1741

I’m not in the press anymore, but was part of it since the late 80s/early 90s until I, er, quit almost four years ago and am now in design, so it’s not like I don’t get both sides here. I covered GDC since the mid-90s, and sat in a press room with 30-40 people at all hours. There’s always been press there. A lot of it. I’d turn it into a 2-4 page feature story—plus whatever preview coverage that also made itself available—covering major topics and trends.

If your previous speech didn’t get as much attention, is it because it fell under technology or programming as opposed to design? I know I skipped all of the technical discussions because I rarely had any idea what anyone was talking about. I did go to most of the design ones, particularly when they were by people I’d heard of.

You seem to be saying, “that’s how it is, just deal with it”, and we’re saying, “how it is sucks, let’s push back and try to change it”.

How exactly do you think you can change an industry you’re not a part of, and you have little-to-no influence over beyond saying “no” to preview or interview requests? To be blunt, the press doesn’t need you.

1742

Yes, nothing warms my heart like reading a comment from the guy who is responding to what he assumed the article was going to say, rather than what it actually did say. That happens ten times a day on RPS, and we are lucky to have such a smart crowd reading and commenting on the site.

Also, Chet’s advice is good. Ignoring this tabloid blather and continuing to saying interesting stuff will get you more coverage of a kind that you do value, and will make more people rush to defend you when misrepresented.

1743

I forgive Soulja Boy of all his musical sins for this.

1744

Someone should introduce him to thatgamecompany’s games. His mind would be blown.

1745

I don’t even know how to feel about anything anymore thanks to Soulja Boy. Well, except about his music. Still terrible.

1746

Even with a thicker skin, the problem would still there: journalism that doesn’t have interest in being truthful and will twist and sensationalism every story for the hits.

Because the problem wasn’t “my feeling are being hurt by these game journalists!” but “game journalists are crap”. Even if you speak more, you are not going to improve journalism that way.
With a thicker skin you would have a gaming journalism that doesn’t offend anybody but that is still crap.

1747

I think the idea is that journalism is the sea, and game devs are pirates that have to avoid storms and sea snakes.

Or maybe the idea is that the journalism are the pirates, and the game devs are the navios españoles that are moving the american gold to the peninsula española.

Either way, probably somewhere theres a self help book titled “How to use the game journalism industry and not get burned by it”. I have tried amazon, but I can’t find it.

On the other hand, I consider a luxury, a absolute privilege, to get one journalist to talk about your game. And a fucking amazing great surprise if he even play it. There are millions of games, and very few get journalist attention.

1748

The man of strange languages brings up a great point, as others have alluded to. It’s a good thing to be interviewed if you use correctly. Learn to play the game (the game being game journalism), appreciate the game, and you’ll find it a lot better than you realized.

I’m with both of the original chaps here in that game journalism, as with most journalism but even more so for this entertainment industry, is broken. I’m all for you guys fighting the good fight and trying to change it. Good luck with that.

But, while you work to change it, don’t blindly run into assuming just because you want it to change, it will. Be grateful you’re getting press at all and learn to see the process for what it is. A business, that if properly used, can be greatly beneficial to both sides. And aim for it to be at least advantageous to you first and foremost.

1749

What the FUCK are you on about?

1750

Awesome.

1751

That was the first year of the rant session, but the room was SRO, so it’s not like other people didn’t know about it. I dunno. I’m just relating my previous experience that led up to the Wii thing, that’s all.

How exactly do you think you can change an industry you’re not a part of, and you have little-to-no influence over beyond saying “no” to preview or interview requests? To be blunt, the press doesn’t need you.

Not sure why you added that last sentence, since I don’t think I ever implied it needed me? But, anyway, since you asked: after I published the Wii article on my site, I have had three or four interviews where the quotes and summaries were fact checked quite well, much more thoroughly than previous to that, and the folks mentioned the Wii article specifically (in a positive way). So, I’d say that’s some positive impact, at least with press interacting with me? A lot of press folks sent out the link on twitter, etc. I guess I think writing about this stuff has a positive impact. Can’t hurt, right?

Oh, totally, it’s just annoying to have to be really careful with what you say, to basically treat the interviewer like “the enemy”. That’s a super dysfunctional relationship, and it leads to boring interviews. Like somebody above said, the problem is not about whether feelings were hurt or thickening skin, it’s about the missed opportunity for better journalism and more interesting and deeper information for fans. I mean, I’m super ecstatically happy with the amount of press SpyParty is getting, and that the press seems interested in my opinions about games; I really appreciate that, and hope it continues.

I just think the overall relationship between the press and developers is pretty suboptimal, and could be a lot more functional and the fans would benefit too in the long run. A fair number of other developers and press seem to agree with this, so that gives me hope it will change over time.

ObNotMeContent: I assume all the Soulja Boy Braid review fans have seen this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5D9OZfmOzk

Chris

1752

checker

Yeah, that’s most often the way developers/publishers approach it. But, being a small developer, you have a choice that many don’t. You can choose to continue saying what you feel like, and just ignore the fall out. If you stay on message, stay consistent and don’t throw a hissy when people inadvertently or purposefully misconstrue your words, you can be one the outspoken developers you like. Just realize the nature of the business and roll with it…

Honestly, it’s a gift that anyone listens to you at all. That anyone cares what you have to say. Take that gift and make what you will of it. It’s yours, you can use it how ever you choose.

1753

Chris, you know there is a middle ground right? Where you just interact and have good interviews and don’t worry about the 3rd party fallout that you can’t control?

I am not sure why you and Jonathon see this as the end of “deep discussion” in the game industry. There will always be some people who rant and rave - it’s fun sometimes - and then there will be people who will have an honest discussion. Why do you keep acting like the two can’t co-exist?

And if you guys want to foster a deeper serious discussion, might I suggest headlines like - “CVG appear to be a bunch of lousy hacks.” is well, you know… a good place for Jonathon to start the non-sensationalistic overblown headline discussion…

1754

What’s wrong with interacting and having good interviews, and then complaining about the 3rd party fallout where it seems appropriate? Not bitching about every forum post, obviously, but pointing out the egregious stuff? Of course, reasonable people might disagree about what’s egregious, but as long as the interviewee isn’t bitching about every single thing, and makes reasonable points, I don’t see the harm in highlighting some of the bad stuff out there. Maybe it’s just a style difference.

I am not sure why you and Jonathon see this as the end of “deep discussion” in the game industry.

That implies there was deep discussion in the first place! har. Anyway, we have just said many times that it has a chilling effect on discussion, not that it’s the end of the world, and I think it’s pretty clear (to me, at least) it does have this chilling effect. The “only talk to the good guys” thing doesn’t work that well, due to the “3rd party fallout”, which you can’t really ignore to the extent you imply, especially as an indie.

Why do you keep acting like the two can’t co-exist?

Seems like a weird thing to accuse me of when the whole point of the Wii thing is that the two should be able to co-exist but weren’t allowed to, since the ranting outweighed the serious discussion. I would love it if the two could coexist, and interact with subtlety that was carried through all the reporting! I mean, I’m kind of the poster child of the two not being able to coexist, aren’t I? :)

And if you guys want to foster a deeper serious discussion, might I suggest headlines like - “CVG appear to be a bunch of lousy hacks.” is well, you know… a good place for Jonathon to start the non-sensationalistic overblown headline discussion…

I wouldn’t have chosen that title. I’m guessing Jonathan was a) pissed after a bunch of these built up, and b) trying to make a point by mirroring the behavior he saw. I agree, though, the title didn’t help, and it’s too charged a point to be made. Still, I think the body of his post was mostly correct, and that the quotes weren’t contextualized very fairly, nor the title of the CVG piece chosen very well, as he discussed above.

Okay, have we covered all the angles and expressed all the opinions? Can somebody please post some shitty journalism that doesn’t involve me and Jonathan? Pretty please? :)

Chris

1755

I was thinking more - did you see this video that was on the youtube page you linked to?

Ahhhh…

1756

OMG, the other one starts while she’s carrying the first one back up!!! squeee

Chris

1757

One of the interesting things about the game industry was that, traditionally at least, members of the press could be at conferences, and could sit down and participate in casual discussions with (and amongst) developers.

Go look at conferences in other fields – I’ve seen entire clusters of conversation just stop the moment a known member of the press (and yeah, we all know about the “turn your badge backwards to hide that ‘Press’ tag trick”) wanders over.

You start burning people, you end up on the outside looking in.

1758

Just below the surface,theres a billion posibilities about how to use digital technology to make art, and enteirnament. Videogames are the first thing to tap into that, and the most succesfull. I really hope new people come, and make the videogame world obsolete with a fresh new thing. Create things for what we have not names yet, and are not a combination of existing of old things. A brave new world.

1759

Isn’t this like when publishers decide to cut off the press because they give their games a bad review? Because that shit happens, a lot. We get kicked out of the conversation often in this way. Mr. Chick is a perfect example of it. I’m pretty sure I got snubbed by Sony for a bad review of GT5: Prologue.

Welcome to reality, where we get the shaft too, and quite unfairly when we’re just doing our jobs.

All of you need to suck it up IMO. You at least get paid a reasonable sum for working in said industry. Press guys get paid shit and get treated like garbage by gamers. I’m not sure why you expect many of them to have any integrity or any other goal than to get headlines that might make them a buck or two because the press folks either foolishly hold onto their principles (which I always did) and end up on the sidelines with no work (which I have) or they get those headlines and kowtow to your whims and end up still working for pennies.

This isn’t specifically directed at Dave, he just happened to be the last one to comment.

1760

Sony is particularly notorious for it, really. I think Tom got his blacklisting for criticizing Killzone 2. Hell, I think anyone who complained about the ol’ disc-read error is blacklisted by them.