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JonCole

"Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

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Did somebody just discover Hunter S.?  Because that Polygon piece is just fucking weird as hell for a game preview there.  I can actually see being irritated by it if I had just gone to Polygon to read about RB4, and this is what I got. 

 

I find myself irritated by it.  Though not because he didn't have the proper enthusiasm, there's something else.  It's dismissive, envious and perhaps even angry at people having fun with a video game.  And those are all interesting things to express, but perhaps it's just packaging?  If it weren't billed as a preview, but as a column, people wouldn't have read it with the expectation of getting some basic facts about the new RB?

 

At any rate, that preview is way more interesting than any drivel about how a gaming journalists job is to be a fucking corporate cheerleader all the time. 

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Did somebody just discover Hunter S.?  Because that Polygon piece is just fucking weird as hell for a game preview there.  I can actually see being irritated by it if I had just gone to Polygon to read about RB4, and this is what I got. 

 

I find myself irritated by it.  Though not because he didn't have the proper enthusiasm, there's something else.  It's dismissive, envious and perhaps even angry at people having fun with a video game.  And those are all interesting things to express, but perhaps it's just packaging?  If it weren't billed as a preview, but as a column, people wouldn't have read it with the expectation of getting some basic facts about the new RB?

 

At any rate, that preview is way more interesting than any drivel about how a gaming journalists job is to be a fucking corporate cheerleader all the time. 

 

Yes, you beat me to this post but I felt the exact same way. The whole article was basically Colin Campbell talking about how he never liked these games but went to this Rock Band 4 event anyways and still doesn't like them but he could tell other people seemed to like it. Then he went on to have a mini existential crisis about how pointless video games are and how this game exemplifies that for him. 

 

It was a very frustrating read mostly because there seemed to be no point to it. He could have just posted an article that was three sentences long and he would have gotten his "point" across: "I don't like Rock Band. I went to a Rock Band 4 event and other people seemed to have fun. I still don't like Rock Band. What am I doing with my life?" (sorry, that was 4 sentences).

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It's a spectacularly subjective and honest review preview that WILL help the people indifferent to those games find out whether they can still have a halfway enjoyable evening with Rock Band 4 if peer pressure coerces them to try it.

 

I kind of doubt that Colin can write another review piece in the same vein though, so the irritation will probably cease with time. :)

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It's a spectacularly subjective review that WILL help the people indifferent to those games find out whether they can still have a halfway enjoyable evening with Rock Band 4 if peer pressure coerces them to try it.

 

I kind of doubt that Colin can write another review in the same vein though, so the irritation will probably cease with time. :)

 

This was a preview, not a review. It would have been a little more bearable if he had actually included some information about the game or interviewed somebody else that played it so they could talk about what they liked/didn't like. I highly doubt this will be helpful to anyone, even those who are indifferent. It was little more than a dude shouting at a cloud.

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At any rate, that preview is way more interesting than any drivel about how a gaming journalists job is to be a fucking corporate cheerleader all the time.

More than that, it's drivel about how the game journalist is basically trying to sell you the game at the preview stage. I only got partway through it, but the comparisons he makes say a lot about what he thinks the function of games coverage is. A reviewer isn't a real estate agent, because the real estate agent has a direct monetary interest in you buying what they're selling. And they're not the person working the counter at McDonald's because they're not being paid by a corporation to sell that corporation's product (hopefully...?).

It's just dumb. I used to see that kind of response in comics before I stopped paying attention to DC and Marvel too. I don't get the idea that all press about some industries is supposed to be enthusiast press.

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I read that earlier and it gave me so sense of what Rock Band 4 is actually like. I still know nothing about that game, and it's a shame because it doesn't seem particularly hard to explain what RB4 is, even if you're not interested. And if you're not interested in RB4 to the point that you can't even bring yourself to play it at a preview event, there's really nothing stopping you from saying "I'm not interested in this game at all and I can't write about it, please give me something else to cover." All I really learned is that Colin Campbell is probably a really boring person and I don't want to learn anything else about him.

 

There are definitely ways to write about games you aren't all that interested in while still being really entertaining and informative. Although it helps if you actually play the game.

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Everything would be better if game previews stopped existing. They are useless. I actually enjoyed that quite a bit more than a normal preview. It certainly made the article about the author more than the game, but given how vacuous and boring most previews are that actually an improvement to me. In a way this was more informative than a normal preview because at least some authentic game experience was described. I think if people weren't so used to by the numbers press release previews no one would be upset about this. It just stands out because it isn't a check list of features and breathless hype.

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Eh, I don't like that piece not because I'm some scrub who can't handle real journalism, but because it's really belabored and awful. It damn near reads like a satire of capital G capital J Games Journalism (or Gonzo Games Journalism or New Games Journalism or whatever).

 

"Video games are actually bad. I would rather talk about politics, man."

 

Yeesh.

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Eh, I don't like that piece not because I'm some scrub who can't handle real journalism, but because it's really belabored and awful. It damn near reads like a satire of capital G capital J Games Journalism (or Gonzo Games Journalism or New Games Journalism or whatever).

 

"Video games are actually bad. I would rather talk about politics, man."

 

Yeesh.

 

Yeah that whole bit about how he is so cool because he just wants to talk about the Phillipines was pretty revealing I think.  I liked it because it helped his character shine through (even if it was pretty cringe worthy).  He is clearly very interested in people seeing him as cultured and serious.  I'm glad that was a part of the piece because it helped make me give context to his experience.  It also sort of brought me back to how I acted and felt about a lot things in my teen years and early twenties.  Regardless, I completley understand why someone would be totally put off by it.  It is kind of up it's own ass in some ways.  I just appreciate that it has a voice and perspective at all.

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I just thought he'd managed to buttonhole Cassandra Khaw, although she actually lives in Malaysia, Merus, they're different.

 

I don't think I had a problem with the piece, really - it's by far not the only preview Polygon will be writing, it's a different perspective we don't get to see often (will people who are tired of Rock Band as a concept going to get anything out of the first fake plastic rock game released in years) and there actually is new information in the piece.

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Yeah that whole bit about how he is so cool because he just wants to talk about the Phillipines was pretty revealing I think.  I liked it because it helped his character shine through (even if it was pretty cringe worthy).  He is clearly very interested in people seeing him as cultured and serious.  I'm glad that was a part of the piece because it helped make me give context to his experience.  It also sort of brought me back to how I acted and felt about a lot things in my teen years and early twenties.  Regardless, I completley understand why someone would be totally put off by it.  It is kind of up it's own ass in some ways.  I just appreciate that it has a voice and perspective at all.

 

Bolded part pretty much nails my irritation with it. 

 

I also don't consider irritation to be an inherently negative experience.  All sorts of things irritate me that I ultimately value or enjoy, and I wouldn't mind seeing Polygon try some more pieces like that. 

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I read that earlier and it gave me so sense of what Rock Band 4 is actually like. I still know nothing about that game, and it's a shame because it doesn't seem particularly hard to explain what RB4 is, even if you're not interested. And if you're not interested in RB4 to the point that you can't even bring yourself to play it at a preview event, there's really nothing stopping you from saying "I'm not interested in this game at all and I can't write about it, please give me something else to cover." All I really learned is that Colin Campbell is probably a really boring person and I don't want to learn anything else about him.

There are definitely ways to write about games you aren't all that interested in while still being really entertaining and informative. Although it helps if you actually play the game.

Yes! I was going to say, this guy seems to have read a bunch of Mattie Brice and Cara Ellison (and a half dozen other women who write circles around this drek but have to survive on donations) and decided that inserting himself into his writing was a good idea and forgot to be an interesting person who other people would want to read about.

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Yeah, that article was bizarre. There are so many angles to pursue, even if you aren't interested in a game - maybe especially in that case. "Detached ennui" isn't interesting to read and it doesn't endear the writer to me. What I like about (for example) Cara Ellison's writing is that her hunger for, like, understanding and meaning and narrative and metanarrative drips off the page. She's constantly playing for the angle. She makes you want it as much as she does, even if you don't care about the game. Campbell has the language, but he's missing the grist. An article about not caring still has to make me care about why you don't care.

 

That said: Hey, they can't all be home runs, so keep refining the craft and take another shot at it. Something in this vein could absolutely be better than your typical preview, even if this particular effort... wasn't.

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I was going to say the exact same thing about Cara. She also was on a site that is much more indulgent for people to subvert the preview - Rock Paper Shotgun's bread and butter is weird-ass indie games, and they completely ignore console games, so their audience doesn't really expect the hottest takes on upcoming games and they're not 'behind' if they decide to ignore a game. (It helps that almost all of their reviews contain a certain amount of negativity, even for games they like.)

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The interesting thing about how this discussion has moved on is that I still haven't read the preview in question and it has made your widely diverging opinions very entertaining to read. At least, I guess that some people have found something worthwhile in that article shows it wasn't a complete failure?

 

The issue for me was less whether that article holds up or not, but that the ideals the rant postulates aren't conducive to criticism. That you need to sit still and be attentive when PR wants to do its shtick. That you should quit the moment you are no longer brimming with excitement over getting to play yet another game to make room for somebody more enthusiastic. That you should never discuss something that's "not your thing" so you don't get in the way of the real criticism by real fans. Those all massively pre-select what kind of responses you get and all serve to make them lean more in the direction of favorable coverage.

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Don't get me wrong, I'd rather read games writing that's personal rather than a list of bullet points, copied and pasted from a press release. It's more how this article fits in the context of games writing in general: there are a lot of people (largely women) who are writing this kind of thing and, when they apply for salaried jobs at places like Polygon, are told they're not qualified. And then, one who ostensibly IS qualified is writing stuff like they do, only poorly. 

 

Check out Offworld, Critical Distance, Paste and Arcade Review (and others that I can't think of off the top of my head). 

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It's funny that there's so much sneering about women nailing confessional styles and even being pigeonholed into writing that way because we're supposed to be emotional but a lot of it has to do because we're often pegged as outsiders or interlopers. A woman can't break through with mediocre piece writing on her own merits, confessional writing is often the way to "break in" and here we see how someone trying to ape that completely reveals how not-good they are at it.

 

I am not sure any of this makes sense. Little loopy at the moment.

 

Edit: Fuck you Reyturner, beat me to the punch! :)

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Oh yeah, that's a fair angle to bring up for sure. Despite dismissive comments, there's definitely actual work and skill that goes into confessional writing, and consequently it's possible to completely mess it up. Just that every specific complaint I have seen people make why this fails as a preview, not a general piece of writing, is revealing of some questionable perspective on how previews are supposed to work. Like, people are saying it's disrespectful to write about an event like that, and the question is: disrespectful of whom, the people who hosted it or the people reading this?

 

(I help out at Critical Distance and know the folk you mean Rey)

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Part of the reason - a not-insignificant part of the reason, I expect - that people think confessional-style writing is easy to do is because there are a lot of prominent women that are really good at it. It's not, though! It's fucking hard!

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That's the kind of writing I'd like to do because it looks fun, but then again I wouldn't expect to get paid for it, because I'm not a writer. Maybe I'll just start doing it for funsies and see where it goes.

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Twig: Do it for free if it's on a personal blog. Otherwise, pitch it and get paid for it. If you write, you're a writer. Don't undervalue your labor! 

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Haha, well, I mean, I don't really write ever (much as I like to, I don't feel the inspiration, and I've never gotten into the habit of doing it regularly). That's all I really meant. If I ever felt I was good enough, or had people tell me I was good enough. People who aren't just the type of people who say everything I do is great.

 

Ahem. Anyway, yes, I do have a personal blog that I'm not using!

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Then I am issuing a challenge: if you can, get into a schedule and stick to it! I attempt this myself but unfortunately working full-time has worn this down some since I also produce a podcast and stuff on top of that. 

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When I was trying to do the writing thing (which I should try again), I signed up for some web site that was some thing where you wrote exactly 100 words every day, and if you made it through every day off the month, they would push the batch out to be public! It was a way to get comfortable writing daily and letting my writing be seen.

I need to get back into writing.

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