Thread "[Vent] Clickbait game journalism leaves me confused." in forum "Comic Talk and General Discussion *"

Posted at 7:01AM, Jan. 9, 2022

Okay, I just watched a few "Worst of the year" videos while doing some house cleaning and I kept hearing the same thing each and every time, "this company is scum, they are evil and did naughty things". I had been hearing this over, and over, and over again when I keep looking for game news and honestly I had it.

Reporting horrible work conditions is important, and vital. The problem arises when it is repeated over, and over, and over but the obvious answer of "just don't buy the bloody games!" is brushed off with 'but all of those hard working staffers need to be paid'. At that point I feel like they are just farming clicks from scandal and sensationalism just like Tabloid rags of Grocery store and just about the same amount of sincerity for the cause.

I stopped watching "reporters" like Jim Sterling and Yongyea, hell I even stopped watching documentary stuff like "wha happun" because it just became sort of a drag, because I can't do anything to fix the problem. At times I wonder if it is worth playing games at all, which sucks.

Thanks for listening to my vent.

Posted at 9:01AM, Jan. 9, 2022

I used to follow Jim Sterling a while back as well and I pretty much quit doing it for about the same reason. It doesn't change my position on video gaming in practice. I haven't kept step with the video game industry since like 2008. Ever since then its been retro gaming through and through with me, only occasionally trying a new game at my brother's place, and he doesn't play video games anymore period these days.

The latest game I own is like from 2012 and that's a remaster for the Xbox 360 (Metal Gear Solid HD) which is the newest among the consoles I own, the others being the PS2 and the Original Xbox. There's no need for me to know about the dirty laundry of the modern game industry, because I'm already not interested enough to support it anyway. Hell, I think I've gotten most out of retro games too at this point. I don't even play the games I do own regularly anymore, it is very occasional.

In the end scandalist, sensationalists and radicalist stuff is where all the clout and the money lies and all that pressure that comes with it, from the audience and the sponsors and the plattform in question, can put even the most integral person alive in the seat of an exploitative hack. That's my take on the subject.

Posted at 3:01PM, Jan. 9, 2022

Just like most other things, when video games became mainstream, things changed as they do for broad appeal. Thankfully we do have significant presence of independent games, though that's another topic of conversation that could be discussed for hours.

But when anything really becomes super-mainstream, there's a race of escalation of budget and scale, there's making things "safe" for their audiences and sponsors and only occasionally, begrudgingly allowing anything controversial or not carefully planned for profit. This is just what happens both with whole broad industries and individual series, stories, and works, when they make a mainstream bid or just end up there for any reason or no reason at all.

Journalism in general has absolutely plummeted in consistent standard for the work. Most journalism based around any profiteering industry is unfortunately, by its very nature, questionable; someone is paying them, and most people who manage success and fame in anything have a price. It's just the nature of the world.

Add to that the fact that it's easier to catch an audience's attention with cheap, easy tricks like an emotional appeal or creating an enemy, and it's not too surprising that's exactly what they tend to do. They're not especially clever or unique, and they don't need to be. When something is a big hit with the mainstream, all you have to put in is the minimum. Jangle those keys in front of your audience and make sure they've got some bread to enjoy, you're on the clock.