Gaming Journalism Is Dead

Exposéditorial

By J-dawg

And this article will be cited as proof! The irony is palpable... it's plain, even overdue acknowledgment! No pronouncements here!

Last week, Eurogamer came out with an article. That article contained some good takes, and some takes that were less than completely supported. What counts is, that article spurred on some discussion. We can credit journo-pieces that actually inspire some thought, and move discussion in a direction that allows us to come away from reading them, if not better-informed, then at least asking questions that lead us to become so on our own!

It's not a bad article. You can read it here – GTA 6's delay doesn't mean the games industry's in trouble - it's already dead:

http://eurogamer.net/gta-6s-delay-doesnt-mean-the-games-industrys-in-trouble-its-already-dead

Research link: https://archive.is/kNzAK

The headline, not for the first time, doesn't capture the essence the article's contents. Set aside the perennial character of the fortunes of the gaming industry itself, for a moment. What of the gaming press? Are those polemics which just don't justify the bits for the screenspace that they occupy, but typify clickbait, the worst of the lot? Or is it the opinion articles which offer nothing but sneering condescension, ruthless mockery and insincere (or simply undercooked) takes on the gaming community as a whole, or single out parts of it to scorn and scold? How about the pleas for games to not be games? (lol!)

We leave that for you to decide. The fact is, "gaming" journalists have by in large gone out of their way for some years now not to speak to, or from, the point of view of the average gamer. They are there to preach and lecture from the margins, or from on-high, in league with large corporate interests who seem to prefer a bland, inward-facing media attending to their needs, but not really speaking to gamers or ours! They promote products well enough and certainly have no problem laying invective down towards critical-minded customers. They aren't us, though. Gamers voices must be heard! While the decaying remains of what once was a great enthusiast media, one reflecting upon the artistic integrity and passion for our artform, with its technically-savvy reviews of the quality of the products/properties care so much about, will only continue to fade out, becoming a total parody of itself in the process, we can point out that this was foreseen long ago. The industry abjectly refused to listen! ------As is especially highlighted in the recent failure (and firesale) of Polygon As gamers, we can reflect favorably on this fact: We are still here! The games industry, battered but resilient, will too go on. Some lessons are learned in every downturn, some may remain to be learnt. Some are the right ones, others may not be. We're here to offer a venue and platform for gamers to get our notes together and let industry know where we think they're getting it right, and where they are getting it wrong! In the above article and in the post below, industry insiders, both in dev and media, offer their opinions. What are yours? There is more article, and the best is posted below this in Jdawg's opinion, but go ahead and comment in the comment section below if you think you know better than they do! You just might! Check out what they say, and then my response to it below:

On a business website, Gamedev Guy decided he wanted to dissect the above article and went into it in his post here:

The OP makes some fair points but sidesteps the real issue. The enthusiasm gap and disconnect between industry and players is obvious, glaring, real, and costly to the tune of billions. Who is in the middle of this? The completely craptastic opinionated meddlers in media that industry continues to sponsor with access and largesse. This disserves their bottom-line and most important of all, many of their customers with their mediocre and off-putting content!

Someone knowledgeable in entertainment, who I will dub 'Entertainment Authority,' replied commenting on the OP's post, offering a little compare/contrast with another article published the same time: (Names blacked out for privacy)

That article, for reference, is here – https://archive.is/nS7NQ

At this point, with the media shills doing their absolute best to avoid any point entirely that conflicts with their biases, I stepped in:

The OP blocked Jdawg in under 25 minutes from this post! What do you think gamers? Are we dead? Is the games industry dead like they say? Or is gaming journalism dead and their journalists dead-heads who have nothing better to do than hassle us (even to their own detriment!?) Your opinion matters to us so let us know your opinion down below!

J-Dawg is a die-hard gamer, devoted fan of traditional 2D animation, GBAMFS' founder, CEO and pointman.

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