(or: a loose letter to *some* parts of the games media)
(or: how to be better than a games journalist in one easy step)
To a.) reduce the confusion, and b.) show how lazy the journalists from these sites are in researching and presenting these stories, I made this follow up to the previous Shenmue III PayPal rewards thread to reflect current events and correctly inform people of what is actually happening.
First and foremost, some housekeeping R.E Shenmue III slacker backers on PayPal
Everybody will get what they paid for via PayPal, this is true for current and future slacker backers. Nothing is being taken away.
Now, the meat of this thread. From Polygon:
From Eurogamer (the problem is the misleading title, the article itself clarifies the issue correctly at the end, though it looks like the comments section missed... all of that):
From Engadget:
And finally, from the Shenmue III Kickstarter:
This Kickstarter update was made on the 3rd of December, it is only the fourth update scrolling down the updates tab (third if you're not a backer), it is a public update, and the above quote? The first full paragraph of that update.
Congrats games journalists, I didn't think you were lazy enough to forego less than a minute of research, but you proved me wrong. Inferring or outright stating that PayPal backers of Shenmue 3 would not get the items they paid for is ridiculous and a straight lie, it is an affront to the profession of journalism that the above examples could not be bothered to do the minimum amount of effort to get the story right from a research and presentation standpoint.
In the case of Eurogamer I'm very frustrated that they did actually present the story correctly, but buried the parts that proved there is no cause for alarm directly at the bottom of the article and masked it with an alarmist title. It's crazy how transparent this level of manipulation is, and even crazier that people are falling for it. Is Eurogamer's reputation as a respected games media website being abused in doing this?
Is this level of inaccuracy and obfuscation happening with every game that is covered by these sites? Why has this happened over and over with Shenmue III? Why are there continuing assertions that Sony is funding Shenmue III when it has been proven over and over that this isn't the case? Why did Eurogamer cheapen a great interview with Yu Suzuki by making money the focus of the title? Why does Ben Kuchera's weird, ranty hateboner thinkpiece about Shenmue III exist as legitimate journalist from a grown ass man? Why is this happening again, and again?
I had literally no idea parts of the games media were this totally fucked until Shenmue III was announced. Maybe it was always this way but I never cared enough to notice. Does the culture of desiring clicks dominate the games media so much that this little amount of effort is put into it? Is there any malicious intent behind doing this, is it plain ignorance, or is it just the cold business reality of getting eyes on your site? Why does games media thrive so much on real or fabricated controversy? For each shining spot of games media like The Point, there's all this shit to drag it down into the mud. It's a real shame, and a real disappointment.
It seems increasingly like the games media exists as its own little thing with a different set of rules and conventions to regular journalism. It functions as it should normally, reporting news and rumours, interviews, video content, thought & opinion articles, whatever. Then occasionally you get these "IS X TAKING YOUR Y?" alarmist articles full of conjecture with little evidence to support it, or incorrect reporting that takes a few minutes to realises is making a mountain out of a molehill. If it happened only a few times in a publication's history it could be chalked up to human error, but it happens all the time, and there's always a trend of the stories in these articles having consumers getting fucked over enormously. People get frothing mad, clicking through other regurgitated articles with the same spin on the same badly researched story. They'll go on and share the articles with friends, cite them in their YouTube videos, plaster them all over Twitter, everything. Exposure, clicks, ad revenue.
Is there knowingly or unknowingly a micro-industry in games media that thrives on bad reporting that exists to get people angry about a real or manufactured controversy? At this point, I'd say yeah, there probably is, and we fall for it all the time. I've gone into threads on here with alarmist titles and thought "WHAT?! YOU FUCKERS!", but it turns out to be nothing at all when you read more than just the headline or go straight to the source. We've all done this, and I've been seeing people falling for it in the case of Shenmue III every single time.
But whatever. It's only a game. No, really. For all I've just written, I've not really done it in the defence of Shenmue III. I know when new media is released in February all this will have probably have blown over, and those who want or are interested in Shenmue III will be excited all over again, and those who aren't- well, they'll be the same as ever.
I've written all this not only to just clear up a persistent misconception over the last few days about this PayPal thing, but to show how easy it is to get the truth when you're going to the source and not just looking at the skewed view being peddled by parts of the games media. But hey, it's still only a game right?
As an aside, if you want to think about the human impact of this anger industry, feel bad for Yu Suzuki.
Imagine telling a reporter this:
- and they run with the title "I could do with a bit more money!".
Says it all really. The games media don't like a happy ending. They don't care you're in the office from 6:30AM until 10PM even on weekends to make something that people will enjoy. They just want that controversial soundbite.
So sure, (some) games journalists, keep doing what you're doing, but the only people you're kidding are yourselves if you think you're a real journalist.
(minor note: i think the result of the poll is dumb so don't come at me with that "apologist" shit. check my post history, i got the receipts on that one)
EDIT: LMAO, spent a million years writing this and post it in off topic. Kill me.
(or: how to be better than a games journalist in one easy step)
To a.) reduce the confusion, and b.) show how lazy the journalists from these sites are in researching and presenting these stories, I made this follow up to the previous Shenmue III PayPal rewards thread to reflect current events and correctly inform people of what is actually happening.
First and foremost, some housekeeping R.E Shenmue III slacker backers on PayPal
Everybody will get what they paid for via PayPal, this is true for current and future slacker backers. Nothing is being taken away.
Now, the meat of this thread. From Polygon:
The Shenmue 3 Kickstarter campaign offers backers a plethora of exclusive rewards for contributing, from physical copies of the game in unique cases to specially engraved plaques. None of these gifts, however, will be available to those who donated via PayPal, according to the campaign's latest update.
From Eurogamer (the problem is the misleading title, the article itself clarifies the issue correctly at the end, though it looks like the comments section missed... all of that):
Shenmue 3 PayPal backers denied Kickstarter-exclusive reward options "as originally promised"
From Engadget:
But on the other, the PayPal backers were initially promised access to this stuff -- like a physical copy of the game for PlayStation 4.
And finally, from the Shenmue III Kickstarter:
KICKSTARTER REWARDS ON PAYPAL
Rewards labeled as “Kickstarter Exclusive” have not been offered on the PayPal site because we felt it was unfair to offer them after the Kickstarter had ended. There have been many requests, however, for certain rewards like the S3 World Telecom to be offered on the PayPal site. We would like everyone to weigh in and tell us what you think. If there is a strong consensus either way, the rewards will either remain as Kickstarter Exclusive, or will be offered on the PayPal site. Keeping our promise to you is very important to us; but at the same time, the PayPal site was set up precisely because fans could not back the Kickstarter and they feel they should not be penalized for that.
This Kickstarter update was made on the 3rd of December, it is only the fourth update scrolling down the updates tab (third if you're not a backer), it is a public update, and the above quote? The first full paragraph of that update.
Congrats games journalists, I didn't think you were lazy enough to forego less than a minute of research, but you proved me wrong. Inferring or outright stating that PayPal backers of Shenmue 3 would not get the items they paid for is ridiculous and a straight lie, it is an affront to the profession of journalism that the above examples could not be bothered to do the minimum amount of effort to get the story right from a research and presentation standpoint.
In the case of Eurogamer I'm very frustrated that they did actually present the story correctly, but buried the parts that proved there is no cause for alarm directly at the bottom of the article and masked it with an alarmist title. It's crazy how transparent this level of manipulation is, and even crazier that people are falling for it. Is Eurogamer's reputation as a respected games media website being abused in doing this?
Is this level of inaccuracy and obfuscation happening with every game that is covered by these sites? Why has this happened over and over with Shenmue III? Why are there continuing assertions that Sony is funding Shenmue III when it has been proven over and over that this isn't the case? Why did Eurogamer cheapen a great interview with Yu Suzuki by making money the focus of the title? Why does Ben Kuchera's weird, ranty hateboner thinkpiece about Shenmue III exist as legitimate journalist from a grown ass man? Why is this happening again, and again?
Is it ignorance? Sure, maybe, and human fallacy like that can be forgiven because it happens to us all.
- Is it malicious intent? If you're that malicious over a niche video game some people like, then you're petty on a scale nobody would ever be able to fathom.
- Or is it just out of a desire for clicks? You must have very dark intent if you abuse your position as a "trusted" member of the press like this.
I had literally no idea parts of the games media were this totally fucked until Shenmue III was announced. Maybe it was always this way but I never cared enough to notice. Does the culture of desiring clicks dominate the games media so much that this little amount of effort is put into it? Is there any malicious intent behind doing this, is it plain ignorance, or is it just the cold business reality of getting eyes on your site? Why does games media thrive so much on real or fabricated controversy? For each shining spot of games media like The Point, there's all this shit to drag it down into the mud. It's a real shame, and a real disappointment.
It seems increasingly like the games media exists as its own little thing with a different set of rules and conventions to regular journalism. It functions as it should normally, reporting news and rumours, interviews, video content, thought & opinion articles, whatever. Then occasionally you get these "IS X TAKING YOUR Y?" alarmist articles full of conjecture with little evidence to support it, or incorrect reporting that takes a few minutes to realises is making a mountain out of a molehill. If it happened only a few times in a publication's history it could be chalked up to human error, but it happens all the time, and there's always a trend of the stories in these articles having consumers getting fucked over enormously. People get frothing mad, clicking through other regurgitated articles with the same spin on the same badly researched story. They'll go on and share the articles with friends, cite them in their YouTube videos, plaster them all over Twitter, everything. Exposure, clicks, ad revenue.
Is there knowingly or unknowingly a micro-industry in games media that thrives on bad reporting that exists to get people angry about a real or manufactured controversy? At this point, I'd say yeah, there probably is, and we fall for it all the time. I've gone into threads on here with alarmist titles and thought "WHAT?! YOU FUCKERS!", but it turns out to be nothing at all when you read more than just the headline or go straight to the source. We've all done this, and I've been seeing people falling for it in the case of Shenmue III every single time.
But whatever. It's only a game. No, really. For all I've just written, I've not really done it in the defence of Shenmue III. I know when new media is released in February all this will have probably have blown over, and those who want or are interested in Shenmue III will be excited all over again, and those who aren't- well, they'll be the same as ever.
I've written all this not only to just clear up a persistent misconception over the last few days about this PayPal thing, but to show how easy it is to get the truth when you're going to the source and not just looking at the skewed view being peddled by parts of the games media. But hey, it's still only a game right?
As an aside, if you want to think about the human impact of this anger industry, feel bad for Yu Suzuki.
Imagine telling a reporter this:
Can Suzuki make the game that he wants, though, with the resources and technology at hand? "I could do with a bit more money! The game itself doesn't have to be gorgeous visually - a lot of the money these days goes into the graphics. If we perhaps compromise on the graphics and put more into the story, we can make a good game. The most important thing, to me, is that the game's interesting, and that it's something people want to play."
- and they run with the title "I could do with a bit more money!".
Says it all really. The games media don't like a happy ending. They don't care you're in the office from 6:30AM until 10PM even on weekends to make something that people will enjoy. They just want that controversial soundbite.
So sure, (some) games journalists, keep doing what you're doing, but the only people you're kidding are yourselves if you think you're a real journalist.
(minor note: i think the result of the poll is dumb so don't come at me with that "apologist" shit. check my post history, i got the receipts on that one)
EDIT: LMAO, spent a million years writing this and post it in off topic. Kill me.