I checked my blog stats this evening and noticed that I had about 300 more visitors than normal. The source? Tobold’s Blog. I guess he read the little comment at the beginning of my PotBS beta impressions post and took it personally. Tobold then had the following to say.
I did apparently break the PotBS NDA by posting my review 12 hours before the NDA drop was officially announced, but I thought the devs saying on the beta boards that the NDA dropped on the 3rd was sufficient. Now Keen is pissed at me. Not quite sure whether that is because he has a much more strict legal interpretation of “click to accept” contracts (which aren’t necessarily legally binding in every country) than me, or whether he just felt I cheated in some imaginary “who gets the review out first” game. You should read his review anyway, it is quite good. Keen was one of the prime sources of PotBS information over the last months, and now he is writing on the IGN PotBS Vault. Sorry, Keen, I just wanted to get this out as fast as possible. I would say that our purpose here to spread the good word about PotBS is the same, and it wasn’t my purpose to “beat” you or anyone.
Where to begin? I guess I’ll address the “keen is pissed at me” part first. I’m not pissed at anyone. This is blogging about gaming and not some weekday soap where drama fuels our daily lives. I avoid drama on the internet. I’m not upset or pissed. I simply pointed out that if you agree to not disclose information until you are released from your agreement that you should at least honor your word. That leads to the part where Tobold states that I might be more strict on the interpretation of “click to accept” contracts. I don’t care if they’re legally binding or not, nor if they apply to those of you over the pond. If you click accept and agree to the NDA and test their game shouldn’t you then respect it? Maybe I do take them too seriously. If I give me word, I’ll do my best to keep it.
Now I’ll address the laughable idea that I am somehow feeling cheated that I didn’t get my review out first. Come on Tobold, do you really think anyone cares about that sort of thing? I don’t think posting your opinion 12, 24 hours or one hundred years before someone else makes anyone else’s opinions less valid nor do I care who reads my or your opinion first. I don’t even need to go into the fact that your blog receives 4x the traffic mine does thus nullifying any imaginary contest between us. I’m not racing, and I hope you’re not either. I never claimed you or anyone else tried to “beat” anyone.
Why did I even mention the NDA violations out there in general? Communication between developers and players is already strained enough. The last thing I want is for the bloggers to suddenly be considered press sites and be barred from beta testing or to have us take 10 steps backwards. I personally want devs to communicate with the gaming communities more in the development of their games. Blogging is quickly becoming a great way to communicate with developers and to have so many blogs and news sites out there jump the gun breaking the NDA just doesn’t help any.
If I took this too seriously for you or others out there then we simply don’t see eye to eye. I have no animosity towards Tobold or any other bloggers/newsites that broke the NDA. Peace.
Very well said.
Why am I somewhat entertained by this little conflict between them? I’m interested in seeing how/if Tobold responds. 🙂
I see you created more drama of your own on your blog. I know the MMO scene is going through a dry spell but is it really necessary to create drama where there is none just so you can have something to write about?
On that note I am disabling comments. I want this topic to die off. All that needs to be said has been done so and those outside of the situation need not stir the pot.