1681

It amazes me how many publications get names wrong when dealing with videogame stuff. Wired got my name wrong, and more recently, The Wall Street Journal got Jeffrey Yohalem’s name wrong when they posted an interview with him. WSJ!

I miss the days when they actually verified… anything.

I’m on Jonathan Blow and checker’s side on this. My interview with Wired was like 30 or 45 minutes long and they whittled it down to one statement. AND got my name wrong.

1682

chris, do you think CVG misrepresented that section of your interview or that they misrepresented the entire interview by just choosing that section or is the issue the headline?

Charles, was the rest of the 45 minutes as interesting as the one statement?

1683

Realizing my question to charles comes off as an ass… but the thing is - no one is ever as entertaining as they think they are. Websites and magazines need to distill things down, make them entertaining for their readers. I always just hope/trust the writer understands their audience and will edit accordingly. For larger sites, I see this as being true for the most part. I accept the edits. I have seen an hour of talk go into 2 lines or the terrifying… Destructoid leaking one question out at a time and trying to remember what I actually said. Distilling 45 minutes down to one statement isn’t on its own bad coverage/journalism/writing, it’s often quite the opposite.

1684

This needs to be hammered into 99.9% of the podcasters on the planet.

1685

The fundamental problem is that the de-contextualization and hype make the statement into, effectively, something I didn’t say (even though I did technically say those words).

The impression given to readers is: “Jonathan Blow called an interview in order to talk about how Microsoft sucks and Sony is cool.” No, that’s not what happened, at all. But readers are misled into thinking that’s what happened, and as proof, look at how many “that guy is a dick!”, “that guy is arrogant, who does he think he is?” messages are in the comment threads.

Very few people, if anyone, would have that kind of reaction to the full discussion in context.

To me that is clear proof that the nature of what is being said has been distorted.

1686

Sounds like indie devs need media training.

1687

Fuck that shit.

Seriously. Fuck that shit and anyone who thinks the fault is on the indie devs here.

Gamers and the press who inform them are always bitching and moaning about how little insight they get into the process. They’re sick and tired of all the PR bullshit. They’re sick and tired of being talked down to like children who can’t handle some more in-depth analysis. They’re sick and tired of feeling like games journalism and game developer PR companies are tied together as one.

The best part of having such a vibrant indie game scene is precisely because developers like Jonathon Blow, Chris Hecker, and others aren’t tied to any company. They’re free to speak their minds, say whatever they want to say, and reveal extremely interesting information about how the process actually works.

The problem with gamers is that much of what I said above is actually true - many are children who deserve to be talked down to. But that doesn’t mean that gaming sites are obligated to exploit them - they should rise above that bullshit and give the grown-ups what they actually want - thoughtful analysis without the stupid fanboy wars.

The more that sites like Destructoid, CVG, and others deliberately distort quotes and omit context from interviews, the less that people like Jonathon Blow and Chris Hecker will speak candidly. And that makes it an even more corporate, opaque, boring world for all the fans out there who want to know more.

1688

Well, yeah, on paper. But in practice, you run into the age-old nerd trope of “I could do it better,” so when they see people like Blow speaking with any sense of authority or self-assurance, out comes the “arrogant,” “douchebag,” and “asshole” labels. Even if they printed the full transcription of the interview, I doubt it would help much.

1689

Oh yes. And thanks for saying it, so I don’t always have to.
I’m more scared of people just trans rining the entire interview - or just publishing the entire thing and calling it a podcast - than I am of a professional editing a piecemeal a little to hard.
If that’s a problem Them stop giving interviews to amateurs.

1690

There’s a difference though when it’s just individual gamers making themselves out to be idiots by attacking Jon Blow for being those things, and when it’s the web sites themselves who are provoking people like that.

I’ve read a ton of interviews with him, listened to him on a couple of podcasts, and more. He’s never come off to me as being any sort of asshole, or “arrogant”, yet somehow that’s the impression that practically every joe schmoe on the internet seems to think?

Why?

Who knows why for sure, but it sure as hell doesn’t help when CVG, Eurogamer, and other places full of shitty sensationalist assholes do nothing but write ridiculously exaggerated, hyperbolic, out-of-context interview quotes like that.

1691

Because internet nerds especially are bitter cynical people who are jaded and angry for feeling a sense of never being appreciated or even noticed. Usually it’s self-inflicted, though, because despite some great ideas they never take action to make them happen. And then they feel like nobody appreciates their ideas, cycle continues.

Plus there’s probably a ridiculously high occurrence of personality/mood disorders amongst the neckbeard populace.

1692

What Zeke said. I don’t think Blow comes off as arrogant or assholish in any of the interviews I’ve seen/read.

1693

Yeah sure, that may be, but if he was going to use two sentences out of 45 minutes, the least he could have done is mention it so I didn’t waste 45 minutes of my time. I could have given him a much more interesting statement than what he used.

Also, Chris Hecker was in on the same piece, with the same problem. I think he talked for even longer than I did.

1694

I did an interview with USA Today as the editor of Computer Games Magazine. They got my name right, but said I was the editor of PC Gamer. I sent them a correction, which they never ran.

1695

Also, does everyone get just as upset when the press hypes the shit out of their games in previews? Maybe everyone should point at the terrible quality of the previews, criticize the quoting, laugh at the exaggeration of gameplay and features, etc. Same with reviews, even the positive ones.

1696

Unfortunately, the standards of journalism have dropped off everywhere, and that’s just made worse by the general perception of gaming as an anti-social, non-mainstream activity. They just don’t put the effort into covering it other entertainment venues get.

1697

Has it? We only remember the big amazing bits of journalism, but Hearst was doing his yellow journalism at the turn of the century. It’s a side effect of competition (and has only gotten worse as the media became super for-profit), because while the public likes to say they don’t like this shit, their buying and viewing habits say otherwise. By a lot.

1698

In summary, yes.

That’s not to say there hasn’t been yellow journalism as long as we’ve had the ability to communicate beyond simple grunts (“Oog oog, me hear him fuck antelope from Shadow Talker”), but I think you hit the key point. There’s more and more focus on an instant product that makes a big profit, and facts be damned. I can’t imagine the likes of Fox News’s actual news programs being considered reputable by half the population and the most popular option before news became well and truly about profit. Nor can I imagine it even existing without that pure profit motive.

I also think that we’ve started to demand shorter and shorter turnarounds on a story, which has further reduced accuracy and fact checking.

I could also be completely wrong on all this and just having a “damn kids, get off my printing press” moment, longing for an era that never really existed.

What I can safely say is the state of journalism seems pretty fucking pathetic right now as far as most outlets go, and that games journalism is among the worst because there are so many willing to do it for so little while the people running the companies don’t CARE about the quality as long as they make money (See: the bullshit pulled on Kieron). Meanwhile, so few who really want to put in the time and effort to improving their craft, and when they do and ask for fair compensation, they’re tossed (See: same bullshit pulled on KG).

Maybe it’s just that the line between professional, career journalist and hobbyist has blurred, leading to a sense of entitlement and a fragile egotism which shatters after the words “It’s good, but it could be better.” Maybe we just don’t hold people accountable enough.

All I know is I don’t care for the state of things, and I feel like they’re worse off. Clearly I’ve some research to do and some nostalgia to bust.

1699

As long as journalists keep trying to look “cool” in front of some segment of the population you’re going to see pandering.

1700

GameInformer would be first against the wall.