"Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

[Apple Cider]

Half-Life 3, confirmed. (As not a game.)

[Gaizokubanou]

Well, my definition of "game" begins on the lowest possible level, so quite indeed I find the discussion of what constitutes a game rather boring. Interactive entertainment software = games. As long as it's interactive, regardless of the level of interaction, and if it's consumed for entertainment, bam, it's a game. Of course The Sims is, of course Depression Quest is, of course Gone Home is, and every single interactive movie type game is right down to Dragon's Lair. That doesn't mean I have to like either one of those game mechanics just because "I like games".

 

Evaluating the game mechanics and their subjective impression on the player, in what way he/she is motivated or emotionally moved, in what way repetition is sensible, what degree or what modes of interaction feel best to an individual player, those are all very worthy fields of investigation. In comparison, calling a game "not a game" leads nowhere.

 

Right, but I presume you don't consider DVD menus to be a game with long movie as an ending (or maybe you do, then we just disagree on really basic level on this subject and you are right, not much to talk about other than examining just how much our vocabulary differs when it comes to this subject)?  Because going by that super broad definition, I could criticize all the movie DVD/Blurays for being weak games that implements lowest possible interaction on top of movies but that sounds very disingenuous category to criticize a medium based on scope outside of its intended role (just bare bone navigation to get basic setting achieved before movie starts, not intended to be engaging on their own at all).  And that is why I find definition of game being narrower useful so that I don't have to utilize same overtly (IMO) broad tools to look at say, Hearts of Iron 3 to bluray copy of Gurren Lagann.  Or that MP3 players are gaming consoles because they play interactive (you choose the audio tracks) entertainment softwares, and so not comparing them to Xbox One which I think is fruitless comparison.

 

Or again, perhaps you do consider all of them games.

 

I also presume non softwares can be games for you?

 

And of course, things that are something else could be games and so being something else doesn't exclude it being game in my view (just pointing out that is not the reason why I think these are not games)... like rulebooks.  Clearly books, but also games IMO.  But say, Bible on the other hand... has rules in them, but I don't see one as a gaming rulebook.

[Vainamoinen]

Right, but I presume you don't consider DVD menus to be a game

 

No, that's not what we'd call interactive entertainment.

[Gaizokubanou]

No, that's not what we'd call interactive entertainment.

 

Right, the "play" has to be selected (interaction) for maximum feedback (movie plays)

 

If this sounds tenuous at best, well yes that's sort of my point that this is how I view (but you may not and I get that) the interaction that exists in Dear Esther.  Or say Telltale games... to me they come off more as a visual novels with button prompts baked in rather than games with great stories.  I find the interaction provided in those are also too basic for me to gripe on them over their interaction because I get that that's not their focus as all, where as I think in games that should be the main focus.  And to re-clarify, none of this is a damning mark on any of those creative works for me.  Like not being a game for me is not a "this isn't good enough to be a game", rather "the work engages the audience by means other than interaction (even if minor ones exists because I think minor interactions constitute more of basic menu)".

 

BTW the best walking simulation of all because you run

 

 

Go to 6:50 for future of HL3, the SPRINTING simulator!

[Reyturner]

I like these guy's attempt at recovering the word "game" as useful term for describing something more specific than "literally anything" by differentiating between "orthogames" and "idiogames" (applied from Characteristics of Games) 

 

[Vainamoinen]

My critique of the game mechanics particularly of Telltale's recent games would be much the same! But the fact that I find those mechanics to be not satisfying, not engaging, not challenging doesn't make this media "not-a-game". Imagine the most stupid and luck based of card games – you throw one of your cards in the middle of the table every other minute, and at one point you're done. Not satisfying, not engaging, not challenging. Still undoubtedly "a game". Also, what children count as "game" would be ruled out by gamergate cultists in digital form, particularly all varieties of the "pretend" (hence "roleplay") game. All games, all, all games...

[Bjorn]

Right, but I presume you don't consider DVD menus to be a game...

 

The Dark City DVD menu did include a game.

And yes, I cut off the back half of your sentence to make that point

[Vainamoinen]

Change of topic.

 

What's it like being at the center of a conspiracy theory?

There are a lot of screenshots of our website on the internet with little red lines drawn on them in MS Paint.

Silverstring media, at the center of some of gamergate's wildest conspiracy theories, speaks out against the cult.

http://www.gameranx.com/features/id/26194/article/game-developer-interviews-about-gamergate-silverstring-media/

[Gaizokubanou]

All good guys <3

 

Yeah about different topic, yesterday I heard something about persecution complex and wonder if some of these conspiracy theorists are going through something similar where evidence against their belief is just more proof that their opposition is acting against them.

 

Best wishes to Silverstring Media.

[Synnah]

Shanley Kane posted about the harassment she's been receiving for speaking out against Linus Torvalds, a large amount of which came from GamerGate. Weev and Milo figure highly in it, and it's clearly a misogynistic attack, rather than anything related to games. Funny how much of a crossover there is between those two groups of people.

[twmac]

She calls out Elizabeth Spiers in her 'fuck you' section.

 

Elizabeth Spiers replied:

 

http://www.elizabethspiers.com/on-the-matter-of-weev-vs-kane/

 

EDIT:

 

Finished the whole piece and this part is particularly important to me:

 

"I also want readers to note that the "redemption" narrative that people are looking for me to manifest here is hugely problematic, centering white people's feelings and experiences, our personal growth over dismantling oppressive systems, and our need to feel like we are "good people." As I've written in the past, I don't believe that "good person" as a framework to approaching systemic inequalities is useful. I don’t think I am a good or bad person. I am a person who has done good things and bad things, and I try to do more good things as I grow. "

[Vainamoinen]

I usually stay away from Breitbart, but Spiers has linked to a recent article.

 

Yannopoulos is now giving Auernheimer a platform for trolling.

 

The gamergate cult is on the ultra right side of politics anyway, but they will have to be very careful not to slip even further here. What will not happen is that gamergaters renounce Lord Milo, but at least some statements to the effect that convicted harrassers with palm sized swastikas tattoed on their chest do not reflect their 'movement', those are definitely due.

[Merus]

Shanley Kane strikes me as a prick, but there's no such thing as a perfect victim and the Linux community has a long history of being unable to comprehend anyone else's experiences, judging by their going like a decade deciding that this year would finally be the year where ordinary people would prefer to use Linux instead of an operating system that doesn't require a hobbyist to run it.

[Apple Cider]

The kind of person weev turned into is so fucking weird as someone who knew him in the early LJ days when we were just all weirdo nerds. 

Then again, I am glad I was only on the fringe when that group solidified into Encyclopedia Dramatica and all points beyond.

[pkirkner]

Yannopoulos is now giving Auernheimer a platform for trolling.

 

He works for Breitbart. It's a site founded by and named after a thoroughly dishonest extreme right-wing troll. This is exactly the sort of thing that platform exists for.

[Deadpan]

In other news, Defy Media has apparently laid off a whole lot of folk from Gametrailers, Gamefront and The Escapist, including Escapist EIC Greg Tito (whom I've discussed a couple of pages back as being the only one holding the site back from going full gator). Considering the Escapist is one of the few sites that have come close to openly supporting GG, they should be none too pleased about news that they are doing poorly, but it seems they have unanimously decided to read this as owner Alexander Macris (whom you may remember for getting interviewees straight from the black heart of GG, and even talking to Adam Baldwin himself about all this) "purging" SJW influence from the site.

 

Between this and Sterling leaving a little while ago, it seems likely the site won't be around next year. I used to get a bit sentimental about its downfall since the site's forums are where I started writing back when I was still a little baby who thought Yahtzee was the real deal, but at this point there's not enough decent people left there for me to really feel much of anything.

[Bjorn]

Somehow I had missed that Sterling had left the Escapist.  I stopped going there once Macris doubled down on supporting gg. It does seem like the death knell is ringing for it if they are cutting a bunch of their senior leadership.   
 
Tito's announcement has some not so subtle barbs in it.

[Nachimir]

By Steve Hogarty, preceding his review of Infinifactory:

 

before we proceed with this article about a puzzle game that I like, I feel the need to disclose a number of potential conflicts of interest.

• While driving along a country road late at night in 2002 I accidentally hit and killed the CEO of Ubisoft with my car. This triggered a clause in his contract that made me the new CEO of Ubisoft. Despite my best efforts to dodge my newfound responsibility, I held this position for three months until I learned the true meaning of Ubisoft. Shortly afterwards the original CEO appeared from behind a desk and told me that he hadn’t died at all, and that the spirit of Ubisoft had been inside me the entire time.

 

• As a prehistoric multicellular cyanobacteria, I shared the same primordial puddle with an anaerobic organism who would later go on to work in the QA department at Sega. For several million years we produced free oxygen together through a primitive form of photosynthesis and ultimately triggered the global oxygenation that precipitated the largest extinction event in Earth’s history. As such I have not reviewed any Sonic games since. And whenever Sonic comes up in editorial meetings I turn my back so as not to subconsciously raise Sonic’s profile among the team using my compelling range of facial expressions.
• Was once in a plane crash with Sid Meier and woke up on a mysterious island where nothing was as it seemed. It was on this island that I gave Sid the idea for Civilizations II, III, and V.
• Did the Lady and The Tramp kiss scene with some guy from Games For Windows Live, except instead of a strand of spaghetti it was one of those twenty foot long Subway sandwiches they do special for catered parties and it took us both forty five minutes to reach the middle and start making out.
• Once discovered a tiny hidden door in my apartment that allowed me to crawl into Brian Fargo’s mind, experiencing the world through his eyes for fifteen minutes at a time. This would later become the inspiration for the video game ‘Messiah’.
• Until the mid 90s I was part of a cool biker gang that one day discovered an abandoned baby crying alone by the side of the road. Scooping the child up and swaddling her in my leather jacket I vowed to raise her as my own, teaching her the ways of the open road as we rode together for years. On her 18th birthday, the girl — no, the woman — turned to me and said “Steve, I must go now. This life of chaos has equipped me with the skills I need. You are the closest thing to a father I have known. You have taught me to act with grace and civility, to fight injustice, to chase the sunset, to live the dream. And now it’s time to go it alone, or my name wasn’t Jade Raymond all along.”
• Owned a dog that looked a bit like Ken Levine.
• Once rolled down a hill with Gabe Newell, just laughing and laughing until we were laying side by side in the grass, looking up at the clouds, pointing out the shapes until, somehow, I don’t know when it happened, we were holding hands and our voices fell quiet and we just lay there, we just lay there for what felt like hours, and the sleepy clouds drifted by overhead and the setting sun painted vast orange shadows across the sky, and we finally just didn’t care about anything other than that one moment.

[Vainamoinen]

Juicy. It's the future of games journalism.

[Mawd]

Oh man fun writing might be a new favourite site.

[Twig]

ahhhhhhhh i love steve

[thefncrow]

Somehow I had missed that Sterling had left the Escapist. I stopped going there once Macris doubled down on supporting gg. It does seem like the death knell is ringing for it if they are cutting a bunch of their senior leadership.

Tito's announcement has some not so subtle barbs in it.

Additionally, shortly after word of The Escapist's layoffs was going around, Brianna Wu posted this on Twitter:

@Spacekatgal: Reminder: Good journalists can work for bad editors. Got insider information tonight about a publication I've very strongly criticised.

@Spacekatgal: I'm reminded that it's unfair to judge every journalist for decisions made by their editor in regards to Gamergate. Sorry if I was unfair.

Which makes it seem kinda obvious exactly which publication she was talking about.

[Vainamoinen]

Oh man fun writing might be a new favourite site.

They ask you log into to their comment section with a Steam account. Let's just say that's where I draw the line on journalistic integrity. That last part with the rolling in the grass... that may be figuratively true.

Somehow I had missed that Sterling had left the Escapist.

Me neither, until a few weeks ago. I think Sterling didn't even make a fuzz. But it was pretty clear that he criticised the Escapist for its gamergate stance. And of course he's doing VERY well on Patreon.

[Deadpan]

By Steve Hogarty, preceding his review of Infinifactory:

 

Reminds me of something I wrote a little while ago.

 

 

Additionally, shortly after word of The Escapist's layoffs was going around, Brianna Wu posted this on Twitter:

 

My favorite is probably this.

[Twig]

They ask you log into to their comment section with a Steam account. 

Huh. That is pretty weird, isn't it.