Fake video game stories are everywhere

midian182

Posts: 9,662   +121
Staff member

With everyone from Mark Zuckerberg to President Obama expressing concerns over the amount of fake news stories appearing online – and the fact that many people believe them – it’s easy to forget that this sort of misinformation extends beyond politics. One of the most popular types of fake news items involves video games.

As reported by Kotaku’s Jason Schreier, made-up stories about video games have appeared on Facebook and in Google’s search results for years, mainly thanks to robots and algorithms surfacing items from unreliable websites.

The problem is at its worst when it comes to big-name game series such as Call of Duty, Fallout, and Grand Theft Auto. There have been a massive number of fake Grand Theft Auto 6 stories this year, ranging from definite release dates to news that the game will include the ability to teleport.

Type Half-Life 3 into Google and you’ll see that most of the top results are made up of fake items or, as is sometimes the case, headlines that try to get around the fact they’re blatant lies by including a huge amount of question marks. “HALF-LIFE 3 CONFIRMED?”

Much like the fake news stories involving politicians and celebrities, these articles often get thousands of shares on Facebook, despite being untrue. A fake item about Rockstar canceling GTA VI so it can concentrate on GTA V was shared over 2000 times and received more than 10,000 reactions.

So why do people invent these stories? One reasons is because they often come from user-run websites where people can publish whatever they like and get paid based on views and shares. An article about GTA 6’s release date is likely to be shared and read by thousands, even if it is untrue.

While fake video game stories aren’t going to get the same amount of criticism as the sort of news items that can, allegedly, help influence an election, they’re still a problem. Hopefully, Mark Zuckerberg’s plan to tackle misinformation on Facebook will go some way to reducing their number on the social network, or at least flag them as being BS.

Permalink to story.

 
Do they no longer teach you that you shouldn't believe every thing you hear someone say on the street/internet? Oh wait its convenient to take everything from any source as granted now...
 
Half Life 3 may overtake Duke Nukem Forever for "vaporware/ longest anticipated sequel in development"

I loved Half Life, I only really liked the gunplay in HL2 (I'm not happy with rail puzzles) and I'm not extremely anxious for HL3 if they don't change the formula.
 
So they made up a release date - the real date will probably be moved 4 times anyway.

I'd say this is less of an issue than sponsored reviews. The last game review I read was so over the top gushing about how fun and awesome the game was, you'd think the author was talking about his own kids. Who knows if those are really true.
 
Another casualty of present times. Far too many publications think they are news outlets when spend only a fraction of the cost needed for true production, vetting, and final verification of source materials before publication. Not much different than those radio stations that practice "Rip & Read", where the DJ would run to the teletype writer, rip off the latest news feed, and read it on the air with little or NO idea what he was telling the listening audience. Now days it's far easier to broadcast the world absolute manure. And, of course, the 1st amendment allows, perhaps even encourages it. Welcome to the free world!
 
Fake News is a deflection from news which is always almost wrong. If it is reported wrong I argue that it is fake.
Too many don't do the research
 
Another casualty of present times. Far too many publications think they are news outlets when spend only a fraction of the cost needed for true production, vetting, and final verification of source materials before publication. Not much different than those radio stations that practice "Rip & Read", where the DJ would run to the teletype writer, rip off the latest news feed, and read it on the air with little or NO idea what he was telling the listening audience. Now days it's far easier to broadcast the world absolute manure. And, of course, the 1st amendment allows, perhaps even encourages it. Welcome to the free world!


Click-bait journalism.

If they can get your attention - they can get paid for it.

How many sites are there which simply post links to someone else's video and write a paragraph or two and call it a story?
 
Another casualty of present times. Far too many publications think they are news outlets when spend only a fraction of the cost needed for true production, vetting, and final verification of source materials before publication. Not much different than those radio stations that practice "Rip & Read", where the DJ would run to the teletype writer, rip off the latest news feed, and read it on the air with little or NO idea what he was telling the listening audience. Now days it's far easier to broadcast the world absolute manure. And, of course, the 1st amendment allows, perhaps even encourages it. Welcome to the free world!
You're dead on the money. Some so called tech blogs have it real bad. I remember seeing my mom look at a article on Yahoo's front that was ripped directly from The Onion.
 
Another casualty of present times. Far too many publications think they are news outlets when spend only a fraction of the cost needed for true production, vetting, and final verification of source materials before publication. Not much different than those radio stations that practice "Rip & Read", where the DJ would run to the teletype writer, rip off the latest news feed, and read it on the air with little or NO idea what he was telling the listening audience. Now days it's far easier to broadcast the world absolute manure. And, of course, the 1st amendment allows, perhaps even encourages it. Welcome to the free world!
You're dead on the money. Some so called tech blogs have it real bad. I remember seeing my mom look at a article on Yahoo's front that was ripped directly from The Onion.

When I meant Tech Blogs I meant Gizmodo, BGR, and The Verge
 
If they can get your attention - they can get paid for it.
In a nutshell, this is it. From YouTube video's about virtually anything where you watch an ad before you find out it is totally rubbish, to websites that earn money by counting the 'hits' on their page and resort to these kinds of methods, the fraud goes on and on.
It really irks me that some D-bag is making money like this and laughing all the way to the bank while the rest of us have to live with the fallout.
 
In a nutshell, this is it. From YouTube video's about virtually anything where you watch an ad before you find out it is totally rubbish, to websites that earn money by counting the 'hits' on their page and resort to these kinds of methods, the fraud goes on and on.
It really irks me that some D-bag is making money like this and laughing all the way to the bank while the rest of us have to live with the fallout.


Well I'm making over $2000 a month on unprofessional car reviews.
 
In a nutshell, this is it. From YouTube video's about virtually anything where you watch an ad before you find out it is totally rubbish, to websites that earn money by counting the 'hits' on their page and resort to these kinds of methods, the fraud goes on and on.
It really irks me that some D-bag is making money like this and laughing all the way to the bank while the rest of us have to live with the fallout.

Well I'm making over $2000 a month on unprofessional car reviews.
as long as there is no misrepresentation I applaud you on your entrepreneurship.
 
Back