| "Why are there so many seemingly pointless articles? said Kirby and "Why does this grass feel like pants?" |
If I have noticed one thing in my experience on the Internet, it is how much writers of articles love to grab your attention. Even among a topic like video games, which is already known for being kind of flashy, you see it being done. As a discerning reader you probably noticed that this post is guilty of it. If you thought that you are correct.
I have a couple thoughts on the matter and I'd like to share them with you. Even if it means being guilty of dumbing down the Internet. First off lets go over the 3 most frequent kinds of attention grabbing names and subjects.
- Top Insert Noun Here: Yes all bloggers have written them be it gaming related or not. Hell I'm very guilty of this one. Out of all the categories of attention grabbing this one is the most innocent. It's an easy way to express likes or dislikes and can be easily glanced over by a reader to get the gist of the writer's opinions. Example: "Top 5 Penguins in Video Games"
- Sex-Related Video Game Topic: Yes you know this one. I think most of us are guilty of clicking on them at one time or another. They usually involve biggest something or hottest something. Example: "Hottest Title Screens"
- Trolling: Oh yeah now I'm talking attention grabbing. These ones are meant to get you really pissed off. So pissed off that you link to the article to tell people how stupid it is and leave a comment to let your voice be heard. Example: "Why Call of Duty is the Worst Series Ever"
Now what I'm going to say may shock you. I think these are vital to the gaming community. Without lists how would we debate what is the best console to play? If there wasn't sex stuff online who would we accuse of being perverts? Now imagine a world without trolls:
One Day Zack decided to go on the Internet. He had heard good things about it and was interested in the idea of limitless information. After 10 minutes of browsing around on some different gaming sites he closed the web browser and left. Why did Zack do this? He did this because there is no conflict and therefore no excitement. From then on Zack decided he would only get opinions from the newspaper.
You may be thinking what I just wrote was ridiculous. You're thinking "Who in their right mind would read a newspaper?" and "What do you mean lack of conflict?" In every story, every movie, book, TV show,and back of cereal box description there is conflict. Why is this? It is because it makes things interesting. If everyone was happy there would be nothing to complain about. If there was nothing to complain about there would be no opinions.
So when I ask you are these articles bad? Are these articles wrong? I say no! For every level-headed person we nee a Jim Sterling or a Michael Pachter. They are what keep us afloat in the waters of gaming discussions.
Kotaku and IGN are the worst, but by no means the only offender. I think this is just the new reality of games 'discussion'.
ReplyDeleteWith the proliferation of blogs, traditional games sites no only have to compete again each other, but against influential blogs or tech blogs who may not cover video games exclusively.
This also means there is a whole class of people out there who cover technology in general poking their head into video games and they can oftentimes make idiotic and assinine comments.
Aw, this kind of thing isn't exclusive to the games industry. Sensationalism exists in all forms of media.
ReplyDeleteIt's quite easy to understand, too. Traffic = revenue. Revenue pays for journalists, computers and other nice things that websites need to stay open. Journalists, computers and such allow websites to do plenty of good articles, to go with the sensationalism. It's a virtuous circle - and the occasional traffic-driver isn't going to harm this industry any.
For sure, but this is new to games reporting. The model used to be create a channel/site for each of the platforms and focus the fanbase there. Post lots of supportive 'blinders-on' type stuff, though that has its own problems and I'm working on a piece about it.
ReplyDeleteBut essentially it was the model that built IGN back in the day. But even IGN now trolls the 'fans' of said consoles/platforms by trying to anger them, with sensationalist headlines.
As for the general gaming press, the most recent hack job was the supposed incredulity by (one?) journo over an out of context quote from Nintendo's 'play as you are' ads.
short answer is YES
ReplyDeleteI read an article once that was really insulting to Skyward Sword. The author let some really nit-picky things ruin the whole experience for him. Yeah, I'm bugged by Fi's constant nagging near the beginning of the game, but it really slacks off, and anyway it doesn't ruin all of the incredibly good things about the game. I read the whole article, then never returned to the site again. Never once have I wondered whether I'm missing out on something from them.
ReplyDeleteLike Mat said, it's hardly new - this sort of thing has been going on in all reporting industries for a long time now. But, I think that it is showing up in the video game industry more and more, in part because there is just so much information out there. I remember being a kid, and I had to rely on Nintendo Power, Electronic Gaming Monthly and Gamepro as my only sources of gaming information. Reviews? Previews? Opinion Pieces? All of it came in a very centralized print format once a month or so. Now with blogs, sites like IGN and youtube, trailers and reviews are everywhere, and cheap tactics are generally used to stand out in the crowd. I suspect it will only get worse before it gets better.
ReplyDeleteI actually dont consider either of those chaps (Sterling nor Pachter) very sensationalist...I dont always agree with their statements but almost always understand how they arrived at them. Those guys view the game industry with different lenses than the average gaming enthusiast.
ReplyDeletePachter in particular sure is a magnet for flames tho hahah
Even if they are not sensationalists they still say things that can be pure hyperbole which at the very least they know is going to get views, whether they do it for that reason or not.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment uhh... fox news?
ReplyDeleteIf I had to think of the worst offender at least when it comes to lists it would be GamesRadar.
ReplyDeleteThough I personally thought it was the best Zelda game, I think reviews for it both positive and negative were both hyperbole, at least user reviews on metacritic at the time anyways.
ReplyDeleteIt can be hard for a site, especially a small one like this one to balance out my values of quality articles while still trying to get views. For big sites like IGN they have no excuse.
ReplyDelete