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

DryvBy

DryvBy

Member
RT article

“If you were openly a conservative and tried to apply to any of the mainstream outlets that are on the coasts, I don’t think you’d have a chance in hell of getting in,” says the senior source, who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions.

“There’s a lot of us that probably think there’s a clique, well, that know there’s a clique,” they say.

The “clique” is composed of journalists from well-known gaming and tech websites: among them Kotaku, Polygon, Vice, Ars Technica, GameDaily, Gamespot, Eurogamer and loads more.
Click to expand...

The dominance has directly impacted the integrity of the journalism at the publications run by the clique members.

In one example, which was described to me in detail that I have obscured to protect my source, staff members were discussing coverage of a controversial figure who’d been wrongly punished by a gaming organization.

Several members of the site objected, saying that the figure did not deserve fair coverage because they are not a good person.
Click to expand...

My source is particularly outraged over the clique’s duplicity when it comes to mental health.

On the one hand, mainstream games journalists will talk up its importance in the industry and within games themselves, or even set up mental health initiatives. In the next instance, they will destroy the public lives of potentially vulnerable individuals for the most minor transgressions.

“People forget how dangerous it is for people with fragile mental health to be dogpiled by potentially thousands of people on Twitter,” they tell me.

My source, who does not consider themselves a conservative – closet or otherwise – says that “people have confused journalism for activism.”

The most notorious recent instance they discussed was the suicide of developer Alec Holowka last year, following accusations of sexual abuse by feminist campaigner Zoe Quinn.
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Maybe we need more right-wing political representation in game journalism before we scream we need more politics in games. But nah, let's focus on those journo unions because they treat the elitists poorly.
 
cormack12

cormack12

Gold Member
Source: https://www.rt.com/news/481220-games-journalism-clique-industry/ sophnar0747 sophnar0747

An influential figure from a leading gaming website says that a clique of like-minded media figures are colluding to prevent right-leaning journalists and developers from having a voice in the industry.
“If you were openly a conservative and tried to apply to any of the mainstream outlets that are on the coasts, I don’t think you’d have a chance in hell of getting in,” says the senior source, who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions.
Click to expand...

The “clique” is composed of journalists from well-known gaming and tech websites: among them Kotaku, Polygon, Vice, Ars Technica, GameDaily, Gamespot, Eurogamer and loads more.

“People won’t write something, or we won’t say anything on Twitter or whatever because you spew one wrong opinion and you’re asking for trouble,” says the source, who has admitted keeping their own opinions private to avoid sanction.
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More at link......




 
alabtrosMyster

alabtrosMyster

Banned
You have to be a Russian bot to even consider that kind of thing :-/

Colin Moriarty talked about it many many times. This is not surprising, for people on the inside of that group if you are not accepting every ideas of some set of ideas it means you are a "bad person" so nobody should want to be around you anyway, let alone work with you, you will make the place toxic, and who knows you may end up converting people, so it's better not to take any chances.

Anyways, this person can just start their own outlet (youtube, blog, etc.) and do it for themselves.
Blood Borne said:
Why is there even politics in games?
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I think this is more ideology that aligns itself with politics... that's a pretty bad cocktail if you ask me.
 
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iconmaster

iconmaster

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."
 
DeepEnigma

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
iconmaster said:
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."
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He's a little punk bitch.
 
Naibel

Naibel

Member
Quite frankly, it doesn't shock me one bit...

To think my dream job at one point was game journalist... I don't want to work in a field where opening your mouth gonna cost your place ! And I don't consider myself a conservative btw (or any political label for that matter).

I miss the days when passion, expertise and to some extent skills were the primary reasons to hire someone in this field. Nowadays, it seems more like it's either your superficial traits or your political affiliation.

No wonder most (not all, "broken clock...") of their work is utter garbage. Where's the passion ?
 
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J

JunkerWoland

Member
Unfortunately, this isn't news to anyone who's followed video game media over the last decade. The inherent problem isn't (or shouldn't be) writers' social & political leanings, but rather it's how this situation has evolved into mainstream outlets being unable to offer unbiased content. I imagine, however, it's frustrating for anyone who had already been working in the industry and continues to hold more conservative viewpoints.
 
Musky_Cheese

Musky_Cheese

Banned
Game Journalism, Game Development, and gaming in general (communities and forums) are full of White Liberals. Not liberals of all backgrounds... White Liberals. And while they may claim minorities among them, the bulk of their minorities are White Liberal LBGTQ.

I can't help but wonder if it isn't subconscious fantasy roleplay that is at the center.

Remember when gaming and gamers all had a negative impression from non gamers? Back 10,15,20 years ago. All gamers were fat and lazy... "better get off your ass and do something with your life". Live in their moms basement. Basically all gamers a decade ago had the man babies label of today. Anyway that nerd culture was mostly white. Not like today where everyone is playing video games, from kids in 5th grade to professional athletes.

And what did these now Game Journalist and Game Developers play years ago. Mostly games that somehow involves you the player being a No One. A No One who is tasked with saving the Damsel in Distress.

SI_3DSVC_SuperMarioBros_image1600w.jpg


Yeah just like that lol. It was they (Mario) saving all the minorities (Princess) from the bad guys. Now they are writers or developers who are saving those who aren't able to speak up.

Why is it that the people who are constantly talking about the need for representation of minorities in the medium have no minorities among their ranks except for Whites who have minority status because they are LGBTQ?

Why do these Whites have such a superiority complex? Makes me wonder...
 
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BigBooper

BigBooper

Member
DryvBy said:
Maybe we need more right-wing political representation in game journalism
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Maybe. The problem with that is right wing writers are never as good at just integrating the philosophy into their writing naturally. The agenda is always upfront.
 
Coolio McAwesome

Coolio McAwesome

Member
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.
 
Varteras

Varteras

Gold Member
I have issues with Colin Moriarty and how he comes off but I'll say in this case he was right all along. He was raising red flags a long time ago about what gaming journalism was becoming. It hasn't somehow become better by being overrun with far Left ideologues. Instead it has become a cesspool of pretentious sociopolitical bloggers who have built a huge echo chamber to get off at the sounds of their voices and ideals reverberating off every corner of the industry. Preaching about tolerance and inclusiveness until you say something they don't agree with. Then they engage in whatever act they can to silence and remove you. Acting righteous the entire time when they are anything but that.
 
Kadayi

Kadayi

Banned
You expect a certain bias with any form of media outlet, but the rise of social media in the form of Twitter as a prime mechanism for Freelancers to pitch for articles to sites and get a foot in the door is one of the reasons why the hivemind mentality has come to the fore across the board because your Twitter feed is a constant window into your mindset, and so saying anything that doesn't adhere to the preferred narrative within the ivory towers of what editors think, and of course whatever misguided opinions they may have. A great example is the way in which many of the bigger sites basically shunned Kingdom Come Deliverance at its release. The root of which stemmed from Arthur Gies from Polygon getting into a Twitter spat with Developer Danel Varva, all because Gies for whatever reasons harboured these strange ideas that rural medieval Bohemia was somehow a Multi-cultural paradise versus being a pretty singular ethnostate at the time by virtue of the fact that global movement of peoples was largely the exception versus the rule across most of Europe.

Not only did we see no one within the mainstream press take Gies to task, and try and slap the retard out of his mouth, but we even saw a few articles come out that tried to argue the case because The Silk Roads being a thing seemed to make the writers believe that it was some magical conveyor belt for people versus goods being passed along. You'd think that the very fact that Chang from China doesn't actually turn up on your doorstep even today to hand you directly your Iphone might have given then pause for thought, but apparently no, rural bohemia should have been absolutely swarming with POC, and Warhorse are clearly all racists so boycott this sick filth.

Then on top of that, you had the likes of Waypoint and Giant Bomb refusing to review the game because of 'controversy' even though it was all born out by one of their own largely talking BS.
 
VlaudTheImpaler

VlaudTheImpaler

tl;dr
The worst part is how this journalism "clique" is affecting the gaming industry as a whole. I can't imagine if you are a Christian/conservative dev, you really feel like you could make what you want and get treated like everyone else. I sure as heck don't feel like they are extended the same opportunity as others when you get to the bigger devs. And If a game where to come out with openly conservative views, or heck, just not outright left leaning, it seems like it gets lambasted or blacklisted or something. They sure as heck don't promote them as equally as the others in the name of representation in gaming... Not to mention the witch hunts.

As a conservative/Christian myself, I remember thinking about this stuff years ago before the split and wanting to talk about it more and more as time went on and I observed it and how I felt. But, honestly, I was too afraid to say much, or really challenge anything. I felt like there was one of those cliques here and so I took an attitude of, "Just keep your head down. Maybe someday..." Thank God for the split. It feels so much better here.

sophnar0747 sophnar0747 Keep exposing these people for all to see. Great work. Something tells me these cliques extend all the way to the big game devs as well.
 
Barakov

Barakov

Gold Member
Schreier's response is telling. Their hypocrisy was on full display with what happened with that one developer that committed suicide. I think this is more than problem with just games journalism though. Recently it seems like most journalists these days want to be activists and only want to be journalists when it suits them.
 
DeepEnigma

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Barakov said:
Schreier's response is telling. Their hypocrisy was on full display with what happened with that one developer that committed suicide. I think this is more than problem with just games journalism though. Recently it seems like most journalists these days want to be activists and only want to be journalists when it suits them.
Click to expand...

It's part of an ideological cult residing in politics, being cultured in schools, and spreading like a virus on social media circles.
 
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ExpandKong

ExpandKong

Banned
EverydayBeast said:
Stop this nonsense, the notion that you can't say what you want is so fake.
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You can say what you want as long as nobody hears it.

Barakov said:
Schreier's response is telling. Their hypocrisy was on full display with what happened with that one developer that committed suicide.
Click to expand...

Didn’t you read the trustworthy gaming news headlines? He “died” lol
 
DunDunDunpachi

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
Why it's even a consideration is baffling.

Does attending church prevent you from reviewing a racing game? Does supporting gun ownership hinder your ability to copypaste a company's official press-statement into a website back end and publish it?

But no, GamerGate was nothing but hateful trash making up lies about the ideological invasion of gaming. Oh and gamers are dead.
 
-Troid-

-Troid-

Banned
Whaaaaat? You're saying the same gaming media that couldn't use the words "Alec Holowka" and "suicide" in the same article, for fear of giving even the slightest intention of Zoe Quinn not being a perfect human being, as being biased in some sort of manner? Get out of town.
 
Musky_Cheese

Musky_Cheese

Banned
iconmaster said:
The book is definitely worth reading. I can be opposed to Schreier politically and still recognize that he's in a league of his own as a reporter.
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Then to me that only means reporters in gaming aren't in the same league as reporters in other areas. IDK, perhaps I just have seen too much Kotaku bullshit.

If I compared him to a Ken Rosenthal or a Chelsea Janes he falls incredibly short imo
 
Fbh

Fbh

Member
Not 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.
 
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ExpandKong

ExpandKong

Banned
DunDunDunpachi said:
Why it's even a consideration is baffling.

Does attending church prevent you from reviewing a racing game? Does supporting gun ownership hinder your ability to copypaste a company's official press-statement into a website back end and publish it?

But no, GamerGate was nothing but hateful trash making up lies about the ideological invasion of gaming. Oh and gamers are dead.
Click to expand...

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.
 
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