Corruption in gaming journalism discussion and update thread. - General

[QUOTE=Thlis;45854483]Hey guys. I don't know anything about this topic but I just wanted to chime in and ask why you all care. It's not like someone posts this at least once a page and that the OP has several videos which actually show what this whole thing is about.[/QUOTE] The Quinnspiracy videos in the OP do a good job of summarizing the events that lead us up to where we are now and how they negatively effects gamers.

[QUOTE=Yahnich;45854463]can anyone explain to me in like 2 sentences why exactly i should care about zoe quinn because ive heard so much shit but not a single thing i read made me think "wow this zoe quinn lady is really bad" like she cheated or smth but why would that make me outraged[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Yahnich;45854543]i read the entire op and i still don't get why people are so up in arms like if you think i'm spending 50min of my time watching some video[/QUOTE] Then you should probably take a look at: [img]http://i.imgur.com/eI1c0zf.png[/img] again, and remind yourself that[B] yes, you shouldn't care about Zoe Quinn. [/B]

[QUOTE=gudman;45854315]The word "feminazi" didn't come from nowhere... it exists thanks to exactly that kind of "activists".[/QUOTE] Yeah, it came from Glenn Beck: the pinnacle of reason.

[QUOTE=Yahnich;45854543]i read the entire op and i still don't get why people are so up in arms like if you think i'm spending 50min of my time watching some video[/QUOTE] This is the problem with a lot of people, they jump in and pick a side, whichever side sounds best to them, without actually reading more into what happened, read the link I posted, then hopefully you'll see why we're all up in arms.

[QUOTE=john_pelphre;45854607]Yeah, it came from Glenn Beck: the pinnacle of reason.[/QUOTE] Rush Limbaugh, the crazy racist and sexist who called a woman a whore for wanting subsidized contraception. I seriously don't see why you feminists are hung up on the origins of terms. [QUOTE]"an extreme or militant feminist"[/QUOTE] and we have women supporting a #Killallmen campaign.

[QUOTE=Yahnich;45854602]hasn't game journalism been a joke forever though, isn't this just another turd in the shitpile[/QUOTE] Yeah it was. But at this time we have proof that stuff like this is a systemic issue in the industry, while previously it was easy to handwave as "well that's just *insert media*". Yeah we all know gaming journalism is garbage. But it doesn't have to be like that forever. Now we can do something about it, and judging by their fight or flight response, it hurts like a bitch. At the very least, we think this way. So we care. We believe that we can improve the situation, even if it has to be done the hard way, by spamming sponsors and those journalists' higher-ups to get them yelled at and possibly even fired, as an example.

[QUOTE=Yahnich;45854645]i'm not picking any side, i'm just seeing twitter and facepunch explode about this thing and i'm honestly baffled why hence i came to this thread hoping someone would explain the real issue here instead of being "(x1 dumb) read op" when i already know what is happening but i don't know WHY it's happening[/QUOTE] the InternetAristocrat videos do a really good job of explaining the entire situation but you refuse to watch them so

[QUOTE=Yahnich;45854602]hasn't game journalism been a joke forever though, isn't this just another turd in the shitpile[/QUOTE] It's been a joke to people like us but these people have readers,sizable ones at that AND when an issue about gamers reach the mainstream they're the first one people look into AND developers actually listen to these people AND they do have an actual tangible affect on game sales. Do you really want the ordinary non-gamer to think that we're all sexist racist homophobic misogynistic bigots that these people been harping on about for the past couple of years? Do you really want developers to pander to specific audiences that have no qualms of removing anything they dislike? Do you really want shitty games to be given more attention than actually good games?

[QUOTE=Yahnich;45854727]would you honestly watch a 24min monologue about someone talking about "X you don't care about"? if you're all so mad about this someone should be able to explain in short why this is such a shitfest right, at least gudman was so nice to give me an explanation instead of being a dick about it[/QUOTE] [url]http://pastebin.com/RBqFnhrD[/url] You guys could of just linked the recap

[quote]The past week has been a recordbreaker in the sheer amount of screeching controversy vomited forth from reddit, targeting either women, indie devs, games journalists, or some tasty combination thereof. In the midst of the hair-pulling, you have court jesters such as Lizardsquad DDoSing everything that moves, getting SOE CEO John Smedley's flight diverted, and leading the mainstream media on a wild goose chase. I'm not going to go into the sordid Quinnspiracy bullshit, which we pointedly ignored here at TMC as it instantly degenerated into a doxxing, stalkerish 'sex scandal' which also somehow impacted games journalism with accusations of bias and incompetence. Of course, much like the witch hunt for the Boston Marathon bombers, the redditor mob got Basically Everything Wrong (tm), and the accusations of wild sex for positive review coverage turned out to be a damp squib; the games journalists supposedly involved in the mess hadn't actually covered the game that favors were supposedly traded for. Oops! At least Erik Kain has a good overview at Forbes. Let's pause to remember the importance of free speech and creepshots, in case you forgot the particular nature of the cesspool which these ~scandals~ have been birthed from. Not to allow a good witch hunt to die out in the face of technicalities like facts, we are now confronted with a supposedly more serious and well-researched assault on the castle walls of games journalism. This time the culprits are Patricia Hernandez and Ben Kuchera of Kotaku and Polygon respectively. Are you ready to get all mad? Are you pumped? Can you feel the outrage coursing through your veins, your fedora positively vibrating with righteous indignation, the urge to mash upvote uncontrollably compelling you? I hope not, because this entire thing is fucking stupid, and if you're upset about any of these recent manufactured games journalism scandals then you are likely also suprised that politicians lie, that fiat currency exists, or that these damn sheeple keep believing in a god. Let's break this down. We don't even have to touch on the supposed facts and accusations in either of these two reddit screeds about games journalism; we can simply grant them summary judgment, assume arguendo that every single accusation they've flung is entirely, inviolably true, and still we end up with a cup full of 'who gives a shit' sweetened with a spoonful of 'are you really this naive, grow up'. Complaining about games journalism being corrupt or ineffective is as novel and controversial as bitching about the fact that wasps sting: yes, wasps suck, yes, they sting, no, complaining about it isn't going to change a damn thing. Games journalism is a monumentally silly niche industry. Here at TMC we got involved in this business in the first place because any jackass with a neckbeard and a blog can call themselves a 'journalist' and type some words about a video game, so why shouldn't we? Oh wait, maybe you think games journalists should be held to a higher standard because they self-identify as journalists. After all, the most upvoted comment on the Kotaku/Polygon thing is a bunch of feel-good bullet points about how mainstream journalists should behave. Only one problem with that, darling: 'real' journalism itself is a moldering garbage heap, and you will find no examples to put on a pedestal there. Even 'real' news outlets are seriously exploring the idea that Lizardsquad is actually linked to ISIS (to the IBT's credit, they blow off the ISIS link, but only after enjoying a good sensational headline to suck you in). Then there's the usual round of plagarism scandals at the Grey Lady, the recent Buzzfeed hilarity and now a go at Fareed Zakaria, of CNN, WaPo and Time. Let's not even touch on the 24-hour cable news cycle and the current propaganda-as-entertainment which we feast upon nightly in Freedomland. More to the point, who even gives a shit if games journalism is corrupt and full of trash? Fundamentally we are talking about video games. Diversionary entertainment. It is slightly more involved and engaging than watching Kim Kardashian's ass shake on reality television, but the truth is that there's not much difference between reading about video games while bored at the office and repeatedly F5ing a celebrity gossip blog to find out who Miley Cyrus licked today. I'm reminded of Sayre's Law, often invoked in the Kissinger context: the conflicts surrounding vidya games are so bitter precisely because the stakes are so low. If you felt games journalism or real journalism were icons of integrity and your illusions have been rudely shattered and you're just shocked, shocked to see these accusations of fraternization being ~brought to light~, welcome to the post-1972 world, we're glad you could join the rest of us.[/quote]

[QUOTE=Yahnich;45854727]would you honestly watch a 24min monologue about someone talking about "X you don't care about"? if you're all so mad about this someone should be able to explain in short why this is such a shitfest right, at least gudman was so nice to give me an explanation instead of being a dick about it[/QUOTE] You would have been done watching the first video by now.

[QUOTE]your fedora positively vibrating with righteous indignation, the urge to mash upvote uncontrollably compelling you? [/QUOTE] This is all gamers.

[QUOTE=Rangergxi;45854795]This is all gamers.[/QUOTE] it is a metaphor of the general action behind all this or anyone who gets social outrage over something as pointless as video games. [img]http://i5.minus.com/jL2ltYvSaEbnV.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE=NoDachiUK;45854813] or anyone who gets social outrage over something as pointless as video games.[/QUOTE] Why are you part of a gaming community? Why shouldn't people care about their hobbies? You're just threadshitting like normal. [editline]31st August 2014[/editline] wrong nodachi. sorry.

[QUOTE=Rangergxi;45854838]Why are you part of a gaming community? Why shouldn't be care about their hobbies? You're just threadshitting like normal.[/QUOTE] I enjoy video games. I just think the community is shit - and you especially Rangergxi are like the posterboy for everything wrong with it currently. Yet you want to dress yourself up as the solution with these dumb thinly veiled crusades that just makes the whole community [I]look even worse[/I] - and more of a bitter cess-pit.

please stop posting

[QUOTE=Matrix374;45854742]It's been a joke to people like us but these people have readers,sizable ones at that AND when an issue about gamers reach the mainstream they're the first one people look into AND developers actually listen to these people AND they do have an actual tangible affect on game sales. Do you really want the ordinary non-gamer to think that we're all sexist racist homophobic misogynistic bigots that these people been harping on about for the past couple of years? Do you really want developers to pander to specific audiences that have no qualms of removing anything they dislike? Do you really want shitty games to be given more attention than actually good games?[/QUOTE] Wouldn't the best way to deal with shitty journalism be just to ignore it and the controversy around it? All of these companies thrive around controversy and controversy is kept alive by us. People read these articles because they are given relevance. Even arguing against these companies and controversies give it relevancy.

[QUOTE=tempunary;45854866]please stop posting[/QUOTE] Sorry if I picked up my torch and pitchfork and cultivated some incoherent rage over nothing and joined the ranks of dullards on a forum you'll finally accept me?

[QUOTE=NoDachiUK;45854849]I enjoy video games. I just think the community is shit - and you especially Rangergxi are like the posterboy for everything wrong with it currently. Yet you want to dress yourself up as the solution with these dumb thinly veiled crusades that just makes the whole community [I]look even worse[/I] - and more of a bitter cess-pit.[/QUOTE] OK so you think video game communities are shit but for some reason you joined one. ??? Why did you join something you hate?

[QUOTE=Chexxeh;45854908]OK so you think video game communities are shit but for some reason you joined one. ??? Why did you join something you hate?[/QUOTE] They server their purposes. You can meet some decent people among the infantile teenboy masses. I sometimes enjoy a trashy novel.

[QUOTE=NoDachiUK;45854813]it is a metaphor of the general action behind all this or anyone who gets social outrage over something as pointless as video games. [/QUOTE] yea who gets outraged over the biggest entertainment industry ever seen???

[QUOTE=Valnar;45854868]Wouldn't the best way to deal with shitty journalism be just to ignore it and the controversy around it? All of these companies thrive around controversy and controversy is kept alive by us. People read these articles because they are given relevance. Even arguing against these companies and controversies give it relevancy.[/QUOTE] Ignoring it will just allow for them to continue spewing whatever they want and keep being relevant,continuing to poison the gaming industry and community. This controversy has effectively killed any shred of reputation the writers have and these sites ARE suffering the consequences as people are e-mailing their advertisers Not to mention how the people in support of Zoe Quinn,are actively enabling abuse by handwaving this as a "sexist" and "feminist" issue

nodachi confirmed shill

[QUOTE=Wii60;45854918]yea who gets outraged over the biggest entertainment industry ever seen???[/QUOTE] So its still like getting mad at realty tv.

[QUOTE=Valnar;45854868]Wouldn't the best way to deal with shitty journalism be just to ignore it and the controversy around it? All of these companies thrive around controversy and controversy is kept alive by us. People read these articles because they are given relevance. Even arguing against these companies and controversies give it relevancy.[/QUOTE] Ignoring doesn't work. Proven time and time again, ignoring these things simply doesn't work at all. General audience of the media in question is not active, obviously, so gaming journalism can live without the active part of the community no problem. The only option we have at trying to change what we don't like here is through action, through exposing the dirty ass of the industry in front of that very general public, swaying them on our side. It might as well not work as well. That's a possibility, but that's better than not doing anything at all.

[QUOTE=Chexxeh;45854908]OK so you think video game communities are shit but for some reason you joined one. ??? Why did you join something you hate?[/QUOTE] Some people are desprate to find a place to fit in.

[QUOTE=gudman;45854937]Ignoring doesn't work. Proven time and time again, ignoring these things simply doesn't work at all. General audience of the media in question is not active, obviously, so gaming journalism can live without the active part of the community no problem. The only option we have at trying to change what we don't like here is through action, through exposing the dirty ass of the industry in front of that very general public, swaying them on our side. It might as well not work as well. That's a possibility, but that's better than not doing anything at all.[/QUOTE] this isn't some watergate incident. This is minor group of self-supporting neck-beards echo-rooming their own discontent and delusion back and forth between each other. And in a week mosts of you would have gotten bored, and have only made the rest of the community look even more like a delusional cesspit. "I'm reminded of Sayre's Law, often invoked in the Kissinger context: the conflicts surrounding vidya games are so bitter precisely because the stakes are so low." You don't have the sense of importance you keep crediting yourself with.

[QUOTE=NoDachiUK;45854931]So its still like getting mad at realty tv.[/QUOTE] Video games are a medium, not a genre. So not really.

[QUOTE=Matrix374;45854926]Ignoring it will just allow for them to continue spewing whatever they want and keep being relevant,continuing to poison the gaming industry and community. This controversy has effectively killed any shred of reputation the writers and these sites ARE suffering the consequences as people are e-mailing their advertisers Not to mention how the people in support of Zoe Quinn,are actively enabling abuse.[/QUOTE] They only do that because people read their shit. We are feeding into that system, we are helping make them relevant, especially feeding into controversy giving them traffic. And it only seems more and more relevant to us when we decide to stay within the controversy.

[QUOTE=NoDachiUK;45854760]-quote-[/QUOTE] The community expresses integrity in journalism since gaming is considered to be a time and money consuming luxury. You don't see many art connoisseurs agree buying a damaged art copy for a full price. It's kind of easy to see how journalists and outsiders would ignore that fact. Videogame journalists receive free review copies constantly. Music fans pay 99 cents for a single song and have free streaming services like Spotify and Youtube. Same applies to film.