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DudeImMacGyver , to games in Marvels Rivals requires creators to sign a contract that removes your right to give a negative review in order to access the playtest
@DudeImMacGyver@sh.itjust.works avatar

My first thought is: This is probably a shitty game because if it was good, they wouldn’t be worried.

echodot ,

They are probably concerned because management has decided that the game should be shown off even though it’s probably not ready. This is that kind of clouged together solution.

As per usual it just seems to have blown up in their gormless faces.

Buttons , to games in Marvels Rivals requires creators to sign a contract that removes your right to give a negative review in order to access the playtest
@Buttons@programming.dev avatar

This is so stupid. Isn’t this a free-to-play game? With one-time-purchase games you can try to fool people, then take your money and leave while people complain about the game behind you.

But this is a free-to-play game, they intend to make money by gradual ongoing revenue from in-game purchases, etc. You can’t fool people who are actively playing the game.

The contract hurts their image, and prevents them from receiving critical feedback.

Grass , to games in The Rogue Prince of Persia has been delayed to avoid being overshadowed by Hades 2

Good call. Imagine a studio that simul releases with much more well known competititon, twice.

dandroid , to games in Marvels Rivals requires creators to sign a contract that removes your right to give a negative review in order to access the playtest

I think we should rename this community “gaming controversies” because that’s all that’s ever discussed here.

Vespair ,

I’m just curious, what exactly would you prefer to see here? I don’t think this community is specific controversies, but I do think it is, and rightly so, mostly focused on gaming discussion rather than just games. And contentious topics are simply famously those which cause and often merit the most discussion.

Would you prefer instead if all of the posts were simply “How Great Is God of War?” followed by a chain of comments saying nothing but agreement?

blazeknave ,

I’m excited about the Paradox sale this weekend. Haven’t seen that mentioned anywhere on Lemmy🤷

iterable , to games in Marvels Rivals requires creators to sign a contract that removes your right to give a negative review in order to access the playtest
@iterable@sh.itjust.works avatar

I mean most play tests let you say nothing at all. So not sure if this is better or worse.

Blxter ,
@Blxter@lemmy.zip avatar

I think the difference is that those play tests we are thinking of are for lack of other terms locked down. Playtests I have done were not able to be recorded, streamed and had water markers all over the place. In this case people are playing and streaming making videos at that point you should be able to give opinions on the game.

xkforce , (edited )

Saying nothing at all is better than only being allowed to say good things and none of the bad. The former doesnt shift opinions in either direction but the latter introduces a pro-buying bias to reviews. Good for the publisher and no one else.

Skates ,

It’s worse.

Playtest results inhibit you from disclosing things because they are subject to change. They take gamers’feedback, decide if they want to act on it, and at the end of the day the finished product may look different so it makes no sense for people to loudly state “they have feature X, and they don’t have feature Y” because by release it may be the other way around.

Whereas this type of contract says “idgaf what’s bad about the game, you can only sing its praises online”.

Silence > dishonesty.

echodot ,

If it’s actually a closed beta then it shouldn’t be open to streamers at all. If are going to allow stream is to play it then it’s not really a closed beta. It’s a marketing gimmick.

fmstrat , to games in Marvels Rivals requires creators to sign a contract that removes your right to give a negative review in order to access the playtest

Every reviewer who signed this should post a review, but of the business practices and why not to buy the game.

lauha ,

engage in any discussions that are detrimental to the reputation of the game

You would literally break the contract

EvilBit ,

Arguably it’s not detrimental to the reputation of the game, but the company.

“Great game. Never buy it.”

fmstrat ,

“It’s a game. Don’t buy from them.”

fmstrat ,

Nope. They would be talking about the company not the game.

lauha ,

Which discourages people from buying the game, thus hurting the game.

Buttons ,
@Buttons@programming.dev avatar

“Good game, but the company behind it is shit and required me to sign this contract. <Insert contract clause>. Remember this whenever your reading the totally honest reviews about how good the game is.”

AeonFelis ,

When they reach the aspects of the game that they didn’t like they can just say “let’s skip this next part about CTF mode, because I signed a contract” and let the viewers deduce what they deduce.

01189998819991197253 , to games in Marvels Rivals requires creators to sign a contract that removes your right to give a negative review in order to access the playtest
@01189998819991197253@infosec.pub avatar

It did say “subjective negative reviews”. I would take that to mean that strictly objective negative reviews are perfectly acceptable.

Sam_Bass , to games in Marvels Rivals requires creators to sign a contract that removes your right to give a negative review in order to access the playtest

Basically makes any test results null and void

limitedduck ,

How? The agreement restricts public statements, not negative feedback as a whole.

zaph ,

or providing subjective negative reviews

I’m not sure what your argument is here but it doesn’t seem solid. How is a reviewer supposed to do their job?

limitedduck ,

The Closed Alpha playtest isn’t an invitation to publicly review, it’s an invitation to playtest. They’re trying to gather data and feedback on an inherently feature-incomplete and unpolished game to help with development. There are going to be private channels for feedback and the playtest data itself is like feedback so public channels are redundant. Obviously Marvel is also just trying to dodge criticism, but that’s not a mutually exclusive reason.

Carighan ,
@Carighan@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah this seems to be something people are missing. These tests sometimes prohibit all reviewing and commenting in their NDAs (including positive ones). It’s a playtest, not a beta, review copy or pre-release.

Sam_Bass ,

You sure? Post doesnt stipulate

Artyom , to games in Marvels Rivals requires creators to sign a contract that removes your right to give a negative review in order to access the playtest

It must be a REALLY good game. Only the best games that were already going to get high reviews would ever resort to such a policy

Blxter , to games in Marvels Rivals requires creators to sign a contract that removes your right to give a negative review in order to access the playtest
@Blxter@lemmy.zip avatar

Could be wrong but this does not sound sound outlandish for a alpha. There should be no point to ruin a name/brand before it is out. You should not leave a “review” of a unfinished product.

zalgotext ,

If the product is unfinished, why is it being released to the public, in any capacity?

If they want to playtest and find bugs in their unfinished product, they should do that. By paying a QA team and playtesters, not by trying to dupe streamers into generating free advertisement.

Blxter ,
@Blxter@lemmy.zip avatar

You have never played an early alpha of a game and signed a NDA to not disclose it I did this with many games the finals, th division heatland, x defient, arc raiders etc. although in this case since there are yt videos and streams seems a little weird. I was uneducated the games I am talking about when I played had watermarks on them and were made for testing etc had no idea the game was like viewable. In this case it looks more like if tarkov or an EA game said you can’t leave reviews.

To clarify yes I fully agree that not ok and didn’t know the full facts.

InquisitiveApathy , to games in Marvels Rivals requires creators to sign a contract that removes your right to give a negative review in order to access the playtest

I was in his stream when people sent him the contract they signed just to get the key. Wild. The game is janky looking as fuck so they definitely know how bad it is.

_sideffect , to games in Marvels Rivals requires creators to sign a contract that removes your right to give a negative review in order to access the playtest

Aww, the Devs feelings might get hurt

rockSlayer ,

Nah, this is a pathetic attempt to get free ads from games journalists without any downsides

voracitude ,

The developers of the game had zero input on this. They’re developers; this is a contract which would be written by lawyers, directed by management. The same management who force crunch on the devs you want to blame. Learn to recognise the enemy, please and thanks.

_sideffect ,

Management is part of the development team… Developers doesn’t just mean programmers.

A director of a project is still management, but also a developer.

JCreazy , to games in Marvels Rivals requires creators to sign a contract that removes your right to give a negative review in order to access the playtest

It’s one of the reasons that nobody says anything bad about the product that their sponsor provided to them. Either that or people don’t want to ruin their relationship with their sponsors so they will talk highly of a product even if it isn’t good.

Timecircleline , to games in Marvels Rivals requires creators to sign a contract that removes your right to give a negative review in order to access the playtest

Hmm… A perfectly neutral review with a share of the wording from the contract is nothing but factual, and I believe could be argued to be non disparaging?

voracitude ,

No, disparaging is disparaging, even if it’s warranted. But, if I were a small streamer who got a key, I would just repeat the non-disparagement clause any time I saw something obviously broken.

They can stop me saying anything negative but that doesn’t cover body language (they might try to sue but they wouldn’t ever be able to prove it to the degree required unless I had posted something like this explanation, and even then it’s dicey), and I don’t see anything in there about a minimum number of positive sentences of words to hit. God help these chucklefucks if they ever run into a Djinni or a cursed monkey’s paw.

Veedem , to games in Marvels Rivals requires creators to sign a contract that removes your right to give a negative review in order to access the playtest
@Veedem@lemmy.world avatar

I’m assuming it’s with regards to the Play Test which is in very early stages and shouldn’t be judged as completed. Seems fair enough if it’s nowhere near complete

hoshikarakitaridia ,
@hoshikarakitaridia@lemmy.world avatar

Right. It makes sense right up until the point where they only act on negative reviews.

Non disclosures / non disparagement are industry standard, but this is bonkers. Non-disclosure but only for the stuff we don’t like? The fuck

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