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

Uh... why are people still claiming that the score is the cause for dismissal?FreyarHunter

Thats not it? then why is he fired?

[QUOTE="FreyarHunter"]Uh... why are people still claiming that the score is the cause for dismissal?Game_Druggy

Thats not it? then why is he fired?

The 'tone' of his video review was the cause for his dismissal. It's as stupid as Comcast's "non-standard use" clauses.

The best thing about this is that November 29 is my birthday and everyone got that in thier sigs. :DElektrik-Blu

Anit it convenient the timing of it all.

"We find it's always better to fire people on a Friday [Thurs?] Studies have statistically shown that there's less chance of an incident if you do it at the end of the week."

Also, right after Thanksgiving when all the big games came out as well. Hopefully Jeff isn't playing Rock Band solo. Now, of all times, we should be thankful for such things as user reviews (lol), the community, and free speech.

This in mind, I'm pessimistic on hearing any sort of comment from Cnet until Monday.

[QUOTE="Game_Druggy"]

[QUOTE="FreyarHunter"]Uh... why are people still claiming that the score is the cause for dismissal?FreyarHunter

If this is true its grounds for me cancelling my sub to the site, I come to the site for HONEST reviews soI do not waste my money, this tells me that Gamespot takes money to lie on reviews, and that is not only unaccpectable, its detestable, but lets not fully place the blame on GS, we must also look to Eidos for their reasoning, which while I understand why you would not want to advertise on a site that didnt give you a good review, it boils down to you expecting to get a good review just for advertising.

Here is how it works, make a good bug free game if you want to make sales, trust me, it will get you farther then throwing a tantrum when you shove crap out the door.

One-day-we-will-look-back-on-this-and-laugh-and-laugh-and-laugh...

Oh boy...

Anyone remember the telistrator?

[QUOTE="Game_Druggy"]

[QUOTE="FreyarHunter"]Uh... why are people still claiming that the score is the cause for dismissal?FreyarHunter

Thats not it? then why is he fired?

The 'tone' of his video review was the cause for his dismissal. It's as stupid as Comcast's "non-standard use" clauses.

I'm sorry but honestly, to me that sounds like "he got fired because he said Kane and Lynch sucked"

[QUOTE="Game_Druggy"]

[QUOTE="FreyarHunter"]Uh... why are people still claiming that the score is the cause for dismissal?FreyarHunter

Thats not it? then why is he fired?

The 'tone' of his video review was the cause for his dismissal. It's as stupid as Comcast's "non-standard use" clauses.

Then whoever wrote the Anubis II review should be fired as well because, trust me, that one's much, much worse than Jeff's K&L.

This is blown out of control...

*points down*LaZyBoY1o5

ROFL lazyboy, that sig's hilarious

How so, Fr0stm0rn. Please explain, as we sure feel this is a very important situation involving journalism credibility and so on.

GS Staff/Former Staff Comments:

I obviously don't know the name of every GS employee, so I have to just go with their usernames on some of these.

Tim Tracy(Not Necessarily About Jeff)

Rich Gallup

Aaron Thomas

Alex Navarro

Lark Anderson

Stanley L

mindcavity

Chris Watters

Kevin VanOrd

Bethany

These voices need to be heard above all. This list is incomplete and I will be reposting it every so often so that those just entering the thread will be able to read this. Viva la Jeff.

Ya know, just to prove a point the other editors should leave of their own free will just to stick it to Cnet an whoever else is associated with this site. I mean, I sure as He** wouldn't want to work for a company that would be willing to do that to one of their best editors for the sake of one companies cash investments/endorsements. Any of them would surely be able to pick right back up at another site, if nothing else other sites would probably welcome them openly because of this exact incident.

People do still respect moral integrity these days and it would be quite a expression of disgust from the staff for the practices that have taken place here. (If what we are hearing is true)

I say walk and let this place swing n the breeze, it will never be respected the way it was before.

As a matter of fact, all the current longtime editors should get together with Jeff and create they're own gaming review site, they would be GAURANTEED to have all the long time fans follow them wherever they go. Am I right? I would switch in a instant.

How so, Fr0stm0rn. Please explain, as we sure feel this is a very important situation involving journalism credibility and so on.

FreyarHunter

Dont get me wrong, now I believe what you say is true. I mean I kind of get the feeling that we havent been told the truth based on some reviews if the case of him bieng let go because of a review he was honest about.

But I dont agree with some of you bashing on gamespot because of this incident. Asides from there contriversial reviews, Gamespot is a great place, where else can you watch E3 for free? Stream videos for free, download, do so much more for free. Create your unions, and alot more. The way I see it, if you arent happy here anymore, then IGN is just one browse away.

Oof. I'm more a casual user of the site. I did notice the reviews had been going downhill lately, with all these boring new video reviewers I couldn't care less about droning on like zombies without an ounce of personality. "This good. Play this. Make good use cover system. You play have fun. Neat fun. You buy." Zz.

It didn't ever occur to me until I read all this news that some of the other guys were gone already, who used to do half-decent reviews, like Greg K. "Oh yeah ... what happened to that dude?" It's all coming together now. I've known GS was going downhill somehow, but it was subtle, I hadn't given it much thought. Now it makes more sense. Not that GS was a paragon of objective reviews anyway, but they were at least a little better than a lot of the other similar sites out there right now.

Well, I'll go even more exclusively to Yahtzee Croshaw at The Escapist (the Zero Punctuation review guy) for my reviews now. It's not about whether you agree or not (I certainly don't always feel the same way as Gerstmann) -- it's about how enjoyable the reviewer themselves is, whether they're someone you want to listen to, whether they're someone who you feel is worth coming back to the site for. I barely remember most of the video reviews I've seen at GS lately, because they're so damn boring. I do recomend Yahtzee though, at the Escapist: he's awesome, and 10x the reviewer anybody left at Gamespot is. Creative, intelligent, biting, funny. I used to consider Gamespot the one mainstream game sites that didn't have its face firmly buried in the a$$es of the developers and publishers -- thanks in large part to guys like Gerstmann and Greg K, who, while forgiving compared to someone like Yahtzee, at least seemed sincere and informed and able to think for themselves -- but I guess those days are gone.

What a site like GS needs to concentrate on is hiring honest, incisive reviewers with personality and charisma. Or what they should've concentrated on; sounds like it's too late now. That's what keeps me coming back. Not the stupid ads everywhere. And I can't click on the stupid ads if I don't keep coming back. Which I probably won't now.

Looks like I missed a hell of a giant threat in the Off-Topic board. After reading as much as I could on this... well, there's not much I can say that hasn't been said already. Though I don't always agree with them, I have respected the reviews from the Gamespot staff for quite some time, long before I decided to join the forums.

This is pretty disappointing to hear how things have turned out the way they have. Though the way Jeff talked about the game in the video review seemed a little harsh, I didn't think it was something to make such a big deal over. The idea of Gamespot being bribed was something that I always scoffed at, especially when it came from people that got unreasonably upset at the scores that were given. Now, it doesn't seem so far off the mark. This isn't something that's going to make me leave this community like other people are, but I don't think Gamespot will be looked at the same way. Is this kind of thing going to influence the Gamespot staff to write their reviews differently?

This is what I don't get in regards to this whole situation. To begin with, CNET/GS decided to go away from their review system being done in tenths to become more of a .5 based system. And then they fire someone who has been totally loyal for the past decade because of a review score? According to the review score itself it is a 'fair' game. That doesn't sound too harsh for the issues that were discussed in the review.

Heck, I may not have even agreed with his TP review, but I understood and respected him as a member of the community.

I would like to think that there is more to this story that we haven't heard that will clear things up. Unfortunately I doubt that will happen. From all I could see, Jeff was a good/great guy and will be missed.

My ultimate complaint is with CNET. Even though Eidos may have 'pressured' fora score, ethics says that they should stand behind their reviewers no matter what the cost. I don't see Eidos pressuring any other publication such as Game Informer (7.0/10), Play Magazine (6/10), or Game Revolution (C+) to fire thier people. Straight up, CNET has messed up big time, and I hope that Jeff gets compensated via severence or law suit royaly. If CNET wants to use someone as a scapegoat for the fiasco, then we need to blame them and not GS direct.

When the developer for Blacksite: Area 51 can come out and say that his game was effed up (viewable on Kotaku), why shouldn't reviewers have the same ability.

Shame on you CNET.

maddogdw

It may have something to do with Gamespot being the biggest(or are they the 2nd biggest behind IGN?) gaming site on the net.

Just signing this thread to show that I have been around for a long time and my level is pretty high considering the time I don't spend here anymore. Read about this problem and wanted to say it was a bit out of hand. When a game isn't good, the best way to solve that is to make it better. So simple it's stupid. Don't go for this quantity over quality stuff that EA has been known for. How many other times has this happened I wonder? Was a game actually scored higher then it should have been. Of course, now I just have proof of that. Before it was only a thought. I'm glad so many people feel the same way and that the mods of these forums are allowing a thread to be created for that reason.

I don't plan on sticking around much longer after this. Luckily I have the option to avoid this site. If there's one abundance on the internet it's gaming sites. I only chose this place because of the quality I normally expected. Sounds like the new show-runners now have a problem on their hands.

This was a bad decision and I hope more people decide to leave.

Thank you for your efforts to contribute to the gaming community.
Ratings for Kane & Lynch are currently not being accepted for display on GameSpot.com.

Return to Kane & Lynch

LOL .

This makes me wonder how many other game-related reviewing companies have this happening on this inside, minus the "Jeffs" getting fired, you know?

I dunno if I want to renew my Game Informer subscription now, and I've had that for a few years. I might stop taking reviews seriously altogether because of this.

Some of those blogs from the editorial staff saddened me. Especially Editor Bethany's, her's almost brought a tear to my eye.

Sad times. :(

I have removed my comment after listening to this weeks The Hot Spot. I could hear it in your voices that you will really miss Jeff and agree that the whole thing has been done completely wrong. I wish Jeff the best and please keep up the great work and good luck with everything. I hope at some point you could have Jeff on as a special guest?

Kane & Lynch User Reviews Are Currently Disabled

Thank you for your efforts to contribute to the gaming community.
Ratings for Kane & Lynch are currently not being accepted for display on GameSpot.com.

Return to Kane & Lynch

LOL .

tadowguy

Stupid game. Not only it's rubbish, itis the cause why Jeff got fired

Hey Gamespot I will pay you 50 bucks to fire that guy with the funny hair I don't like. I'm open to negotiation and that's not my final offer.

That might be an over exaggeration of the situation but more or less that's what we are talking about here. I thought only Donald Trump could get away with this sort of thing.

Here's another blog to add to the list

www.gamespot.com/users/Carrie

No matter what Freyerhunter (A Mod!? ) thinks about people voicing their opinions on a forum, I'm really sickened that even Gaming Journalism has sunk this low. After the Penny Arcade, Kotaku, ValleyWag, et cetera reports have come in it's pretty clear that Gerstman was canned in response to his review, particularly the video review, of K & L. This is a clear violation of journalism ethics, specifically the separation between editorial content (reviews) and advertisements.

When organisations continually disregard & abuse this relationship the integrity of the entire organization should be called into question, like Fox News or The Washington Post. Ironically, it is probably the integrity, previous to this incident that is, that allowed the sales staff to lure such a lucrative account like the K & L ad campaign to GS. Worse, the integrity & value, from a users eyes - not an investor - is due in large part to the long-term efforts of talent like Jeff Gerstman who has helped build it over the past decade.

If we can not trust media outlets to allow writing & editorial staff to work unharrassed from marketing & sales concerns, then those outlets are without value. For me, Gamespot has fallen sharply in value, & I just headed over to Google Stocks & for the short period at least it seems investors feel the same about CNET. After all, it was just a damn game. If the majority of players disgreed with the review we would have heard about that. Instead, misplaced ethics should sink this ship.

I completely understand the idea between the marketing stuff and editorialship. It's a complete conflict of interest.

I'm having trouble understanding what chicklitt's position is against me. Must be the lack of sleep.

I feel like I should cancel my subscription in protest... but I feel like I should wait until I can actually hear the uncensored opinions of the staff, but I don't think that will ever be granted any time soon. I'm sitting on the fence with this one, and I don't want to be too hastey with assumptions.

Edit: And Freyar, if I do leave, you may not remember me... but it was kind of an honor to practice playing Supreme Commander with you prior to the tournament for practice, and losing to you on the first match for the tourney =p

I haven't had the time to read this whole thread but I just wanted to say that people should stop generalizing.

A lot of people are totally misdirecting their frustration. I feel bad for the people still working for gamespot who get this whole sh*tload of anger over them while they just want to make a good games website. If everyone at Gamespot quit their jobs because of this, as a lot of people think is the only thing to do, how could they try to keep Gamespot a good site and clear up it's reputation? Personally I would hate to see Gamespot 'going down' because of this. I love this site and the editors and other staff probably love their jobs and I can't imagine them just quitting something they love to do. If this is all true some management folks should quit their job, not Gamespot editors. Though I understand why someone would have big ethical issues with working under such management it's not their fault or responsibility.

While i think it's unfair for Cnet to fire him i also think Jeff's Kane&Lynch review was a tad biased. The way he talks about it sounds like he just doesn't like the story or any of the characters, which is understandable but there are some people you like that rough gritty form of story telling and that's the type that should've given the review.

I think they should give Jeff his job back and post another non-biased review of the game. One that highlights reasons why somebody might want to buy the game, not something saying why you should or shouldn't buy it.

kane and lynch is a good game and its not their fault Jeff got fired from what I heard. He should've just kept his mouth shut after the reviewgifteddie

Wipe your chin off when you are done

I completely understand the idea between the marketing stuff and editorialship. It's a complete conflict of interest.

I'm having trouble understanding what chicklitt's position is against me. Must be the lack of sleep.

FreyarHunter

I felt your "look back & lauagh & laugh" comment & comment's on the Ask Gamespot & Feedback boards are glib. The inital post in this board states that it isn't really an "Official" thread & "can't be stickied". Yet some of the mods don't seem hesitant at all to lock threads with casual disregard and a general snarkiness, making a bad situation worse.

I'm sure you guys are on pins & needles & I can understand you not making the connection what's going on. Must be the lack of sleep.

This is all just so sad. To see Jeff being let go is just unacceptable. There is no good reason to let such a good guy like him go, and if the rumors are true, then this is just downright dispicable.

Like others have said, I'd like to see a large protest from the paid staff, but at the same time, I understand why they would never go through with it. It is their job they would be putting on the line, this is how they get paid. It's not so easy when you put yourself in their shoes. I feel deeply sorry for what the staff is going through right now and what Jeff is going through.

We're all here to support you. Know that we stand behind the staff, current and past, that made gamespot what it once was.