As someone who agrees that there is a lack of minority contribution to gaming, this is a pretty interesting issue to me. I think that I have several thesis about this whole debacle, and few of them reflect well on the gaming media.
Depression Quest appeals to the artistic sensibilities of the gaming press.
Issue: This certainly calls into question the taste and aesthetic of the gaming press based on solid and nearly universal criticism by consumers, not of it's topic, but of it's mechanics. There are literally eroge novels that are more games than this one.
The gaming press believes the message of the game outweighs it's relative lack of game mechanics
Issue: Well, this is essentially editorializing in what has traditionally been a consumer driven activity (game reviews). Very few automotive reviewers could get away with saying, "Buy a Tesla because it supports an agenda I like", instead they tend to focus on the features of the vehicle - design, driving range, speed, handling, safety, etc. Basically - reviews aren't editorials.
The gaming press is simply supporting the work of someone it likes.
Issue: This is also a fairly sad state of affairs and in my opinion far less noble than trying to do something "good" in a dubious way (supporting a cause via editorializing). This is just nepotism plain and simple. It's like saying, "Buy a Tesla because my cousin Bob works for them and he's a great guy".
The gaming press is promoting work based on establish business partnerships
Issue: This is something we know already happens - think "Dewrito Gate". It's not a secret that there are business links between certain individuals, heck even The Escapist is doing a content swap with Critical Distance which is associated to Silverstring Media, which employs Maya Felix Kramer, who is ahem... a very special friend of Zoe Quinn (we'll leave it at that). That hydra like level of business concerns entangling is frankly mind boggling. For some reason it actually feels more "clean" for Geoff Keighley to engage in simple quid-pro-quo over Mt. Dew and Dorritos compared to what we've seen come out of the gaming press here recently.
Basically the issue with all of these thesis is they demonstrate some level of disregard for what has essentially been a consumer focused journalism profession. While, I know that there are editorials in a magazine like say, Popular Mechanics or Motor Trend, I expect for the reviews to be free of such bias. I think there's enough cause for concern to believe that this isn't really the case in this particular instance, and at some level the gaming press deserves to be called out on the carpet for it, just like how they got a black eye when Dewrito Pope decided to whore his readers out for snack food.
My 2 cents anyway.
EDIT:
An additional case I didn't consider which has just as much merit as the others:
Games journalist crib from each other too much, hence explaining the signal boosting of Depression Quest.
Issue: Well, you don't have be an obsessive reader to realize that often gaming websites crib from each other in terms of content. Some of it is practical like Press Releases, others are simply people trying to be topical (If everyone else is talking about it, I should do). If they're all just parroting each other, then what's the point of going to website A vs. website B for coverage? This can also create a false impression overall on the public who may not be able to differentiate the "noise to signal" of whatever topic is being covered.
