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IGN removes their Dead Cells Review, investigating plagiarism. (Update: Writer Responds)

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Deleted member 4034

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Oct 25, 2017
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Should've went the Gamespot route and kept comparing it to Dark Souls unironically.

I've really gotten into IGN in the last two years starting with Jose on NVC, it's just been L after L since last year.
 
Border

Border

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Oct 25, 2017
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God damn.

It's a videogame review. Not a book report. Not a term paper. Not a senior thesis.

All you had to do was play a videogame and talk about it over some footage. Why would you be so lazy? Why would you copy so many sentences and phrases?

Transcribing someone else's review word-for-word is probably MORE WORK than just using his ideas and putting them in your own words. This person has put extra effort into making his plagiarism flagrantly obvious.
 
Bigjig

Bigjig

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Jun 4, 2018
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I think you could look at it either way. While the phrasing is too similar to suggest that the original review wasn't referenced at all, each section pulled up in the comparison video is describing the game in a general sense, which may have been pulled from a review kit. It's still a terrible review, but it's not like the original review was describing a unique experience he had with the game and IGN copied that verbatim.
 
Landford

Landford

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He even copied the same fumbling way the original described the timed doors, which are kinda wrong. Let that sink in. Not only it seens he copied the review, he didnt even know about the game enough to know that that point was wrong.
 
KarmaCow

KarmaCow

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Oct 25, 2017
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Wow, there are high school students who know how to plagiarize less blatantly than this.
 
RoboPlato

RoboPlato

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SG-17 said:
There may be, there may not be. I don't know, none of us know. We don't have access to the full suite of evidence.

Therefore its irresponsible to dogpile, crusade, and light the pitchforks right out of the gate.
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We have access to both reviews. What more evidence do you think is necessary? They repeat the same points in the same order with extremely similar wording and last almost the same amount of time. They even make the same error when describing the time doors.
 
IsaacC

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As a writer who does scripting for TV, Radio, and Video Games, I have to say that it is always so frustrating that guys like this probably got hired because he knew a guy who knows a guy, and clearly has no idea how to do his job...so he copies the underdogs who's CV wouldn't even get a second look from IGN.

I hope he gets canned and leaves writing to the writers who actually take pride in their work. Disgraceful.
 

Deleted member 135

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Keyser S said:
Here is the press kit some reviewers may choose to reference

http://motion-twin.com/presskit/81
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Bigjig said:
I think you could look at it either way. While the phrasing is too similar to suggest that the original review wasn't referenced at all, each section pulled up in the comparison video is describing the game in a general sense, which may have been pulled from a review kit. It's still a terrible review, but it's not like the original review was describing a unique experience he had with the game and IGN copied that verbatim.
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Reading through the press documents both reviews lift a lot of terminology from it. Amateurish perhaps, but not direct evidence of plagiarism.
 
VeePs

VeePs

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Spyder_Monkey said:
Haha I expect this sort of thing from no name hack Youtubers but not IGN.
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Not too long ago he was a no name Youtuber. Dude worked himself up reviewing Nintendo games, built up a base, and IGN had an opening and hired him. I think this was within the last year.

Stupid way to throw your career away, and as a someone who started from the bottom you would think he would know the importance of respecting other people's work.

IsaacC said:
As a writer who does scripting for TV, Radio, and Video Games, I have to say that it is always so frustrating that guys like this probably got hired because he knew a guy who knows a guy, and clearly has no idea how to do his job...so he copies the underdogs who's CV wouldn't even get a second look from IGN.

I hope he gets canned and leaves writing to the writers who actually take pride in their work. Disgraceful.
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I could be wrong but I think he got himself the job on his own, because of the content he had on his YouTube channel. But maybe that's wrong and somewhere along the way he met someone who recommended him to IGN.
 
Dullahan

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That's quite frankly blatant. Especially as the video goes on, it truly starts to become quote for quote.

Not a good look on the IGN writer there.
 

Deleted member 4034

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Oct 25, 2017
26,560
SG-17 said:
There may be, there may not be. I don't know, none of us know. We don't have access to the full suite of evidence.

Therefore its irresponsible to dogpile, crusade, and light the pitchforks right out of the gate.
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I'm asking you to use your imagination and make up a scenario where there wasn't any wrong doing here.

Also, chill with the metaphors. This isn't a mob, people are commenting on a story. The people likely tweeting at him right now are the ones you should criticize for mob mentality.
 
scare_crow

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Oct 28, 2017
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VeePs said:
Not too long ago he was a no name Youtuber. Dude worked himself up reviewing Nintendo games, built up a base, and Nintendo had an opening and hired him. I think this was within the last year.

Stupid way to throw your career away, and as a someone who started from the bottom you would think he would know the importance of respecting other people's work.
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If he never worked in a professional setting before then no, he probably didn't know the importance of that.
 

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Border said:
God damn.

It's a videogame review. Not a book report. Not a term paper. Not a senior thesis.

All you had to do was play a videogame and talk about it over some footage. Why would you be so lazy? Why would you copy so many sentences and phrases?

Transcribing someone else's review word-for-word is probably MORE WORK than just using his ideas and putting them in your own words. This person has put extra effort into making his plagiarism flagrantly obvious.
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Which indeed sounds strange. How make something like...that obvious?


Khanimus said:
Why even post then?

"Lol didn't read" isn't something to be proud about
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Done? Stop quoting me, go bother somebody else.
 
Shoichi

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He will definitely have some explaining to do next NVC if Peer let's him make it that far...
 

Deleted member 4034

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I don't take glee in this kind of thing, but to be honest, it's somewhat refreshing to see people complain about an IGN review for reasons other than the score.
 
poptire

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Oct 25, 2017
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He might've been in over his head/stressed about getting the review out and got desperate. Not that that's excusable.
 
Respawn

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Truly disgusting. He really should be ashamed. People get fired for this type of thing.
 

Deleted member 4034

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Shoichi said:
He will definitely have some explaining to do next NVC if Peer let's him make it that far...
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God, I can't even imagine being in that kind of trouble as an adult. Getting called to the manager's office first thing in the morning, literally everyone you work with knows why. Everyone outside of work knows why. And now it's a story that your name in permanently associated with. Jesus Christ! It gets worse, the more I think about it.
 

Deleted member 3017

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Respawn said:
Truly disgusting. He really should be ashamed. People get fired for this type of thing.
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he probably won't make it through the week

Regarding plagiarism, this seem to be a pretty open-and-shut case. I don't see how anyone can view this as anything but. Plagiarism is the unforgivable sin in journalism and not only will he almost certainly be let go for this, he'll likely never work in games media again.
 
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Cess007

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After watching the video, not only it's the terminology and lines almost the same at times; the pacing of the video it's also almost the same. The guy even mentions that the timing for a certain copied line it's exactly the same on both videos. That has nothing to do with both using terminology from the official press kit.
 
Risq

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Damn, I really liked this guy on the podcast.

After watching the video it's really hard to keep an open mind about it.
 
poptire

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strideredge said:
The week of a direct? That would be bold.
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Bad timing, I guess. The entire company took a hit today, so they might need to lick their wounds and regroup next week. That's what I'd do anyway. It would be very difficult to go all "business as usual" after this.

Dark Cloud said:
It doesn't need to be cancelled. Peer did a great job hosting when Jose left. He's like the best person and has a great personality.
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I agree, Peer is good at steering the ship and I hope they push one out. It'll be super awkward though.
 
psychedelic

psychedelic

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Oct 30, 2017
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The plagiarism is so blatant it's almost amusing. I can't imagine how confident the IGN editor must have felt. I mean they couldn't even do a proper job of copying content, I remember making my copied homework look less suspicious.
 
antitrop

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Pancoar

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He couldn't even be bothered to change the order of the points lol

that bit at 3:07, wow.
 
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