Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Quinn's game is unpolished garbage as revied The fact some gamergaters don't like Quinn's game doesn't make it "garbage". It's not a traditional game. That doesn't mean that rating it highly is somehow a violation of ethics. The idea that Quinn somehow used personal connections to get literally tens of thousands of people to highly rate her game violates Occam's razor.
Tens of thousands, involved in a scheme? No, of course not, and I have no doubt that a lot of people liked it. That was a subjective judgement on my part - I think it's low effort nonsense. Here's the thing - would those tens of thousands of people have seen it in the first place if Hernandez hadn't talked up her friend on Kotaku? Would that niche of a title have wound up on the site at all if not for the personal co…
Have you ever actually made a video game yourself, or written a piece of literature? Do you appreciate the effort this actually takes?
> Here's the thing - would those tens of thousands of people have seen it in the first place if Hernandez hadn't talked up her friend on Kotaku?
Sure. For one thing, Quinn had at least that many Twitter followers. It's a game, also, that covers mental illness, which isn't a frequent topic. On that novelty alone, it was likely to get some attention regardless of who Quinn's friends were.
> Would that niche of a title have wound up on the site at all if not for the personal connection between those two?
There's a good chance it would. Depression Quest was novel. Kotaku likes showcasing novel and interesting things.