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You know, me and Michał from witchersite - we are witcher freaks. We read forums, we analyze every single info about lore, we publish news about everything which is connected with witcher so we have completely different aproach than other media. Lets call it "we have some kind of witcher senses" and we see more, understand more and also we have great community on our own forum - we are not like other jurnalists - we are just like you guys here on this forum, waiting for every single move of CDPR.
I'm glad that we can help you by providing our hands-on (real fan hands-on) when the time will come.
:victory:
I'm glad that we can help you by providing our hands-on (real fan hands-on) when the time will come.
:victory:
That's why I think the translated article and your analysis of Witcher 3 will still be valuable here even though there will be plenty of articles coming from the English-speaking press at the same time.
A journalist getting a t-shirt and a medallion, If they even got that since it could be that Lucas just happened to get or have those items, are a very 'cheap' way to get a better preview. Then CDPR might as well not have any food or entertainment on those events because god forbid a journalist likes it and lets that influence his preview of the game.
Journalists need to stay objective/bias free no matter what a developer or publisher throws at them. Unless the journalist is explicitly asked to give the game a better score in exchange for goodies or money. And if a journalist is really confused about the situation and doesn't know what to do, he/she can always put up a disclaimer in the article and say what CDPR gave him or her on the event that might be influential according to some readers.
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Redpoint for the principle, with it I agree. In actuality? If this amounts to a t-shirt and a necklace, then this doesn't even begin to hint at a shady unspoken bribe. The problem is when iPads are gifted, not tiny things such as this. It's not the giving of free stuff and presents that's reprehensible, that's too black and white. By that absolute mentality you're also corrupt for offering a reviewer a cup of tea. So if the journalists just got a t-shirt? I won't start to wonder whether their praise for the game is due to ulterior motives.
Ninja'd by @jackalj
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Yes. SWAG that raises serious questions of conflict-of-interest is much more valuable and much less connected with promotion of the product.
Even if giving away product tie-ins like T-shirts, medallions, and the like doesn't raise meaningful conflicts, it's a good point, anyway. The decline of institutions that practice Journalism (with an intentional big J) at the expense of self-styled freelancers and bloggers means the loss of traditional standards of visible independence and mandates to refuse or disclose gifts meant to influence coverage.
Could have been much, much worse.
Swag Basket Containing Vibrator, Tequila Not Appreciated By Female Tech Journalist
The maximum "gift" value for business partners of a huge German corporation I personally worked for was 8€. Yes, EIGHT euro.
Do the maths...
Anyway, it's not just about the value. It's about the signal in a time when many people are already quite suspicious of game journalism. It's kind of bad taste IMHO to give swag to people like bloggers, youtubers or game journalists these days. And it's also really unnecessary. The game should speak for itself and it think most people would also acknowledge without getting any gifts that the CDPR bunch are some nice guys. Don't get me wrong, I don't envy Lucas or anything and I truly don't think that a t-shirt will deeply influence how he writes about the game. What I don't understand is CDPR's behaviour and policy right here.
@Kinley
Iiiiiii, Xbox again?! I want to see the real deal...
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The maximum "gift" value for business partners of a huge German corporation I personally worked for was 8€. Yes, EIGHT euro.
Do the maths...
Anyway, it's not just about the value. It's about the signal in a time when many people are already quite suspicious of game journalism. It's kind of bad taste IMHO to give swag to people like bloggers, youtubers or game journalists these days. And it's also really unnecessary. The game should speak for itself and it think most people would also acknowledge without getting any gifts that the CDPR bunch are some nice guys. Don't get me wrong, I don't envy Lucas or anything and I truly don't think that a t-shirt will deeply influence how he writes about the game. What I don't understand is CDPR's behaviour and policy right here.
The behaviour and policy of CDPR are pretty simple during those events IMO - sell the game.
CDPR might be artists & developers first, but during events like this - they're all salesmen. And giving away product related merchandise is pretty common practice of business courtesy, not really anything alarming or unethical TBH. I don't believe that something as small as a T-shirt or a pen can affect someone's decisions and reasoning. If it was like that, I would be a millionaire already.
It's still "bad taste" so shortly after the whole gamergate thing imho...not more and not less. And let's be honest: CDPR always tried to sell themselves as the "good guys", so why stopping here? It would fit them and their corporate identity quite well to also give up giving presents to journalists. And as I've said, I'm quite sure the game speaks for itself, no need for pointless gifts anyway...
Well I would say it's a job for a dev or publisher to only invite certain people for their press event? Like certain gaming review sites. But even those have had trouble with this issue. And in the end it might not just be the freelancers or bloggers that don't have the 'right' standards for that kind of work. It's a problem industry wide, because it's also those big gaming review sites.
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It's still "bad taste" so shortly after the whole gamergate thing imho...not more and not less. And let's be honest: CDPR always tried to sell themselves as the "good guys", so why stopping here? It would fit them and their corporate identity quite well to also give up giving presents to journalists. And as I've said, I'm quite sure the game speaks for itself, no need for pointless gifts anyway...
Gifts like this are considered something standard during events like this. So I guess CDPR chose basic business(and human) courtesy instead of deliberating over gamergate and how it affects their "corporate identity".
It's still "bad taste" so shortly after the whole gamergate thing imho...not more and not less. And let's be honest: CDPR always tried to sell themselves as the "good guys", so why stopping here? It would fit them and their corporate identity quite well to also give up giving presents to journalists. And as I've said, I'm quite sure the game speaks for itself, no need for pointless gifts anyway...
Gifts that promote the game are not pointless. There is a clear promotional connection here: actually doing what the SWAG is for, as in wearing the T-shirt in public, is going to draw attention to the game.
Another form of gift that is effective and generally acceptable is USB drives containing promotional material. Like T-shirts or pens, these are also of minimal value by almost any standard, and only the most pathetic of journalists would allow his opinion to be swayed by the value of the gift, as opposed to the content.
Trying to draw the line at any gift at all does not improve the ethics of game journalism or game marketing. All it does is make the attempt look pointless.
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