Side Quest, Episode 40: The IGN Plagiarism Fiasco

Hooooooolly SHIT! That is incredible(!!!!), good on them for removing everything. Wow, just *sigh* wow. Don't jump up to the big stage if you're not ready to be called out as a fraud. I can somewhat understand a young kid thinking how cool it would be to work at the undisputed biggest of all games media sites...but outside of an EXTREME moment of middle school (I can't see even a high school kid being this naive) logic, I don't know how he would think it could go on forever unpunished. I guess that's what he thought everyone really did? Nah, not even that makes sense to me.

Lou & Rei Loper

Kotaku (and others) have uncovered so much about this dude that IGN is literally scrubbing everything he wrote from the site. Turns out he plagiarized fucking everything.

Colin Moriarty

Eh, it's ultimately his prerogative.

Colin Moriarty

I had only heard about this story at all through you Colin, I've looooooooooooong since stopped swimming in the cesspool of make-pretend journalism, and sadly that means I really don't visit a single games media outlet, at all. Hell honestly I don't look at/read almost any news at all these days because of the same issue that caused me to stop with games media. Whoever types on a keyboard is suddenly a 'reputable' journalist or 'news outlet', and people just eat it up and spit it out like parrots...I just can't take that kinda stuff. Anyway, I paused your (btw, very well done) video to go find this guys apology video so I could take my own opinion on it (a rare occurrence these days lol). Wow, the MOMENT he said that he reads around and does lots of research for his reviews...........you've got to be kidding me, he actually said that on video. I wouldn't be surprised if THAT is the reason he took the video down, I know I definitely would've!!! Hopefully this ends doesn't turn into some huge thing and fades away relatively quickly. I was almost offended when he spoke about being the 'victim' (of anything) of mob mentality/dog piling. C'mon sir, just.....no.

Lou & Rei Loper

Agreed, I was like 'wait.....WHAT?!' that's just plain childish, but eh whatever.

Lou & Rei Loper

Great video but I just can’t get over that guy Chris Scullion not talking to you based on political differences. That is just so ridiculous. What a closed minded jerk. Out of that whole video that guy not talking to you over that just really got me. Any way enjoyed the video!

Eric S

I seriously thought the same thing “we have different political views” uhh, yeah so does everyone?

Thank you so much, Ian!

Colin Moriarty

No joke, but no... I've no idea.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you! Many more examples of his plagiarism have since come out, but I haven't looked into it further.

Colin Moriarty

They're upset because they simply don't have the aptitude or gumption to get the job done.

Colin Moriarty

Colin, you did an amazing job here. Thanks for letting us vote regarding you covering this topic, because no one has brought true journalism to this the way you have, honestly. And I think the proof is in the numbers, this video is doing bonkers fucking traffic, at 41,000+ views in about 24 hours. Congrats on the success, and thanks for another fantastic and informative episode.

Ian (616Entertainment)

You have got to be kidding when you said the editor for Nintendo Life didn’t want to comment on this story because of your political views. What does that have to do with anything?

Daniel Navarro

Christ! Thanks for posting this. Pretty much exactly how I felt about his apology video. It was such an a hollow apology and failed to address his specific failings. On a side note, it also boggled my mind just how much controversy came from you publicly asking Filip to come have a chat on your show. No-one seemed concerned that Schreier and Kinda Funny did the same. The cognitive dissonance/mental gymnastics shown by certain personalities on twitter over the last few days would make Professor X blush. Keep up the awesome work man!

Leonard Jacobson

Great video Colin! I find it baffling that these so called journalists would be upset about someone trying to do there job and speak to someone for a story. Keep creating amazing content!

Addiholic

Thank you so much. I appreciate you!

Colin Moriarty

Hey Colin! This was an amazing video, very informative and well paced. i've been listening/watching/reading your content since your IGN days and I believe you're still the most reliable gaming journalist I follow. Keep it up my dude!

I surmised as much and echoed that sentiment in a Facebook group that I moderate in. No major legitimate outlet would touch him now. His only chance to salvage this would've been to own his actions in that video. Instead he made a farce of a statement that was somehow ten minutes long and never once actually talked about what happened. This follows him forever. He'll probably try to go back to his YouTube channel, but I imagine he'll never hear the end of this in the comments and on twitter. He has his very own "too much water," now.

Nate McKinney

It's an absurd argument, and as Jason Schreier proved on Twitter, Danny and his ilk looked completely foolish making it.

Colin Moriarty

Sometimes I like to punch back, and sometimes I don't. =)

Colin Moriarty

He may find redemption on YouTube or Twitch or something (although I think that ship has sailed with his refusal to own up and apologize, and with more cases of his plagiarism coming out), but I can pretty much guarantee you that you'll never see him at a mainstream outlet again.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you! I agree: It's bad timing. IGN doesn't have many people left that could strike out on their own, so they're building a whole new team that will hopefully coalesce like we did back in the day.

Colin Moriarty

Great and very informative video Colin. Thanks for being one of the few remaining actual journalists and meaningful commentators in gaming! The whole "you're giving him a platform" argument is hilarious to me. Charlie Rose's interview with Charles Manson is one of the most enduring and important interviews of the modern age, but perhaps it shouldn't have happened as it gave a bad person a platform. *eye roll*

Phillip Guglielmo

That was a really great episode. I only followed some of this story but I really appreciate how you presented it here. You certainly could have gone down the rabbit hole of all so-called journalists who wrote nasty things when you offered to interview this guy. You didn't and only briefly mentioned it. I like that as you told a great narrative on a story and also bring your own experience into it. I also really like that you disclose your bias at the beginning of the piece. Well done.

Jim B

I both went to school for, and work in journalism. That, coupled with being heavily invested in games and games media, meant this subject really hit home for me and as you put it, made me "viscerally angry," as well. The notion that someone would have such a blatant disregard for one of, if not the most fundamental rules of journalism and writing is like a slap in the face. To say it's disgusting would be putting it mildly. Plagiarism is the cardinal sin, you just don't fucking do it. It's been great to see so many people I respect, people like you, Dan, Peer and many others come forward and unabashedly condemn this hack. I don't wish anything ill of him, but I pray to Shuhei that he never has a job in games media, or an editorial job anywhere for that matter, ever again. Thanks for the great video, Colin.

Nate McKinney

With a couple of big names leaving recently this is the last thing IGN needed. With Patreon Twitch and YouTube the big personalities can go out on their own and pull fans away and build that trust level. The IGN and GameSpot websites have a much steeper hill to climb to build that trust. It is a bummer because I have been an IGN fan for a while and still enjoy a lot of the writers coverage. Unfortunately being under IGN is going to taint a lot of good work with unjustified claims. On the bright side without a lot of this BS we might not have Colin’s Last Stand so we can appreciate that! Didn’t want to be a total downer in the comments haha. Great video as always.

James Galos

Thanks! <3

Colin Moriarty

I'm gonna spoil something for you: Gurwin isn't going to climb the ladder. He's a self-proclaimed "game journo since 2010." Eight years. It's not going to happen for him. Maybe if he chased the story, he would have something someone would want to publish.

Colin Moriarty

Thanks. =)

Colin Moriarty

Thank you!

Colin Moriarty

Thorough as always, great job man.

Felipe Delfin

Imagine a gaming journalist just presenting news that the general gaming population has questions about. Wild concept. I mean, Trump lies...and every news outlet covers him. Does that mean they aren't journalists now? Seems that some gaming journalists would rather virtue signal than do their job that they deem so important for the general welfare. I don't mean to disparage games media as a whole, since there are plenty of people like Colin who do their best to cover what is relevant despite personal feelings. I just don't get how Gurwin can expect to climb the ladder of the games journalism industry with a closed minded attitude like that where you refuse to cover something due to personal beliefs. Their audience wants to know these stories. Good on you Colin for putting in the effort to get info from all parties involved.

Nicholas Swanson

Fantastic video Colin. Covered all the bases, good work my dude

Craig Carter

Great job Colin!

Daniel Boyer

He's either purely duplicitous, or deluded. Or perhaps just frightened. I can't really see it any other way, personally.

Colin Moriarty

Yeah, he was totally polite.

Colin Moriarty

Wow! What a head scratcher in terms of why why why, you know!?! Something in me keeps trying to give the guy the benefit of any doubt. That maybe somehow he found himself doing what he did and his massive ego clearly got to him. It would have been fascinating to hear an excuse for all this but he’d have to be honest with himself 1st! He certainly pulled the wool over many professional eyes for some time. Great stuff again Colin!

Christian Doolan

Great video! Shame about Scullion, at least he was polite? Doesn't make it right in my eyes but it's nice to see someone not treating you like an ass Again, great video!

Nat Patterson

As always, good espisode. Highly enjoyed it.

Hose A Contra Razz

Yeah, I approached him about what I wanted to talk about. He was perfectly polite in his response, but I do find it puzzling. Totally his decision, though.

Colin Moriarty

Thanks!

Colin Moriarty

Thank you!

Colin Moriarty

Thank you for your kind words!

Colin Moriarty

Possibly so.

Colin Moriarty

I found many a person's reaction embarrassing. They showed you who they are. It's that simple.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you!

Colin Moriarty

I'll say.

Colin Moriarty

I hope you enjoy!

Colin Moriarty

Thank you! I'm sorry he declined, too, though I understand why he did.

Colin Moriarty

not* a debate

David Kramme

So the Nintendo Life guy refused to speak to you because of your politics? Did you explain that your conversation would be about plagiarism and not the midterms? People taking a stance like not having a conversation (no a debate) are total cowards in my eyes. loved the video, thanks.

David Kramme

Outstanding work on this!

Brian Dewire

Fantastic work as always brother!

Joe Bellotta

I can't say I know the youtube world very well. What is a YouTuber if not Colin and what he does? I don't understand the distinction.

CTE

Interesting question, but geez you really should not have to put your staff through this at a professional organization like this (then again I see the stupid stuff that NYT does and so why would I expect differently).

CTE

Colin- In many academic courses, the papers, or even code you write for programming projects, you turn in get submitted to various plagiarism catching software programs that analyze the content and structure against large databases of other papers. At a site such as IGN, does anything like this occur? To be fair, unless the original Boomstick video was transcribed somewhere, it probably wouldn’t have caught it for this case. But do you suspect that there may be additional measures taken for reviews, editorials, and the like from here on out at IGN to prevent another embarrassing situation like this from happening g again? Of course, the best answer is to trust the integrity of the writers on staff...though that’s obviously not always reliable.

Zack E

Not only that, but he may as well challenged the entire internet with that statement too. It’s not hard to imagine that what, a few hundred if not more people who saw that immediately started copying and pasting portions of all his reviews into search engines to see if anything pops up.

Zack E

Well articulated and I enjoyed listening to it. Actually wasn't even aware of this all happening last week. So thanks for bringing me and many others up to speed and injecting it with your perspective on the matter! All the best to those at IGN.

Tyler Goll

The apology video part was the weird thing for me. I didn't get a chance to watch it before he took it down, but as soon as I saw he had challenged Kotaku to find more I knew he was done. Yep let's challenge Jason fuckin Schrier to do his job... lol

Owen

Good episode. I am sure Filip is hesitant to be interviewed by a loyal IGN-er. Filip strikes me as a guy that desperately wants to "control the message".

Cory Schaffernoth

Twitter's pussboi reaction to Colin asking to interview FM was just wild. like....do we only talk to people we agree with? a huge part of why I enjoy CLS so much is not where CM and I agree, but where we don't...he's one of the few who can make a counter point of view feel like a dialogue between peers and not a lecture from your moral superior. Great video, fam.

Toren R. (KESA)

Great episode Colin, I love hearing your perspective on this whole thing.

Rene Tetrault

While I really do feel for the guy, having a family to support and all, he made his bed when he published that review and took a big steamy dump in it with that non-apology vid. He comes from a YouTuber background and this sort of behavior makes that loud and clear - from the plagiarizing itself to the punk-bitch talking head vid he posted afterwards. My belief that YouTubers are some of the seediest, sleaziest people on Earth was confirmed a long time ago, but this brings that reprehension to a new level, as the guy not only destroyed his own integrity, but also the integrity of the biggest gaming website in the world. Not to mention he tried to call in to question the journalistic integrity of Jason Schreier, one of the last great authors games media has. I'm not wishing any more punishment for the guy, but I'm certainly not sending any good will his way while he looks for another job.

WalkinTalkinStephenHawkin

Taking "Fake it till u make it" to another level 😂

Tony Colton

Some poeple huh... I just laugh at this and people who are like this

Tony Colton

Ooo, excited to listen to this one.

Such a great video. It’s a shame that he declined to speak with you! It would’ve been so interesting to see him talk about this to you, Colin.

Will Hahn

Imagine not talking to someone you disagree with.

Ivan Hornett