I've enjoyed:
Google GGA:
|
|
Links
Alice Taylor
Clint Hocking Costik Derek Daniels The Edge electro^plankton Gamasutra Game Critics GameDevBlog GameFAQs Game Jew Game Poets Society Game Set Watch Gamevideos.com Gewgaw Got Game? Grand Text Auto Grrl Gamer Henry Jenkins Heroine-Sheik IGDA Indie Game Jam Insert Credit Invisible City Julian Dibbell KillerBetties Kim Pallister Kongregate Kotaku Lost Garden Ludology Magic Box Margaret Robinson Matteo Bittanti Memory Card Ogre Cave Penny Arcade Raph Koster Reality Panic Serious Games Shiny Shiny Slash Dot Games Surfer Girl Terra Nova ToastyFrog Tokyopia Water Cooler Games Women Gamers Zen of Design
Thank You for Donating!
If you'd like to help keep GGA afloat, we thank you!
Mascot by Penny Arcade!
|
January 02, 2006
New Game Editorials
I know SomethingAwful's two articles on the worst video game journalism of 2005 have been around for a little while now, but they do make for good reading, especially for us journalists. Zack Parsons makes a good argument that we're largely pretentious, whiney fans rather than anything resembling journalists. Parsons' most significant point is the desire of so many gaming journalists to become celebrities. So many of us want to be recognized and certified and legitimized that we try to create a clever, likable persona. The writers Parsons names (many of whom are pretty big within gaming circles) write long-winded, self-adoring reviews and previews of games that do little more than paint themselves as ironic and clever arbiters of culture. Parsons makes an apt point during his criticism of Kieron Gillen's review of Darwinia: "The irony of all of Kieron's post-genre stoner philosophy [in his Darwinia review] is that he's probably the same sort of dude who gets totally stoked for a game like Mario Fishing or Mario Hoppin' On Shit in 3D. That's because he's really intelligent and he loves things that totally explode genre barriers by including Mario." We all want to prove to everyone why we love the games we love, so we dig out that dusty dictionary of literary criticism we used freshman year of college, and we write a review that's more about how brilliant we are than why we like the game. We create vocabulary to describe tropes in games without backing it up with enough evidence. We want to become cultural trailblazers so bad that we end up both turning off readers and sounding silly. Or, worse, we try to be too ironic. To avoid sounding pretentious, we poke fun at ourselves in the middle of articles that really don't involve those aspects of our lives. We're all goofy, likable people, right? We use self-effacing as an excuse for our opinionated babble and lack of evidence. "I probably sound dumb, but..." becomes a clause in our writing to give us an out when we buckle under the weight of our arguments. An example comes from an older article written by Tim Rogers about Metal Gear Solid 2: "As a fourteen-year-old with an IQ as high as my weight (I was a big kid), I found myself confused by the movie 'Patriot Games.'" While the watching Patriot Games at 14 reference has some slight relevance to the article, the phrase "with an IQ as high as my weight (I was a big kid)" turns the article's focus solely onto himself. Do we need the weight reference? Not really - it doesn't do anything in the article besides painting an irreverent picture of the writer. Does the clever note that he was as smart as he was overweight change how one reads the article? Only in that we now know that Rogers is really, really, ridiculously smart. The opening of the article doesn't even describe the game - it's Rogers stating his past experience with an action movie staring Harrison Ford as proof he can intelligently overturn mainstream game criticism. I'm not joining Parsons to pick on some random blogger - I got Rogers' Metal Gear article from the Guardian's list of ten "unmissable" examples of New Game Journalism. This is the stuff we're proudly presenting to the mainstream media to prove we're all grown up now and ready for our Pulitzers. New Game Journalism, in its most popular form, is a misnomer. Let's try "New Game Reviews" and "New Game Editorials". Reviews aren't journalism; no matter how many big words and critical theory we toss into a review, they remain opinionated pieces solely using the writer's personal feelings as evidence. And editorials, which are articles such as this and Rogers' defense of Metal Gear Solid 2, only cover a larger range of material. That's not to say New Game Journalism doesn't exist. I may not always agree with Brian Crecente's opinions on Kotaku but the man (coincidentally a career newspaper journalist) always buttresses his opinions with statistics and links to related stories. GamePolitics also does a great job of giving interesting views on game-related stories without painting a self-portrait in the opening paragraphs. Am I guilty of the issues I describe above? Yes, I am. I've easily written my fair-share of masturbatory reviews and editorials. But this doesn't excuse me and this doesn't mean we can't as a group of writers learn from our mistakes. Every time we write an article, we should reread it and ask ourselves one very important question: "Am I writing about my experiences with game to draw attention to myself, or am I writing about the game to change the way others experience it?" Comments
I was very interested to read those articles as well. I currently write for both Mobhunter and Caster's Realm, two Everquest websites. I focus primarily on news and editorials that either dissect some element of the game or just cover the news and what (in my opinion) it means. Mobhunter has an open forum and I often got hit for my bias towards the game. Yes, I get to go out and meet the developers to chat about the game. Yes, they often pay my way. Do I write because of that? No. Do I temper my words because I know them? I hope not but its hard to tell. I sat down and wrote a snotty Citizen-Kane-like Declaration of Principles with two rules: 1. Attempt to help players better enjoy Everquest. 2. Help SOE make Everquest a better game. Cleary these goals aren't objective but I won't shy away from criticism as long as it has a larger goal. However, I never really considered myself a Game Journalist. I'm a writer and I write about Everquest. I wrote about it before I went to Mobhunter and Caster's Realm. I consider myself more of a lucky fan who read Strunk and White and isn't afraid to dig past the typical MMO stereotypes and talk about some of the subjects. I do what I do because I love the game, I want people to enjoy it, and I want to see it get better. One site that I think is clearly a great bit of Game Journalism is Terra Nova, an academic look at massive online gaming. I have found their editorials to be some of the best around: http://terranova.blogs.com/ The original articles of this topic, however, did make me think and question my own motivations - as did this article. Do I inject myself too much in what I write? Do I try to be funny at my own expense? Maybe it's time I actually read about journalism instead of just about games. Maybe I can do a better service by just focusing on the topics and taking out my big head. It's a very interesting topic. Speaking of injecting ones self into a piece of game journalism, I couldn't help but remember this and laugh: http://www.gamegirladvance.com/archives/2002/10/26/sex_in_games_rezvibrator.html How's that for putting yourself into an article? =) Great article and great toopic, Mike Shea ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.gamegirladvance.com/nav-commenters.gif) on January 2, 2006 06:04 PM
I was very interested to read those articles as well. I currently write for both Mobhunter and Caster's Realm, two Everquest websites. I focus primarily on news and editorials that either dissect some element of the game or just cover the news and what (in my opinion) it means. Mobhunter has an open forum and I often got hit for my bias towards the game. Yes, I get to go out and meet the developers to chat about the game. Yes, they often pay my way. Do I write because of that? No. Do I temper my words because I know them? I hope not but its hard to tell. I sat down and wrote a snotty Citizen-Kane-like Declaration of Principles with two rules: 1. Attempt to help players better enjoy Everquest. 2. Help SOE make Everquest a better game. Cleary these goals aren't objective but I won't shy away from criticism as long as it has a larger goal. However, I never really considered myself a Game Journalist. I'm a writer and I write about Everquest. I wrote about it before I went to Mobhunter and Caster's Realm. I consider myself more of a lucky fan who read Strunk and White and isn't afraid to dig past the typical MMO stereotypes and talk about some of the subjects. I do what I do because I love the game, I want people to enjoy it, and I want to see it get better. One site that I think is clearly a great bit of Game Journalism is Terra Nova, an academic look at massive online gaming. I have found their editorials to be some of the best around: http://terranova.blogs.com/ The original articles of this topic, however, did make me think and question my own motivations - as did this article. Do I inject myself too much in what I write? Do I try to be funny at my own expense? Maybe it's time I actually read about journalism instead of just about games. Maybe I can do a better service by just focusing on the topics and taking out my big head. It's a very interesting topic. Speaking of injecting ones self into a piece of game journalism, I couldn't help but remember this and laugh: http://www.gamegirladvance.com/archives/2002/10/26/sex_in_games_rezvibrator.html How's that for putting yourself into an article? =) Great stuff, I thank you. Mike Shea on January 2, 2006 06:05 PM
Gah, sorry for the double post =( Feel free to delete one (and this note) when you are able. Posted by: Mike Shea on January 2, 2006 06:06 PM
Personally, I'm more into game entertainment than game learning (or journalism, I suppose), which affects how I view and shape the world. This holds true whether it comes to designing a game, or writing a feature about a game or gaming culture. Is that bad? I don't feel bad about it. In all the recent editorials/blogs on this topic - the tone, subject, target audience, and intended results of game writing are often being lumped into the same silo, which assumes all game writers (and their audiences) should prescribe to a particular way of life, really. Huh? What is the highest echelon of game writing? What's important in game writing isn't going to be the same for every writer, publication, or audience - nor should it be. The subject and tone are a direct reflection of who we are as human beings. So then it comes down to personal taste – or opinion. While we can argue about what's good, bad, interesting, boring, or how "we" should approach game writing - in the end it doesn't matter. As writers, it's not our call – it's not for us to decide what's relevant, important, or enjoyable to people. Anyway, when all is said and done - nature has a way of working itself out. In game writing, or game development for that matter. Ultimately, shit sinks. And if it floats, it won't float for long. By the way, I'm not saying people shouldn't write certain things. In fact, I'm stating people SHOULD write what they want, and let nature write the checks. In writing, art, business, music, or anything else - keep true to your vision. Where am I going with this now? sorry for the ramble-rant. must.. sleep... now. Posted by: mumra on January 16, 2006 03:32 AM
oh yeah, what's a masturbatory review or editorial? there's only one I know of, and it was one of the coolest game features I've ever read. Posted by: mumra on January 16, 2006 03:39 AM
jpb ppyt psycholog zdrowa żywność nieruchomości projektowanie stron agencja reklamowa soczewki kontaktowe nauka angielskiego agroturystyka opony klimatyzacja domy opieki akupunktura hydraulik projektowanie wnętrz soha jpk paa ki wypadki tfrd jh sw jft pp fdr Posted by: outsider on April 16, 2006 02:06 AM
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545dictionarysearch definations ukraine portal europe weather Blogs hostArts definations Home definations Science definations Computer definations news definations Shoping definations Games definations Recreation definations Society definations Health definations Reference definations Sport definations World definations Psychology definations Environment definations Biotechnology definations Acoustics definations Agriculture definations Anthropology definations Chemistry definations on August 17, 2006 02:45 PM
computers archive blog pc archive lan news laptop blog hardware archive news music blog archive sound archive stars life news jazz music archive pop news blog auto moto blog cars info archive tunning cars blog crash news archive traffic problems blog war status info iraq war archive iran nuclear problem hot war places weapon news archive continent blog country archive blog usa news in web uk politics information mild archiver blog Posted by: Allan on September 18, 2006 12:47 PM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out) (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
|
I've enjoyed:
Archives
August 2009
July 2009 June 2009 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 Category Archives
About GGA (15) Academia (26) Advertising (3) Art (25) Books (9) Business (42) Conferences (18) Criticism (22) Culture (20) Design (6) Economics (6) Entertainment (19) Events (65) Experimental (32) Fashion (25) Features (18) Food (3) Fun (16) Gender (26) Humor (35) Jane's Journal (78) Journalism (27) Law (18) Marketing (10) Military (3) MMOG (33) Movies (16) Music (18) News (16) People (37) Politics (42) Preview (4) Research (14) Review (4) Scandal! (2) Sex (12) Society (47) Technology (22) Television (4) Theory (27) Travel (1) Trends (25) Upcoming Releases (12) Web (12) WTF? (28) |