Editorial standards

1. Sourcing

Every factual claim in an OFFLANE article is either cited to a primary source (the developer, the publisher, the platform) or to a reputable secondary source (major outlet, official social account, on-game event).

• Patch notescite the developer's official changelog (Steam, PlayStation, Riot patch hub, etc.) by URL.
• Esports resultscite the official bracket or the tournament organizer's announcement.
• Player counts, MAU, revenue cite the developer/publisher when available, or a primary press release. Estimates from third parties are labeled as such.
• Speculationis clearly labeled ("rumored", "unconfirmed", "expected") and never presented as fact.

If a claim can't be sourced, it doesn't ship. The editor verifies every link in the body before publish.

2. AI policy

OFFLANE uses AI as a research and outlining tool only. Every article is written, edited, and fact-checked by a human before it ships. The full policy:

• What AI is used for: first-draft research, outlining, summarizing public data sources, suggesting SEO-friendly structure, checking for internal consistency.
• What AI is not used for: writing the final article, generating the verdict in a review, fabricating quotes, paraphrasing without a human in the loop.
• Disclosure: if a section is generated primarily by an AI tool, it's labeled at the top. The default is that the article is human-written.
• AI-generated imagesare labeled in the caption. We don't use AI to alter or composite screenshots.

The site does not auto-publish AI-generated content. There is no "AI article of the day" pipeline. Every article is signed off by a human editor.

3. Review scale

Every review includes a score (0–10, half-point increments) and a verdict. The score is the editor's, not a composite of other outlets. The verdict is one of:

• Must-play — 9.0 to 10.0. An instant recommendation, regardless of your taste.
• Recommended — 8.0 to 8.9. Strong, worth your time, but not for everyone.
• Good — 7.0 to 7.9. Solid, with clear caveats.
• Mixed — 5.0 to 6.9. The good and the bad are roughly balanced.
• Avoid — below 5.0. We can't recommend it.

The score reflects four factors in equal weight: gameplay, monetization, longevity, competitive depth — each scored 0–10, then averaged. The verdict is a plain-language interpretation of the score, not a separate judgment.

We never accept payment to change a score, raise a verdict, or guarantee coverage. Sponsored content is always labeled at the top of the article.

4. Corrections

Mistakes happen. When we get something wrong, we fix it openly. Every correction follows the same process:

1. Reader reports an issue via the link at the bottom of every article, the corrections log, or the about page contact.
2. Editor verifiesthe claim against the primary source. If it's wrong, we draft a correction.
3. The article is updated with the correct information. The updatedDate field is set to the correction date.
4. A note is addedat the bottom of the article: "Correction: [date] — [what was changed and why]."
5. The corrections log at /corrections gets a new entry. The log is public, dated, and never deleted.

We do not quietly delete bad articles. The corrections log is the single most important E-E-A-T signal on the site — it's a record that we're willing to be wrong in public, and to fix it.

5. Conflicts and disclosure

OFFLANE covers games we have no financial relationship with. When we do have a relationship, we disclose it.

• Affiliate links — when a deal link earns us a commission, the deal page says so at the top, and the footer of every page summarizes the affiliate programs we participate in. The commission never changes the score or verdict of a review.
• Review codes— when a publisher provides a review code, the review says "review code provided by [publisher]" at the top. The score is the editor's.
• Sponsored placements — publishers can sponsor an article, a deal roundup, or a content section. Every sponsored placement carries a Sponsored badge at the top of the article— a header disclosure, not a footer line. The label is unmissable. We do not sell reviews and we do not accept payment that influences a verdict, score, or tier-list placement. Sponsored pieces never appear in the news or review feeds (the schema-level separation). The current rate card is at /sponsors.
• Display ads — we run a gaming-tuned ad network stack (currently Adsterra, HilltopAds, Monetag, Coinzilla, and A-ADS) with Ezoic and Mediavine queued for when traffic qualifies. Every ad slot is labeled “Sponsored” or “Promoted”.
• Press invitations — when we accept a press trip or a launch event invitation, we say so in the resulting article.

We accept paid sponsorships — that's a real revenue source and we're transparent about it. What we don't accept is payment that changes what we write. The full revenue disclosure lives on the about page.

6. What we don't do

The line items below are explicit promises to readers. If you find us doing any of these, please report it via the corrections log.

• We don't publish sponsored reviews. Ever.
• We don't accept payment to change a verdict, score, or tier-list placement.
• We don't use undisclosed affiliate links. The full list of programs is in the footer.
• We don't auto-publish AI-generated articles. The site is human-edited.
• We don't delete articles that are factually wrong. We correct them in place and log the correction.
• We don't run undisclosed ads. Every sponsored placement is labeled at the top of the article.
• We don't target ads at users based on personal data. We run contextual ads only (Carbon Ads).
• We don't run gambling, crypto/NFT, or pay-to-win promotions as sponsored content.
• We don't accept sponsorships from games we've given a negative review (current or in the last 6 months).
• We don't fabricate quotes, statistics, or sources. Ever.
• We don't paraphrase without a citation. Every fact has a source.

7. Coverage scope

OFFLANE covers free-to-play games that meet two criteria:

1. The game is free to play — including F2P with optional purchases, free-to-start, and free-tier-with-paid-upgrade models.
2. The game has a community of players trying to get better — competitive, ranked, or skill-based content. This excludes pure single-player casual games.

The full decision matrix — including what we explicitly don't cover and why — is in the selection-criteria article.

8. Reporting an issue

The fastest way to report a factual error, a typo, or a tone problem is via the corrections log. You can also email [email protected] directly. Press inquiries go to [email protected]; tips and pitches to [email protected].

We read every report. We aim to acknowledge within 48 hours and to publish a correction (if warranted) within 7 days.