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Gaming Journalism |OT| May contain trace amounts of games. Or journalism.

dottme

Member
u31wJkL.png

And there it is. Living rent-free in their head for 4 years.
But, Gamergate is about racism and sexism, not about journalism.
To be honest, Gamergate was a lot of things. But it’s really dishonest for someone like Jason to say that Gamergate is about journalism while in the past they were trying to enforce that Gamergate is just about sexism and racism.
Way to use a scapegoat.
 

brap

Banned
imagine thinking about the goobleygrape boogeyman like 5 years later lmao. i can imagine like 5 years after trump stops being president theyre still gonna be calling things "trump-esque".
 

Whitesnake

Banned
imagine thinking about the goobleygrape boogeyman like 5 years later lmao. i can imagine like 5 years after trump stops being president theyre still gonna be calling things "trump-esque".

They speak of it as if it was some crime against humanity on par with the holocaust. These cretins will take any avenue to make themselves look like a victim, to the point of continuing to lie about an online phenomenon 5 years after it happened and after everyone’s forgotten about it.

These people are so scared of the ideas that their opinions don’t actually matter and that they need to be held to a standard, that they will do anything and take any excuse to not think introspectively about their own flaws.
 

Cranberrys

Member
It’s a damned shame to see what “gaming journalism” has become. I’ve been going back through old EGM issues of late, and I sure wish we could’ve gotten back to that.

I have two issues of Computer Gaming World which I bought in the US on the first trip I took there with my mother as a teenager in the mid 80's, the quality of the content is amazing when compared to today. Later, I used to buy EGM at my local video games store in France back in the early 90's. They were imported so they costed quite a bit but I always loved this magazine, it was the Holy Grail for me. I have 30 or maybe 40 issues, I have thrown away many of my old gaming magazines but I'll always keep my EGM and my two issues of CGW.

I Don't understand what changed ? When you read the gaming press back then, there is passion, fun and yet mostly insightful reviews and content, the journalists at the time respected the gamers and we respected them back, I remember having some kind of old/Young brother kinda Relationship with those people and yet I've never met them. In France there was two amazing magazines also, Tilt and Player One. I miss those days.
 

Helios

Member
Kotaku is on a roll. Who exactly is concerned? No idea, the article only mentioned a tweet that is not directly linked and when I tried to search for it nothing came up. And another tweet from some game developer that had his game shilled on Kotaku a week ago.

Here are some key parts of that article :
I’ve never played Final Fantasy VII
 
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Cranberrys

Member
Kotaku is on a roll. Who exactly is concerned? No idea, the article only mentioned a tweet that is not directly linked and when I tried to search for it nothing came up. And another tweet from some game developer that had his game shilled on Kotaku a week ago.

They are crazy. First of all, Barret is Mr. T, at least that's exactly what I thought the first time I played FFVII back then. It's supposed to be some sort of japanese reference to western pop culture and back in the 90's Mr. T was a somewhat famous character. It has Nothing to do with racism. Secondly, FFVII English translation sucked ass globally (well, I kinda liked it since I discover and played the game that way), after reading numerous articles about it, there's many cases of mistranslation and it sure wasn't specific to Barret's character.
 

Hudo

Member
Just out of curiosity, does Schreier have a degree in journalism? If not, then he should be very careful when refering to himself as a journalist (Not saying that one can't be a journalist without a journalism degree but you need to be sure that you are aware of the methodologies etc. that a journalists should adhere to.) If yes, then he evidently doesn't (want to) do a very good job on executing what he has learned and shouldn't call himself a journalist either.

Now in fairness, he did do solid work with his investigative articles about some pratices of developers. But then he goes and sells those stories in a book, which leaves a bit of an aftertaste for me. But maybe that's my problem.

I would say that he (and most of his colleagues he defends) are bloggers. And that's ok. It's not something to be ashamed about. It's not anything "lesser" or something. It's just that I have different expectations from a blogger than I have from a journalist.
 
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Scopa

The Tribe Has Spoken
Now in fairness, he did do solid work with his investigative articles about some pratices of developers. But then he goes and sells those stories in a book, which leaves a bit of an aftertaste for me. But maybe that's my problem.
Making it known that you are the ear for aggrieved tattle tales and then blogging about it, is not “solid work”.

I could do that after 8 beers and half-retarded.

Wake me when he blogs something interesting.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Jason Schreier must think of Bethesda every waking minute. Supposedly Kotaku has been blacklisted since 2013.

It's 2019, and Schreier still lingers on about it. Move on Jason. There's a million other devs out there. SO what if Kotaku doesn't get free games and swag from Bethesda's marketing department. If Kotaku is that desperate for Fallout and and Skyrim freebies, forget it. Go buy the game for $60 like every other gamer.

Stick to some good articles like the Anthem article instead of Twitter whining. So-called "journalists" don't cry on Twitter.
 
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Petrae

Member
Jason Schreier must think of Bethesda every waking minute. Supposedly Kotaku has been blacklisted since 2013.

It's 2019, and Schreier still lingers on about it. Move on Jason. There's a million other devs out there. SO what if Kotaku doesn't get free games and swag from Bethesda's marketing department. If Kotaku is that desperate for Fallout and and Skyrim freebies, forget it. Go buy the game for $60 like every other gamer.

Stick to some good articles like the Anthem article instead of Twitter whining. So-called "journalists" don't cry on Twitter.

Bingo. Schreier’s crying and complaining is a key example of what’s wrong with the “games journalism” model in the modern age. Nobody is guaranteed interviews or access to assets or product. Publishers decide who gets this access, as they always have— but now Twitter provides a public platform for infantile temper tantrums and playing the victim card for “journalists”, and it’s the first place they run when they don’t get their way.

You piss off a publisher, you’re fucked. That’s been one of the rules of engagement in the “games journalism” biz for years. Publishers don’t have to forgive you or restore your access— ever. This is especially true in the modern age, where traditional “games journalism” is barely relevant. Most eyes are on streamers or influencers... enthusiasts instead of whiny, complaining, outrage peddlers in “games journalists”... and there’s more than enough of those to go around.

Video game companies will always have a way to get the word out in the Digital Age. “Games journalism” is no longer necessary as a vehicle to promote their products as it was in the Print Era. That’s why I won’t shed a tear when it inevitably becomes a niche product where only a few notable sites remain. It’ll be better that way.
 
To be fair, only the English speaking video game journalists/pundits went full batshit insane in the past ten years, the non-English speaking press still prefer to have a good relationship with its readers.
Sites like Kotaku and Eurogamer can afford (for the moment) to constantly provoke and irritate their audiences and players in general but other sites like, I don't know, Spaziogames would immediately go bankrupt if they foolishly chose to follow that road.
 

Hudo

Member
Making it known that you are the ear for aggrieved tattle tales and then blogging about it, is not “solid work”.

I could do that after 8 beers and half-retarded.

Wake me when he blogs something interesting.
I mean, I agree with you (albeit for a different reason). But at least he tried do to something that sometimes resembles some sort of journalism. I think the main problem that dude has is that he comes off as super pretentious (at least to me). Which usually provokes people. And when you don't have anything to back up your pretentiousness, you rightfully get slammed. Maybe it would help if he were a bit more humble. I don't know.
 
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I want to make outrage articles at your expense for clicks as you scramble to fire employees and salvage PR I undermined and then you must grovel at me, you were just asking for it. You should have never stopped giving me special treatment, freebies and paid travel tickets as I use your game's coverage to shit all over it and anyone curious about whether the game is good or awful, so that I do my virtue signaling and unrelated self-centered talk.

What's that? Your PR is talking back to a direct attack? The gall of you! You are harassment incarnate, you are malice, toxicity, an enemy of journalism

PS: We're called game journalists in this context, but we're not actually bound to any sort of journalistic ethics in our actual coverage and behavior.

👏Repeat👏after👏me👏
Game journalists should be sacred cows in a post-resetera world
The world is my echo chamber
You have committed an unforgivable offense against special caste game journalists, Bethesda PR peon
You have been hereby sentenced to a ban from real life, your employment, housing, food and access to healthcare shall be terminated here and now
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I mean, I agree with you (albeit for a different reason). But at least he tried do to something that sometimes resembles some sort of journalism. I think the main problem that dude has is that he comes off as super pretentious (at least to me). Which usually provokes people. And when you don't have anything to back up your pretentiousness, you rightfully get slammed. Maybe it would help if he were a bit more humble. I don't know.
I forget where I said it (maybe it was much earlier in this thread), but the main problem with "gaming journalism" is that it depends on such a "suck my cock and I'll give it to you anytime" mentality. Crudely said, but when an industry relies on clickbait info to get clicks, you're in trouble.

1. Developer offers websites big juicy carrot (early previews and free gold review copies and banner ad revenue)

2. Game site say... Me, Me, Me!

3. Developer says OK, but you better not say anything too critical or we'll cut you off in the future. And don't break NDA dates trying to get early clicks

4. Game site says OK. No criticism in previews, and we'll make sure to give all games at least a 6/10 so it doesn't look like a flop

It's a very scratch my back kind relationship. And if any game sites want to be their own boss and do their own thing, then don't be surprised if a developer cuts the cord. Nobody said every game maker has to pander to gaming editors.

Maybe if all the gaming sites would band together instead of acting like Cheeto eaters in their mom's basement, and act more professional you wouldn't have such a sketchy arm's length relationship.

No other entertainment industry does this.

All kinds of sites do early reviews of cars, music albums, and movies and they can get all squashed in reviews. And even in movies previews or trailers, they can be picked apart, yet critics have no problem criticizing. And I don't see GM or Sony Pictures banning critics for crap reviews. They all seem to get along whether the final product is good or bad.
 
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Ogbert

Member
Schreier is such a clown.

And referring to himself as 'the press'. You write about Mario and Pong you tool; you're not up for a Pulitzer.
 

Hudo

Member
I forget where I said it (maybe it was much earlier in this thread), but the main problem with "gaming journalism" is that it depends on such a "suck my cock and I'll give it to you anytime" mentality. Crudely said, but when an industry relies on clickbait info to get clicks, you're in trouble.

1. Developer offers websites big juicy carrot (early previews and free gold review copies and banner ad revenue)

2. Game site say... Me, Me, Me!

3. Developer says OK, but you better not say anything too critical or we'll cut you off in the future. And don't break NDA dates trying to get early clicks

4. Game site says OK. No criticism in previews, and we'll make sure to give all games at least a 6/10 so it doesn't look like a flop

It's a very scratch my back kind relationship. And if any game sites want to be their own boss and do their own thing, then don't be surprised if a developer cuts the cord. Nobody said every game maker has to pander to gaming editors.

Maybe if all the gaming sites would band together instead of acting like Cheeto eaters in their mom's basement, and act more professional you wouldn't have such a sketchy arm's length relationship.

No other entertainment industry does this.

All kinds of sites do early reviews of cars, music albums, and movies and they can get all squashed in reviews. And even in movies previews or trailers, they can be picked apart, yet critics have no problem criticizing. And I don't see GM or Sony Pictures banning critics for crap reviews. They all seem to get along whether the final product is good or bad.
Yeah. That's a point I haven't actively thought of. Despite Schreier not being a journalist etc. You are right that the gaming press basically evolved (or regressed, rather) to be nothing more than a third-party PR department for game devs. Ironically enough, I remember reading an article where the format of Nintendo Direct was criticized. And you could basically read between the lines that it was the outlet complaining that Nintendo eliminated the "middle man", so to speak. Maybe I read that article at Kotaku, lol. But I can see why the gaming press went that way. I mean, if they don't want to do it, some Youtuber will...
 
Perhaps I am just narrow viewing this topic but all I see is an industry of hypocrisy

A group of elitist game journalists complaining about Companies and the consumer base being bigots, tone deaf, venomous... while they also commit the same sins.

Tone deaf af when they complain about any number of "social issues" they spot, while using devices that were assembled by workers who are treated slightly better than slave labor.

Venomous in their attacks at Companies and/or gamers who don't agree with their activism, then cry and claim to be victims when those they attack shout back.

Bigots for using platforms that allow for communication with their audience, but ignore/block/ or otherwise try to silence anyone who doesn't subscribe to their message.

That's at the top tier of Gaming Journalism at least. Step below that and you get just simple quoting or rephrasing of Corporate speak disguised as independent writing

Below that shit click bait (which also has its fingerprints in the other categories)
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Perhaps I am just narrow viewing this topic but all I see is an industry of hypocrisy

A group of elitist game journalists complaining about Companies and the consumer base being bigots, tone deaf, venomous... while they also commit the same sins.

Tone deaf af when they complain about any number of "social issues" they spot, while using devices that were assembled by workers who are treated slightly better than slave labor.

Venomous in their attacks at Companies and/or gamers who don't agree with their activism, then cry and claim to be victims when those they attack shout back.

Bigots for using platforms that allow for communication with their audience, but ignore/block/ or otherwise try to silence anyone who doesn't subscribe to their message.

That's at the top tier of Gaming Journalism at least. Step below that and you get just simple quoting or rephrasing of Corporate speak disguised as independent writing

Below that shit click bait (which also has its fingerprints in the other categories)
Here's a point regarding disclosure.....

Out of all the preview and review articles you've ever seen, how many stated that the material they are covering is free from the game company? And that the same game company is also paying for banner ads and fixed sum payments? And that their article is hit with terms set by the game maker (ie. preview articles can only say good things).

Probably...... none?

Only time I see it is when some Youtubers will say at the beginning the game company was great and hooked them up with free shit.
 
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DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Just another look at the hilarious double standard that exists for modern day games journalists. I can't believe people are patting this women on the back.

Gamespot Editor Stalks Critic's MOM & Posts Her FACE & NAME Online

 
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Helios

Member
Guy on Polygon identifies with the Rage mutants because he had birth defect that was probably fixed in the first half of his first year. More importantly, he tried to make the developers change the appearance of those monsters because of HIS mental problems.
I had a chance to talk with id Software studio director Tim Willits about Rage 2. After a relatively straightforward interview running through the game’s grabbag of inspirations, the conversation shifted to something more personal: my birth defect and how the game presents it as a crude joke.

Rage 2’s publisher Bethesda had just revealed a $119.99 collector’s edition that would come with a talking, robotic bust of Ruckus the Crusher, one of the game’s many goliath mutants. Like all the other Crushers in the game, Ruckus has a gash running from the top of its upper lip through his nose, as if its face didn’t fully form at birth.

The mutation, I explained to Willits, looks like an exaggerated cleft lip and cleft palate. The original Rage used similar imagery for its mutants, and I told Willits how disappointed I felt to see the sequel following that same path. Fiction has long associated clefts with both villainy and mental health disorders, and it appeared the Rage franchise would perpetuate this cruel, damaging misrepresentation to a broad audience.
I’ve now played a significant amount of Rage 2, and I have to wonder if Willits forgot to have that conversation. Or if that conversation was had, was it closer to a cost-benefit analysis: will enough potential players be upset to warrant the investment in improving these character designs?

I can now say with certainty that “the Avalanche guys” have not been “very good about being a little more sensitive.” Or perhaps Willits meant “little more” in a literal sense. As in they have made the smallest effort
I can't even tell the difference !
20190511220550_1.jpg
chris-plante.jpeg.256x256_q100_crop-smart.jpg
 
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Outrunner

Member
So he used his job as a "journalist" to try and get the devs to change the character design because he had a personal issue with it? He was also really expecting the dev to change the design because of what a Polygon "journalis" says?

These people give me cancer.
 

angelic

Banned
This tiresome little victim has dedicated his entire personality to his birth defect. Unless he did it himself with pliers, for woke points.
 

brap

Banned

Helios

Member
VG247 did an "interview" (read: Hitpiece) with Toshihiro Nagoshi.
It's one of the worst interviews I think I read, if you can even call it that. The author, Kirk McKeand, narrates all his thoughts and how much of an asshole he is. Why? Because Toshiro fell asleep during e3 and he was instead directed towards another person for the interview.
Here are some quotes, though I urge you to skim through the interview
I arrived ten minutes early and my interview was ten minutes late – that’s when I started to wonder what was going on. It turns out Nagoshi was asleep in one of the interview rooms and I was kindly offered an interview with someone else. The problem was, the questions I had prepared were for him specifically. As the brilliant PR person and I try to figure out what to do, a door opens and we can clearly see Nagoshi-san rising from unconsciousness through the crack.

It was at this point when I realised I’d fucked up.
I was led into a small interview room where Nagoshi was sitting, along with a PR person and a translator. I could already see that he hated me for existing. He had literally just woken up and here’s this guy bothering him as loud music and annoying noises blare from beyond the thin walls and through the open ceiling.
At this point I realise I’m not getting anything raw, personal, or specific from this line of questions so I switch things up a bit and dig into his design ethos instead.
I nod my head and pretend I heard what he said.
I say my thanks and leave, knowing that I likely don’t have anything useable in the interview. At least we have this article though, eh?


This is part 1 of the drama.
Part 2 is related to NicheGamer. They also did an interview with Toshihiro. Except it was a proper interview asking mostly about Yakuza and Judgement. They had a few bits where the interviewer was enthusiastic about the games.
This didn't sit well with Kirk McKeand. Especially since one of NicheGamer's writers criticized VG247's interview.


In response, Kirk and a few other "journalists" started criticizing the article and even bringing GG into question











Apparently being a fan of video-games is related to "ethics in journalism".

I should add :
This is the part most people have a problem with NicheGamer's article
D9by6btWsAAfM_7.jpg:large

While I think it's a bit cringy and maybe unprofessional, it's in no way a breach of ethics. More importantly this is just one question out a whole article.
 
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DeepEnigma

Gold Member
VG247 did an "interview" (read: Hitpiece) with Toshihiro Nagoshi.
It's one of the worst interviews I think I read, if you can even call it that. The author, Kirk McKeand, narrates all his thoughts and how much of an asshole he is. Why? Because Toshiro fell asleep during e3 and he was instead directed towards another person for the interview.
Here are some quotes, though I urge you to skim through the interview






This is part 1 of the drama.
Part 2 is related to NicheGamer. They also did an interview with Toshihiro. Except it was a proper interview asking mostly about Yakuza and Judgement. They had a few bits where the interviewer was enthusiastic about the games.
This didn't sit well with Kirk McKeand. Especially since one of NicheGamer's writers criticized VG247's interview.


In response, Kirk and a few other "journalists" started criticizing the article and even bringing GG into question











Apparently being a fan of video-games is related to "ethics in journalism".


That dude is garbage 101.

You should see his Twitter.
 
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Lol look at all those blue check marks thinking they have the moral high ground. Pigs wallowing in their own shit. A group of morons calling themselves "Games Journalist" who can't play games, don't like games, would rather blog about their personal politics and outed as pedophiles every other day.
 

hboyce1

Neo Member
As someone that has just begun writing about games for money (call that profession what you will), I get hate messages constantly. I'm not complaining, because I understand where many commenters are coming from. In my opinion, I wish soft news media members, content producers and content consumers could all just get along. Oh well... Maybe in another world....
 

Helios

Member
As someone that has just begun writing about games for money (call that profession what you will), I get hate messages constantly. I'm not complaining, because I understand where many commenters are coming from. In my opinion, I wish soft news media members, content producers and content consumers could all just get along. Oh well... Maybe in another world....
I hope that the situation improves. I think people tend to lump all journalists together (And I've done that too a few times). We should call out the bad apples but we should also encourage the people that have an actual fascination for video games writing.
 
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