It’s About Ethics in Games Journalism. Well, actually it is. Just not for the same reasons some think. A common retort to the ethics in games journalism has been that the type of collusion brought to light by the gamejournopro email list occurs in other media, perhaps even with greater frequency. This was used to humorous effect on the Colbert Report when Stephen himself said “What if there was no ethics in Hollywood journalism? If we cant trust Entertainment Tonight or TMZ where would we be? This is not a wrong comparison . The media has been accused of tabloidism, yellow journalism, and worse even within the mainstream media outlets. Hollywood outlets such as TMZ certainly hold themselves to little ethical standards. So if the idea of ethical journalism is so absurd then perhaps the better question might be, why gamers? Why did gamers decide to react with a movement like the GamerGate hash tag? Why did gamers react by email campaigns to media advertisers forming a sort of e-boycott against what they have deemed as Toxic Websites? One thing is clear while the public may be OK with spin and rhetoric in the coverage of the daily news or films, gamers have decided they are not interested in the agenda. Gamers have been the victim of false flags and spin for decades. Only now is the first generation of true gamers, those that grew up with it, in their 20’s and 30’s. They are cynical and educated enough to recognize it for what it is. That is the mark of an informed consumer who has had enough. Players feel an intense connection to the experiences they have within the games they play. There is an inherent sense of personal ownership one gains from active participation within the game. It is not a passive experience such as watching a movie or reading a book. The player has some sort of influence, and that can be as simple as controller input to drive the action or making the decisions that affect entire civilizations and the very outcome of a game’s story. Gamers simply don’t want to be told how to “feel” about a game. They are smart, savvy, consumers who know what they like and what they object to. They look towards game journalism for the facts. They want to know if a game has broken mechanics, if it has replayability, and what kind of DRM or on disc DLC the publisher may have hidden. Gamers need to be able to trust the accuracy of the game journalist. They need to know that the personal opinions a journalist may hold of a developer wont cloud their judgment of a game. They need to be able to trust that a political bias is not affecting a review score. Game journalists, along with a growing number of YouTubers are the Gate Keepers. They stand between the consumer and the product. They wield great power over the public’s perception of a game product. As we all know, that brings with it great responsibility.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 20:10:26 +0000
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