Press Reset: The Story of Polygon - financed by Microsoft for $750,000

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EternalGamer said:
Huh. I'm not sure why I thought you guys were the same person. I guess just that it is not a typical name, you both lived in the same area and both wrote about gaming related stuff.

GB is Giant Bomb and Whiskey Media was the the name of their media hub. The other "Rory" did film reviews for them and appeared on Giant Bomb on a regular basis.
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Rory Manion (accomplice of Shawn Elliot; both still wanted for in-game trolling) =/= Matthew Rorie (of Screened/formerly Obsidian/puppy stalker)
 
If these were fresh faced new journalist or journalists from outside the gaming press come together to get things right, it might have been interesting but we're talking about the ex-editor in chief of Joystiq and ex-editor in chief of Kotaku joining forces with a bunch of other bloggers from Joystiq and Kotaku and other similar sites. Now their looking down on their ex-colleagues like they were always above it all.
 
that walker article is superb and gets to the crux of it nicely

also glad there's a good formal piece talking about how ridiculous this whole endeavor is that the polygon guys can't just dismiss as typical dumb gaffers hatin' or idiots on twitter that need a quick blocking.
 
They've got to be fxxing kidding me.

Since when is it a journalists' job to make a story and documentary about him/themselves?!?
 
TheBaronOfNA said:
Not even then.
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Yeah, on the contrary. If these were non-gaming journalists, everybody would be like "who are these people to think they can write about OUR hobbies" or something :)

Everything would be better if these guys would just DO it, instead of saying they'll do it and make a documentary about that. I mean, are their writings on the Verge a sign of things to come? Because, it isn't bad or anything, but it sure isn't something we haven't seen in video game journalism.
 
WhiskeyKnight said:
That hits on a major problem the enthusiast press has -- brain drain. Developers recognize actual talent and quickly scoop up the most interesting voices (Luke Smith, Shawn Elliott, Jeff Green, Eric Wolpaw, etc.) This leaves the media side as a perpetual B-team. And as we know, former journos rarely, if ever, go back after becoming devs.
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I can only really think of Tuncer Deniz (Inside Mac Games/Bungie/Inside Mac Games).

The enthusiast press is basically a farm system for developer community managers, and will never gain legitimacy when getting really chummy with devs and wanting to jump ship to work for them at the earliest opportunity is basically written into their job descriptions.

The idea that Polygon is going to reverse that trend is a nice one, but I don't see it considering all the Kotaku and Joystiq alums onboard.

They keep talking about how Polygon has to succeed and all the risk they're taking, what I would have rather heard is something like "We're game journos with a fuckton of money behind us now, we're rich, we're not beholden to the devs or the publishers or afraid of being blacklisted."
 
Sblargh said:
Someone wanted to give them dollars in exchange to be part of the staff of a videogame website and after considering they liked the ammount of dollars being offered, they said: "yes".
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I asked about the story behind the creation of his one word post, not the story behind Polygon. Although both are equally relevant and important at this point in history.
 
LOL at the this entire situation now. This has to be the biggest backfire of the year. Polygon should just give up and can the doc at this point.
 
So Arthur Gies and McElroy and other Polgonials are retweeting this link as a supposed "explanation" of the documentary:

http://adage.com/article/digital/vox-hypes-gaming-site-documentary/236827/

Here is perhaps what they think is the most relevant section:
Of course, journalists are notoriously uneasy about becoming interview subjects themselves. How did the Polygon staff feels about being on the other end of lines of questioning? According to Mr. Grant, the idea came from the business side of the operation.

"[We] were like, 'They want to sponsor a documentary series? Awesome," he said. "'But about us? Uh, interesting.'"
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The problem is that self deprecation and that "Uh about us..." does not at all match what anybody says in either of those trailers. The trailer is filled with self importance of people talking about how great everyone there is and how they are going to change everything related to digital media. That's not even an exageration. That's litterally the kind of things they say. At least a dozen times they have statements like that in those two trailers.

So when Grant says "But, about us?" it seems totally phoney. Like it's damage control PR. It doesn't match the tone of anybody in either trailer. There is no hint of that sort of atttitude at all.
 
Where does money for such a production come from? Vox Media has raised about $40 million in venture capital and the company has poured some of that venture money into an impressive video studio where it churns out high-quality video content for The Verge and for SB Nation's YouTube-funded video channel. But, in this instance, Microsoft is sponsoring the documentary to promote Internet Explorer.
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Seriously, I don't know how these kids sleep at night taking on this huge risk.
 
Justin McElroy ‏@JustinMcElroy
@botherer I think you make some reasonable points, John. I think the big fallacy is thinking your perspective will be shared widely ...

Justin McElroy ‏@JustinMcElroy
@botherer ... outside of games journalism. But I suppose time will be the only indicator of that.

Justin McElroy ‏@JustinMcElroy
@botherer Oh, last thing: Remember that this is a trailer, so it's obviously going to emphasize the drama/gravitas. We're not that serious.
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I still love the defense about the trailer not representing the tone of the final thing. Alright, you show certain messages and ham it up in a trailer, but if they're such good journalists they should have realised the story they're pushing just seems off, and the incredible irony when the preview is such a major part of games coverage.
 
eznark said:
Seriously, I don't know how these kids sleep at night taking on this huge risk.
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Unless they tell us about their equity arrangement they are being duplicitous and deserve our scorn. They act like they are taking this big risk (which they aren't) and have no reward other than a great website. It's like they think we're all stupid.
 
Gannd said:
Microsoft is paying for the whole damn thing.
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What can I say, Microsoft likes The Verge.

c6mz5qfu0hdlt5d3g.gif


Speaking of The Verge, their podcast starts in 10 minutes and I wonder if they'll comment on it. (Verge != Polygon)

derFeef said:
Hm?
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"presented by internet explorer" or something.
 
EternalGamer said:
I asked about the story behind the creation of his one word post, not the story behind Polygon. Although both are equally relevant and important at this point in history.
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My girlfriend asked to put the garbage outside, even though I am totally pleasing her with my sweet guitar skills, which left me confused and appalled. Am I just a guy in my underwear sitting on a videogame board on the middle of a week? Shouldn't I strive to be more? Shouldn't I want that all of us were better? Shouldn't we be using the amazing power of our hobbies to raise social awareness?

So I thought of this concept. Something that would grab NeoGAF's attention and, at the same time, not require me to abuse my limited vocabulary since english is clearly not my first language. YES! I would use my limitations as a third world citzen to bring the revolutionalization of the indústria de jogos de vídeo, as is to be called, if the medium should ever want to be taken serious by more than the vapid sexist white culture that has become this fine art.

The idea of the one word post comes from the schopenhauerian notion that art cannot exists in the abstract representations that form our concepts. It has to utterly desinterest you in order to grasp you away from the biological necessities of your individualizating body so you can see the world as it really is under the wrappings of the power struggles of the Natan Drakes and other white heterossexuals of videogaming world.

"Money", I would call it, as to bring attention that this industry, founded at the brink of the collapse of the berlim wall, is not just the dumb entertainment we have been led to believe, but the pinacle of burgeois culture and this can only logically means one thing: revoltuion is at hand, for now the virtual world stands in contrast to the real world and finally thesis and antithesis can finally become the synthesis that brings itself the ruins and, thus, the true beginning of history, thus proving that the russian revolution became fascist because it lacked this moment in time that we now experience.

Polygon with its high value documentary is the ideology of the burgeois laughing at the real problems of the poor while believing that the riding of a digitalized dragon is something worth spinning around in happiness instead of the very real touch of a woman. Meanwhile, somwhere in brazil, being actually touched by a woman in a deeply non-erottic way bnecause she does not understand why I must keep typing in an attempt to dupe her into taking the trash out herself, I am everything Polygon is not and thus the social irony reaches an end.

In lying about the revolution, they created it.
 
maquiladora said:
Now that you mention it. There was several shots of xbox controllers in the trailer, but no Nintendo/Sony hardware, if I remember right.

Heh.
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There is enough legitimate nonsense going on here that you don't need to invent conspiracy theories. There are Macs everywhere in those teasers.
 
I think the big fallacy is thinking your perspective will be shared widely outside of games journalism.
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*irony meter explode*



Also Justin's constant "it's just a trailer, not something truly representative of the final work!" excuse is worn so thin that holes are forming in it.
 
Seeing the Polygon editorial staff so incredibly in denial of the entire fucking world telling them that they're being dumb about this really makes me want to see a scene in the final documentary where they all act stunned at the reaction to the trailer. Just to see the reality distortion field drop for a picosecond.
 
Sblargh said:
My girlfriend asked to put the garbage outside, even though I am totally pleasing her with my sweet guitar skills, which left me confused and appalled. Am I just a guy in my underwear sitting on a videogame board on the middle of a week? Shouldn't I strive to be more? Shouldn't I want that all of us were better? Shouldn't we be using the amazing power of our hobbies to raise social awareness?

So I thought of this concept. Something that would grab NeoGAF's attention and, at the same time, not require me to abuse my limited vocabulary since english is clearly not my first language. YES! I would use my limitations as a third world citzen to bring the revolutionalization of the indústria de jogos de vídeo, as is to be called, if the medium should ever want to be taken serious by more than the vapid sexist white culture that has become this fine art.

The idea of the one word post comes from the schopenhauerian notion that art cannot exists in the abstract representations that form our concepts. It has to utterly desinterest you in order to grasp you away from the biological necessities of your individualizating body so you can see the world as it really is under the wrappings of the power struggles of the Natan Drakes and other white heterossexuals of videogaming world.

"Money", I would call it, as to bring attention that this industry, founded at the brink of the collapse of the berlim wall, is not just the dumb entertainment we have been led to believe, but the pinacle of burgeois culture and this can only logically means one thing: revoltuion is at hand, for now the virtual world stands in contrast to the real world and finally thesis and antithesis can finally become the synthesis that brings itself the ruins and, thus, the true beginning of history, thus proving that the russian revolution became fascist because it lacked this moment in time that we now experience.

Polygon with its high value documentary is the ideology of the burgeois laughing at the real problems of the poor while believing that the riding of a digitalized dragon is something worth spinning around in happiness instead of the very real touch of a woman. Meanwhile, somwhere in brazil, being actually touched by a woman in a deeply non-erottic way bnecause she does not understand why I must keep typing in an attempt to dupe her into taking the trash out herself, I am everything Polygon is not and thus the social irony reaches an end.

In lying about the revolution, they created it.
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riker.gif
 
EmCeeGramr said:
Seeing the Polygon editorial staff so incredibly in denial of the entire fucking world telling them that they're being dumb about this really makes me want to see a scene documentary where they all act stunned at the reaction to the trailer when the reality distortion field drops for a picosecond.
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They think anyone who doesn't love them and love this video series are just being mean and cynical. They have no ability to self reflect.
 
Sblargh said:
My girlfriend asked to put the garbage outside, even though I am totally pleasing her with my sweet guitar skills, which left me confused and appalled. Am I just a guy in my underwear sitting on a videogame board on the middle of a week? Shouldn't I strive to be more? Shouldn't I want that all of us were better? Shouldn't we be using the amazing power of our hobbies to raise social awareness?

So I thought of this concept. Something that would grab NeoGAF's attention and, at the same time, not require me to abuse my limited vocabulary since english is clearly not my first language. YES! I would use my limitations as a third world citzen to bring the revolutionalization of the indústria de jogos de vídeo, as is to be called, if the medium should ever want to be taken serious by more than the vapid sexist white culture that has become this fine art.

The idea of the one word post comes from the schopenhauerian notion that art cannot exists in the abstract representations that form our concepts. It has to utterly desinterest you in order to grasp you away from the biological necessities of your individualizating body so you can see the world as it really is under the wrappings of the power struggles of the Natan Drakes and other white heterossexuals of videogaming world.

"Money", I would call it, as to bring attention that this industry, founded at the brink of the collapse of the berlim wall, is not just the dumb entertainment we have been led to believe, but the pinacle of burgeois culture and this can only logically means one thing: revoltuion is at hand, for now the virtual world stands in contrast to the real world and finally thesis and antithesis can finally become the synthesis that brings itself the ruins and, thus, the true beginning of history, thus proving that the russian revolution became fascist because it lacked this moment in time that we now experience.

Polygon with its high value documentary is the ideology of the burgeois laughing at the real problems of the poor while believing that the riding of a digitalized dragon is something worth spinning around in happiness instead of the very real touch of a woman. Meanwhile, somwhere in brazil, being actually touched by a woman in a deeply non-erottic way bnecause she does not understand why I must keep typing in an attempt to dupe her into taking the trash out herself, I am everything Polygon is not and thus the social irony reaches an end.

In lying about the revolution, they created it.
Click to expand...

Wow you really don't want to take that garbage out. Do you write novellas about the individual as little more than a confluence of social forces when it comes time to vaccum the hallway?

Also it seems that you've read some Zizek going by the tone and content of that description. I love Zizek, so thumbs up on the parody post.
 
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