I get offered keys all the time. I’m flattered, but I usually always respond by telling people that I don’t actually need their keys. I buy what I’m interested in and review accordingly.
I don’t expect fulltime writer/reviewers to do the same. I’m not here to make a living.
I bought a lot of stuff for GamerDad.com. As a freelancer, I received bupkis. Everything I covered for the mags was sent to me by them, but on my own I really didn’t get squat. I also didn’t request anything because if I wasn’t getting paid to review it then it felt kinda shitty to ask for it.
No. I wasn’t suggesting that. You actually asked a question, and I answered it. I took some journalism in literally college. I never said you should go to college. You’re acting like you didn’t ask me a question when you did… Was there some sort of pre-cut answer you required me to give when you asked me that? Let’s face it, your question wasn’t genuine to begin with, it was a smartass remark disguised as a question, so i gave you a place where you can go to learn about ethics in journalism.
Nope, but I expected you to admit the truth – that there are no actual standards for journalism and no enforcement mechanism for any such standards.
If only there was some way to distinguish between those jobs that have barriers to entry and fixed accountability standards and those that don’t.
Yeah, I get offered keys all the time. It’s not usually games I’m interested in. I’m on a lot of mailing lists at 15+ years. There are some PR companies that I like and I can count on, but companies like Edelman or 47 don’t like me because I don’t play the game they want to play.
However, I do have more access to them than, say, a Nintendo or Sony. Sony wouldn’t piss on me if I were on fire.
I am happy now, and have found my niche, but the times before then were trying. I was angry a lot at the big PR companies for a long time, and maybe I am still at some of them, because they act as gatekeepers and bullies. There are a handful of people that I can think of that are just downright petty dickheads.
At the end of the day, I miss getting early access games because I like playing games. I do like the channel views I get from them as well, but mostly I just love games. But, if that also means that I’m beholden to pretend I like something or I won’t get any more? Well, they can blow that out their asses.
If you folks want to know about payola for reviews? I gave Doom 3 a 10 (famously) and id or Bethesda hasn’t spoken to me in years.
10 out of what?
Yep, deal with this all the time. If they haven’t done a stream or video in months, I just click Reject and move on.
Yeah see. It wasn’t genuine on your part and then you got pissed about my answer.
There are standards, but I never said they were universal. You’re trying to hold me accountable to something I never said and got pissed by an imaginary slight.
Journalism has a certain level of expectations as well as integrity, let’s call those… standards, and when you’re in bed with the company you’re covering or too afraid too to actually report anything they don’t okay, it’s problematic.
Feel free to continue to feel insulted.
I can think of one game I regret getting a key for - Black Desert Online. I’ve tried to play it a few times and it crashes, just out of nowhere, every time I try.
This is what you said. When I asked you what those “certain standards” were and where to find them, you got pissy.
I was honest. You assumed I didn’t know what i was talking about. See how this works? I went college too. I took journalism too.
Perhaps, but I definity would assume that the institute you received has changed the course requirements since you went to school.
Then you should have admitted that there were no actual standards to enforce. If I tell you that you are violating a rule, I’d better be able to cite that rule. If I can’t, then the rule is basically in my head and nowhere else.
Societal expectations may have changed, but I’d be surprised to think that new courses were added.
I would check. Any subject worth a damn changes over time and every institution refreshes their course requirements to meet the changing standards.
Unless it’s a joke degree.
Lol, I’ll live with my “joke degree.” It taught me how to write.
There are standards Rick. They’re not universal. We see these standards in a roundabout way when they break them. I cannot believe you would sit there and say that journalist can do whatever the hell they want and no one cares because that is simply not true. There are ethics in journalism, but they are not universal, and they teach you about those ethics, those standards, in college.
You act as if we never, ever, could never, have never seen an outlet violate some sort of rule… except we have… it makes the damn news when they do.
I am not saying it’s a joke degree. I am saying you are probably very wrong for assume that things haven’t changed.
I think you’re both speaking past each other. There aren’t universally agreed on standards for journalism. There isn’t an accredited ruling body either. There’s a generally accepted idea of what constitutes ethical journalism that gets taught in the better schools, but I don’t think much of it applies to enthusiast press. Sites like IGN and Gamespot live or die on publisher access. In contrast, the Jim Sterlings and Tom Chicks of the world could care less about official approval, but they’re less dependent on that access for their content.
On the question of breaking agreements, you do you. I don’t put a lot of rumors on the front page because so many of them do turn out to be false. I just don’t want Qt3 to look foolish.
The best way to learn games journalism is from a great games journalist. Those of us at CGS+/CGM had Steve Bauman and his great staff. The people who wrote for CGW had Jeff Green and his great staff. PC gamer, etc. on down the line.
The issue today with standards is that print (in the US) is mostly dead and web sites aren’t often run by people like those listed above anymore, Qt3 excepted of course. There was a complete baby out with the bathwater moment that occurred around the loss of all the great games mags.