"But the good stuff was the inside info about the site. I asked him about forums and if they really do matter, I have heard that forums are the life blood of a site, he claims that is total bullshit. He flat out told me "they are lucky we don't shut them down." He thinks the forums are just for a bunch of angry fanboys to bitch about everything. They make almost no money from the forums, he says its the front page and the features that makes all the money. So that is probably why the GS forums are so ignored by the staff, they don't like it."
Makes sense now.
"I met the guy in charge of changing the forums, I thanked him for giving us forums that work on a phone, another cool guy."
"He flat out told me "they are lucky we don't shut them down." He thinks the forums are just for a bunch of angry fanboys to bitch about everything."
"So that is probably why the GS forums are so ignored by the staff, they don't like it"
Cool guy? He sounds like exactly the sort of dick you'd expect to be running that mess. Instead of thanking him you should have kicked him in the balls!
Foolz said:Cool guy? He sounds like exactly the sort of dick you'd expect to be running that mess. Instead of thanking him you should have kicked him in the balls!
And then you should have nicked his Zelda shirt.
Foolz not the same guy, the guy who designed the forums I met in passing. My friend was the one who told me about the forums.
You should relay this info to gamespots forums directly.
gamingeek said:And yet the forums are what keeps gamers coming back and checking on the rest of the site.
You should relay this info to gamespots forums directly.
I guess we are insignificant. I don't know. It's sad.
Gamers do bitch a lot and there are some undersirables on every, well most boards. But generally whenever I have seen a websites writers engage and reply to the audience it's been mostly positive. I think it does them good to metaphorically come down from Mount Olympus and let forumers realise that they are just ordinary gamers like the rest of us, not infalible and with all the same quirks and favourites.
You should have kicked him in the balls anyway. He works for GameSpot! 
gamingeek said:Gamers do bitch a lot and there are some undersirables on every, well most boards. But generally whenever I have seen a websites writers engage and reply to the audience it's been mostly positive. I think it does them good to metaphorically come down from Mount Olympus and let forumers realise that they are just ordinary gamers like the rest of us, not infalible and with all the same quirks and favourites.
I totally agree with this. It's what made old GS great. Now the new staff spends more time on gaf than their own forums.
Last time I visited SF I got a nice tour of the GS offices from my friend who is the head of social media for CBS interactive, he works out of the GS offices. So I shared stories of the place but it was mostly empty, today I got to go while some people were still working so it was pretty neat. I met Chris Watters, he is always on the videos, super nice guy. I felt bad cause I told my friend "I recognize that guy, but I dont know his name..." so he introduced us. He was working on editing a Killzone multiplayer guide, so we chatted a bit about the launch games and football (I had a dolphins jacket on). Dude seems like a great guy very pleasant. I also met a dude that I think is their chief, he's been there for 13 years but I didnt recognize him so he must be behind the scenes. All I know is that his office was crazy, it was a total mess but it was filled with random game memorobilia, seemed like a nice guy too.
Giant bomb guys had left, I must have just missed them cause when I arrived some guy was there to meet with Jeff, I was like "I want to meet Jeff..." Oh well. I met the guy in charge of changing the forums, I thanked him for giving us forums that work on a phone, another cool guy. I walked past this massive SMB NES mural they have on the walls, see GS doesnt hate Nintendo. I got to take a picture of me sitting on the GS couch where they do a lot of the live streams. Oh and I played some Tekken as they have like 5 Tekken arcades.
But the good stuff was the inside info about the site. I asked him about forums and if they really do matter, I have heard that forums are the life blood of a site, he claims that is total bullshit. He flat out told me "they are lucky we don't shut them down." He thinks the forums are just for a bunch of angry fanboys to bitch about everything. They make almost no money from the forums, he says its the front page and the features that makes all the money. So that is probably why the GS forums are so ignored by the staff, they don't like it. In the coming year his goal is to get GS 1 million facebook followers, they are half of that, 2 million twitter followers, get some 90 ranking on some internet grading scale, and so on.
I didnt have much time so it was a quick visit, but I did get a bunch of swag. He gave me AC4 for PS4 (YES!), a PS jacket, a PS vest, Batman AC poster, and a GS hoddie. I noticed a Zelda shirt on a chair off in the corner of the office, it has NES Link sprite on it. I was so close to it, finally a Zelda shirt but he didn't offer it and I wasn't about to beg for anything. So there you go, again very positive impressions of the place, seems like a cool place to work.