Last week I wrote about independent game developer Zoe Quinn and her game Depression Quest, which was released on Steam the same day of Robin Williams” suicide.
I attempted to contact Quinn to discuss the goals of the game and the decision to release it despite the news of Williams” death, but to no avail.
As it turns out, Quinn is at the center of an Internet debacle, to put it lightly.
At its core, the issue concerns ethics in gaming journalism, which has been a hot topic since the subset of journalism began.
It all started when Quinn”s ex-boyfriend accused her of cheating on him multiple times.
Whether Quinn was faithful or not is of no concern to me. But it was who she allegedly cheated with, which includes journalists working for gaming site Kotaku, that is cause for concern.
Since the whole thing started, Quinn has been harassed by the online gaming community, which is inexcusable. Name calling, threats, lewd pictures and hacking are uncalled for and immature.
“Suddenly I don”t get to live out normal parts of life, like going through a bad and ugly breakup in private,” Quinn stated in a post on her website. “I have forfeited this by being a blip in a small community, while those who delight in assailing me hide behind their keyboards and a culture that permits it, beyond reproach.”
As for the ethics debate, Quinn goes onto state that “no one who would terrorize someone and the totally uninvolved people they love in this way on such a massive and public scale could ever honestly claim to be interested in ”ethics” of any kind.”
But the matter of basic journalistic integrity in games coverage is still there, it is simply a sad fact that a lot people resort to online bullying, instead of joining in a constructive conversation.
For an industry that is finally beginning to be taken seriously and not just a child”s pastime, this is immensely detrimental–whether the allegations are true or not.
Games journalism began with consumer-oriented publications, which still play a key role in the field to this day. However, with the advent of the internet, more doors have opened for legitimate coverage of news in the industry.
Where there used to be only glowing reviews and glorified PR lauding itself as reporting, now there is breaking news coverage, in-depth features and discussions on game design, theory and narrative.
Music and movie journalism experienced the same issues, but, unlike video games, both were forms of media that did not have connotations of immaturity.
That is why both the harassment from the online community and the questionable journalism standards are unforgivable.
Like a teenager trying to prove their maturity to doubtful parents, games journalism needs to prove itself and the gaming community needs to be on the same page if we are going to move forward–especially considering the growing popularity of the medium.
That”s right, serious market forces are adding big business maturity to the community of games and gamers.
Amazon purchased Twitch.tv for almost $1 billion Tuesday. Twitch is a streaming site that allows users to watch gameplay footage uploaded by others. The website touts 55 million users and one million content creators, after launching just 3 years ago.
Contact J. W. Burch, IV at 900-2022.
