Why So Serious

Sean Sands

Optimistic Cynic
Sep 14, 2006
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Why So Serious

If you think that industry writers aren't real journalists, then you're absolutely right.

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AmrasCalmacil

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Jul 19, 2008
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I myself decided I want to totally write about games before leaving High School. Yet to get to the College part, but oh well.
I guess a real job sounds like too much hard work, and real journalism sounds like too much being shot at, judging by this.

The dictionary says you're still a journalist though, I propose a new catagory: Cushy Journalism.

Does what it says on the tin.
 

not a zaar

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Dec 16, 2008
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I object to calling gaming media writers 'journalists'. All they are is cogs in the publisher hype machines. Of course you can say this about movies and music too, or probably any type of entertainment medium.
 

pigeon_of_doom

Vice-Captain Hammer
Feb 9, 2008
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I've always seen game journalists as not quite "journalists", but a cross between entertainment reporters and critics. However, that's no excuse to treat the medium frivolously. Film and novel critics can treat their subject seriously with a insight that goes far beyond the sheer entertainment value of a work, there's no need to focus primarily on the entertainment mandate.
 

L.B. Jeffries

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Nov 29, 2007
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I usually correct people when they call me a journalist and explain that I'm a video game critic.

There are a lot of people I would consider industry journalists, like the Gamasutra staff, which keep a grip on the business and finance aspect of video games. The staff here does a good job as well at keeping it down to actual industry developments.

Otherwise they're all just writing advertisements (previews) or criticism (reviews) for games. Sometimes you get lucky and they do something a bit more advanced, but generally that's the bulk of what you're looking at.
 

The Bandit

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Feb 5, 2008
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I like The Escapist's method of "journalism," and I'm not just saying that becalahblahbalbhalhb. The casual, short news stories get directly at the issue, tackle it, and then leave it be. I can quickly browse over the stories, open the ones that interest me in new tabs, and then read them all in less than ten minutes. It's beautiful.
 

Therumancer

Citation Needed
Nov 28, 2007
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Well the problems of course are manyfold. For starters game journalists work for the industry itself, even if indirectly. The people who pay them at least have a vested interest in receiving advertising revenues from gaming companies (the money from that is how they pay the journalists). There is no pure news for the sake of news when it comes to the industry and that prevents any serious journalism.

What's more the reporters breaking stories in Iran and such "risking life and limb" are at such risk because they routinely committ illegal acts for the area they are in, hence why they can be sent to prison.

To do the same a video game journalist would have to committ B&E into a game studio and publish their findings, taking extreme legal risks, and probably operating anonymously (which make syou wonder how they would be paid).
 

Echolocating

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Jul 13, 2006
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I've never thought of the people who write for The Escapist as journalists; writers yes, but journalists... yeah, those are the people out in the field. However, does it really matter? I think this article answers that question nicely.

Sean Sands said:
Who really wants or needs hard-nosed, stony faced, stiff-upper-lip games journalism?
No one, but unfortunately a lot of gaming journalism is on the exact opposite end of the spectrum, which is bad in a different way when you get past the hype. I wonder about things like, will Molyneux ever pay for the development of his own game and leave the publisher model so 80% of the features he blathers on about will actually be in his game?

Then again, I also understand that the video game industry is really just a bunch of big corporations who want to keep it that way. They've created a development model that makes it seem impossible for a small group of individuals to compete in. Who are the rock stars of the game industry? EA? Nintendo? There's a real lack of any human element in covering the game industry.

And maybe that's why video game journalism doesn't seem to get the respect it deserves because the industry is really devoid of human beings; it's all about the games and the companies. And faceless corporations and electronic games give really shitty interviews.
 

Cpt_Oblivious

Not Dead Yet
Jan 7, 2009
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This seems to be saying that games journalists are like substitute teachers ("I'm not a real teacher!"). I think you're being a bit hard on you and your kind, Sean.
 

pantsoffdanceoff

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Jun 14, 2008
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Game Journalist don't risk life and limb? Are you crazy? Why, I once saw a Microsoft Reporter walk into a SONY press conference, he was bloody from his beating of overpriced hardware but he got his damn story!

Anyways I agree, its the same with any form of media though luckily gamers don't take themselves too seriously so they are willing to be entertained by game journalism.

EDIT: Shouldn't the title have a question mark after it much like how I'm going to finish this sentence?
Grammar Nazi awaaaaaaaaaaay
 

Zombie_Fish

Opiner of Mottos
Mar 20, 2009
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The thing is, if what you believe to be true is true, then not just is the videogame press aren't real journalists but neither are any other form of press for the entertainment industry, as they are all orientated around the same ideas.

However, despite not risking life and limb, they are still jouralists. The world wouldn't be much different without the knowledge they bring, but it would still be different.
 

squid5580

Elite Member
Feb 20, 2008
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I hope this question isn't too off-topic. And I hope Sean reads through the comments. When you are doing a preview were you under a contract to give it a glowing preview no matter how bad the actual game is? I assume when you do a preview you get some hands on demo of the game and that it is not the full game. It just seems to me that whenever I read a preview the person writing it praises it to the high heavens. And any negative point (which is usually a technical problem like lag) is followed by "it should be fixed in the full version." Why can't I ever find a bad but honest preview of a game? Where they say you know the gameplay is broken or just not fun.
 

Mackinator

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Apr 21, 2009
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not a zaar said:
I object to calling gaming media writers 'journalists'. All they are is cogs in the publisher hype machines. Of course you can say this about movies and music too, or probably any type of entertainment medium.
Thus, you contradicted your original point, and so what you are saying in the end is that you do call them journalists?
 

WolfmanNougat

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May 14, 2009
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If nothing else, I can say that reading this brought me back to one time when a friend told me I could be a game journalist after I'd talked enthusiastically about my opinion of the new aspects of Shadow the Hedgehog when it was first announced.
Considering how enthusiastically I got around to writing an essay about Gears of War recently, I think I can say that being part of something you enjoy as a career is certainly something worth going for.

Just my two pennies on the matter, nothing more.
 

not a zaar

New member
Dec 16, 2008
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Mackinator said:
not a zaar said:
I object to calling gaming media writers 'journalists'. All they are is cogs in the publisher hype machines. Of course you can say this about movies and music too, or probably any type of entertainment medium.
Thus, you contradicted your original point, and so what you are saying in the end is that you do call them journalists?
No, I never said that. I was just trying to be fair to gaming, I'm making the point that almost any entertainment media writers are essentially shills.
 

GeeseH

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Mar 22, 2008
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Echolocating said:
I've never thought of the people who write for The Escapist as journalists; writers yes, but journalists... yeah, those are the people out in the field. However, does it really matter? I think this article answers that question nicely.

Sean Sands said:
Who really wants or needs hard-nosed, stony faced, stiff-upper-lip games journalism?
No one, but unfortunately a lot of gaming journalism is on the exact opposite end of the spectrum, which is bad in a different way when you get past the hype. I wonder about things like, will Molyneux ever pay for the development of his own game and leave the publisher model so 80% of the features he blathers on about will actually be in his game?

Then again, I also understand that the video game industry is really just a bunch of big corporations who want to keep it that way. They've created a development model that makes it seem impossible for a small group of individuals to compete in. Who are the rock stars of the game industry? EA? Nintendo? There's a real lack of any human element in covering the game industry.

And maybe that's why video game journalism doesn't seem to get the respect it deserves because the industry is really devoid of human beings; it's all about the games and the companies. And faceless corporations and electronic games give really shitty interviews.
don't forget we grow with the games we've played, like wine tasting, it's important to keep the palette cleansed & remember who the games are actually for?

i feel close to yahtzee as we're of similar age & i've had more than enough opportunities to follow his line of work had i wished (in fact my brother almost got me into it before the advent of the internet & my lone discovery of alcohol)

somehow i feel that yahtzee doesn't suffer from 'EDGE' fever as much as some so i don't mind his criticisms as much as others. had i been an old school reviewer i would have succumbed to the 'dark side' long ago, but then i always wanted the same sense of realism that's been picked up by the latest batch of stand up comedians than tried & tested techniques which make people laugh (less script more environment)

one rule always remains though, trust the developer NOT the distributor & buy safe.,.. don't believe the hype!
 

October Country

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Dec 21, 2008
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I don't agree with the whole "journalist risk their life on the battlefield" thing, because that is a very narrow-minded definition of what it takes to be a journalist.
Journalism has to be of some interest to the general or intended audience and it has to be grounded in reality. Interviews are a very common device for obtaining information because you go directly to the source, and I've seen plenty of gaming journalists do just that. I've also read plenty of in-depth analysis' of games, plots, gaming culture, the games industry and so on so forth.
I think that there should be room for all kinds of gaming journalism, whether it is the simple entertaining review or more complicated pieces about the (un)importance of grades in said reviews.

By downgrading what game journalists do, you also limit what they can write about and thereby confirm the popular opinion that games are nothing but electronic toys for adolescents.