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Games Journalism! Wainwright/Florence/Tomb Raider/Eurogamer/Libel Threats/Doritos

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B

Brashnir

Member
Opiate said:
A great example of the subtle ways the industry can be manipulated are in the selection process for journalists.

Consider, for example, two prospective gaming journalists, one of whom has a preference for mechanical complexity -- perhaps highly elaborate strategy games a la tabletop gaming -- and another who likes to blow stuff up a la most AAA games this generation.

It is likely that the guy who naturally prefers tabletop gaming is going to give higher scores to games like Hearts of Iron III, while the guy who loves the big titles from the current big Western publishers is likely to give better scores to games like Call of Duty or Gears of War or Killzone (and perhaps he does not review HoI at all).

I believe that second prospective journalist who is really in to AAA "blockbuster" gaming is much more likely to get and maintain a job in the gaming journalism industry. In other words, I think in some cases manipulation of journalists is unnecessary -- the journalists are essentially pre-selected because of their predilection for what the AAA Publishers are already doing. It's a lot easier to get an endless stream of 8.0s and 9.5s from people who have already bought in to the system before they're even given the job.
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I think that's true, and also find it frustrating that reviews for specific games are so often given to the person on staff most likely to like that game. Halo reviews are always done by the big FPS fan, Starcraft reviews are always the RTS guy, etc. Movie reviewers review movies of all types, not just their very favorite genre(s).

A lot of the potential audience for a game isn't necessarily genre/franchise superfans, yet that's usually entirely who reviews them.
 
E

EternalGamer

Banned
Dennis said:
That sure doesn't look like a PR copypaste filler article.....

PR problem: How do we get our press release in front of the eyeballs of gamers?

Solution: Kotaku, Joystiq, Polygon etc.
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I signed up to their site and logged in just to give them shit for this story in the comments.

That is the only way this shit ever changes. Embarrass them.
 
H

HoosTrax

Member
PaulLFC said:
I find it interesting that sites like GAF, GameTrailers and wosland are rehosting the original, unedited version of the article and Wainwright hasn't threatened to sue them. To me that says that the original threat was made on the strength of what libel threats can do, rather than any genuine belief that an actual libel case would be successful.
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GAF is an American site is it not? I'm not entirely sure what our laws are in that regard, but I do recall that the last line of John Walker's most recent RPS article did indicate that libel suits are potentially very costly for the defendants, at least in the UK.
 
H

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
Floex said:
The first 'news' article on Polygon right now



Journalism
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This could literally just be a press release. I've been trying to find the original contest announcement online just to be sure it's not.

i5B9GDqUf34jp.PNG


Brought to you by Internet Explorer.
 
Z

Zaph

Member
Clear said:
Question: If you're a fan of a particular game series or genre, would you rather it be reviewed by someone who is also a know fan, or somebody who has an established dislike of games of that type?

Assuming all else is equal, who is going to give you a report most relevant to your interests and expectations?
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If it's an either/or option: established dislike.

If I like a particular series, chances are I'm already going to buy the game, so I would prefer a review that explicitly covers all the negatives in case one triggers my "fuck that, not buying it" deal breakers.
 
L

Lancehead

Member
Clear said:
Question: If you're a fan of a particular game series or genre, would you rather it be reviewed by someone who is also a know fan, or somebody who has an established dislike of games of that type?

Assuming all else is equal, who is going to give you a report most relevant to your interests and expectations?
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Definitely the latter. I find that there's more potential to learn something new when there's a conflict of opinions.
 
F

Flavius

Member
Obviously, Andrea or Garnett should have disclosed Andrea's relationship with EA and either had her refrain from offering an opinion on NFS, or perhaps some additional, conspicuous reminder of that connection.

At the same time, the calling for her virtual head on a platter, and that she should be banished to never return for this, without even allowing for a response is pretty fucking horrible.
 
B

bigdaddygamebot

Member
Htown said:
This could literally just be a press release. I've been trying to find the original contest announcement online just to be sure it's not.

i5B9GDqUf34jp.PNG


Brought to you by Internet Explorer.
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Might be nothing.

Might also be something considering Wainwright and Gera (author of this garbage) are friends on Facebook.

See?

This is why you take steps to not look like a bunch of shadey assholes.
 
A

AkuMifune

Banned
Htown said:
This could literally just be a press release. I've been trying to find the original contest announcement online just to be sure it's not.
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I know it's a dumb little thing, but I called her out on twitter for it. If we really want people to see we won't accept this crap I think we should at least making a stink when we see it happen.

Though I'm sure I'll just get flamed for attacking her. I can deal with that. Whose next?

bigdaddygamebot said:
Might be nothing.

Might also be something considering Wainwright and Gera (author of this garbage) are friends on Facebook.

See?

This is why you take steps to not look like a bunch of shadey assholes.
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Jesus christ. It just keeps going deeper.
 
N

Ninja Scooter

Member
Flavius said:
Obviously, Andrea or Garnett should have disclosed Andrea's relationship with EA and either had her refrain from offering an opinion on NFS, or perhaps some additional, conspicuous reminder of that connection.

At the same time, the calling for her virtual head on a platter, and that she should be banished to never return for this, without even allowing for a response is pretty fucking horrible.
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I think people are jaded to the idea that we probably a) wont get any response or b) any response we get will be very condescending in nature.
 
E

EternalGamer

Banned
Flavius said:
Obviously, Andrea or Garnett should have disclosed Andrea's relationship with EA and either had her refrain from offering an opinion on NFS, or perhaps some additional, conspicuous reminder of that connection.

At the same time, the calling for her virtual head on a platter, and that she should be banished to never return for this, without even allowing for a response is pretty fucking horrible.
Click to expand...

She is the one that dismissed and constantly tried to shut down the entire conversation about this topic last week. She could have addressed it then. Before she got caught with her hand in the damn cookie jar. But instead, she didn't even try to talk about anything remotely like this as a "grey area." She just said that the whole discussion was "popycock" while she was doing the exact fucking thing she was dismissing. How can you possibly defend that?

It doesn't help that she is generally vapid, reactionary, and non-reflective in general anyway. Those are perhaps even better reasons for her not to be the show but this stuff is pretty unacceptable as far as I'm concerned.

You don't have to agree and that's fine. And if they want to gamble that there are more people like you than like me, they are welcome. I have been following Garnet since the EGM days. I listened to every single 1up Yours and I followed him to Shack News for Weekend Confirmed. I will not keep listening if she stays on the show. Just on the principle of what we have been exploring in this entire thread about what we actually want out of games media. Her behavior is the antithesis of that in pretty much every conceivable way.
 
H

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
Oh fuck.

Reworded press release CONFIRMED.

Polygon:
i5B9GDqUf34jp.PNG


Videogamer.com
iy6n46eEwRbdR.PNG


EGMnow.com
ibs8I7OBa5y5IA.PNG


Three unrelated sites.

GAMES JOURNALISM YOU GUYS
 
F

Flavius

Member
Ninja Scooter said:
I think people are jaded to the idea that we probably a) wont get any response or b) any response we get will be very condescending in nature.
Click to expand...

Not out of the question, but at this point, seems like either one of those approaches would be a pretty massive blunder on their (that is, Garnett & Andrea's) part.
 
S

SmokyDave

Member
This thread is wreaking havoc on my waistline. I really want some KFC and a Pizza.

That aside, this whole thing has been fascinating to follow.
 
B

bigdaddygamebot

Member
EternalGamer said:
She is the one that dismissed and constantly tried to shut down the entire conversation about this topic last week. She could have addressed it then. Before she got caught with her hand in the damn cookie jar. But instead, she didn't even try to talk about anything remotely like this as a "grey area." She just said that the whole discussion was "popycock" while she was doing the exact fucking thing she was dismissing. How can you possibly defend that?

It doesn't help that she is generally vapid, reactionary, and non-reflective in general anyway. Those are perhaps even better reasons for her not to be the show but this stuff is pretty unacceptable as far as I'm concerned.

You don't have to agree and that's fine. And if they want to gamble that there are more people like you than like me, they are welcome. I will not keep listening. Just on the principle of what we have been exploring in this entire thread about what we actually want out of games media. Her behavior is the antithesis of that in pretty much every conceivable way.
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Well...if I was dim AND guilty of the same fucking things Wainwright is guilty of...I wouldn't want to talk about it either.
 
B

Branduil

Member
RedNumberFive said:
You'd think that, in light of recent events, these guys would cool it for a bit.

Fucking shameless...
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These last few days have done nothing but confirm that a very sizable percentage of games "journalists" are nothing but shills without an ounce of shame, scruples, or self-awareness.
 
E

Empty

Member
rewriting press releases isn't solely the reserve of games journalism. the great book 'flat earth news' about uk journalism in general argues, using extensive research, that a huge proportion of news stories in our papers originate from them.

but it's still embarrassing as fuck. especially for the best of the best, gamechanging team at polygon.
 
G

Gomu Gomu

Member
rycYu.png


Glad to see other big site readers doing the BS calling.


Quote said:
OP is a little behind. I don't think they've been to GAF since Jeff posted. Even the guy a couple pages back who is helping keep it up to date is missing the new Jeff stuff, though on the "release notes" it said it was added and has 5 links, but I don't see them.
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I Hope this helps http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=43773603&postcount=5253

RedNumberFive said:
I get it, you like the Giant Bomb guys. I do too, but if we're going to hold game journalists accountable, we can't exclude the GB crew. They has been just as culpable of receiving trips, freebies, etc. Just because they talk about it, doesn't make them immune to criticism.
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They weren't immune to criticism. Go read the first pages. The fact that Jeff actually posted here multiple times and said what he said gives him and his site a break, in my opinion. Especially when you consider the absolute silence or being dismissive or joking about it by others.
 
R

RedNumberFive

Banned
Branduil said:
These last few days have done nothing but confirm that a very sizable percentage of games "journalists" are nothing but shills without an ounce of shame, scruples, or self-awareness.
Click to expand...

Well at the very least we've confirmed that Polygon isn't the game changer they were making themselves out to be.
 
T

Talon

Member
This is all I'll say regarding rewritten press releases (I worked for a business magazine for a year, reporting to the EIC).

There are only a few ways you can rewrite a press release and, frankly, if it's really minor ass news - you're told not to spend much time on it other than changing some verbiage.
 
S

ShockingAlberto

Member
Wainright, at the time, seemed like someone that was scared of how this would affect her career and insulted that she was being called out for what's unfortunately normal in the industry. That's actually understandable.

The point where it went from "Ugh, okay" to "Holy shit fuck you" is when she started dancing on graves with her tweets and lying about her participation. Any shred of sympathy I had for the situation went down the toilet.
 
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