Lurker > Gojira123

Doe posted...

OP can you provide some solid examples?

I will just provide screenshots here:



Comments:

Inferno Dive Dragoon posted...

The problem with most guides for multiplayer games (especially MMORPGs) is that patches change things on a regular basis, so they're almost always behind the curve with outdated info. And even when they do finally catch up? Give it a week and they're back to square one.

Agree but this is a different case. Thats just a case of outdated guides. But what Im talking about are legitimate cases where its deliberately done to misinform new players and the community finally caught on to it. Of course it is not as common as the genuine guides, but it happens.

pinky0926 posted...

I've never even heard of this and it's quite fascinating. I'd always just put down any errors in a guide down to the creator just not really knowing what he's talking about, so the idea that there's a deliberate misinformation campaign in game guides is really interesting

It is becoming more prevalent in the past 2 years. Of course the official gaming publication will not do this. But rarely new players will go to IGN or GameInformer for guides. They will go to Reddit, Youtube, and they have larger millions of follower base compared to the official sites.

There is no peer review. No fact checking. But everything is presented in a very professional, newbie friendly format. And like i said, not all the information is wrong. But not all the information is presented. This issue does not really appear for single player games but it does for many games with multiplayer components.

Yes it is not everyone of course. But a few bad actors. But hey, bad actors reach millions of views.

Yes it also happens on Gamefaqs.

I may be late but I feel this is becoming more prevalent. Disinformation in Game Guides, and primarily in games with multiplayer components or MMO, and posted in populated channels such as Reddit, Youtube.

A couple examples to demonstrate:

1. A guide published about meta builds, best gears/equipments in game, complete with screenshots and links to professionally made spreadsheet, showing damage, mitigation. While in fact, all the information are fully or partially fabricated to direct New Players to be weaker during PvP or endgame content.
2. A guide published with full video on what materials to gather, what wood or items to farm or log, and how to sell them in the game marketplace. Complete with full spreadsheet on profit calculation, claiming for example, that Metal Ingot X is the most profitable. While in fact, the end goal is to direct New players to gather that specific materials only, so that there would be a price drop since the particular individual owns that material market. Even more concerning, the information is not false or fabricated at all, its a genuinely true guide, all the location and drop rates % are all accurate, but it directs players towards a hidden agenda.
3. A post or a publication designed to manipulate game developers. Basically encouraging all the players of a certain class (warrior) to claim that (wizard) is OP and totally broken. Complete with documented fabricated instances, step by step guide on how to reproduce, numbers, screenshots that are misleading. The goal is to force the developers to nerf a certain class. Anyway this one is a bit different than the top 2 items but I decided to include it anyway.

These are just small examples, of course there are other instances, but my question to you all for discussion is:

1. Do you see it happening more prevalently? Any cases you want to share?
2. Is this actually a problem or is this just freedom of players publishing any guides that they can? Is it equivalent to guides of tips and tricks and is innocent enough since thats how the game was made?
3. If it is problematic, then how can the gaming community or gaming industry address it? The largest social media companies are already struggling with general misinformation and disinformation in all their platforms.

Looking forward to see your thoughts.