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Gamespy: Should Diablo 3 have been first person?

H

HamPster PamPster

Member
I wonder who got hurt more by Jeff Green's post

The gamespy author or us knowing we aren't hearing his sweet dreamy commanding voice on Out of the Game delivering this justice
 
D

Dave Long

Banned
Yeah, this whole thing is why no one worthwhile is working in games journalism anymore. The EIC of Gamespy... *shakes head*
 
T

The Dutch Slayer

Member
Interfectum said:
a4c1af7e1e9c65938ad4558ac21dd4a63e427eb5.gif
Click to expand...
bwhahahhahahahah so awesome.
 
?

(._.)

Banned
JeffGreen said:
What's astonishing is that you still don't get it. Perhaps if you stopped being defensive/condescending, with some lordly above-it-all bemusement, and read and processed what some people are saying to you with even a modicum of humility, you might actually learn something and do your job better.

The problems are these:

1) You pose a question that no one gives a shit about, and then come to the conclusion that we were all at in the first place. The fact that you came to the same conclusion doesn't prove that you're on board with all the "ragers" and that therefore they had no beef -- it proves that you just wasted everyone's time with something that was inherently obvious and therefore not worth writing about in the first place. You think people misunderstood you because they didn't read all the way through. Wrong. The problem is that we DID read all the way through and realized you had nothing--zero--interesting or thoughtful or productive to say about the game.

2) Not only is Diablo one of the single biggest PC gaming franchises , but MANY OTHER of the biggest franchises--and not just RPGs-- ALSO have used isometric perspectives for decades now. You write about it as if it's some wacky, newfangled thing you've never heard about, which, sorry, makes it hard to take you seriously, even if you claim to be "first and foremost" a PC gamer.

3) You have access to a beta of something a great many people are dying to know about. There were so many angles you could have taken to write about---even as a noob who'd never played Diablo before. That, in fact, is a great perspective to have, as I'm sure many younger gamers are coming into the series fresh. But your angle is: "Let me take a totally moot point around a design decision made 15 years ago and then decide that, yep, that was a good decision after all." How in the world do you think that serves anyone, let alone the PC gamers who are your audience?

4) If you really wondered, as a journalist, why Blizzard didn't do a first-person perspective, why didn't you ask THEM? A couple quotes from the design team on that point might have actually been interesting, rather than lazy, masturbatory speculation.

5) Your analysis of why Diablo's mechanics aren't difficult *because* of the perspective makes no sense and is laughable to the many, many people who read your site (you know, actual PC gamers), who know just how complicated the strategies can be. Why the heck do you think there are 10 zillion sites devoted to the topic? Dismissing the game as "too easy" because (of all things) the isometric perspective is a nonsensical leap of logic that would be embarrassing in any article. That it comes from the editor-in-chief of the site is, to use your word...astonishing.

6) Your dismissive tweets, now followed by your second post saying you won't bother replying to any comments because you've said your piece, just shows you actually aren't listening to anyone in the first place, or care. Everyone is wrong but you. That must be a nice place to live, inside your head. Kinda sad for your readers, though.
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EjkvX.gif
 
M

Meier

Member
I am not kidding when I say that anyone who has never played Diablo of any kind has no business being paid to write about video games and/or being employed by a games only employer. It's the equivalent of a movie critic having never seen Gone With The Wind or Casablanca or something along those lines.
 
E

echoshifting

Banned
Oh, how glad am I that I revisited this thread...thank you, Jeff Green. Thank you.

GunSlingerAUS should wear the shame of his article in a tag.
 
J

jim-jam bongs

Member
One thing I haven't seen anyone mention here is that Bennett used to actually work for Vivendi Universal Games Australia. For those unaware, they are the company which owns Blizzard.
 
J

Jintor

Member
I guess the one thing I want to say here is nuts to you guys who say every editor/journalist must have played Diablo 1 or 2 at some point in their career, because even someone who hasn't played them can still write effectively about Diablo, at least from that specialised perspective of not having played it.

That didn't happen here, but still.
 
J

jim-jam bongs

Member
Jintor said:
I guess the one thing I want to say here is nuts to you guys who say every editor/journalist must have played Diablo 1 or 2 at some point in their career, because even someone who hasn't played them can still write effectively about Diablo, at least from that specialised perspective of not having played it.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on this (especially your conclusion that he failed to do that). For example, if the article was "hey guys I don't know much about this series so I'm going to speak to some people from Blizzard and the D2 community to learn about it then write some stuff" that would be worth reading. If he wanted to discuss the perspective he could have devoted a section to the significance of making an isometric game in 2011 when everyone else is pushing to make the experience as immediate as possible.

And again, the really amazing thing is that Bennett used to work for VUG. He has more than enough contacts to have been able to get someone on the blower who would have been able to add something meaningful to the article, that he didn't is just laziness.
 
J

jay

Member
I'm most offended that he isn't offended that X-Com is going to be a FPS.

Not that he has played X-Com since it's in that weird, rare perspective.
 
P

PaleFolklore

Member
It's ridiculous to me that someone who has never played Diablo or any isometric game in a similar style is writing for a gaming website. I almost checked the calendar to see if it was an April fools joke.
 
A

Arrowgigantic

Member
How much of a fuckup do you have to be to make the career move from publisher PR to a job with the enthusiast press? Everybody else goes the other way.
 
D

dr3upmushroom

Banned
Man does this thread make me miss the CGW/GFW podcasts and magazines. The two were perfect complements, I loved it when they would rip on shit like this on the podcast, but never let that (deserved) holier-than-thou slip into the magazine, which was always a lead by example/ practice what you preach kind of thing.

I don't really see people calling sites out on this shit they way they did, and I really wish someone would jump on it. Everyone knows that gaming media is bullshit, but helping people articulate why and just pointing it out publicly draws attention to it, and can also help focus attention on more interesting work.

Sucks most of them got conflict-of-interest-y jobs (if I remember right Shawn got in a bit of trouble over calling IGN out on their deceptive Guitar Hero community site on Out of the Game), and the ones who didn't like Ryan and Anthony haven't really kept the level of discussion from the 1UP casts alive in my opinion. I hear that that Idle Thumbs podcast was similar to GFW in a lot of ways, but I never got around to listening to it before it was disbanded.
 
C

Cipherr

Member
coopolon said:
I find most of Jim Sterling's work pretty bad, but he can be hilarious when mocking his peers.
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I especially loved the "Diablo 3 will have a monthly fee" troll. Sent folks right over the edge, hilarious.
 
E

echoshifting

Banned
Jintor said:
I guess the one thing I want to say here is nuts to you guys who say every editor/journalist must have played Diablo 1 or 2 at some point in their career, because even someone who hasn't played them can still write effectively about Diablo, at least from that specialised perspective of not having played it.

That didn't happen here, but still.
Click to expand...

While I think this is a valid beef it doesn't really apply to this situation at all. This guy might have even gotten a nod of respect here and there if he had treated the series or its fans with any. As Mr. Green points out, there are plenty of interesting angles a newcomer to a popular series could adopt for an editorial. It's not like it's never been done.

Hell, he probably could have saved face by admitting to the error of his ways after the article was published. Instead, he gallivanted around the web like some narcissistic jackass, mouthing off like a tool to his own readers, effectively doubling down on his stupid, stupid article.
 
B

Brannon

Member
Bennett Ring
@jane_tobes Ha, pretty good eh? Who'd have thought Diablo fans would have more rage than the COD kiddies?

Bennett Ring
@jane_tobes It's easy - find a game that has the nerdiest following, and have an open discussion about radically reinventing it.
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My god, it's a textbook example.

a3e3b0fd-5812-4264-841d-73dab52886b2.jpg
 
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