Rumors: See How They Grow!

by Cortney Stone

Rumors are like weeds. One will spring up in a random location, and before you know it, there are dozens or even hundreds of them everywhere. They choke out what is good and acceptable by hogging resources to themselves.

Spreading rumors is a part of human behavior. It's a part of our nature to share stories and bits of news with each other to combat the occasional dullness of everyday life. Gossip can be found just about anywhere - the halls of a high school, the cubicles of a workplace, the pews of a place of worship - so it's no surprise that rumors can invade the world of journalism.

Of course, video game journalism is vulnerable to the spread of rumors. It's not unusual to see fans posting rumors about their favorite games on message boards and in chat rooms. Speculating about game content is good; it prepares players for upcoming games and fosters (usually) healthy discussion. It is, however, disturbing to see video game news sites posting rumors in news stories - with or without marking them as rumors.

Readers learn to trust video game websites for reliable news regarding their favorite games and game developers. If game news sites are posting rumors as fact, some readers will take them as fact. Sometimes, even if the site marks something as a rumor, some readers will still take it as a fact. Of course, the readers will then tell all their non-reader friends that they saw this bit of news posted on a website about a certain game, and it must be true because they read it on the internet.

Some rumors are the result of mangling the facts. For example, this past spring one video game news website posted a rumor that Squaresoft was only going to ship 1.8 million units of Final Fantasy X-2. After that, no more additional units would be distributed. The 1.8 million figure comes from Squaresoft's revelation that it had just shipped 1.8 million units of Final Fantasy X-2 to Japanese retailers. That was the truth of the matter. Where did the fiction come from? The rumor was beyond being unfounded; it was absolutely ridiculous. Anyone with a modicum of sense would realize that shipping only 1.8 million units with the solemn vow of never shipping more beyond that is absolute foolishness. If the game became a huge seller, and consumers began to demand more copies, Squaresoft would miss out on immense profits and tick off loyal customers in the process. The inevitable black market copies would follow...but that's another editorial. The point is that readers should hold rumors up to the light of truth. They should ask themselves if a particular rumor is logical and credible.

However, there is another issue. What if the rumor sounds really plausible? This is the case of Chrono Break. It all began when Squaresoft copyrighted the name "Chrono Break." Now, anyone in the game news business knows this is just a precaution. Essentially, Squaresoft was running about, snatching up possible titles. It is crucial to understand that copyrighting a name is not an indication that a game is in development or even consideration for development. Now, I'm not saying that Chrono Break will never be developed. I'm simply saying (for the thousandth time) that it's just copyrighted name and nothing more.

Try telling that to the thousands of Chrono fans who desperately cling to the notion that Chrono Break is on its way. Heaven forbid that sensible-minded folks should tell them otherwise; they will simply retort that Chrono Break is in development, but Square-Enix won't admit it. Apparently, Square-Enix has a secret underground game development facility, heavily guarded by slimes. For some strange reason (perhaps to avoid stealing the thunder of the other titles it's hawking), Square-Enix is refusing to publicize the game, and it intends to suddenly spring it on oblivious RPGamers the day it arrives in stores.

It really bothers me to see game news websites reporting rumors. With the exception of the April Fool's Chrono Break mishap (not my idea, and I wasn't too keen on it anyway), RPGamer strives to generally avoid contributing to the rumor mill. In fact, we recently eliminated a Chrono Break reference from a humorous news headline to avoid generating confusion among readers.

We get plenty of gossip in our email inboxes from fans who hear or read rumors and then decide to send them our way. Readers just want to help out, and sometimes they really do help us out by sending in useful information. For example, someone pointed us to a Japanese magazine scan announcing FFVII: Advent Children. Unfortunately, the reader couldn't translate Japanese, and they made the assumption in the email that the magazine was revealing the impending release of an actual FFVII video game sequel. Naturally, the news story was posted with the whole truth, thus halting any possible rumors dead in their tracks.

In spite of the best efforts of video game news sites to squelch annoying rumors, some fans are determined to ignore the truth and plant seeds of falsehood on the internet and in real life. I strongly encourage you, our readers, to put a stop to rumors. If you see or hear one, and you know it's not true, then counter it. Spray that rumor weed with the weedkiller of truth!