Since early August the Internet has been rampant with criticism of gaming journalism, rightfully so in some cases. The
stories leading with statements like “gamers are dead,” “the death of an identity,” “the end of gamers” and “gaming journalism is over” have been showing up on gaming sites and non-gaming sites alike.
The basis of the criticism is grounded in multiple issues, ranging from questionable ethics and censorship to agenda-driven articles and the portrayal of women in games—all with very valid arguments.
But neither gamers or gaming journalism are meeting their end. They are both simply moving forward and learning from their mistakes.
And there have been some big mistakes made along the way. But nothing will be done about it, and both the gaming industry and gaming journalism may very well not fully recover, until both the media outlets and audience address what brought us here in the first place.
For clarity, a lot of what has become known as “Gamersgate” on the Internet, stems from the alleged actions of independent game developer Zoe Quinn.
Quinn is the creator of the game Depression Quest, which I wrote about in an earlier column.
Relationships between Quinn and gaming journalists, for alleged positive coverage, were revealed.
This led to online harassment of Quinn and other “Social Justice Warriors,” a self-appointed title given to people aiming to end misogyny and sexism in video games.
As if the ethics of gaming journalism didn”t take a hard enough hit from its supposedly corrupt reviewing process, last week a mailing list called Gaming Journalism Professionals was exposed.
In the mailing list, reporters for gaming sites Polygon, Kotaku and Ars Technica, which are owned by Vox Media, Gawker and Conde Nash, respectively were called out.
Polygon and Kotaku have yet to address the accusation of unethical journalism practices, however Ars Technica writer Kyle Orland, who is a part of the group said this:
“That group came under fire for being a secret clearinghouse where ”elite” journalists discuss how best to collude on covering the video game industry to ”shape industry-wide attitudes to events.” In reality, the group was and is simply a place for business competitors (and journalists are definitely competitive!) to discuss issues of common professional interest.”
However, Kotaku has updated its disclosure requirements on its website, and Polygon does have an ethics statement on its website.
The fact of the matter is that these turn of events can take gaming journalism backward when the field has just started to moving forward, whether or not the accusations are true.
For too long game were looked at as toys and not art, while gamers were looked at as children. All stories were either glorified public relations or written by fans.
Now the gaming journalism industry has a chance to put its best foot forward and show how it has matured and evolved by openly discussing these accusations. Because when you lose the trust of your audience, the only way to go is down.
Contact J. W. Burch, IV at 900-2022.
