Video Game Journalism

Not sure if it was linked from here already, but someone on Reddit posted this.

@Watchtower: If the state of the gaming press does not cause a potential gaming crash, then in my opinion it will still help it crash. Like it or not, people do in fact look to the press for gaming news, reviews, etc, and they go in with a certain level of trust, thinking that the journalist in question knows what their talking about and speaking objectively with no outside influence. If it gets proven that they can be just as unreliable as the mainstream media, they will lose trust in all of them, even those who are truthful and objective in what they say. When they see an article this time around, they'll just see it this time as people bought out by big publishers acting as a mouthpiece to sell their product, not from a person in the industry sharing their thought on said industry. That and the fact that they will actively suppress information, insult viewers with questions, and treat them like a hive mind.

If we have all aspects of gaming fail (that including the gaming press), it shouldn't be out of the question that they may contribute in another video game crash. Again, all in my personal opinion.

When the big topic was instead possibly bribes, it was pretty obvious that most people do not trust video game journalism in the least bit.

What we're seeing now is just more of the same backlash, even if it means coming up with possibly fake conspiracy theories (I have no idea if the Quinn thing is true or not and I personally don't care.)

From that link:

"A yes or no on buying the new military shooter does not journalism make. This will not tell society about it's truth. "

Yep.

edited 24th Aug '14 11:18:29 AM by Thorn14

Good luck actually getting it to a sizable community though. Actual importance or not, this is basically a 4Chan/Reddit/Tumblr war amongst a bunch of videogame nerds, and the way they're reacting to the situation has practically guaranteed that it'll stay that way: obscure and largely unnoticed by the rest of the gaming community.

What annoys me is the double standard that this controversy has made apparent.

If a man in the industry is accused of sexual misconduct then journalists jump at the opportunity to weave their narratives about misogyny. But if a woman in the industry is accused, and then proven, to have engaged in sexual misconduct with possible, though unproven, broader implications about nepotism then it's all swept under the rug as a "personal matter" and all the major sites outright refuse to talk about it.

It's essentially propaganda. Only things fitting in their favorite agenda get coverage and anything that goes against it is suppressed.

That's where I disagree to a point. I believe the Zoe Quinn debacle is a catalyst towards discussing the bigger issue of integrity and honesty within the gaming press. They themselves made it clear that they don't want to talk about it, but by ignoring this or brushing it of as "sexism" and "misogyny", they are making the issue of corruption within the industry more and more larger (the Streisand Effect at its finest).

Right, the important thing to remember here is that Video Game Journalism was always pretty bad. This whole debacle is, at best, making that fact more aware to people.

Quinspiracy won't matter a lick unless it hits the radar of mainstream media. Outside of this place and Gamestop, I've NEVER seen jack shit about video game journalism at all. I've known a lot of gamers throughout the years, and even in Anime club, I don't remember very many discussions of anything but the Chans and why to stay the fucking Hell away from them.

So I really don't think what passes as Journalism in the video game industry is even relevant, cause it's barely a blip in the big picture.

And if this breaks the mainstream, you can bet which side they're going to side with. HINT: It's not the "gaming journalism industry".

You do know that when people talk about "game journalism industry", then mean the reports on websites, not the gamers themselves right?

edited 24th Aug '14 2:08:04 PM by VeryMelon

Hopefully they won't side with the extremists!

If it's proven without a doubt (Which is difficult as Hell to do considering with the right angles, you can find people who look like each other) then you might get her demonized. Otherwise, the Mainstream like stories of private citizens being tormented by industries. Siding with the beleaguered person nets ratings.

Forgot about Phil Fish and the like being Twitter hacked. That's awful.

I know they're referring to the websites and magazines where the reviews exist. The only ones I personally use are the blurbs on the Steam store telling you what the games themselves are.

I'm not so sure - they might actually side with Quinn and some of the journalists if they think that the possibility of gaming journalism being tarnished could eventually lead to people questioning them, too.

Does anyone really not suspect that mainstream journalism these days is suffering from some of the exact same problems that are coming up in the current Quinnspiracy situation?

There's been theories and evidence that they actually hacked themselves in order to gain sympathy and make the other side look bad.

edited 24th Aug '14 2:43:16 PM by TheSpaceJawa

Phil Fish I could see doing that, but anyone else?

Some of those theories, particularly the ones regarding Phil Fish, have been debunked by others, including Quinn's ex himself.

Yeah, I've heard Phil Fish got doxxed. Isn't the rights to Fez on sale now because of that?

It really is a clusterfuck. I have no idea whether or not he did do that and if he was legit doxxed, I feel for him (but if he did hack himself to garner sympathy, congrats Phil, you perhaps have officially become the most hated figure in gaming history).

edited 24th Aug '14 2:49:57 PM by nigelstack345

Like I said, even Zoe's ex doesn't believe that Fish doxxed himself, and that's saying something. It's noted in this Tumblr post.

Are we seeing evidence that the hacking attacks were actually real vs what's coming up about them being faked? Or is it all a matter of word of mouth vs word of mouth thing right now?

edited 24th Aug '14 7:54:00 PM by VeryMelon

Okay. So what does this have to do with game journalism?

Right. Not general current events related to gaming, just video game journalism.

One particular question I feel I have to ask about Quinngate: Why now? What is it about this situation that makes this such a special case, especially seeing as though corruption in the gaming press is nothing new and was suspected for the longest time? Why did it take so long for people to figure out that there was something shady going on with gaming journalism (even after Doritogate and the Machinima-Xbox contract situation)? Perhaps it's because they are doing everything they can to censor criticism? Is there something more to it that we don't know about yet? These questions I feel makes this more unique than other scandalgates in gaming.

edited 24th Aug '14 9:30:50 PM by nigelstack345

I would say it's the Streisand Effect at work. There wouldn't be near as much fuss being raised about this if people came forward and admitted their wrongdoing, but since they're not only denying it but also seemingly trying to censor their accusers, people notice.

edited 24th Aug '14 9:26:50 PM by IrishZombie