Totally Not Corrupt Professional Objective Gaming Journalism DRAMA

[CrustyBot]

 

[Pegultagol]

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Astral Rag]

 

[aris]

I was eating Doritos and drinking Mtn Dew when I opened this thread

EDIT: Also, that dude needs to be an emote.

I salute you if you were doing both simultaneously, while opening this thread, with your dick.

 

[Spectacle]

Well, hope this sparks some healthy debate over there and maybe some day changes in the legislation over journalism.

I don't see this having any meaningful impact on either. But some kind of change is under way and has been for a while.

Indeed, anyone who cares already knew about these things, and the unwashed masses aren't going to become informed overnight.

But there has been an increasing number of such stories over the last year. Perhaps with the steadily rising number of older gamers with more spending money but less time to play, there is a real demand for actual honest and critical reviews that busy gamers can rely on to find games that are actually worth playing in their limited gaming hours?

 

[CrustyBot]

 

[Astral Rag]

brilliant

 

[Jaesun]

Game journalism is a disgrace

 

[grotsnik]

Bethesda does happen to be the source of the only free gaming goodie I ever got, a Fallout 3 T-Shirt I picked up when previewing the game for NMA, but if that was meant to color my perspective, then I don't think it worked.

It seems pretty harmless in Brother None's case, but in that big Neogaf thread, a couple of journalists have leapt up to defend their good names with the same basic line on a more troubling scale:

I'm a VIDYA GAME JOURNALIST for an European gaming website (which I shall not name for obvious reasons). I've had my fair share of PR events, previews and such. During one of the previews, we dined at an expensive restaurant with the PR guy from a publisher I will not name (again, for obvious reasons).

It's fun and all, but at the end of the day, I just care about the game and I write my opinion about that game. Sure, dining at a fancy restaurant is fun and all, but it shouldn't cloud your judgement. If they want to give me free food, that's their decision. It's not hard to still write an unbiased (although every review is subjective because of OPINIONS) article after getting all sorts of things from them.

The logic of, 'Yes, I've received free goodies and I enjoy a cordial relationship with the industry in which I'm openly courted by PR people as if I were a potential business client of theirs rather than a commentator on their products, but I can promise you that it hasn't impaired my judgement in any form. I mean, I'd know if it did, right?' just doesn't stand up to scrutiny. There's a nice Roger Ebert review where he talks about being sent a bagful of macadamia nuts from the Rock, and says in these situations he usually just mails the gift back to the sender along with a polite note. Thinking you can hold on to all of the perks and treats you can stuff into your fat little arms and maintain your credibility, because you possess a rock-solid ethical code and a cold ruthless critical detachment towards the petty material goods you've been plied with - which your readers will just have to take your word on - is downright demented. Would it be that unthinkable just not to go to the fucking restaurant, to send back the luxury crap that comes with your game, to make a constant day-to-day proof of your integrity instead of sucking on endless cigarettes and telling anyone who asks you about it, 'No, it's okay, I don't get addicted, it doesn't affect me'?

 

[grotsnik]

In other news, a guy by the name of Stu Campbell has decided to up the ante.

We haven't highlighted how Intent Media has been at the forefront of debasing videogames journalism for years, along with VG24/7 and many others. We haven't even told you the story of how IGN's Colin Campbell, mentioned above and a winner of the GMA's "Games Industry Legend" award, is directly implicated in the practice of covertly selling review scores for advertising – something this writer can verify from first-hand personal knowledge.
(Indeed, we haven't gone into how just about every single player in this entire sorry saga is a GMA winner, and how the awards are widely regarded as a badge of shame, even by some of their own recipients.)

Burn it down, Stu! Burn it all down!

 

[Jaesun]

Fuck yes! BURN MOTHERFUCKERS BURN! Excellent wrap up of events grotsnik.

 

[Infinitron]

Stu is the one who trolled Lauren Wainwright on Twitter by posting links to all of her Square Enix game reviews one by one, I believe.

 

[evdk]

From 1995:

The "Future of video game reviews" tab is hilarious in hindsight.

 

[Kane]

 

[Jaesun]

And incredibly importantly, I want to point out that the vast majority of the time, no matter which site or magazine you read, the chances are what you’re reading is un-bought, uncorrupted opinion. That’s the norm. Issues are the exception. Frankly, anything else would require more organisation and effort than most editors have the time or energy for. And of the very many games journalists I know, I know of not one who’s ever done anything openly corrupt, or written an influenced review. Most people, and most content, is exactly as you’d hope it was.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

From that walker piece: http://botherer.org/2012/10/24/games-journalists-and-the-perception-of-corruption/

 

[Kane]

Still doesn't explain it!

DarkUnderlord is a bad judge of character! We even have a gaylord as mod!

The answer you have been looking for~

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Jaesun]

That was excellent raw.

 

[Trash]

Prolly linked before, still worth repeating.

Excellent but neutured eurogamer article. The writer has confirmed on his twitter that he got fired over this. Yes, fired.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-10-24-lost-humanity-18-a-table-of-doritos

https://twitter.com/robertflorence

I work in the supposedly cut-throat TV industry. But today I was effectively put out of a job by another writer. Holy shit, games writing.

Unneutured article reposted

http://wosland.podgamer.com/a-table-of-cowards/

Anyone still wondering about the whole deal, here's Mrs Wainwright's lining to a 20 page FAQ on how you go from writing about tomb raider to getting a job as a community manager for tomb raider.

http://www.laurenwainwright.com/?p=2790



I for one want to say that at Tacticular Cancer we will not sign away our journalistic integrity for a box of doritos and mountain dew. We at least demand a pizza and a case of beer to go with it.

Seriously though, fuck this industry and the pr plants writing in it.

 

[Jaesun]

Watch the Totalbiscut vid above Trash. It is very informative.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

It is, if you can stomach John Bain's ego. But to be fair to him, he may be many things, but he is independent when it comes to game reviews. He's right when he says its ok for people to be concerned about his relationship with SOE, though. I used to think the same about his relationship with Blizzard.

 

[Dexter]

There's a nice Roger Ebert review where he talks about being sent a bagful of macadamia nuts from the Rock, and says in these situations he usually just mails the gift back to the sender along with a polite note. Thinking you can hold on to all of the perks and treats you can stuff into your fat little arms and maintain your credibility, because you possess a rock-solid ethical code and a cold ruthless critical detachment towards the petty material goods you've been plied with - which your readers will just have to take your word on - is downright demented. Would it be that unthinkable just not to go to the fucking restaurant, to send back the luxury crap that comes with your game, to make a constant day-to-day proof of your integrity instead of sucking on endless cigarettes and telling anyone who asks you about it, 'No, it's okay, I don't get addicted, it doesn't affect me'?

But dude, think about all the swag and courtships and money to be made!

Someone posted this about Dragon Age 2:

 

[garren]

This thread reminded of this old article about microsoft bribing bloggers with free stuff, could be applied to games journalism too with all the free stuff and conveniences they get.

..I've been thinking long and hard about this, and the only conclusion I can come to is that this is ethically indistinguishable from bribery. Even if no quid-pro-quo is formally required, the gift creates a social obligation of reciprocity.

 

[Trash]

Watch the Totalbiscut vid above Trash. It is very informative.

Normally can't stand him but it is informative, though also pretty much common knowledge. Nice to have it spelled out tho. What he forgets to mention however, and this came very much to the fore in the eurogamer article, is how gaming journalism as a whole has been so soaked and intertwined into the marketing and pr from those whose games it covers that it basically lacks the ability for self purification. Integrity as a standard simply cannot exist in an enviroment like this.