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Sophia Narwitz: Gaming journalism insider outs 'clique' that does not tolerate right leaning newcomers

makaveli60

Member
It is quite funny how it played out.

Gamers: Hey there's some kinda funny business going on with the gaming press, don't you think? Look at -
Gaming Press: GAMERS ARE MISOGYNISTS, RACISTS, AND HOMOPHOBES, and videogaming is no longer about them please do not pay them any attention.
The same tactic this cancerous brigade use for everything they don't agree with.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
The terms left and right are so meaningless these days. I don't think the majority of people have their priorities right, at all. Has it ever crossed people's mind that what we read and see is all fabricated, designed to turn people against each other?

It is called social engineering.

The real culture war online isn’t left vs right, it’s authoritarianism vs liberty.
 

DryvBy

Member
No that I support any of this, but if you visit any of these sites it's fairly obvious that this is the case. It'd be one thing if we were talking about sites that present themselves as apolitical but that's not really the case with Kotaku/Polygon/Eurogamer, etc.
I doubt it would be much different on an openly right wing videogame publication.

What we need is not more right wing or left wing writers, it's more gaming sites with no politics. Reading a good article from a good journalist on a good gaming site (which doesn't exist) I shouldn't really be able to tell what the political views of the writer are, because those views should be irrelevant to what he/she is writing.

But AlL gAmEs ArE pOlItIcAl!
 

makaveli60

Member
The real culture war online isn’t left vs right, it’s authoritarianism vs liberty.
And they distort these notions too, screaming fascist to everyone who they disagree with. It's like a fucking nightmare, I can't believe that we live in a world like this. I couldn't imagine that reality can be like this when I was younger. Seems truly like the endtimes.
 
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Well the division just keeps growing and growing.... I mean look at the two forums. The old and the new, the right and the left..

Not so many people left here but I feel it’s re-growing slowly with time. For my personal preference I prefer the discussion here. It’s more, discussion based rather than whatever that other place is like.

Most of the time I won’t even bother posting my opinion about anything slightly political on the chance I might get it wrong and bring a house of cards down on my head. I’m even considering not posting this for those reasons and I count myself a chronic fence sitter.
 
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Barnabot

Member
Why is there even politics in games?
so irritating and annoying.

some losers think it's a good idea to indoctrinate the people who like to play videogames since it's mainstream thing and everybody seems to be doing in one way or another by pushing (in a very subtle way ) some hints and ideas about how their political view in real world are good and do good even though it's a lie in real life.


hell i wanna see the girls on bikini firing rocket launchers at vampires while I'm flying with my Gripen E.
 

EviLore

Expansive Ellipses
Staff Member
And they distort these notions too, screaming fascist to everyone who they disagree with. It's like a fucking nightmare, I can't believe that we live in a world like this. I couldn't imagine that reality can be like this when I was younger. Seems truly like the endtimes.

We’re still in the infancy of social media, the decentralization of news and information, and the internet in general. Humans haven’t lived in anything resembling this kind of world before, and it’s natural for there to be problems.

We’ll adapt and overcome.
 
No that I support any of this, but if you visit any of these sites it's fairly obvious that this is the case. It'd be one thing if we were talking about sites that present themselves as apolitical but that's not really the case with Kotaku/Polygon/Eurogamer, etc.
I doubt it would be much different on an openly right wing videogame publication.

What we need is not more right wing or left wing writers, it's more gaming sites with no politics. Reading a good article from a good journalist on a good gaming site (which doesn't exist) I shouldn't really be able to tell what the political views of the writer are, because those views should be irrelevant to what he/she is writing.
I don't care that left wing journalists and devs exist. What I care about is whether or not equal opportunity exists for those with opposing views. Are there authoritarian players behind the scenes who are making it harder for those with conservative or Christian values to break into the industry? Or is it really just the market that is dictating this. That is the question.

And then there is the question of representation in AAA studios. I'm not going to stand here and shout,
giphy.gif
. But at the same time, I don't think it's wrong to simply point out that, 1: Hey, I would like to be represented in a way that doesn't make me look like a monster. 2: That It's hypocritical to say that you are trying to be more inclusive... when it seems like you are forcefully excluding an entire group of people, or at the very least, negatively interpreting that representation... Especially when you are talking about somethings influence which reaches millions upon millions and, sadly, is affecting politics on a global scale as a bi-product. When the big players seemingly ALL skew in one direction(I can't think of any AAA studios that have released a "conservative" skewing game, or that have openly conservative devs working for them.)... I think it's ok to start asking these questions.

EDIT: To expound a bit on point #1: This doesn't mean that I am opposed to you representing me as a monster. There are "Christians" and "Conservatives" in name that I myself would see as monsters. That being the sole way I am accepted as being represented across the industry is the issue. Not that you only chose the "Monster" me in your game if that's truly what you wanted.
 
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makaveli60

Member
We’re still in the infancy of social media, the decentralization of news and information, and the internet in general. Humans haven’t lived in anything resembling this kind of world before, and it’s natural for there to be problems.

We’ll adapt and overcome.
I hope so. Thankfully more and more people are waking up and start to realize the bullshit but this madness is still spreading strongly thanks to mainstream media. At least we have this place where sanity rules. The chasm was the best thing that could happen to this place. Such an awesome community here now.
 

iconmaster

Banned
All it took is replying lol to someone that posted something to him asking for a job for him to block me.

Jason, baby. Please! I need your approval!

Odd that he hasn't blocked me for being part of the same replies. I'm not worth the trouble, I guess.
 
We’re still in the infancy of social media, the decentralization of news and information, and the internet in general. Humans haven’t lived in anything resembling this kind of world before, and it’s natural for there to be problems.

We’ll adapt and overcome.
I'm not so sure.

The control of information is incredibly dangerous. And I am not talking about Companies controlling information in this post, but rather individuals controlling information they intake. Twitter, Facebook, and the overall individual ability to decide what the news and information is, a choose your own adventure style...

Look at how Black Americans suffered for so long before White Americans were exposed to the stories of an Emmett Till for example. Now one could argue that Newspapers failed to suppress stories of suffrage like before. However I'd only give at maximum 50% to Companies and the "Elites" of the time. The other half being "echo chambers" that small towns and communities around the USA. The kind that disconnects people from information, differing opinions and viewpoints, and experiences.

And every website allows users to basically create your own echo chamber. Deciding to not hear people based on past opinions or facts that hurt your tum-tum
 
I think the fact that I can't think of one games journalist that is a centrist, let alone an actual right winger, is just about evidence enough. Colin Moriarty is the last openly conservative games journo I can think of. When I say games journo, obviously I'm talking about the establishment media, not some youtubers (nothing against youtubers).

On the bright side, almost all of these media outlets are in their death throes and this rage bait bullshit is a clear indicator of that. As the article mentions, the goofiness is done for the clicks.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
The lack of political diversity in mainstream games journalism is an undeniable, observable fact.

They are, to all intents and purposes an ideological bloc.

The only reason they don't see this for the problem it unquestionably is, is because they are united by an undeserved sense of self-righteousness. They feel that they are the ones "on the right side of history" and their duty is to hold the line against the forces of darkness.

Darkness in this case being anyone to the political right of their own "progressive" position, which of course being a relatively extreme ideology includes everyone from the left-of-center to the alt-right.
 
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cormack12

Gold Member
The industry's treatment of Colin for a fucking dad joke was a disgrace and an embarrassment.

This was just way over the top and a watershed moment I believe. It was such a flippant little satirical piss take out of the generalisation as a whole. I can't blieve it almost ruins a mans career.

On topic, the main problem, I think is the move to freelancer crowd sourcing content. Nowadays it's too easy to sign up, have a basic test submission then get on the books for $20 an article of 600 words for a lot of these sites. For transparency, this doesn't apply only to certain sites but a lot of others as well. You have a lot of people who don't care about the subject matter who:

1. want to get a publishing cred for a major online outlet
2. don't really want to talk about games, so conjure up a story around a very basic political fallacy and then basically use it as an outlet to self fellate themselves and illustrate to everyone how they can see these deeper meanings and can read the 'obvious' subtext. They are purely self massaging - look at clever me - pieces, that ironically have the deduction and base interpetation of a juvenile
3. over indulge personalities and celebrities that what they're doing and creating is really profound art. And basically turns into an ass kissing piece with no actual words around technical proficiency or skillset
4. try to convince everyone that playing games is so deep and they can legitimise every game as a meta commentary on social and political issues in the real world. Did you know Left 4 Dead was actually inspired by Blood in the Water in the Olympics of 1956, for example? The creator's haven't said that but this is what I see - and let's face it I'm right.......

I've made no secret that I think sophnar0747 sophnar0747 actually writes decent write ups of games (as well) but she is most well known for being the voice of opposition against the poison that is currently in the positions of power and privilege in games coverage. I think the current climate just diminishes a lot of good writers out there who's only way to eb relevant is to give an opinion on these opinions - e.g. the Quartering can make an entire career about reporting what the latest feud is. And you know what, it's funny and cathartic to see this play out and point out hypocrisy but damn, where is the actual gaming news?
 

Neff

Member
How about we just leave politics out of gaming? It’s all cancer.

Politics in games is fine, so long as artists are brave enough to accept the inherent flaws of their political views, like any one should do, since no political system is perfect.

Politics in games as a means to preach, gain attention, wallow in self-pity, feed misanthropy, label demographics, fuel paranoia, erode trust, and generally justify all of humanity's worst, primitively addictive personality traits- has got to go.
 

Cybrwzrd

Banned
Of course.

Schreier's response actually makes me angry. Is he actually incapable of imagining what it would be like for a conservative writer to attempt to get a job at one of these sites? I'm sure he wouldn't want to work with any. I suppose in his mind it's only a conspiracy if there's an anti-conservative hiring policy on paper to point to. Otherwise, it's just "the way things are."

Schreier sounds a bit like a fat cat Hollywood exec. I am sure there was no policy on paper that said that actresses had to give blowjobs to get a part, but it certainly played into their selection process. That's just the way things are.
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
Also, those replies :messenger_tears_of_joy::messenger_tears_of_joy::messenger_tears_of_joy:









:messenger_tears_of_joy: :messenger_tears_of_joy: :messenger_tears_of_joy: :messenger_tears_of_joy: Who the fuck has time to block that amount of people instead of just ignoring them. Fragile.

That manlet bleating out "conspiracy theory" shows how truly out of touch these trash-peddlers are with the internet at large. Nowadays, there are few dismissals more indicative of something going on than resorting to "conspiracy theory" :goog_rofl:
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
I think the fact that I can't think of one games journalist that is a centrist, let alone an actual right winger, is just about evidence enough. Colin Moriarty is the last openly conservative games journo I can think of. When I say games journo, obviously I'm talking about the establishment media, not some youtubers (nothing against youtubers).

On the bright side, almost all of these media outlets are in their death throes and this rage bait bullshit is a clear indicator of that. As the article mentions, the goofiness is done for the clicks.

Isn’t he Libertarian?
 

McCheese

Member
Imagine working for Kotaku and feeling proud of yourself, didn't they have screenshots of virtual child porn just a few months ago, and he's still accepting a paycheque from them? classy dude, and that's the best of them? really?

I like to play devil's advocate, but really can't think of any counter-argument to Sophia's point, there have been numerous examples of west-coast journalists not only gatekeeping to keep centralist and right-wind journalists out, but also doubling down and defending their own.

Gamergate was literally because half of them dicked-down Zoe Quin for review scores and didn't want to admit it was unethical, and let's not forget the hypocrisy of them constantly trying to get right-wing developers fired for not injecting the correct politics into their games (Kingdom Come, Cyberpunk), but they then painted Patrick "rape time" Klepek as a poor innocent doxing victim when it turned out he had a pile of old racist/sexist tweets of his own.

I'd probably argue that Brighton-based Eurogamer are nowhere near as bad as the others listed, but the rest is spot on.
 
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I totally believe this. Iv talked to a few people from these so called gameing journalism companies and they are left leaning and not like good left leaning. I can see people at IGN being members of antifa and attaching people. They are just all weak sad people. i dont care what anyones political views are. I love ryan Mcaffreys stuff but I know I wouldn't like that guy on a personal level., and that doesnt matter. It would be nice to have people who are in these companies who arnt going to be offended by everything and more righ leaning or center even. Jason Scher also just seems like a sad human being who thinks hes better than you but constantly says he doesnt think that way. but all this is just my opinion.
 

Sota4077

Member
Well the division just keeps growing and growing.... I mean look at the two forums. The old and the new, the right and the left..

Not so many people left here but I feel it’s re-growing slowly with time. For my personal preference I prefer the discussion here. It’s more, discussion based rather than whatever that other place is like.

Most of the time I won’t even bother posting my opinion about anything slightly political on the chance I might get it wrong and bring a house of cards down on my head. I’m even considering not posting this for those reasons and I count myself a chronic fence sitter.

I would rather publicly state my belief be wrong and get corrected than live silently ignorant and wrong but that's just me.
 

KAL2006

Banned
I hate this right this, left that shit I keep hearing these days. What happened to just having a mixture of different opinions why you gotta be on a side.

As for people bitching about not being able to get a job, get over it, create you own company, website youtube channel whatever. Didn't that Colin guy make his own shit that flopped anyway. Greg has his own show and I guess he is successful, Colin needs to stop crying release you own show, make your own website if people like your articles, writing, videos they will check it out. If it flops then I guess no one is interested.

For me personally I hate most gaming media, j only watch trailers. Check out a few things on EasyAllies, Kinda funny is garbage only content from them I like is when Garry Whitta is on the show, maybe cause I'm British.
 
Jason Schreier has basically confirmed what Sophia Narwitz has reported. He can't name a single right-leaning employee at his organization, and he has blocked anyone who has challenged him on this issue. He could have shut this entire debate down in 20 seconds if he was right about this being "conspiracy theory nonsense." Instead, he ran back to the safety of his bubble. Obviously, the guy is too unhinged to deal with the real world.
He uses Blocklists, the cowards way out of blocking people. I had never engaged him on Twitter (had a friendly reply by him here in old GAF though) and I'm blocked.

Anyone using these sweeping blocklists is a schmuck.
 

Riven326

Banned
Jason Schreier has basically confirmed what Sophia Narwitz has reported. He can't name a single right-leaning employee at his organization, and he has blocked anyone who has challenged him on this issue. He could have shut this entire debate down in 20 seconds if he was right about this being "conspiracy theory nonsense." Instead, he ran back to the safety of his bubble. Obviously, the guy is too unhinged to deal with the real world.
Like so many of the leftist freaks. He retreats when challenged. The only reason these people have gained so much ground is because we were complacent.
 

Shmunter

Member
We’re still in the infancy of social media, the decentralization of news and information, and the internet in general. Humans haven’t lived in anything resembling this kind of world before, and it’s natural for there to be problems.

We’ll adapt and overcome.
I like your optimism.

But seemingly this brave new world is becoming overwhelmingly colonised by Authoritarian basket cases. They have more time & they scream the loudest. These voices are shaping the discourse and mindset of the young and impressionable thinking it’s the status quo. It’s snowballing.

I hope the outcome will not be adaptation by falling into line. It’s frightening what’s happening, and I worry for the future. It’s critical to encourage diversity of thought and stamp out fake diversity based on superficial attributes.
 
D

Deleted member 471617

Unconfirmed Member
Not really surprised. There's a reason why I have continued to follow Colin and agree/side with him the vast majority of the time because as he's been saying for years - Colin was right.
 
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