Jeff's Termination Discussion Thread - Please Keep ALL Related Discussion Here

I apologise for making a post in the general discussion forums about this, as I didn't know I was suposed to make it here instead.

But yeah, I'll keep this short: Im leaving, my reasons for leaving go beyond just the termination of Jeff though that certainly plays a large part of it.

I respect anyone who decides to stay with Gamespot and I certainly hope things get better here.

Gamespot...

Jeff was the only good thing you had, he's been here since the start. how could you do this? hope this site goes down in flames. Im leaving, thanks for the entertainment over the years Jeff! I wish you the best.

not sure if this was posted already, but heres an article that claims that ad companies asked for him (the author of the article) to be fired after writing something they were mad about. I guess this may be fairly commonplace and makes this whole situation even more plausible.

http://razorwire.warcry.com/news/view/79467-Jeff-Gertsmann-Martyr-or-Moron

I have always come to gamespot for reviews, becasue I knew that I would always get a fair and honest openion about a game. It saddens me to think that I can no longer trust any game reviewed on this site, becasue advertising dollars may have swayed the decision of the games rating.

Jeff has always been my favorite editor on this site. I can only hope that his reasons for termination were honest, and not becasue Jeff was doing his job and reviewing a poor game as it is.

I've been the a paid subscriber since 2004, and always came to this site as a source for legitimate and honest game reviews. Gamespot, you have lost all credibility in one stupid move. I hope this costs you 10 times what the lost advertisting would've... and I have a feeling that it will. Do you not realize how fickle a place the Internet is? If you cannot be trusted, the readers will go elsewhere. Now, every single time a game is reviewed, your readers are wondering if that score is inflated or the review is false because you have financial stake in the game via advertisers. Gamespot can no longer be trusted. Luckily for us readers... there are alternatives. Off to become an IGN Insider!

For those of you who are sticking around... may I suggest Firefox and the Adblock Plus add-in so you don't even have to view the full page ads Gamespot is willing to fire their employees over?

Jeff's termination has left me incredibly saddened, I was close to crying today when I found out how and why the best thing on Gamespot had been removed. Gamespot has lost its integrity, its honour and has nearly destroyed any freedom this sites reviewers once had. Josh Larson is now to be seen by me, as a facist dictator, who censors his people.

I have the full story of his termination on my blog.

Guys.. keep in mind the other editors are still honest themselves. Why do you think there was a relative "lack of action" today? Don't get me wrong, they do a lot of hard work, and even moreso with the financial departments looking over their shoulders.FreyarHunter

You're right Freyar, I'll still pop in to check up on Gamespot from time to time.

But yeah, for the most part my involvement with this site is done.

I have been an avid gamespotter since gamespot was dedicated to PC games. Good luck getting my patronage now. Im blocking all cnet sights via firewall from this day forth. Jeff was the best gamespot had to offer and he was fired for it. I hope many others follow suit and cnet sees what happens when you put greed before ethics.jetriot

And yet you penalize all the honest people too.

Guys.. keep in mind the other editors are still honest themselves. Why do you think there was a relative "lack of action" today? Don't get me wrong, they do a lot of hard work, and even moreso with the financial departments looking over their shoulders.FreyarHunter

And yet you penalize all the honest people too.

FreyarHunter

Indeed I do. If my company did something so outrageous I would quit then and there. Those that worked for hitler were just as bad as hitler himself.

I'm sure the editors themselves are honest... but we simply don't believe that the management responsible for Jeff's termination are. We also don't believe that the reviews will not be fake either due to the editors being afraid to give a big game a poor review in fear of being "Kane & Lynched", or due to the review score simply being doctored when being posted.

It's clear Gamespot values advertisting dollars over honesty. That's just not something you can allow, or the whole process of reviewing a game is pointless. You may as well let the publisher review the game themselves.

Well one thing people need to stop saying is that all the remaining editors should quit over this. Some, no doubt, believe they can still contribute a lot to this site by staying, and I respect that. Also, getting a job after quitting wouldn't be an easy task for most, so you gotta understand why they would be unwilling in that respect.

However, although I dont expect anyone to do it automatically, anyone who decides to quit over this has my upmost respect.

Guys.. keep in mind the other editors are still honest themselves. Why do you think there was a relative "lack of action" today? Don't get me wrong, they do a lot of hard work, and even moreso with the financial departments looking over their shoulders.FreyarHunter

Indeed I do. If my company did something so outrageous I would quit then and there. Those that worked for hitler were just as bad as hitler himself.

jetriot

Are you friggen serious? I KNOW you didnt just compare the gamespot staff to the nazis... You are a heartless little moron.

[QUOTE="FreyarHunter"]

And yet you penalize all the honest people too.

jetriot

Indeed I do. If my company did something so outrageous I would quit then and there. Those that worked for hitler were just as bad as hitler himself.

Don't ever make a comparison like that. That's just a horribly ignorant comment.

Guys.. keep in mind the other editors are still honest themselves. Why do you think there was a relative "lack of action" today? Don't get me wrong, they do a lot of hard work, and even moreso with the financial departments looking over their shoulders.FreyarHunter

we understand that gamespot staff are still hardworking gamers, it's just that they would have to be scared with the way jeff was fired. And jeff was one of the most charismatic and funny peoples I have ever seen, how could they just terminate someone who has been in the company for about 8 years longer than the new managment?

I have nothing useful to add to the discussion other than to echo everyone else's disbelief and to throw my hat in the ring of those who have terminated their subscriptions.

My best wishes to Jeff in his future endeavours.

Jeff made the podcast.

I didn't know Jeff and while I read the reviews, I never actually looked at who wrote them. However, my response for this is simple. I'll ignore all Eidos products from hereon. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck....

But leaving Gamespot is self defeating. A stronger message can be sent out by focussing on the apparent source of this issue.

Stick around and stick together.

8)

It kinda sucks to see this happen since I JUST paid for my subscription renewal. Ah well at least the download speeds will be moderately useful for demos/patches.

But most importantly of all,best wishes/prayers to Jeff, good luck. While I didn't care for his alleged 'charisma' tbh, I did appreciate his insights/verdicts on games, it's quite upsetting.

I wish the best for gamespot... **** they'll need it.While I am holding my overall judgement until the next big title review, but I still remain skeptical and (quite shockingly to myself) pissed off.

I am off to 1up, I enjoyed their podcasts for a while anyway.

Does anyone know if Jeff has a PayPal account I could send him some money thru? Or an Amazon.com WishList? Just wana show him some money-love, I realize the PayPal request could be shady on my part lol

ben E.

Without Greg, Rich and now finnaly Jeff, Gamespot is nothing over the ordinary. RIP Gamespot. I Hope Jeff and other GS staff starts a new site and Ill gladly hang around it. But Gamespot isnt anything for me anymore, no more money for my subscribtion.

And remember that 6.0 is a great score for Kane & Lynch if you look around on other sites.

GO JEFF!

guys has anyone notice that they have taken the video review down and that they have disabled the user reviews

http://uk.gamespot.com/error/knl_review.html

check

I remember when I used to think GameSpot was the only worthwhile game review site out there. I always saw IGN, 1UP and G4 as the more "corporate" game journalism outlets, and I wasn't quick to trust them. But GameSpot, to me, felt sort of like a reliable niche where I could get an honest review. I always respected this site's integrity.

But no more. As an aspiring journalist, this disgusts me. I'm actually rethinking my profession. I don't know if I can take critical journalism seriously anymore. And I definitely CAN'T take anything this particular site says seriously anymore.

And so ends my love affair with GameSpot. I was actually going to subscribe next week, but there's no way in hell that's happening now. I probably won't come back here at all.

I was never a member of the Jeff G. fanclub (I normally skipped his reviews, to tell the truth), but his being fired for the tone of his review of a garbage game is ridiculous. I watched the video review (5 seconds ago) and his review seemed perfectly professional and none of the points he made are out of line with the points other reviewers have made so they are probably true.

I would announce that I am boycotting Eidos, but I haven't bought an Eidos game since the PS1 so lets just say I'll keep on ignoring them. As for GS, they have been losing credibility over time and this incident just seals the deal.

Bye Gamespot! Hopefully Jeff and the gang can start a new independent website (hey, I can dream right?). I really enjoy all the content the editors put out here, but this aggression will not stand, man....

Fly that flag, etc etc

(Pie > Cake)

I'm not a forum regular or anything, I just heard all about the issue on the Penny Arcade blog. I have no idea who Jeff is, honestly, as I rarely pay attention to reviewer names. I'm kinda naive perhaps in thinking that all reviewers do their job ethically and they deliver just what they promise: meaningful advice and assistance in purchase decisions for consumer products.

So looking at things from that angle, I can say that Gamespot's reputation has gone down the drain for me after this news. I was under the impression that, in business terms, the value offered by Gamespot was objectivity in assessing the value of games. Obviously I was mistaken as their value proposal seems to be serving the goals of whatever corporation is paying the ad money, to the point of firing employees at the whim of corporate tantrums.

I doubt anyone from Gamespot will bother to read this thread in its entirety but if any of them comes across this post, here is the moral of the story: You have no credibility anymore. Nice job.

I didn't know Jeff and while I read the reviews, I never actually looked at who wrote them. However, my response for this is simple. I'll ignore all Eidos products from hereon. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck....

But leaving Gamespot is self defeating. A stronger message can be sent out by focussing on the apparent source of this issue.

Stick around and stick together.

8)

nightharvest

How is leaving "self defeating". By leaving they no longer get hits. Hits = Advertising money. They also don't get my subscription money.

Everyone should leave. Let them [C|NET / Gamespot]play with themselves on an empty site.

I'm not a forum regular or anything, I just heard all about the issue on the Penny Arcade blog. I have no idea who Jeff is, honestly, as I rarely pay attention to reviewer names. I'm kinda naive perhaps in thinking that all reviewers do their job ethically and they deliver just what they promise: meaningful advice and assistance in purchase decisions for consumer products.

So looking at things from that angle, I can say that Gamespot's reputation has gone down the drain for me after this news. I was under the impression that, in business terms, the value offered by Gamespot was objectivity in assessing the value of games. Obviously I was mistaken as their value proposal seems to be serving the goals of whatever corporation is paying the ad money, to the point of firing employees at the whim of corporate tantrums.

I doubt anyone from Gamespot will bother to read this thread in its entirety but if any of them comes across this post, here is the moral of the story: You have no credibility anymore. Nice job.

johnchandos

What about the rest of the reviewers? Jeff seems like a scapegoat, not a sole beacon of awesome-truth.

in my opinion, it may not matter but this is what i think.

for me, jeff has always been gamespot, i always came here for reviews... done by jeff, for pretty much every game.

as much as jeff was gamespot, gamespot it nothing without him, this site doesnt exist anymore. huh? where am i?

So the rest of the GS staff should be on strike or something?mikeymyer

Judging from the rumors they're afraid to write.. I can understand that.

in my opinion, it may not matter but this is what i think.

for me, jeff has always been gamespot, i always came here for reviews... done by jeff, for pretty much every game.

as much as jeff was gamespot, gamespot it nothing without him, this site doesnt exist anymore. huh? where am i?

Zargooon

Fine, get out out of here. It's not like you aren't repeating every single other person that's even poked their head. It seems to be such a waste of time to just say "I'm leaving." Save electricity and just go if that's your wish.

You know those little links to other CNET sites that you see under your user bar.

I just saw one that said "ON TechRepublic: 10 things to do if you are laid off" Just perfect. :lol:

dvader654

:lol:

No, I'm not stalking you.