When Jeff Gerstmann was alledgedly fired from GameSpot for writing a damning review of Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, the predictable happened: The Internet gaming community was in uproar for all of a few days and then promptly forgot about it, because online gamers have the attention spans of jack russell puppies. Fortunately, however, one man didn't forget, and that was GameSpot freelance reviewer Frank Provo, a veteran writer with over 751 reviews under his belt. The man today announced that he'd ended his seven year tenure with the site thanks to CNet's string-pulling.
"I believe CNet management let Jeff go for all the wrong reasons," Provo stated in his announcement. "I believe CNet intends to soften the site's tone and push for higher scores to make advertisers happy." Provo went on to clear GameSpot's name and place blame for the whole affair squarely on the shoulders of parent company CNet.
Provo is a member of the NeoGAF forums and elaborated on his departure there. When asked why it took him over a month to quit, he stated that he'd actually left a while back, but was fulfilling the obligations he'd made to the site out of honor. In fact, his words were that rather than waiting, he "jumped without a life vest." Maybe not the smartest move, but you have to admire a man of conviction.
The righteous writer also gave us a glimpse behind the scenes at GameSpot: "I don't know what the staff's plans are. I do know they're feeling mighty isolated ever since management showed that it's unwilling to take its employees' and users' concerns into account. It's kind of like the first time a young child sees his dad punch his mom. Reality = shattered. I also know that San Francisco is one of the MOST EXPENSIVE cities to reside in. You don't just quit willy-nilly unless you have the resources to do so. Or you live in a box (or Sam Bishop's couch)."
Well, this particular writer salutes your courage and principles, sir. Keep the flame lit, friend.
Contest:
5:29 PM on 01.05.2008
| 
Either way, you are surely doing the Lord's work old chap.
Yea I read about this and truly hope gamespot dies in a fire.
I think you are referring to my blog post about it. You already posted on it.
There was more to that to do with his firing, we all know that.
People are upset and manifesting themselves.
But hey, I'm happy his gone, I hope he never reviews a game ever again.
I am the worst writer ever. Fixing.
Seriously, though, I’m glad that there are still principled people in the world who won’t take corporate bullshit. Keep it up, Mr. Provo!
this is truly important.
we are through the looking glass people.
Maybe he'll miss writing at his new job and join the C-Blogs.
Whatever happened to gamers for gaming, Jim?
Holy fuck LOL
People with no professional integrity should not be in a position where they can influence the opinions of idiots.
And bad press doesn't even seem to help because no one does anything; you would have to boycott an entire company altogether and it would take an act of god to get all or even some stupid humans to work together for anything--positive or negative.
I'm sorry, but I'm going to go against the majority and say that Frank Provo is acting like King Idiot of Idiotland.
Yes, it's nice that he's got scruples - far more than most "gaming journalists" out there. But he broke the one cardinal rule of employment: You NEVER disparage your employers, present or former. To do so in many public forums (his LJ isn't private, which is foolish) will only make potential employers of his freelance writing quite weary of him.
Provo used to write for Ziff-Davis, and also flapped his gums about them. He's a loose cannon with loose lips. It's going to cost him his career.