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Gaming Journalism |OT| May contain trace amounts of games. Or journalism.

EDMIX

Member
Every Bethesda developed game in history?

Fallout 76 is nothing but a trainwreck and it comes out in 2 weeks laden with the microtransaction model ripped straight from mobile, in a buggy mess where the game's logic is tied to framerate.

But I bet it'll be universally praised, from a company that fixes bugs at a rate of the messiah reborn... i.e. sometimes never.

Agreed. I'm buying it, I like the publishers games and even I question some of the publisher review scores on games. Its like, I like it, but I also know they need to factor in bugs as if it was Activation, EA, Ubisoft etc Journalist would have had a field day
 

mckmas8808

Banned
Alright, jumping back in since you took the time to respond to me. I would vote for 2 things. 1) Cover it as news - ie, write about people being upset and the history of pay to win in mobile. Take no sides at all. 2) If they wish to editorialize it, which is reasonable, put that piece and all other opinion pieces in an opinion section. Keep news and opinion separate, both in content and location. If they did this with everything, I think media backlash might subside rapidly. Not completely, but significantly.

MAN..........I gotta be honest. This is a GREAT idea. I never thought about this. And that's weird considering it's what all newspapers do lol.
 

CatCouch

Member
I'd love to see news and opinion sections for game sites, but they would have to have a variety of opinions for it to matter. My biggest gripe with game journalism is how homogeneous it is. There's no value to having an opinion section if there were no differing opinions.

A point/counterpoint section to debate things like race and gender in games would be cool. I would like to see some rules about tolerating people with different opinions in the comments, too. I don't want to see dog-piling of those who likes sexy anime art or accusing people of being racist/sexist to end debates. I think too many writers and commenters on sites like Resetera use "sexism/racism" as a crutch that ends debate instead of sparking it (that Will Powers guy's hot take that backlash to Diablo Immortal is a toxic masculinity problem being a great example). This is also true of the "anti-SJW" side where everything is dismissed as an agenda. We need a reputable place to rise above that. Too many YouTube channels are falling into being opposition personalities so I'm not sure I'd put all my faith there, lol.

There is a big opportunity here as I'm sure enough people are sick of the partisan way gaming coverage is handled!
 

EDMIX

Member
I'd love to see news and opinion sections for game sites, but they would have to have a variety of opinions for it to matter. My biggest gripe with game journalism is how homogeneous it is. There's no value to having an opinion section if there were no differing opinions.

A point/counterpoint section to debate things like race and gender in games would be cool. I would like to see some rules about tolerating people with different opinions in the comments, too. I don't want to see dog-piling of those who likes sexy anime art or accusing people of being racist/sexist to end debates. I think too many writers and commenters on sites like Resetera use "sexism/racism" as a crutch that ends debate instead of sparking it (that Will Powers guy's hot take that backlash to Diablo Immortal is a toxic masculinity problem being a great example). This is also true of the "anti-SJW" side where everything is dismissed as an agenda. We need a reputable place to rise above that. Too many YouTube channels are falling into being opposition personalities so I'm not sure I'd put all my faith there, lol.

There is a big opportunity here as I'm sure enough people are sick of the partisan way gaming coverage is handled!

Agreed 100%

There is this Youtube Channel (The Know) where they are talking about BFV and stating BattleRoyal is delayed and saying the game is coming with less content.


Ignores that the mode was never coming at launch
When asked, openly states they don't know what the previous BF games launched with (yet has a video talking about less content of a series they don't know what would be um "full" content)
 
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CatCouch

Member
Agreed 100%

There is this Youtube Channel (The Know) where they are talking about BFV and stating BattleRoyal is delayed and saying the game is coming with less content.


Ignores that the mode was never coming at launch
When asked, openly states they don't know what the previous BF games launched with (yet has a video talking about less content of a series they don't know what would be um "full" content)
Misinformation is something we all really need to look out for. As much as I like some YouTubers I follow I can't quite be sure everything is accurate. Too many people, be it professional game writers or YouTube content creators, have biased views they let slip into their work and are resistant to corrections.
 

EDMIX

Member
Misinformation is something we all really need to look out for. As much as I like some YouTubers I follow I can't quite be sure everything is accurate. Too many people, be it professional game writers or YouTube content creators, have biased views they let slip into their work and are resistant to corrections.

Agreed! Don't get me started on some Youtubers, Yong Yea had a video during E3 legit saying NO NEW information on Anthem and his comments were flooding with people basically correcting him. Its like....we get it, you don't like EA, but why literally LIE to viewers about something we are seeing from Gamespot, IGN etc that are very much confirming new info? So folks like this I understand can like or hate a publisher, but enough with the false information folks
 

ROMhack

Member
I'd love to see news and opinion sections for game sites, but they would have to have a variety of opinions for it to matter. My biggest gripe with game journalism is how homogeneous it is. There's no value to having an opinion section if there were no differing opinions.

A point/counterpoint section to debate things like race and gender in games would be cool. I would like to see some rules about tolerating people with different opinions in the comments, too. I don't want to see dog-piling of those who likes sexy anime art or accusing people of being racist/sexist to end debates. I think too many writers and commenters on sites like Resetera use "sexism/racism" as a crutch that ends debate instead of sparking it (that Will Powers guy's hot take that backlash to Diablo Immortal is a toxic masculinity problem being a great example). This is also true of the "anti-SJW" side where everything is dismissed as an agenda. We need a reputable place to rise above that. Too many YouTube channels are falling into being opposition personalities so I'm not sure I'd put all my faith there, lol.

There is a big opportunity here as I'm sure enough people are sick of the partisan way gaming coverage is handled!

These are all really good points but I don't think these websites are interested in curating readership through higher quality. They'd rather keep it muddled to keep things 'exciting'.

I hate to be negative though so here's an example of a site that kinda does what I think you're after:
https://metro.co.uk/entertainment/gaming/

- One (strong) review and a few new pieces a day.
- Daily letters from readers discussing games.
- Suggestions for hot topics.
- Strong journalistic interviews (rare but they're always interesting).

Best of all, Reader's Features. If you want to write for the website you can shoot over a 600-800w piece and chances are they'll print it for you (they've printed the last four things I've written).

A site like that isn't perfect but it reminds me of how far other sites have strayed from their traditional magazine roots. I've visited it daily for about a decade.

Also goes along with what Mr Nash Mr Nash said about discussing instances where we think gaming journalists are doing a good job.
 
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hariseldon

Unconfirmed Member
These are all really good points but I don't think these websites are interested in curating readership through higher quality. They'd rather keep it muddled to keep things 'exciting'.

I hate to be negative though so here's an example of a site that kinda does what I think you're after:
https://metro.co.uk/entertainment/gaming/

- One (strong) review and a few new pieces a day.
- Daily letters from readers discussing games.
- Suggestions for hot topics.
- Strong journalistic interviews (rare but they're always interesting).

Best of all, Reader's Features. If you want to write for the website you can shoot over a 600-800w piece and chances are they'll print it for you (they've printed the last four things I've written).

A site like that isn't perfect but it reminds me of how far other sites have strayed from their traditional magazine roots. I've visited it daily for about a decade.

Also goes along with what Mr Nash Mr Nash said about discussing instances where we think gaming journalists are doing a good job.

Thanks for the pointer - I'll definitely check it out. I'm wondering, would a topic for good journalism separate from this one be a good idea, so the good doesn't inevitably get drowned out by the shit? Perhaps with an OP maintaining some kind of index of the sites mentioned with links, key characteristics, etc?
 

ROMhack

Member
Thanks for the pointer - I'll definitely check it out. I'm wondering, would a topic for good journalism separate from this one be a good idea, so the good doesn't inevitably get drowned out by the shit? Perhaps with an OP maintaining some kind of index of the sites mentioned with links, key characteristics, etc?

Sure but maybe don't frame it around 'good journalism' as that sounds a bit elitist and will no doubt get people talking about 'bad journalism' instead.

Best thing I think would be a general thread where we simply share interesting stuff we've read. I'd certainly contribute.
 
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hariseldon

Unconfirmed Member
Nothing wrong with being elitist, after all, elite means the best, we're just seeking out the best.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
So, pretty impressive (/s) that Kotaku (Schreier) made up his own form of damage control for Diablo 4. Hidden behind the guise of "sources".
 

Skyn3t

Banned
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Eurogamer? Kill it with fire
 

ROMhack

Member
It seems that IGN is a last place free of that bullshit.

Maybe. I don't read the site but IGN seem to go really heavy on video content which I suspect is how they drive traffic rather than resorting to lowbrow content.

EG's gotten really bad lately. Their headlines feel kinda desperate and the vibe has been crap since the forced layout change. Their audience used to be a bit older than most but the quality of content has taken a nosedive lately so I suspect that won't remain for long.

Beyond that, they're aping Kotaku in a marketplace where Kotaku are already the Kings of Kotaku. How exactly is that going to work for them? They need new ideas.
 
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Scopa

The Tribe Has Spoken
I think Waypoint might be on the way out.

Would explain Portly Walker’s appearances on the Giant Bomb podcasts lately. He’s been trying to use GB to drum up support for his failed endeavour for a while now.

I don’t think it’s working.
 

autoduelist

Member
I came to NeoGAF to talk about actual games and I don't mind we get topic like this time to time but lately the amount topic about "controversy" out numbering topics about actual game itself.

If only there was a way to avoid clicking into topics that you don't want to read about. Perhaps we should Institute some sort of subject title for every post, so we have some sort of glimpse into what a thread will be about. Furthermore, it would probably be a very good idea to implement some sort of back button into a browser so that people can leave a thread without reading it if they're not into it.
 

petran79

Banned
My bro bought an issue of the magazine Games from the airport and I gave it a read. It had a presentation of Battlefield V and to my surprise it did not even mention the controversies surrounding it! Very good presentation and content overall but unfortunately by competing with all those lq clickbaity faux LBGT website articles, they became the exception to the rule. Games did not interest me as much either, except Sable, but I liked their approach, which was close to a professional gaming journalist of today's era.

Eg in the presentation of Sekiro, they mentioned the game that influenced it, Tenchu Stealth Assasins, released few months before MGS1.
 

HotPocket69

Banned
The GFW radio guys like Shawn Elliott, Jeff Green and Robert Ashley were like the last true bastion of “game journalists”

Just like GFW Radio is still the best gaming podcast ever made. And this shit STILL holds up today.

Imagine having a bit where you dramatically read gamers’ lame ass message board posts nowadays. It couldn’t be done. How fucking sad is that.

 
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Skyn3t

Banned
I always feel my head is full of shit after reading some Kotaku. It's like rotten.com, you know it's gonna be repulsive and gross, but you still browse it from time to time. My question - is this dangerous to my brain, can it be damaged in the long-term because of this extremely hazardous behavior?
 
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Petrae

Member
Conserve brain cells: Avoid the temptation to visit mainstream gaming websites. They’re worthless now, anyway, unless you feel the need to get angry about something.

If I wanted to get yelled at in my spare time, I’d seek out my ex-wife.
 

Grimmrobe

Member
Obligatory link to the best gaming site ever: https://culture.vg/

Just please look at the sidebar on the right and tell me it's not the most exciting page on games on the entire internet.

Why would you go back to Kotaku and co. after seeing that?
 
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Skyn3t

Banned
Dunno, but I'm pretty sure that my new avatar is one of the most hideous things you can find in the entire internet. Quite an achievement, right?
 
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DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
Haven't visited them in years. Their staff are dishonest and have been for a while, which GAF should already be aware of: circa 2013.

Once upon a time, they covered cool stuff like Japanese arcade culture, fighting games, shmups, and niche titles that I was interested in. And during the age of IGN and Gamespot almost completely ignoring titles like that, Kotaku was a nice place to visit.

Not anymore.
 
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