| ARTICLE |  USA |
Got a Tip?
RSSMeta: game journalists talk game journalism
By Jeriaska . September 1, 2008 . 9:14pm
The “Game Criticism and Old Game Journalism” panel at the Penny Arcade Expo brought together four writers to talk about their views on games and games reporting. They included Chris Kohler of Wired’s Game|Life blog, Karen Chu, formerly of 1Up, MTV Multiplayer’s Patrick Klepek, and Gus Mastrapa, a contributor to the Onion’s A.V. Club. While there was some overlap on the opinions raised at the panel, all the participants seemed to have their own strongly held beliefs on the pressing needs of present day gaming journalism, from informing buyers on how to make their purchases, to giving developers unflinching critical feedback, to enlightening the mainstream press.
Gus Mastrapa began his introduction by mentioning that he has friends who while bored at work will, in lieu of the actual gamplay experience, fill the void by reading reviews. This function of journalism, as a vicarious experience, he said he came to fully understand while writing for Hustler magazine, which scores porn on ratings running from “flaccid” to “fully erect.” “What I learned while I was writing those was that they served a dual purpose,” he said. “They were teaching people what porn video they should buy or rent, but they were also substituting for that porn.”
Today he feels that an important part of his own writing of game reviews is to go beyond merely rattling off the frame rate, how many levels are included, and how long the thing takes to beat. He is looking to some extent to create an experience that is comparable to playing the game itself. “That’s something that I’m always thinking about while I’m trying to write a game review,” he said. “Games are exciting things, and to write boring reviews about games is kind of a bummer.”
Patrick Klepek took a more pragmatic view of game reviews. He mentioned that when he began writing E3 was still a PAX-sized event, which he attended by sneaking in. To him a reasonable bottom line for reviews is the question “Is this worth my $60?” “That’s a lot of money,” he said. “I know that if I was on a small budget, I want to know if something is worth my $60, not if it has a high and mighty message.”
Chris Kohler menioned that he believes the industry is moving in the direction of not showing journalists unfinished builds of games. It makes plenty of sense, too. Film critics are not brought into theaters, sat down and shown dailies before the CG has been added or the sound has been mixed. At the same time, he feels journalists should not refrain from being critical when previewing a game, even though that is often exactly what they do.
“One way in which game criticism in general differs from a game review is that it should begin as soon as you are shown a game in progress,” he said. “With a lot of publications it doesn’t. People are very relentlessly positive in videogames previews, giving people the benefit of the doubt all the time. But if you are being shown a game in progress, there is absolutely nothing stopping you as a journalist—professional, amateur or hobbyist—from being absolutely full and frank with your impressions.”
Karen Chu brought up a number of articles she had found in magazines aimed at young women that reveled in flaunting the writer’s ignorance about gaming. One notable example found in Marie Claire showed a picture of Guitar Hero cover art with a tagline reading “We won’t get it until it’s called Shopping Hero”. The journalist expressed her opinion that when the mainstream press talks out of its ass about gaming, it is the responsibility of gamers and fans to call them on it. “They don’t know anything about it,” she said, “and that is very sad.” She alluded to a blog post she has up on 1Up, titled “Dear Marie Claire: You are asinine,” which juxtaposed this Marie Claire quip with a picture of the blogger playing Rock Band on Expert at her wedding.
Everyone on the panel seemed to have some qualms with scoring games on a numbered scale. Karen Chu was not a fan of Metacritic, which while viewed as a legitimate resource, was seen as pressuring journalists to give the most conventional review scores. Her opinion was that game criticism should be seen as a discussion, and was fundamentally not something that could be reduced by a number. The trend toward scoring systems is exacerbated by the fact that some sites give bonuses to their reviewers based on how well their scores reflect the consensus listed on Metacritic. “Fuck scores,” Chris Kohler agreed. “I didn’t spend five hours writing a videogame review for somebody to scroll down and look at the number at the end.” Patrick Klepek, for his part, mentioned he might be interested in seeing wider use of the Hustler “flaccid to fully erect” ratings system.
A low volume audio recording can be found here, and a higher quality version minus the Q&A can be found here. Photo credit: Jeriaska/ Siliconera.
-
Hayden
Gaming Map
