How *NOT* to fake a press release.

[francisca]

On the News page, Morrus mentions he has been bombarded with questions concerning the announcement of 4E. He provides this link as an example of some of the scuttlebutt.

Now, while I am one of those who have speculated about it, and think the timing they claim in this "press release" is probably correct, here is a quote that is a dead give-away of the hoax:

Tweet offered no further comment, but stressed that the fourth edition--officially titled "Dungeons & Dragons Millenium Edition"--would be a "substantial rethinking" of the D&D brand. Hasbro's stock jumped five points after the exciting announcement.

Give me a break. Hasbro stocks jumps 5 points because they announce a revision of D&D 2 years out? Who do they think they are fooling?

 

[Nifft]

Spelling "Millennium" correctly could have helped their case, too.

-- N

 

[Altalazar]

Shouldn't that item be posted for next thursday?

Besides, 4th Edition just hit the stores last week and they are now planning for 5E.

 

[DaveMage]

Give me a break. Hasbro stocks jumps 5 points because they announce a revision of D&D 2 years out? Who do they think they are fooling?

Yeah, that pretty much killed the believability in that one.

 

[~Johnny~]

5. New core classes [not prestige classes] include Alchemist, Sage, and Magician. No word on which, if any, classes from 3/3.5 will be dropped. When asked how "Magician" differs from Wizard/Sorcerer, WotC insiders smiled slyly but had no reply.

Has the author of that fake article actually read real AP stuff? Not only does the article break AP style in just about every sentence, AP would never include that kind of fanboy speculation about a niche hobby.

 

[nothing to see here]

I agree fransisca. More tellingly of course, is the somewhat, haphazard application of AP styleguide principles to the writing of the story. If you put something on an AP wire, it needs to follow certain key editorial principles.

It's been a while since I've checked my stykle guide, but I'm pretty sure that the use of perjorative adverbs, in place of a lack of comment (smiled slyly). That, the abandonment of the use of the inverted pyramid style of column construction, superfluous refutatiuon of a non cited story from another source (LA times), and quic degneration from general news/business piece to in-game changes (new character classes) more suited for a trade magazine...should raise the flag for anybody with journalism or public relations experience.

As far as I can tell, it's just a well crafted hoax. Albeit a well-crafter hoax written by amateurs

 

[borc killer]

/sigh

What I hate is that people think this stuff is real and never look to see if it is. It would not surprise me to see this come across the scroll on CNN... after all they (and Fox News) have lifted stories from www.theonion.com before.

I guess it is the state of the world we live in.

Borc Killer

p.s. my money is on 2007 for 4e

 

[BlackMoria]

Hoax. The stockmarket thing was a dead giveway. The mention of 'box sets' also made it suspicious. Box sets are expensive to produce and WOTC has moved away from them for some time for the D&D stuff. I don't see that practice changing.

There is alot of other suspicious things in the article.

In short, a hoax. And not a good one at that, IMO

 

[Driddle]

I am offended that someone would try to pull a hoax like that. I don't find such fakery and ... what's the word? - 'trolling?' ... amusing in the least. Those people need to find something more productive to do with their lives.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

And wasn't the millennium three years ago (or four if you think it was the year 2000)? Not too many marketers will go for selling something that implies it is behind the times...or maybe they are trying to imply it will be the last revision for the next 996 years. I don't think Hasbro's stock would jump on THAT idea, at least not UP.