froogle

Ok guys, This is all getting very out of hand, or has the potential to. I appreciate the supportive sentiments expressed by some of the posters here, and I understand the point of view Cameron, Ben et al are putting forward. First up, let me say this is wholly unexpected, that my request in a V-LOG to my subscribers would suddenly explode into this and frankly it makes me a little uncomfortable. I'm used to working with companies in my work at PC Pilot and formerly at other gaming publications to contacting a PR dude and saying "Hey, we want to take a look at xyz" and it's a non-issue. The way this conversation is going honestly is making me more than a little uncomfortable and I feel painting me in a light that I'm not particularly happy with, and most certainly not a first impression I want to create within the X-Plane community. As I said in my earlier long post, if someone doesn't want to hand over a product for review or to be featured within broader X-Plane videos on my channel then that's fine. Quite a few developers have stepped forward and asked to get involved today so I have more than enough content to focus on in the near term. All the best.

Forgive me for splitting hairs here, it's a curse I'm afflicted with, but I've got to correct one point here. I'm not interested in any way in "making a name" for myself. I mentioned in my short novel that I've been writing about X-Plane for a while and was trying to think back to when I started - I think I have it around 2001 or so. What I'm interested in is driving attention to an area of our hobby that I believe has previously been under represented or misrepresented because while I have a heavy professional and personal investment in FSX I don't see it having a future that should be supported. I don't believe any of us should continue to have to put up with memory limitations, single core speed limitations etc etc, and I do believe in X-Plane. My goal here then is actually giving back. I'm "lucky" in that I've built a significant following with single videos I put up now often gaining more attention than entire editions of the print magazine I write for. That's a tool that can be used and I want to use it to help.

Sure. Gizmo is part of the DC3, which I absolutely loved when I reviewed it. Ben's entitled to his opinion, and I can see his point of view entirely. If a developer wants to drop me a note or PM and say, as Ben did, business is tough I'd really rather not provide you with a free product for review, then that's fine. I think that's what Ben was saying reading between the lines.

Pete or Froogle works - that's why the intro on the videos says both and the second channel is named FrooglePete.

Just to re-iterate, I didn't stop at 3. I've since been messaging more - it was that number at the time the video was made.

Correct - I tested the waters with contacts I already have from working on reviews of their products previously - hence my surprise. But as I said it probably is due to me sending from frooglesim, instead of my normal email address. I'm broadening the request now.

What an interesting thread. Hi Goran - the 3 devs I contacted I suspect missed the emails because I sent from frooglesim, instead of from my normal email address. Goran you were one of them - you'll recall that the PC Pilot award badge you proudly display on your DC3 in the store was awarded by me (Peter Wright) in my review of your product some time ago. I've been trying to get updated download links for the 64 bit version as well as your new aircraft. No biggie, part of the idea of the video was to get you guys (the collective "you guys" in the X-Plane dev world to sit up) and I am resending emails and broadening their reach. Ben can sit there saying "Froogle who" all day long, but here we are in a two page thread carrying my name, so I guess it worked. Now to address the bulk of the issues in this thread, and the inference from Ben that my ethics are questionable and reviews are for sale. Almost every single review on the frooglesim channel, and many I write for PC Pilot are made with software I buy. I do that to support the community, and to give me the freedom to say what I want about a product without feeling an obligation or tie. Most of the reviews in the magazine are made with software explicitly provided by the developer for the purposes of review, a practice not uncommon in any industry you care to name. From the developer standpoint it's called marketing - sending new products to influential voices in the hope they will review the product. From the journalism standpoint it's just business as usual, writing about the products we see and reviewing them where appropriate as long as the free product does not interfere with the opinion stated in the piece and the relationship between reviewer and producer is clear and disclosed. In my case, products i receive for review do absolutely not bias my opinion - look at some of my recent reviews in the magazine, some of which got me in very hot water for expressing a highly negative opinion. With regard to my involvement with X-Plane, I have been writing about it for years in the magazine. Many years ago for example I helped kicked off X-Planes exposure with an in-depth look at the product itself, plus a multi-page interview with Austin. Since then I've reviewed a few products of interest in X-Plane but the simple fact of the matter, the unfortunate fact, is that the vast majority of the audience are X-Plane shy and want FSX . That's also where the bulk of new products launch, so naturally it's where the bulk of content in a magazine or indeed on my YouTube channel is focussed. From the comments I see on the channel, many are interested in X-Plane but trot out the same old excuses as to why they are not using it (and why they are not your potential customers). The UI is poor. The colors seem off. Their add-ons don't work. FSX looks better. FSX has more choice etc etc. That's what I want to address. Today if I throw up a video on a product it's actually rarely just that one product. A2A's Cessna for example was covered in video with sky textures from REX, weather from Active Sky, scenery from Orbx, control input filtering from FSUIPC, post effects from Shade. It makes the videos visually appealling and it shows FSX as a platform in the best light, enabling the rest of the video to then focus on the content at hand. In contrast I did a number of videos of the Worldliner 77 and the comments quickly turned to focus in on what X-Plane stock looks and feels like since behind the aircraft that's all your seeing. I want to start a series looking at X-Plane itself but in the best possible light and that's what the VLOG was calling for. I want to show people that X-Plane can look better than FSX, that there is a thriving marketplace out there that people can tap into to extend and enhance it, and that switching to a better flight model does not mean sacrificing the aesthetics people have grown to love in FSX. However, I don't have all that stuff and so reached out to ask you, developers and publishers, what would I need to make X-Plane awesome? What are your best of breed add-ons and enhancements that you believe I really should include in the videos to really shine a light on X-Plane in the best possible way. This isn't biasing a review, in the same way that A2A's Cessna didn't get a great review because the clouds looked nice, or there were animated people on the ground at the airport. Yes, Ben, the vast majority of the audience on Frooglesim are currently invested in FSX. Asking you guys to undertake what is effectively a marketing exercise to sway them did not, and does not, to me seem unrealistic. I'm giving you a platform to market your products to a captive audience in one of the fastest growing simulation YouTube channels in the world (almost 15,000 subs and growing at 12% per month) and in a channel that is almost viral in nature (again, here we are in a separate place on the Internet discussing my videos - see how that worked out?). Given that I also want to focus in on X-Plane and get a fairly steady stream of content up I also went the magazine route and reached out asking you to supply content to review under typical review terms (that being that the review is not in any way biased just because you provided the product for free). Please also bear in mind that 'reviews' probably represent less than 50% of the channel. The bulk of content on the channel is demonstration/tutorial in nature. I released a series of videos on the NGX some 12 to 18 months after the NGX released showing how to fly with it and those videos collectively went on to gain 1/4 of a million views and become one of the most popular NGX series on YouTube - they almost certainly drove traffic to PMDG as well. If some of you wish to sit back indignant and do nothing then so be it - ultimately increased exposure for X-Plane benefits you anyway - but it does sadden me to see Ben's attitude towards any form of journalism. *Edited to clarify the channel's growth*