pictures of them hanging out. they are flown out by MS which is a form of payment.
3- Judge, a former well known neogaf poster, now an era mod is an XBox MVP who regularly bans sony fans on era and has been for the last 6 years.
4- It's not console wars to point out facts. Facts that have been proven time and time again as posted in this thread. Here is one more from the astroturfing wikipedia page:
5. For once in my life, I would like to see xbox fans call out each other on these forums. I have seen people defend microsoft's every move, and while not all will agree, i have never seen one xbox fan call out the most obvious biased fanboys. I see a lot of Sony infighting but xbox team sticks together. It is very odd and a very poor look.
6- Back on gamespot forums, I saw this guy come out of nowhere around the x1 reveal and started defending them like no other. This is back when they were getting shat on from their own fanbase for their tv and kinect focus but this guy made everyones life on gamespot miserable. Some users remembered him from the xbox 360 launch era. Quite obvious that he was paid. We never saw him again a few weeks after launch.
7- Instead of getting upset over some kind of perceived persecution, maybe you should call out this shitty fucking practice for what it is.
We spend hours on forums discussing things, and it is an insult to find out that the person you were arguing with was a fucking paid actor.
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Nydius
Member
Good news! The FTC is implementing new rules specifically targeting deceptive, fake, or manipulated reviews.
Well... not sure how much good news that is since we saw first had this week how inept the FTC can be.
Not sure how they're going to enforce this at scale, and it'll probably end up litigated several times too.
HeisenbergFX4
Member
Nydius
Member
Psst, you forgot "...where I can have fun with a diverse and inclusive community of gamers who care about the gaming experience of all!"
Don't make me send you to Ambassador reeducation.
ToTTenTranz
Banned
It's obviously not just xbox.
Professional astroturfers / shills are rampant in forums, reddit and twitter. They can be very effective at stifling discussions that follow undesirable narratives and promote features in products that wouldn't get as much attention otherwise.
There are companies dedicated to astroturfing, and I remember back in ~05 Nvidia was caught hiring the services of one of them.
Of course, Nvidia were simply the ones getting caught at the time. I have little doubts almost every major vendor engages in these practices.
Professional astroturfers / shills are rampant in forums, reddit and twitter. They can be very effective at stifling discussions that follow undesirable narratives and promote features in products that wouldn't get as much attention otherwise.
There are companies dedicated to astroturfing, and I remember back in ~05 Nvidia was caught hiring the services of one of them.
Of course, Nvidia were simply the ones getting caught at the time. I have little doubts almost every major vendor engages in these practices.
Setsuna Mudou
Member
Just saw
adamsapple
and
Bumblebeetuna
together with
Riky
discussing something in private a few mins ago
adamsapple
and
Bumblebeetuna
together with
Riky
discussing something in private a few mins ago
Spitfire098
Member
cireza
Member
Last edited:
The Fuzz damn you!
Gold Member
There’s that equivocating I was talking about.
Normalising: Everyone does it, don’t worry about it.
Equivocating: Sony does it too (they do), just the same (it’s not)
Deflecting / whatbaoutism: Whatabout…?
You notice it more and more when you look for it.
Bernardougf
Member
In other news water is wet
The Fuzz damn you!
Gold Member
Nearly half a century of exactly this behaviour and admissions from Microsoft themselves not enough?
FUD looks like this, people.
Fess
Member
I mean yeah it’s here too, almost impossible to prove I guess but I see some people on this board that I refuse to believe are always onesided with hype for one side and downplaying for the other side without getting payed. What would be the reason for such behaviour? It’s just $500 for another box and they could save their sanity and spend their time playing games instead.
Vognerful
Member
1- The guy who has been creating a call effect for several days saying little less than MS is the devil and that he hates big companies because they want control and squeeze users with microtransactions...
2- A guy who worked for Blizard who was criticized for his policy of squeezing the user by showing his hopocrisy.
3- The Xbox community (it is clear that most of them are fanatics and trolls) responds with insults and points at him.
4- The guy reacts by accusing an entire community being paid fans and bots at the service of MS. Clearly showing his bias and anger to the Xbox community.
5- Someone in Neogaf sees fit to open a thread insinuating that the words of the ExBlizard guy is some kind of confirmation that MS pays all the fans that are attacking him.
6- Moderation sees this consolewars thread as appropriate even when several usual suspects here appear to attack and bullying to several of the users here with preferences towards Xbox.
7- At the moment my answer is filled with emoticons of laughter, shame and empathy...
All right in this healthy community. Proud to participate in this forum
Enough ingredients for open a tread here against Xbox and its entire community...
People can't recognize that they sound like conspiracy theorists when they accuse everyone here of being shill or astroturfer. The mods are happy because they only have to feel that they are "better than resetera".
Half of the people here, including
Topher
,
GHG
and many of the sony guys pay their gamepass subscription through Microsoft rewards. Are they paid shills?!Of course this happens. It is well known and a fundamental part of Microsoft’s marketing strategy.
They resorted to this back in the early 2000s when, funnily enough, they were the subject of an anti-trust investigation:
They were caught again, a decade later, trying to confuse, via astroturfing, that same behaviour that led to the anti-trust investigation:
Microsoft caught ‘astroturfing’ bloggers again to promote Internet Explorer
Microsoft pitches a high-profile venture capitalist to write paid blogs about its new Internet Explorer browser experience.
They relied on this to generate buzz for the Xbox One at launch, as outed on Reddit:
There are detailed reports about exactly how it works:
Hell, there are detailed reports from Microsoft:
So be very, very suspicious of anyone trivialising, satirising, dismissing, normalising, equivocating or outright praising this process, and look very closely at anyone attacking or smearing it’s source.
A reminder that FUD has defined Microsoft’s marketing approach in the presence of a sting market leader since their inception, starting with IBM. Plenty of sources for that one on Wikipedia:
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt - Wikipedia
So yeah, any time you see a pro-MS post that is called out and then be doubled-down upon while the critic’s integrity is called into question: that’s a paid shill.
There is huge issue with equating that Microsoft pays for influencers and ambassodors, and then painting that all the xbox fans (including people here) are on Microsoft payroll. It is just adding to the polarization of this forum and is not helping anyone. Keep doing that and they only people who will stay here are those who are actually paid to do it.
Setsuna Mudou
Member
Mostly agree, just remember there's a lot of people that are entrenched enough to do it for free as they think it's part of their identity and feel they belong to some group. So both aren't mutually exclusive.
TheRedRiders
Member
I mean one does start to wonder how such an incompetent brand has somehow mustered an extremely "loyal" fanbase with an aggressive online presence.
TLZ
Banned
The Fuzz damn you!
Gold Member
I edited my post.
And yes, video-games are fun, but social manipulation via corporate propaganda pisses me right off.
Topher
Identifies as young
People can't recognize that they sound like conspiracy theorists when they accuse everyone here of being shill or astroturfer. The mods are happy because they only have to feel that they are "better than resetera".
Half of the people here, including
There is huge issue with equating that Microsoft pays for influencers and ambassodors, and then painting that all the xbox fans (including people here) are on Microsoft payroll. It is just adding to the polarization of this forum and is not helping anyone. Keep doing that and they only people who will stay here are those who are actually paid to do it.
For the record, I'm just here for the memes and gifs. Folks take this shit too seriously.
Gobjuduck
Banned
Remember when Sony used fake reviews and had to settle in court.
Bumblebeetuna
Member
something something #SonyToo
The Fuzz damn you!
Gold Member
Oh, absolutely. MS (and others) wouldn’t pay the obscene amounts of money they do if they didn’t get these kinds of results. Some are paid, others are too stupid to think critically. I like to be generous and assume they’re all shills, though.
ToTTenTranz
Banned
That's not entirely fair... them burning loads of cash into a cheap service that lets people play an enormous library of recently released games has probably made them a number of loyal fans as well.
The Fuzz damn you!
Gold Member
Equivocation.
Yep, Sony do it too. No, it not as widespread nor as blatant under them.
Sony have done plenty of other criminal shit too. Rootkits on CDs. Bait-and-switch with Linux on PS3. I’m sure there are plenty of threads on their mis-steps, and if there aren’t, feel free to make them.
I will criticise Sony just as much as I do MS when it is warranted. Will your do the same?
Vognerful
Member
polybius80
Member
Last edited:
MarkMe2525
Gold Member
So it's standard practice. That means MS, Nintendo, and Sony participate in this practice. After lurking in gaming forums for 24 years, I can believe this. While I never would outright accuse anyone without evidence, it would be fun to provide our individual lists of who we think are legitimate shills
SlimySnake
you mentioned Xbox flying fans to events and using that as evidence of some immoral payment scheme. I reject the assertion that MS having amazing outreach programs for their fans is in anyway nefarious. I wish Sony and Nintendo valued engagement with their fans in a similar manner, because you better believe I would be signing up for just as many contests through them, as I have with Xbox
As someone who won tickets to Xbox fanfest and E3 in 2015 and fanfest 2023 (I couldn't go this year), it was an amazing experience that I wish everyone could participate in. In my case, I entered into the contest just like anyone else, they don't know who I am, nor do I carry any influence. The fact that they also extend these opportunities to their largest social media influencers is just how advertising is done in 2023. It also doesn't mean that a particular influencers fandom is somehow inauthentic. Undoubtedly, those memories absolutely influence my ability to have a more optimistic view of their decisions, but their isn't anything wrong with that. That's what engagement does.
Of course it is marketing, but the experience participants get to have is very real. I was never coerced into sharing anything on social media, nor made to feel pressured into doing anything other than enjoy myself. Yes they receive good publicity out of the event, but I still can't draw the connection to it being some sort of low handed tactic.
edit: What has you triggered
Griffon
?
SlimySnake
you mentioned Xbox flying fans to events and using that as evidence of some immoral payment scheme. I reject the assertion that MS having amazing outreach programs for their fans is in anyway nefarious. I wish Sony and Nintendo valued engagement with their fans in a similar manner, because you better believe I would be signing up for just as many contests through them, as I have with XboxAs someone who won tickets to Xbox fanfest and E3 in 2015 and fanfest 2023 (I couldn't go this year), it was an amazing experience that I wish everyone could participate in. In my case, I entered into the contest just like anyone else, they don't know who I am, nor do I carry any influence. The fact that they also extend these opportunities to their largest social media influencers is just how advertising is done in 2023. It also doesn't mean that a particular influencers fandom is somehow inauthentic. Undoubtedly, those memories absolutely influence my ability to have a more optimistic view of their decisions, but their isn't anything wrong with that. That's what engagement does.
Of course it is marketing, but the experience participants get to have is very real. I was never coerced into sharing anything on social media, nor made to feel pressured into doing anything other than enjoy myself. Yes they receive good publicity out of the event, but I still can't draw the connection to it being some sort of low handed tactic.
edit: What has you triggered
Griffon
?
Last edited:
ShadyAcshuns
Member
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