Ethics in Videogame Journalism

'Videogame', because it gives less prominence to the word 'game', which, on the understanding of 'game' from which the term 'videogame' evolved from, many videogames are not.

I have a topical article on my site about problems with the scoring systems used in reviews, that might be interesting reading.

Posted by: Walter | 04/10/2003 at 02:16 PM

The article about videogame journalism ethics is interesting, and makes lots of good points, but also sort of throws all professional game journalists under one blanket, when there are really many different types of journalists, not to mention many more policies in place to keep "playola" problems to a minimum.

The sad fact is that access to development teams adds a lot to coverage of any game, and unfortunately this is an industry where a huge percent of products come from a country halfway around the world, which leads to problems with the availability of certain developers, as well as a language barrier. The second problem is compounded by the fact that most game publishers insist that any translators used are theirs, to make sure the translation's accurate (and for some info filtering reasons).

My point? At least in these cases, these junkets are often one of the only chances to speak to certain developers, as it could be one of the only free spots in their schedules or that they visit this country.

That said...you're right. There are a lot of people who take advantage of these junkets, and honestly, a lot of publishers kind of expect better coverage through them (otherwise, how would they justify the expense?).

One thing I want to point out that I feel Justin's article glossed over. There is a level of "playola" for fansites, as well. While you can argue that fansites are run by people who are simply intelligent, honest, and want to help their readers, most of these people are also raking in tons of free games for their efforts. True, it's become much harder to score said games in recent years, but it still happens. And it's still a major incentive to get a gaming website up and running.

Posted by: GJ | 04/10/2003 at 08:57 PM

I whould think that gamespot has the right thing going for it considering that Ign sucks badly (did I say badly? I ment horribly).

But then again not being able to visit promotional shows for that game might have actually hurt some publishers and in effect screwed the very game that might have won countless awards (AHEM* ICO*).

They both have there downsides and actually neither are right. I agree if Ign's do whatever the fuck you want rules. but I also agree that they suck.

Maybe they should just let them mail stuff (demo's keychains etc) to the reviewers. It whould cut down on them being "brainwashed" and they would still be able to tell ahead of time weather or not the game is utter crap.

Remember what happened when we didnt get a heads up about State of emergency? AHHHHH

Posted by: ??? | 04/11/2003 at 08:47 AM

The article just got Slashdotted.

http://features.slashdot.org/features/03/04/11/153248.shtml?tid=127

Posted by: 8bitjoystick.com | 04/11/2003 at 11:56 AM

Think simple. Learn different. Macinstruct.net

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