This post has not been edited by the GamesBeat staff. Opinions by GamesBeat community writers do not necessarily reflect those of the staff.
File this under "much ado about nothing." On March 15, Reddit user GatoFiasco broke a story about potential improprieties regarding Dragon Age 2 reviews on Metacritic. Allegedly, a Metacritic user named Avanost, who is actually a BioWare employee, gave Dragon Age 2 a 10 out of 10.
Apparently, this indicates a faux pas. Driving the point home, GatoFiasco has ominously titled his or her post “Dragon Age 2 Conspiracy,” and it had this to say:
This is a matter of ethics and integrity. A consumer requires objective information in order to make an informed decision about purchasing a product. If the line between editorial article and product review is skewed, then the consumer is being deceived at the cost of their eventual trust and loyalty to the company responsible. This is why disclosure of industry ties is necessary to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.
Dragon Age 2 publisher Electronic Arts responded thus:
Of course the people who make the game vote for their own game. That's how it works in the Oscars, that's how it works in the Grammy's and why I'm betting that Barack Obama voted for himself in the last election.
Did a heartless corporation conspire to inflate the score of a mediocre game in order to drive sales? Not really. A single user review on Metacritic has negligible impact on sales. Publishers and developers often tout high Metacritic averages, but they are generally referring to critic reviews. The user reviews are often a tad less…er…"professional."
Check out this excerpt from a zero-out-of-ten review by Snafeer:
I cannot believe what Bioware did… they $#!^ on the entire community. This game screams "WE WANT MONEY". This game had little to no effort put into it, it feels like you are playing the role of an inbred retard who needs your help.
Here is another gem from Tamarzan:
Very bad. Sony has terrible sauce with stuff that makes everybody sad, and they cry because they think it's supposed to be good. TL;DR: very very bad, do no.
Others have inflated their scores in an attempt to balance out excessively low reviews. DrGulag writes:
I have to give this game a ten just to balance the score! My honest number would be closer to nine.
According to GatoFiasco, many of these users may have come from 4chan, which flooded Metacritic with fake reviews. It’s hard to tell, though. Your average user review runs the gamut from quasi-intelligent to barely readable. The Avanost review stood out precisely for that reason: It sounded too professional.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But the difference between a professionally written critique and an angry rant from someone who can’t write in complete sentences is wide. I give more credence to thoughtful, intelligent opinions.
In the interim, Avanost apparently changed his or her username to BioWareEmployee (check the screencap). It's either that, or else someone is trying to discredit BioWare. GatoFiasco claims someone removed the original, but it makes little difference. Avanost's or BioWareEmployee’s or whoever's score is lost amid a sea of distorted and exaggerated reviews, both positive and negative.