You’re kind of suggesting they have professional media standards without the label. I don’t think that’s realistic. Not everyone in media guess the college route but yes they teach ethics.
Having been through those classes, I’m very glad I didn’t end up in games media as I’d planned. It really doesn’t seem like the kind of journalism I was trained for, and I did Magazine track.
I certainly don’t think the availability of user reviews has had any negative impact. I don’t think good reviewers are influenced by them at all, and potential purchasers are less likely to be misled by publications with poor reviewers when there is an abundance of available perspectives to provide perhaps better reasoned opinions.
I think people just naturally gravitate towards the opinions they respect the most (often because they concord with their own experiences) and the reviewers who have similar tastes and concerns, and those viewpoints could come from friends, people they casually interact with online, or paid writers.
The best reviewers, imo, are those that both give you the information you require to determine whether you would like the game (even if the reviewer didn’t), and who you enjoy reading even when you disagree with their subjective tastes. Tom Chick is obviously a great example of someone who sometimes has unpopular opinions and yet people can still get a lot of value out of reading his reviews even if they completely disagree with his opinions. He’s informative, because he describes what he likes or dislikes well, and always an entertaining read.
I’m saying a few different things, including that game writers should act ethically and not allow their assessment/review of a game to be influenced by anything other than their actual experience playing that game. But even then, they are unlikely to be worthwhile unless they’re knowledgeable enough to capably discern merits/weaknesses and/or they’re effective and entertaining communicators.
But I’m also disagreeing with your early point:
And in that case it depends upon the nature of the “scoop”. I don’t think Kotaku or anyone else is obliged, for instance, to publish that Fallout 76 is a multiplayer online survival game and that single player gamers should adjust their expectations – they published that information because it’ll get them additional traffic, that’s all - nobody is going to erroneously purchase the game and be damaged if not for that “scoop.” Everyone who cares will have lots of verified information prior to release of the game. And if that information turns out to be wrong, then it was unprofessional and damaging to publish erroneous information. But as long as they suitably qualify their disclosure to try to mitigate any errors, I’m fine with them leaking whatever they can find out, and I’m sure they’re financially rewarded with traffic as a result of having information that nobody else has. But it’s not unprofessional for people to decide they don’t want to publish unverified information either, because no matter what qualifications you put on that disclosure, you can mislead people by creating an impression of a game that may turn out to be false.
But there are other types of “scoops” that I think the gaming media should feel obliged to write about - if, for instance, they have information that there was unlawful or unethical conduct at a gaming company (abusive behavior, terrible working conditions, fraudulent fundraising, deliberately misleading advertising) I do think they are obliged to not ignore that information and should investigate and report what they can verify. Judging by your subsequent responses you may have been referring more to that sort of “scoop”, in which case we’re in agreement on this point as well.
Cheers! Thanks for the answer!
Week if they choose not to run with something for reasons other than the dev or pub night but like it, that’s different. They get some never if discretion, but dear if these houses it being blackisted that shouldn’t be okay. If they blacklist someone the the rest should bad together and not cover that game it their hype or whatever. The relationship between the gaming media and their sources is pretty skewed compared to the rest of Media.
Yeah. I have a BA in Journalism.
There is no standardized code of ethics, nor is there any licensing of journalists. Nor would any such licensing be tolerated, as it would be an impermissible infringement on the freedom of the press. A “journalist” is anyone who wants to call themselves one, and you are kidding yourself if you think otherwise. Many press outlets have their own standards, but they are notoriously inconsistent with regard to who gets disciplined and what actions merit discipline. It is not a “profession,” as people would like to think it is. Physician, CPA, or even Funeral Director is a profession, journalist is a job. The difference is accountability.
May I ask when you received your BA? Listen to TWIG, it seems that ethics in Journalism is much more in Vogue these days.
'89. I’d be disappointed to think it’s expired.
I have a college kid taking Journalism at a "major institution’. Ethics are way out the window - or at least maintaining a non-biased attitude and “going where the story takes you”. It is all slant and POV.
Now the message is that consumers of the media are not interested in facts, they are interested in “your perspective” - also known as your bias and opinion - and that is definitely very noticeable in all sorts of media. There is no such thing a “news”. Only opinion.
I didn’t say it was standardized. I also didn’t claim it was licensed. They do teach you about ethics though, and taking money from the same people you interview isn’t probably that high on the list. It is a profession. Professions do not require a specific professional license to be a profession. That’s a silly way to define a profession. You’re professional when you get paid for what you do.
I always find that “blacklisting Kotaku” piece funny because they have no idea what blacklisting really is. Welcome to the world of every freelancer that doesn’t kiss ass all the time.
It must be hard to know deep in your heart that you have superior knowledge and judgment over every person you deal with. That’s just got to be a lonely feeling.
Your definition is unusual. I am not required to use it. To be a professional does not require a license nor some sort of board that holds you to accountability. If you wanted to share your journalistic background, there are other ways of doing it without being an ass.
Heh, I assume that is the set you fit into? You know its a lonely world when you don’t pucker.
Lol, yeah. I’ve bought most of my games for years now. I could, probably, get more than I do, but it’s honestly not worth it.
One of the things I did not know about getting listed on Steam is you get swamped with random email requests asking for keys to “give you a positive review” on YT. And you look at these and they don’t even come close to your genre.
I also saw this recent @cliffski tweet:
That is nuts. The only way I wouldn’t play a game I requested is if it was unplayable. I feel obligated to do my job.
Sounds like you are a professional to me.
I think a few others around here have said they had to do the same thing when a company wouldn’t give them a review copy. .
You were suggesting that I did not know what I was talking about, and that maybe I should go to college if I wanted to have any credibility in your eyes. Turns out I did. Despite your unsuccessful attempt to pull rank on me, I still don’t know what I’m talking about because I don’t know how to define words to your satisfaction.
It turns out that profession = any paying job. Period. Busboys are in the same position as physicians by your reckoning. To think otherwise is silly.