What's goiung on with gaming journalism`(/r/gaming)

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fantomena

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So I headed over to r/gaming and all I see is lots of discussion about gaming journalism, how it has failed. I don't understand, what has happened?
 
I think it's something that really needs to be talked about, but if it's like anywhere else, this thread will be closed.

Stephen Totilo addressed a specific instance somewhat. At least he's saying something.
 
A lot of locked threads about peoples personal lives.

While I think the larger issue of developers/press getting too close and influencing coverage is a topic worth debate, things seem far too volatile right now to have a nuanced discussion about it.
 
Something...that's definitely something...

But I'm pretty sure we shouldn't be discussing personal lives that raw here.
 
I kind of wish we had a HEAVILY moderated GAF thread about this subject.

All I've seen is totalbiscuit's post, and a bunch of people in Twitter going crazy and saying videogames/videogame-journalism are/is dead and I barely have any idea what's actually going on.
 
Something something Totalbiscuit something something Reddit mod abuse something something twitter something something games journalism.

I haven't made any sense of it and the trail is hard to follow because of all the deleted threads/comments.
 
mullet2000 said:
I kind of wish we had a HEAVILY moderated GAF thread about this subject.
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I agree. I think it is a sensitive and important subject that does require some responsible modding instead of blanket censorship.

But I also understand that a lot of terrible people are saying a lot of terrible things, which undermine the real issue here.
 
Seems to be a huge coverup, that's the real problem, I think. Reddit mod constantly purging any mention of it.

Blanket censorship is never good, and makes everyone involved look bad.
 
mullet2000 said:
I kind of wish we had a HEAVILY moderated GAF thread about this subject.
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Agreed. I feel like there's a discussion to be had about ethics of journalism, impartiality and the industry getting too "buddy-buddy" with each other.

It'd be a nightmare to moderate, though, so I can understand why it's not happening. Certainly the personal side of all of this is none of our business, and maybe this incident is also the wrong springboard.
 
A writer from Kotaku/Rock,Paper, Shotgun was found to have an inappropriate relationship with the developer of an indie game that he had given special attention to in various blog posts. Discussion of this topic is dice-y at best, since the details of the whole situation are very sexual and seedy -- and I imagine it would be very difficult to talk about without people relentlessly slandering the developer's behavior and character.

Naturally, people are up-in-arms over the increasingly incestuous nature of developers, publishers, and game journalists.

This is kind of old hat though. Back in the day, wasn't one of the IGN Nintendo guys literally married to a Nintendo PR rep?
 
Surprised there wasn't a thread about that here already.
It didn't seem like the previous thread had any posts in it to warrant being closed, so I guess the subject of the matter itself isn't welcome here. Maybe we can have a nice long thread about it in a few weeks when everything's settled down :P
 
The indie game in question is completely free though, is it not? I mean, so ultimately, at most someone will download and waste some time due to a ill-deserved review, but won't lose any money.

Doesn't really seem any different than, say, someone writing a fanfic and a bunch of their friends giving them good reviews on Fanfic.net or something.
 
border said:
A writer from Kotaku/Rock,Paper, Shotgun was found to have an inappropriate relationship with the developer of an indie game that he had given special attention to in various blog posts. Discussion of this topic is dice-y at best, since the details of the whole situation are very sexual and seedy -- and I imagine it would be very difficult to talk about without people relentlessly slandering the developer's behavior and character.
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Which writer?

And the whole privacy thing/nothing-to-do-with-gaming goes out the window if they compromised coverage for it. Shame the mods are doing a blanket lock.
 
A bit of sexism, plus a bit of anti-games journalism conspiracy theory. So in all a horrific mess where bullshit is believed.

Probably not worth discussing the ethical issues supposedly arising in this climate anyway.
 
PensOwl said:
Surprised there wasn't a thread about that here already.
It didn't seem like the previous thread had any posts in it to warrant being closed, so I guess the subject of the matter itself isn't welcome here. Maybe we can have a nice long thread about it in a few weeks when everything's settled down :P
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The problem is that the dearth of this story revolves around someone's personal life, something that is not really fair for open discussion, especially when this is all fairly unsubstantiated.

So not talking about it is the best move here.
 
Watch Da Birdie said:
The indie game in question is completely free though, is it not? I mean, so ultimately, at most someone will download and waste some time due to a ill-deserved review, but won't lose any money.
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She still has a patreon page where people can donate to her. And this whole incident shouldn't be about her, it should be about the corruption and integrity of game "journalism" in general.
 
PensOwl said:
Surprised there wasn't a thread about that here already.
It didn't seem like the previous thread had any posts in it to warrant being closed, so I guess the subject of the matter itself isn't welcome here. Maybe we can have a nice long thread about it in a few weeks when everything's settled down :P
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The problem is that people (not saying GAFfers, mind) don't want to talk about the broader implications, but more about the personal life of Zoe. I'm all for talking about nepotism in gaming journalism, but there's no need to get any more personal than, "person A slept with person B and person A's game got a favorable review from person B." Besides, I'm pretty sure this is all still circling around unsubstantiated reports from one or two people.
 
jschreier said:
This isn't true, though. Nathan mentioned Zoe Quinn once on Kotaku, before they begun any sort of relationship, as Stephen addressed on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/stephentotilo
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Ehh...that's what he says. However the boyfriend says something else.

http://imgur.com/WKCp697

Not sure who to believe here.

I don't mind eating it to try and get some facts straight. Also I couldn't care less what a woman does in her private life, however journalistic integrity is something I really care about. I feel like he needs to be punished.
 
jschreier said:
This isn't true, though. Nathan mentioned Zoe Quinn once on Kotaku, before they begun any sort of relationship, as Stephen addressed on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/stephentotilo
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The ex-boyfriend said, in his blog post detailing this whole ordeal, that she had a relationship with Nathan way before they broke up (which was between April 1st and April 6th). So either the ex-boyfriend is lying or Nathan is lying.

I hope this isn't getting too personal, information wise. If it is, I'd be happy to continue this discussion in a PM.
 
ActuallyHulk said:
Ehh...that's what he says. However the boyfriend says something else.

http://imgur.com/WKCp697

Not sure who to believe here.
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Hmm. I don't have enough information to comment on that one way or the other -- nor do I really feel comfortable getting into that -- but regardless, the story in question had nothing to do with Depression Quest. Nathan has never reviewed or covered Depression Quest for Kotaku, despite what a lot of people are assuming.
 
Grakl said:
This is basically gossip and sexism, a discussion would turn into a shitshow.
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Not entirely. It would undoubtedly turn into that because the internet, but it's a serious issue that has pretty big implications for the industry as a whole and that's pretty much the only reason discussion is being locked down on GAF, Reddit and other sites.
 
there's a kernel of truth about the closeness between certain indie developers and the press, different but similar to the cosy one between the press and the big publishers, hidden in a sea of gossipy tabloid personal drama, us vs them games culture politics and bickering, and nasty sexist abuse

the former is so inextricable from the latter in this case that it's really hard to have a proper conversation about it. probably better to wait till the dust has settled a bit.
 
Nothing is going on in games journalism at the moment.

A girl who is known in the gaming community cheated on her boyfriend with multiple people. These people work for Kotaku.

There may have been a conflict of interest. If there was, then yeah, may be news worthy. If there isn't, then it is none of our business and is why you see forums chomping down on threads/discussion, because if there was no conflict of interest then it is a witch hunt over a woman's infidelity, which isn't cool, especially since the guys are Kotaku are guilty of being both as sleazy and also employees of Kotaku, which is the worst.
 
Pops Maellard said:
Not entirely. It would undoubtedly turn into that because the internet, but it's a serious issue that has pretty big implications for the industry as a whole and that's pretty much the only reason discussion is being locked down on GAF, Reddit and other sites.
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Yeah, that's the ONLY reason it's being locked down. There isn't already a torrent of nasty shit going on that might totally derail the conversation and could possibly be the part of the reason too.
 
Mesoian said:
While true...that's probably not what's going to happen.
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That's why the suggestion of making a heavily moderated topic would be preferable. We don't need that other type of nonsense. But I think the journalism side is something this forum has shown quite a bit of interest in. We've had numerous large discussions about the state of journalism in the past.
 
Well I know not to buy this game now. (Or even play it since apparently it's free?) Damn. What a terrible person if that stuff is true.
 
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