Vae on 17/6/2013 at 07:29

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I noticed that, as well...It's pretty obvious what's going on here.

Chade on 17/6/2013 at 13:14

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Woah, way to disregard the most detailed statements we've seen yet on the game ... I think you're wrong to discard this info so quickly.

Firstly and most importantly, even if you were right and every word above comes straight from Stephanie Roy's lips, it would still be the most detailed account we've received from EM on many issues.

Secondly, I've read the player's posts in full, twice now, and I just don't think you are right. Now, it's true that the player's are all pretty positive, and for the more generic answers they tend to use similar words to describe the game. I didn't find anything surprising about that: obviously the player's have been selected from a very biased pool of fans, they have talked a lot about their game experiences amoung themselves, and they have been all talking to the same developers, so there's nothing suspicious about them picking up similar words to describe the game at a high level. Notice that when they discuss their specific experiences with the game, their stories tend to diverge (e.g. one person scrounging around for loot and missing the burning bridge sequence, different opinions on the light gem vs. shroud, etc).

Thirdly, this is a Q&A format. They're not reading prepared statements. How is EM accomplishing that? Do they have someone on hand feeding these guys their lines in real time? Wouldn't it be easier to just pre-select a sympathetic bunch of fans? Like most conspiracy theories, reality is the simpler alternative. They've simply taken their most enthusiastic and committed fans, buttered them up, hyped them up, and unleashed them back onto the Eidos forums.


EDIT: I did consider splitting the points above into "objective" and "subjective" categories, but ended up deciding it wasn't necesary. However, if you guys really are that skeptical, perhaps it would be worthwhile to split the points up. Would people appreciate that? Is it worth the effort?

New Horizon on 17/6/2013 at 13:39

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The majority of them are people who were hand picked to be Eidos Moderators, they have now been hand picked to give feedback to the general public on a game that they've already been quite positive about in the forums anyway.

I think it's only reasonable to take their opinions with a grain of salt. It's not a conspiracy by any means, but EM have definitely stacked the deck in their favor to some degree.

nickie on 17/6/2013 at 14:27

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You did exactly what I wanted though which was to extract the info from all the blurb so my thanks for doing that. I'm not bothered if the players were pro, anti or indifferent, I'm not looking to them to help me make up my mind.

Ashpolt on 17/6/2013 at 15:56

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Hey all, just wanted to jump on here after being reminded of this forum's existence over on the official Thief forums (as you'll see I registered a couple of years ago - thought I'd posted back then, but apparently not.)

I was one of the people who went to E3 as a "Community Representative" for EM / SE, and I'm glad to see that the discussion about our posts on here, while healthily sceptical, is pretty constructive and open minded. As I've said on the official forums, I understand the scepticism, I'd be exactly the same in your position, but just to reaffirm:

-Our opinions really are our own. We weren't asked or even gently nudged to be nice about any of the games we saw. If we seem overly positive, it's because we really did like what we played of Thief, nothing more.
-I hadn't noticed that we've been using similar phrases to describe stuff, but as someone's already said, that's to be expected. There's only so many ways to describe what we know about how rope arrows work, etc!
-The fact that the other guys are mods really, genuinely doesn't mean anything. I've known Lucy (aka spyhopping) personally since back when she was just a "regular" poster, and being made a mod hasn't changed her or her attitude towards EM / SE at all.

And I do find it genuinely hilarious that I've been described as a "sock puppeteer" for having a positive opinion. I was actually banned from the EM forums for a week last year because of how critical I was of certain of their practices (mainly their communications policy with the fans), so to be accused of being in their pocket now cracks me up. :D

But like I said, thanks for keeping the discussion here constructive, if understandably mildly sceptical. If you guys have any questions that you don't want to ask on the official forums for whatever reason, I'll drop back here now and again to answer them, or I can be reached on twitter at (surprise, surprise) @Ashpolt.