SE, don't invite that journalist to Fanfest... ever.

[DeaconMoore]

An excellent article. So fanfest was just a bunch of silly costumes, some props, a mention of the expansion title, blue mage mention, hint of a bunny race, talk of erp, a memorial for a dead NPC, and some karaoke.

He actually got paid for this? I'm in the wrong line of work.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

With the backing of other RPS editors and supposedly getting $50k for the article, I don't think Square Enix should ever provide RPS or Caldwell with any type of press/media privileges ever again.

Quite frankly, if RPS had any genuine integrity, Caldwell would be fired immediately. He clearly took the job for little more than a paid trip to Las Vegas and couldn't give less of a damn about fanfest, the FFXIV community or the development team.

[Vahlnir]

Unfortunately, some people writing articles aren't there to cover the truth or understand the communities they're writing about. They just want write something that will get peoples' attention and nothing more. It doesn't have to be right or true, it just has to sell. And no, I'm not hopping on the #fakenews train because it's crap. I'm just saying that there's people capable of doing their jobs badly everywhere, be it cashiers at a store, cab drivers or people sitting behind a desk writing "spicy" news with their only goal being entertainment.

[Hycinthus]

I did not read the commentary and went straight to the article so I can judge by myself. And honestly I dont think it's that bad. Sure that there are some implicit mocking but to me it just sounds like someone who is giving first impression to things that are new and novel to him. Obviously he is not a tenured or experienced FFXiV player. I'm just a person who has a high tolerance for things like this, and it's fine to read a multitude and variety of opinions, even stupid ones. I dont know. It's just interesting to see.

[Kayokane]

To be exact, SE would've invited/paid the site he worked for, it was the site that sent him in.

[Wolfman88]

I did not read the commentary and went straight to the article so I can judge by myself. And honestly I dont think it's that bad. Sure that there are some implicit mocking but to me it just sounds like someone who is giving first impression to things that are new and novel to him. Obviously he is not a tenured or experienced FFXiV player. I'm just a person who has a high tolerance for things like this, and it's fine to read a multitude and variety of opinions, even stupid ones. I dont know. It's just interesting to see.

That’s fine and all but professionalism is still lacking. It’s because of articles like this nobody takes video game journalists seriously. This was written more in the style of a blog post than anything else.

[AppleJinx]

Yeah gaming journalists will do anything to try to justify their own existence these days it's pretty sad really.

[Clover_Blake]

sounds like someone who is giving first impression to things that are new and novel to him.

Can he actually be called a game journalist, when concepts like "fans being hyped about new content" or "fans cosplaying and having fun" (in a FANfest, no less) are so new and novel to him?

In any case, I don't think he has simply been living under a rock all this time. As someone pointed out, this kind of thing is used to stir controversy and get attention. No one would have paid notice to that news site had he written a normal report. Sad as this sounds, it seems to have worked just like it did for Kotaku back in the day.

[poppymilkweed]

Hey, I'm the Tsukuyomi cosplayer (the "foam peacock" moon goddess) that was referenced/pictured in that article! I actually got interviewed by this guy, so I wanted to throw my two cents in.

The main thing that upsets me about the whole debacle is the lack of professionalism. This person is a supposed "professional journalist" from a gaming website, and he really should have done some research about the game/event he was covering--which he clearly didn't (as shown by the misinformation and lack of any sort of actual coverage of the event).

While I was being interviewed, I was caught off guard when he didn't know the first thing about FFXIV. I know that journalists don't have to know every single little detail about what they're covering, but this guy was completely clueless about the game and event as a whole.

I feel like he had some preconceived notions about FFXIV and was interviewing me and the other cosplayers under false pretenses to use as fuel to make fun of all of us later. After the interview, he really made sure to remind me to check the article out after FanFest, so it seems like it was his plan from the start to disparage the whole event because he thought it was weird for some reason. Cons and cosplay are hardly an oddity today, so I'm more baffled than anything by the article.

I sent RockPaperShotgun a strongly worded email with a request to remove my picture from the article. I doubt they'll actually respond or do anything, but at least they know my stance on it. Take this dude's words with a grain of salt. It's a badly written article from a person who clearly doesn't care enough to do his job competently.

[EusisLandale]

Can he actually be called a game journalist, when concepts like "fans being hyped about new content" or "fans cosplaying and having fun" (in a FANfest, no less) are so new and novel to him?

Tutorials are a legitimately challenging task to a game journalist, so yes he can be called that. Complete and utter incompetence in all aspects relating to the hobby is pretty much the main job requirement.