Game Journalism

After completing the reading assignments I found myself a little torn. I am not sure how I should word this blog, so I’ll break it into parts. First off out of all the assigned readings I enjoyed, as well as formed an opinionated response for “The New Games Journalism” by Kiero Gillen and “The Problem with Games Journalism” by Jonny Robson. Starting with Gillen’s piece, I agree that new games journalism is crappy. However, I understand why it is that way. I feel that journalist should spend the time dissecting every aspect of a game and telling us why it is the way it is. That is just me though I like to know stuff like that, can’t help it I’m just a sick individual like that.
I do as well understand that most people really do not care to know all of that. They just want to know if the game is fun, pretty and allows them to go online and beat the living shit out of people. That being said it is obvious why the journalist do not go into deep detail. Another point that Gillen made is that the worth of a game lies within the gaming experience, which I think is true. He also stated that they points that are looked at in game journalism all take place in the player’s head. Since game play is one of the things that game journalist look at, and it occurs in the mind, I see the issues he have with journalist not stating that mechanics of the game and game play.
This method of new game journalism can be looked at as the cause to why most gaming mags say Halo is a great first-person shooter, which this is a damn lie in my opinion. So, in a nutshell I agree that game journalism are bad, they are based on a popular opinion, like most game reviews. However, I understand and accept the reason why they are terrible. The majority of people want them to be simple, once gain people are the cause of widespread mediocrity.
In Robson’s article he states that, he says “writers” not “game journalists” but I’ll just call them journalist, game journalist take themselves to seriously. This I also agree with. Game journalism is not taken seriously, and the know this. So they go to the extreme to make people believe they are doing something important. This actually makes me think of the fanboy/girls. It is like they must justify their own beliefs. I recall a comment that one of our classmates left as a reply to that blog post. In that blog post I said that it does not make sense to me for them to get so upset over a game or whatever. I apply the same feelings to the journalists who bitch about not being taken seriously. Now returning to the comment that was left on my blog, our classmate stated something to the effect that what game and console a fanboy/girl play defines a part of that person’s personality. He later relates the fans adoration of their game to a Christian’s adoration of their religion. I do consent to both statements. I can see why a fanboy or game journalist will get upset about not being taken seriously. It is just my opinion that it is an extreme waste of time. When it comes to fans, journalists or religious individuals I believe arguing and bickering is just unnecessary. That is just my opinion, I think you can love something deeply and still manage to not be an annoying ass when someone else insults it. Maybe I’m wrong; maybe my peaceful nature makes me oblivious to why obsessive arguing is ok when defending what they care about. No matter how much you yell, their opinion will not change, so why bother?