Inside EGM: rules are rules
By Shoe
A lot of our editorial-integrity rules at EGM and the 1UP Network came from our parent company, Ziff Davis Media (we pay for our own flights/hotel, no accepting of gifts, etc.). But employee handbooks only cover the most obvious basics; we had to create new rules to cover specific situations as they came up. For example…
1. No discussing of review scores with other reviewers until all scores are settled.
I don’t even recall the game in question, but I do remember being on the review with ex-EGMer Shawn Smith. We were comparing notes — he was planning on giving the game a 9.0 out of 10, and I was planning on giving it a 6.0. Of course, we were both surprised at the other person’s rating (for the record, Shawn’s crazy and/or wrong). A little bit later, I discovered that he lowered his final score to an 8.5 while I raised mine to a 6.5. We don’t like to admit it, but our scores probably gravitated toward each probably because of our pre-publication table talk — we thought we may have been too generous/harsh after we saw what the other person was going to score it.
I realized all reviewers love sharing their opinions whenever possible. Remembering what happened with that past review between Shawn and me, I made a new rule that we all hardcore enforced: No more discussing reviews, opinions, or scores until after the reviewers have their final ratings set for good. This way, we don’t get any accidental homogenizing of the review scores in EGM.
2. No selling or trading in of free goods.
We couldn’t accept gifts at EGM, unless they were under $50 in value (to allow us to take in videogames — this number was later raised to $60 with the higher cost of current-gen titles). But no one at Ziff ever told us what we can or can’t do with those free games. So early on in my career, we used to horde all those freebies and take them into Electronics Boutique, Best Buy, Target…whoever was willing to give us trade-in or store credit for those (some game companies were wise to that and would punch a hole in the UPC barcodes before sending stuff out to editors). I’m very embarassed to say, this was a very profitable process for us…especially when we would sucker a Best Buy customer service rep into taking in our receipt-less games at full retail price for store credit!
When I became editor-in-chief of EGM seven years ago, my perspective on almost everything changed. I was no longer just one of the guys. I had very big responsibilities now. A new sense of guilt came over me about this trade-in/selling business, and we decided to ban that practice altogether. So then when we would get games in, we would put them in an office pool. After we took out one copy of each title for the EGM library, we’d distribute the rest equally and fairly to the whole staff — but only with the understanding that you could take a game only if you’re going to keep it or give it to a close family member to play. No more eBay or trade-ins.
3. Take them out once in a while.
Companies take the press out to dinner all the time…usually to places nicer than the Denny’s-caliber eateries we’d normally frequent. Most mainstream news outlets don’t even allow their employees to accept simple meals, but this was allowed under our Ziff Davis guidelines. We didn’t want to blow off every invitation we got, so what we tried to do instead was treat the companies back once in a while. This wasn’t necessarily a “rule” per se. And admittedly, we still received way more than we gave back. But we just felt a little better when we can pick up the tab here and there. Although looking back, we could’ve saved more money with the help of Grand Slam breakfast platters….
If you work for a press outlet and have some of your own rules or stories to share, by all means, please do!
