Anatomy of a meme, or why games journalism is iffy

It is like playing a giant game of telephone.

Accurate (The Guardian):

Game designer Raph Koster picked up on a forum thread about recruitment consultants and WoW.

Wrong stuff starts creeping in (Games Campus, which also wins a prize for the headline “How to be jobless in a down economy”):

Raph Koster at Massively picked up on a thread at the f13 forums in which we learn that a recruiter in the online media industry has been told by employers numerous times to straight-up avoid World of Warcraft players as potential hires.

Completely wrong (Softpedia):

Employers Don’t Like World of Warcraft Players
They make bad employees

Online gaming journalist Raph Koster has posted on his blog a
statement he received from a job recruitment consultant accurately
showing that even though some people cite the leadership experience
gained from establishing a guild in WoW, employers tend to avoid such
persons.

Not only did this little story bring down the blog, but it also
managed to reach the Times of London, Silicon Valley Insider, etc etc.
Yeesh.

Of course, this comment on BoingBoing did crack me up:

Interviewer: Do you play World of Warcraft?

SKR: Absolutely not.
Please don’t ask about EVE.
Please don’t ask about EVE.
Please don’t ask about EVE.

Interviewer: Great, when can you start.

SKR: On Monday.
but I have a fleet battle on Friday, so I’m going to take a sick day.