Games Journalism 2010: It Can't Sink Any Lower, Can It?

ZekeDMS · 2010-12-14T17:49:27.000Z

How about neither? I’ll take an honest commentary or informative post, and philosophy is fine when it’s not purely masturbatory, or when that’s the point of a post. Pseudo-intellectual bullshit, though, I’ll pass on, because those serve nobody.

Jamie_Madigan · 2010-12-14T17:50:17.000Z

Yeah, I’m not going to read either of those.

AtomicPlayboy · 2010-12-14T23:37:06.000Z

checker, are you focus testing for some sort of Kotaku/Edge mashup or something?

Ezdaar · 2010-12-15T00:44:34.000Z

Is this somehow related to the procedurally generated content discussion?

MattKeil · 2010-12-15T02:38:06.000Z

I’m Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite thread on the Citadel.

Teiman · 2010-12-15T02:40:28.000Z

ZekeDMS:

You’d better explain yourself. And do it like Teiman would.

I have nothing interesting to say. The quotes from Thomsen are crystal clear to me. Maybe the poster choosed the wrong text, and everything else that Thomsen write is murky, but not these lines.

Maybe I have read too much Philip José Farmer science-fiction…

Larsen · 2010-12-15T03:16:25.000Z

MattKeil:

I’m Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite thread on the Citadel.

I feel embarrassed for laughing at this twice.

Worth a re-read.

Hunty · 2010-12-15T03:48:57.000Z

PeterGinsberg:

I think you may be teetering on the precipice of pretentious lexical obfuscation with that one!

Probably a fair cop. Hopefully I am at least only teetering, though. And hey, BillD had garrulous wankery, which is of a muchness!

Both of checker’s options are terrible. As Zeke says, just a bit of humility and honesty would be nice. Edge is about as close as it gets.

Alternatively, all I submit that all future game journalism should be written by Teiman.

peacedog · 2010-12-15T07:13:57.000Z

Teiman:

A less controversial way to say the same things is “A picture is worth a thousand words”.

There is nothing remotely controversial about this. Ok, back on whatever planet - Remulak, say - you come from it might be controversial, but here on Earth it is not at all controversial. People have been discussing various communications mediums for ages.

Everyone from planet Earth who reads above a fourth grade level understood what “Thomsen” was trying to say. But they all also recognized how badly he failed in that attempt. And anyone who reads at a middle school level recognized the irony in his stating “it’s hard to write guud” in a piece where the writing is such spectacular fail.

And even though everyone - from planet Earth - understands what he is trying to say, that doesn’t make parts of his commentary any less awful. Or nonsensical. Here, let me Thomsen that sentence:

"The Theoretical Internet passage Thomesenizer:

Even though the masses, those poor wretches who find themselves hurtling through this thing we call existence, as if we knew, understand what the piece is at its core trying to say, not just to the readers but their very souls, it doesn’t make the piece’s effort to transcend the limitations of writing, the “physics” of the medium, any less of a total failure.

Bill_Dungsroman · 2010-12-15T07:39:09.000Z

Teiman:

I have nothing interesting to say.

Indeed.

Teiman:

The quotes from Thomsen are crystal clear to me. Maybe the poster choosed the wrong text, and everything else that Thomsen write is murky, but not these lines.

They are crystal clear to everyone else, too. You are really missing the point here.

Teiman:

Maybe I have read too much Philip José Farmer science-fiction…

Fascinating. Do go on.

Teiman · 2010-12-15T07:52:26.000Z

peacedog:

And even though everyone - from planet Earth - understands what he is trying to say, that doesn’t make parts of his commentary any less awful. Or nonsensical.

I understand now (thanks peacedog).

You describe it as a failure to communicate, I trough it was a style, a unnecessary but kinda fun (in a The Illuminatus kind of way) style.

Probably the nuance got lost in translation, since I don’t speak english.
Sorry about that.

KieronGillen · 2010-12-15T08:17:29.000Z

checker:

A) is misspelled, has poor grammar, reprints press releases and even then gets it wrong, and is the journalistic equivalent of a (non-QT3) fanboy forum post.

B) is overwritten, overlong, overcomplicated, pseudo-intellectual, obfuscated, and waxes philosophical in the post-bonghit-college-dormitory fashion.

At RPS, we’re firm believers that you can merge both approaches seamlessly.

KG

Matt_Perkins · 2010-12-15T10:33:36.000Z

Yeah, a full merging of both options is how I always write. It really helps to muddle the point and hence, make it easier to defend. It’s win win.

Erlend_Grefsrud · 2010-12-16T04:59:13.000Z

The less you say, the more the reader will imagine and thus you offload effort onto the user! The vaguer the information, the more satisfied the user will be that it corresponds with existing preconceptions.

Win-win.

divedivedive · 2010-12-16T10:24:42.000Z

There’s a pretty interesting end-of-the-year gaming discussion going on over at Slate among several (I assume) well known journalists. It’s worth checking out from the beginning, as it’s written in a kind of round robin conversation panel format, but I’m linking to one that I feel partial to, that speaks to my way of viewing games and discussions about them. The next couple of columns are partially responses and kick off into interesting topics, one being that games have nothing to do with fun. Good stuff.

Evan_Lahti · 2010-12-16T14:10:45.000Z

Crecente creates a post complaining about the Daily Mail posting a story based on + that borrows quotes from a post they did. Pot calling the kettle black overload.

Kotaku

The Sincerest Form of Flattery

You can't imagine how flattered we were today to discover that the Daily Mail doesn't just read our little gaming site, they even like to sometimes "repurpose" our news.

inactive_user · 2010-12-16T14:30:53.000Z

Evan Lahti:

Crecente creates a post complaining about the Daily Mail posting a story based on + that borrows quotes from a post they did. Pot calling the kettle black overload.

http://kotaku.com/5714261/the-finest-form-of-flattery

Shut up. That couldn’t…it but…Kotak…and I…

Wow.

Telefrog · 2010-12-16T14:55:23.000Z

Okay. I admit this comment made me laugh:

Oh my God, how were they able to steal your stuff? Did they get your password or something?

Evan_Lahti · 2010-12-16T15:12:35.000Z

Zing.

It just reconveys what a void of professionalism Kotaku is, beginning with Crecente. His tone captures all the condescension of a bratty prom queen, and in a way that no reader would benefit from.

It even seems that some of McWhertor’s writing style rubbed off on them, and why not, he’s a great writer.

So thanks Daily Mail for making us feel important today. We needed that. And thanks to all you sites out there that love us AND credit us. We like that even more.

Does Crecente actually think they gain loyalty or credibility by publicly whining that a UK tabloid sourced their content without crediting them?

JD · 2010-12-16T15:21:36.000Z

Daily Mail vs. Kotaku seems like Alien vs. Predator. Whoever wins, we lose.