« The Five Biggest Trends of 2005 | Main | New Meaning for Solid Snake. »

01/02/2006

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Mike Shea

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
http://mikeshea.net/
http://mobhunter.com/

Mike Shea

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
http://mikeshea.net/
http://mobhunter.com/

Mike Shea

Gah, sorry for the double post =( Feel free to delete one (and this note) when you are able.

mumra

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?
Do I even want to be a part of that movement?

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.

mumra

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.

outsider

jpb ppyt psycholog zdrowa ywno nieruchomoci projektowanie stron agencja reklamowa soczewki kontaktowe nauka angielskiego agroturystyka opony klimatyzacja domy opieki akupunktura hydraulik projektowanie wntrz soha jpk paa ki wypadki tfrd jh sw jft pp fdr

Allan

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

Allan

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

The comments to this entry are closed.

Subscribe to the mailing list!

* indicates required