So today, gamers flooded Copper Lawrence's book page on Amazon and absolutly raped the reviews and rating down to one star. What I'm really proud of though, is that gamers responded intelligently and professionally.
But is this just the beginning? I hope so. Let's keep the smartball rolling and keep it up.
http://www.cooperlawrence.com Her personal site, complete with a contact page on the top of the site.
Her book is also listed on
Barnes and Noble As of 3:19am central time there are only 5 customer reviews on the site. I think we can make it an even 500. Be smart tho. Vulgarity of any kind is an instant review eraser.
We need to send a message that we are passionate about what we do, and we will not take this kind of poorly researched, biased crap.
All CoD4 vs. Halo 3 debates and flame wars aside, this is really a common banner for us to unite under. This has gone beyond just Mass Effect.
Speak up now, because we are teetering on the brink of a media based, all out crusade against video games. And mark my angry fuckin words right now: THIS WILL HAPPEN.
It scares me to death frankly. Up until now, it's been a few idiots jibbering nonsensical rantings in obscure corners of the internets and satellite TV. I've noticed recently, however, this plague is starting to spread. I saw a story on the CBS evening news about how the violence in Assassin's Creed was the main selling point and how this specifically targets kids. WTF I say. WTF. And this is the evening news! Now, I know Katie Couric is a tool, and the news is biased, etc. But still. Damn.
Anyway, after all that, please, take action! I understand that games aren't going anywhere because they make billions. But this is the kind of shit that leads up to laws like California's indecency policies. Before it was abolished, it said that if you make material not suitable for kiddies and it is sold in a place where kids can buy it, the state could financially rapezor you, your band, your manager, your comic book, and publisist. The band the Dead Kennedys were the first victims of this BS. Federal agents raided their studios, homes and offices, snatching up and destroying something like 9,000 albums, posters and other such warez.
Censorship anyone?
SPEAK UP. I'll leave it at that.
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It won't let me read the reviews?
Wait, huh? It asks me to be the first to write a review?
stupid people will always take care of themselves. dont need to spam bomb this stupid bitch anymore. she is going to get what is coming to her.
Are you actually encouraging Destructoid to start a raid?
This whole issue is not just about her. It's about standing up for a common cause and saying fuck you to anyone who thinks they can censor us and our art.
@The Excel
Raid? I didn't say that. What you guys do with this is totally up to you. ;)
That woman makes me so angry.
I'm all for a raid. I'll bring the pitchforks
RAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAID
RAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAID
RAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAIDRAID
Lets do it
Also she has a myspace page... add her to your friendlist then just own her in the balls
@ LeonSK
now that the videogame industry is financially bigger (or near) than the film industry, you wont have to worry much longer about these types of people. if censoring a game means less jobs & money to the government, well the government will never stand for that, they do a pretty good job at making sure they get their monies.
Yesterday they had a CRAP LOAD of angry and intelligent reviews for this book. They apparently removed them all by now though.
@Chief
Touche.
To be honest, I really think the number of these people will increase as games cross more and more boundaries. All opinions aside tho, you make a good point. I just dont want to walk out of my local game store with a M rated game and be pelted with objects and called a sex offender.
@Neonie
The reviews have gone back up, at least the ones that didn't contain vulgarity. Sweetsauce!
Even if they don't pose a problem in the future, isn't it nice to know that gamers can unite under a common banner and rise up? I take comfort in that anyway.
I sense a problem with a majority of people given bad reviews to her book regarding on what she said on fox news for the simple fact that it can easily be seen as an attack.. that 90% of those negative comments would be ignored by a person with common sense realizing that these people probably never even opened her book.
Now dont get me wrong, I dont agree with the woman at all on the issue of mass effect, but if your going to attack someone on the grounds of their false statements, atleast read into them and make sure that its all false, like her books that are getting bad reviews from gamers.. how many of them actually read those books? I would not be suprised if it was even 1% of them..but I could be wrong.
Now, if we can find a way to get our message across of how full of shit she was on the mass effect story without going after her other crap, I am all for that.. now once again for the epic lulz on amazon.com .. I'm sorry but this just made me laugh..
Tags customers associate with this product:: (the cooper lawrence book)
ignorant (988)
hypocrisy (789)
garbage (788)
hack (756)
hypocrite (756)
junk (726)
terrible (716)
bigot (629)
bigoted (562)
bias (542)
cult (261)
^ I will say seeing that result at the bottom of the page was indeed laughable.. but still my previous statement stands. I agree fully that we need to get our message out there on how wrong and brain washing she was with the story, and that we need to do so in an intelligent fashion.
@dyslexic
the whole point is that she didn't play the game, so why should we read her book? If she can call something vulgar without playing it, we should be able to call something stupid without reading it.
so then we are no different than her? lol.
Once again, this isn't just about this woman. Read the rest of the blog, it's also about us standing up to liars and hypocrites, and not letting history repeat itself. I think the bolded sentence really sums up my point. If I wrote a mature, adult-based comic that was bought by kids in Cali during the late 80s, early 90s, all my comics would have been taken off the shelves and burned. THAT IS FUCKED! And this will happen again if we are not careful. I guess I get a little angry when I talk about this stuff. I like girls in bikinis. Not full-body suits.
Cheers and Beers All!
Oh I understand that completely leon, I agree that we shouldn't let the media portray the industry in such a way, I'm completely against it, I was just questioning the approach at which many are taking towards this one person. If we are going to discredit someone whos been spreading lies about us and discrediting the industry as a whole, we should do it with smarts and not in a copycat fashion otherwise they will use that against us in turn.
A good chunk of the media has not been portraying us in good light at all, and its a damn shame because its not the way they are making it out to be, they blow many things out of proportion and we should speak out against it. I just don't think it would be wise to attack them the same way they attack us because it will just go into a constant circle jerk where nobody has the upper hand, except for them because they have control over most of the media outlets.
And I do stand by this as well outside of the gaming industry itself. Just to make that clear. Their tactics are not right, and its flat out brainwashing... *pulls out the jump to conclusions mat*
@Dyslixec
Goddamn. I'm still impressed by the overall very high IQ of the members here. You put up a hell of an argument and I commend you for that. I especially like your use of the term circle jerk. Gets the point across.
So, as intelligent, highly motivated peoples, where do we go from here then? It's a really tough call. Discrediting someone without being an irrational wanker can be tough sometimes.
Oh, shitzors. It just came to me. She has a radio show right? Gabe posted a few days back on Penny Arcade about the other fool who wrote about Mass Effect. I got this idea from him.
Write, call or email her sponsors on her radio show. Let them know that they are associating themselves with a person of ill will, who speaks without thinking. And by associating themselves with her, their reputations are being dragged thru the mud along with her. Let these sponsors know that you will not support their product as long as they continue to stand behind her. Any lying asshole on Faux news, or hell, anyone on TV, radio, or the internets otherwise has sponsors. This may be a good way to deal with problem journalists in the future.
Too much? I almost deleted this whole post. Maybe I'm out of line and just angry here. Aagh. I need a beer.
That would actually be the best way, could be considered along the lines of a boycott. You don't stab the bitch in the leg or the arm to get its attention, you stab it in the heart. This being their source of income and outlet, that being their sponsors. That would generally be the best way to approach it as gamers, if we really want our word heard, we need to go right to the source.
Another way to go, which would be more difficult as I said before because they are the airwaves.. is get our voice heard on their show, but even then its all under their control and its their choice whether to show it or not, and the chances of them allowing someone to bash them on their own network is jack and shit. So either on other networks not controlled by them, that has a massive amount of viewers, or we go right for the source towards their sponsors.
Theres got to be someone out there who's sponsoring these jack asses that hasn't sold their soul or their heart to this bullshit scheme and would be whiling to defend their name by tightening the leash on these people. Unless we get enough voices to come behind the message we send to their sponsors.. then money may not be an issue. You get enough people behind you and you can bring down governments.