Blog FeedAll that glitters is not gold…
Late last night (US time, that is), Half-Life fanboys were sent orgasmic by a post on the Half-Life 2 Fallout forum by Gabe Newell.
Simply - “We’re going gold on Monday…”
Predictably, rather a large number of people got rather excited about this.
Alas - this jubilation was to be short lived…
A few short hours later, it was revealed that - through a combination of abnormal stupidity on Gabe’s part, and a certain amount of low cunning on the part of a young scallywag, it wasn’t actually Gabe who posted. Seemingly, the man who suffered the loss of his project’s source code hasn’t learned all that much about security on the web, and had the amazingly hard to guess forum password of ‘gaben’ …
But I’m not so concerned with the continued stupidity of Valve personnel (even if it is both funny and worrying), it just got me thinking - how much of the information we read on the internet do we all take as gospel? I know I (along with most other fairly seasoned net-veterans) see myself as pretty cynical - especially when it comes to things I read on the web. Then again, it’s easy to be sceptical about the Nigerian Finance Ministry wanting to transfer several million dollars into my account, or installing anything by the Gator Corporation - few internet virgins are taken in by this. Nowadays, I even think that most people consult a variety of sources before they wholeheartedly believe anything in the news; I know I do, at least.
When it comes straight from the horses mouth however, are any of us even remotely doubtful? I wasn’t aware of this HL2 ‘news’ until after the hoax had been exposed - but if I had been, then I would have believed it without reservation.
After all, Gabe had announced it himself.
Now, I know that Gabe’s incredible skills as the least secure man in the world aren’t exactly typical of your average ‘celebrity’ (I hope), but it this all does go to show just how easy it is for us all - even us hardened cynics - to be taken in by what was an incredibly simple scam. I guess I’m not so far removed from the deeply gullible after all…
30th August | Reply
Though the news didn’t really affect me, I did think “Wow, good to see things are back on track”… but that’s gaming reel news for you. The more I think about it, had this been any interesting report on TV, I’d be reading the papers and cross-checking other channels; when it comes to gaming news, you’re pretty much at the mercy of the internet’s integrity.
Scary stuff.
30th August | Reply
I always want multiple independent sources on internet news. I also do not trust reviews. I’m notoriously untrusty.
also, the quote is “all that is gold does not glitter”
30th August | Reply
Artistic license, JD…
(my way around works better, anyway…)
30th August | Reply
The internet has made me far more cynical than real life ever could
30th August | Reply
Well, it definately had me fooled, seeing as it was timed alongside the Half-Life 2 preloading on Steam. But oh well. I’m not overly excited about the game anyway, though I will relish my free copy.
31st August | Reply
With Sept. 2nd being the EB Games release date and Sept. 1st being gamespy.com’s release date it was easy to believe. I also only heard about the announcement as a hoax but I remember just the beginning of the sentence I was extremely excited then let down. Its like getting a lump of coal wrapped in a pretty box.