Vainamoinen

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Everything posted by Vainamoinen

  1. "Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

    Oh geez. Time to watch the Monty Python episode "The War against Pornography". If that isn't censored as well.
  2. Quitter's Club: Don't be afraid to quit the book

    I can't finish Dorst/Abrams' "S.". It's the book of the decade, frankly, it's the book for adventure game players, it's the book for people with a degree in literature. I qualify on all counts!! And I can't finish it. ARGH.
  3. "Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

    That's what I orginally thought. But the problem with people who aren't particularly certain what they are fighting for, who are protesting one thing and mean another, they are primarily a destructive force. And not particularly vulnerable to embarrassing exposure. Thankfully, game designers are mostly giving a shit about gamergate. The public's interest in indie devs is much the same as before gamergate. The problem is that they are stemming a tide of hate on twitter and elsewhere, and that is a very stressful thing that may well have an influence on their creativity. As to the larger developers and the largest publisher, gamergate doesn't approach them in any disrespectful way. I find that continuously baffling. Warner Brothers legally coerces Let's Players into positive coverage. There's an article or two, John Bain tweets "let's not have that any more", Jim Sterling quite illegally quotes verbatim. Gamergate isn't interested. Ethics in journalism? Fuck you. At the height of gamergate in August, Valve introduces their "Curator" service. I can not but think of this as an extreme conflation of publisher and press. The monopolist publisher unashamedly controls the mechanics by which video game customers are attributed their press. Does that strike anyone here as ethically mmmmmnnnnjabitsketchy? Gamergate doesn't give a shit. Never ever would they attack the big dealers. Since their suckup letter, even Electronic Arts is best friends with gamergate. The hypocrisy boggles one's mind. Video game journalists unfortunately have the tendency to be scared shitless by the gaters. The result are rather arbitrary 'rules' they impose on themselves, many of which are contrary to what games journalism actually is (everything but an objective source about the VG hobby) or completely senseless in the context of video game journalism (as opposed to, say, political journalism). That is something gamergate people have in fact 'achieved', and when you look at how Aurini talks about gamergate's "victory conditions", you cannot but think of the movement as oppressive. Quoting Hadley Bennet, Aurini vocally supports: Get that into your brains, people. A bunch of totally clueless losers wishes to define what 'apolitical' means for diverse gaming sites, and then goes on to assume the authority to put journalists out of a job based on that clueless definition of the apolitical. Only one possible goal of gamergate, but a widely respected one. And, of course, a blatantly fascist one. Assuming control of the free press in order to achieve, yes, a political goal. In short, I have no real concerns about game devs and publishers, but gamergate's oppression of the video game press must not continue, and if fighting helps, fighting it should be.
  4. "Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

    Even more so, engaging in a discussion with gamergate will actively prolong the conflict. And from what I've seen, "the conflict" essentially means the hopeless attempt at stopping a cultural development that will happen anyway, quite a bit delayed compared to other narrative media, but still. Video games WILL grow up as an art form, and they can do hardly anything against it besides wail, moan, doxx and swat. Now to get the "Into the Stars" makers to remove the godawful high heels from their female characters on the last space ark of humanity...
  5. "Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

    I'm trying again and again, but it IS useless. Mostly because you're starting from zero every time. People are flaunting the usual bullshit around, the not-all-men and the reverse sexism and the supposed scientific standards and the quantification, the "you don't have to do that in the game" and the "you can do that to the male characters as well", and they are doing it each and every time in full knowledge of the upcoming counter arguments. Camus wrote that you'd have to imagine Sisyphus as a happy human being. Obviously talking to gamergate people is less fun than pushing rocks. The whole reason for identifying tropes in any narrative media is to have a shorthand for describing and talking about the story experience. If the shorthand is not accepted, the discussion isn't going anywhere. There's no progress in analysis. It always stays on the most basic level. As such, I consider gamergate directly opposed to knowledge. Sure you could criticise the trope definitions and their applicability, but gamergate people usually start at the Damsel in Distress trope, as if it neither existed nor was used in any relevant quantity in video games. And that's just petulant child material, justifying Alexander's harsh assessment of gamer culture almost immediately.
  6. "Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

    Actually, I'm also pondering how this came to pass. I mean, LOOK AT THE ILLUSTRATIONS in that article. There's really not much doubt that the autor is talking about communism. The demaskation is indeed delicious in any case. Oh great, and now I'm reading articles on donotlink. God almighty the kid bastards on there.
  7. "Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

    There has to be something about nostalgia delusion in that description, really. Been talking to far too many gaters today and will now try to get back to the zen version of myself...
  8. "Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

    They're faster than the FBI and just as accurate!
  9. "Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

    "Be neutral, because I don't like your attitude any more". It's the new "stay out of my room".
  10. "Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

    It's understandable. Intel pulling their ads from Gamasutra was seen as THE victory by the reddit and 8chan kids in their 30s. What they thought to be their fettered vassal and most prized trophy now spat in their face, quite an impressive wave of drool to boot. Glad to see that Intel is taking an utterly clear side now, although of course I don't at all think that a perfect diversity quota would really be helpful against the problem. Raising the awareness level, however, which they clearly intend to do as well, may be a better step. Well, it was rather clear what brand of mainboard embroidery my new PC this year gets anyway...
  11. "Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

    That is... one way to look at it, I guess. And, no, I'm not Finnish.
  12. "Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

    I'm not sure there was a "yelling and cursing" phase – what I saw was the attempt to grow up, to move video game journalism in the critical, opinionated, more informed and meta level direction. In that respect, gamergate might have set set us back a decade quite opposed to their self proclaimed goals. I was of course referring to the late 80s and early 90s, the coverage as found in my Amiga Joker magazines, which was the purest enthusiasm and shameless advertising (granted, there was one review that gave one and a half percent, but let's not get into that ). I see that as the actual origin of VG journalism. The fledgling new medium needed the support, the acceptance. That has changed, naturally video gaming changed, and Bain was certainly never part of the initial phase. Ugh, maybe I'm just too darn old. What I meant up there was that Bain was trying to fill a now possibly even antiquated role with his tweet, and he has blocked that path for himself these last months. Just as you say, the endorsement was unwelcome because of the crowd he drags along, which ultimately harkens back to his repeatedly stated opinions about all the issues gamergate supposedly isn't about.
  13. "Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

    Quite like the "Sarkeesian Effect" makers. The theories these two have been spewing these last weeks, it boggles your mind. Aurini has detailed a "fairly obvious" theory about an eternal and universal cultural balance in the mistreatment of the sexes. If women are mistreated in any given culture in any given time, the men are absolutely equally mistreated, always – it's the law according to Aurini. Meanwhile, Owen's picking on individual sentences of Sarkeesian, ranting for an hour on his webcam. It's really not about common sense, it's the pure clamor that pays their bills.
  14. "Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

    Thanks! I am EVERYWHERE.
  15. Quitter's Club: Don't be ashamed to quit the game.

    Jesus, Original Sin, what did I get myself into. This is just taking too much time, every elementary thing you want to do takes eternity. Maybe I'll actually abandon the project. As soon as I get back to work, there'll be no time for it anymore anyway...
  16. "Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

    John Bain's an interesting case that exemplifies what gamergate does and what it destroys. The traditional, generally accepted role of the video game journalist was one of pure joy in the medium, one of a multiplier, advocator and endorser of all things video games. Bain tried to fill exactly that role when he advertised said stream, but he is not welcome to that party any more. Because of his opinions. I quite liked Bain's opinionated reviews, just as much as I always like opinionated reviews, until this August. Now we're getting a glimpse into his political and world views. From his infamous "minorities never had a problem in the UK" blog post, which essentially portrays the whole issue an invalid "American perspective", right down to his linking to MRA Karen Straughan videos very recently. The result is quite clear: I think his world views make him a mindless if not despicable person, so I am not interested in his contributions to video game journalism any more. Still I feel for the guy. It seems to me he was scared into revealing his not entirely thought through inner self last August. Gamergate posed and continues to pose a dire threat to gaming journalism and indie developers, while the actual culprits – huge developers and the hughest publisher – can do anything they want, getting hardly a slap on the wrist. Bain had to take a side, and he took the side of the people he thought would feed him. He's stuck there now, and the utterly embarrassing, personal and revealing stuff from him just keeps coming. It's just sad.
  17. Day of the Tentacle Special Edition

    They called it a "remaster" back then, but there was no visible "remastered" splash until much later than E3. Journalists favored the word "remake", but possibly out of mere wishful thinking. Still, I see that the terminology is decidedly different and the suggestion of "Special Edition" is absolutely_clear. But I still doubt that they'll rise to anything above the Grim Fandango level.
  18. Day of the Tentacle Special Edition

    That may be true, but that still would be exactly what was communicated after the announcement of the Grim Fandango Remastered edition.
  19. Day of the Tentacle Special Edition

    The Polygon article also calls the game "Remastered", not "Special Edition", and communicates extremely lowered expectations as to the effort they will put in the update. So it seems rather certain that we'll see something like the Grim Fandango Remastered edition regardless of the name. Now, don't get me wrong, I'd be first in line at bandcamp to purchase an orchestral DoTT soundtrack, but I don't really need a DoTT Criterion Edition. Double Fine had better put a good deal of effort in a real remake or just push out a re-release. That also answers the question whether 'faithful remake' or 'reboot' would be favorable to me. I still have a working DoTT CD version thanks to ScummVM, so switching to the old version via F5 wouldn't make sense to me. I'm playing for the nostalgia, sure, but I can have full nostalgia whenever I like, so I'm primarily playing for the things which changed. High res graphics, smooth animation, wide screen – heck, I'd even accept a proper verb coin in an instant.
  20. New people: Read this, say hi.

    Yes, I am not a bot. I'm the real deal. Internationally renowned. Well, at least from the Telltale to the RTG forums. And at the time I'm looking out for fairly decent communities the members of which see gamergate for what it actually is. Which seems to be the case here...