Incomplete Gamer

Ever noticed that certain gaming sites run big, bold game advertising yet fail to ever review the game in question? And we’re talking wallpaper-like advertising, plastered over almost every page. Impossible to ignore, in-your-face advertising that puts the game being advertised foremost in your mind. You can’t miss it, and you can’t ignore it and now you’re thinking about the game and even wondering how it measures up against all those other blockbuster titles vying for your attention.

So much so, that you poke around on the site looking for a review of the game…except it’s not to be found. Not on that site anyway.

Now we get it. Big, bad-ass game sites have a gazillion readers, and staff salaries and bandwidth to pay for. Upsetting the advertiser that’s just ponied up all that cash to redecorate their website just isn’t an option.

How about this? At least review the game. Hell, ignore its faults and give it a so-so review. But to not review it at all, while flooding your pages with a bright and shiny advertisement for the game. Who are you kidding? Did you think we didn’t notice? My god…sometimes the big bad-ass game sites even give away copies of the game. They actually have copies in their office to give away to the readers and still haven’t reviewed the game.

We’re not currently carrying any advertising on the Incomplete Gamer. It’s not that we’re ideologically opposed to making a profit. It’s simply that we’re a start-up site with the emphasis well and truly on the ’start-up’ tag. When our readers start to out number our posts, advertising is certainly something we’ll be looking to implement (as long as the advertising copy doesn’t clash with the aesthetics of the site and gets signed off by our art director).

Naturally enough, we’d be loathe to turn away any companies wishing to spend their money with us, but one thing we won’t be doing is treating our readers like monkeys.

At the end of the day it’s in the best interests of the advertiser and reader alike to actually review the game. Fail to so much as mention a game that’s prominently advertised on your site and the readers will automatically assume the game is bad, regardless of the actual quality of the title.