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You're a gamer if playing games is a substantial, core hobby for you. If your exposure to the hobby is limited to a sports game once a year or a phone game on the bus, you likely don't qualify (that is, if we accept that words have meaning, which one side of the I have a plant in the window but I'm not about to call myself a botanist, or a gardener. I read a book now and again but I'm not a bookworm. I go to the movies like 6-10 times a year, but I'm no film buff. And I've played dodgeball a few times, but I'm not an athlete. Few people would take issue with this kind of distinction between enthusiasts and dabblers, except the term has become a football for two opposing teams of broken people on the Internet. One side largely consists of people who feel marginalized by society to begin with, so the term has been used to in turn attack (I stop well short of saying you can "marginalize" a consumer hobby) "soft targets" they appear to view as even lower than themselves on society's totem pole. Hence why most "conversation" on the issue among these types invariably turns to Gawker level snark about grooming habits, headwear choices, and virginity. On the other side, you have a jet-engine loud minority who believe a Warhammer 40k style military blood crusade wouldn't be an unreasonable response to some terrible article on boob plate a women's studies major wrote for her blog read by 10 people. In short, cut the underwater master Internet cables, burn the Earth, and salt the ground to be sure. Edit: The casual vs. hardcore bit is another thing where two enormously different product classes competing for very different markets (with some overlap) became politicized for a whole host of reasons. Tumblr types want their web browser CYOAs about gender identity and mental illness to be held up as equal to massive, critically acclaimed masterworks that take years for 100 plus talented people to produce. The industry wants money, as industry does, so the ESA lumps 99 cent phone games and $60 open world poo poo together in the same data set in hopes of boosting the mainstream appeal of the hobby. The Jet Engine group sees both these things and voices their displeasure, which is fine and maybe even understandable, except they express it in a note attached to a brick, thrown through a window, and signed gently caress YOU I KILL YOU BITCH. bloodysabbath fucked around with this message at 05:07 on Jun 8, 2016 |
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Jun 8, 2016 04:55
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computer parts posted:Someone who has a Zelda themed wedding is not just enjoying their hobby. Okay, I'll bite: If both people go for this, how is this any more offensive than the dumb, expensive parties that pass for a "normal" wedding?
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Jun 8, 2016 04:57
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And like clockwork, the "conversation" about the meaning of this particular word has circled back to "lol fuckin losers lol fuckin white kids."
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Jun 9, 2016 08:35
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lynch_69 posted:I honestly think gamers who whine about the sad state of games journalism have this embedded in their brains as to what constitutes proper and honest games journalism: I guess it comes down to what you want out of games journalism w/r/t things labeled as reviews. If you want competent consumer buying advice as to whether or not a product is worth the better part of a hundred dollar bill, that rubric isn't a bad framework at all. If you think a 5000 word missive tying a multiplayer shooter to a person's lovely life experience or personal politics constitutes a solid, informative review, I can see taking issue with it. Really, it comes down to if you see AAA games (and make no mistake, most of the furor on both sides is about a handful of expensive to make, expensive to sell AAA titles) as rapidly cycling consumer entertainment products or modern art pieces which must be judged aside The Iliad, Mona Lisa, and Piss Christ . Many game journalists are siding with the latter view, while most people who buy the things are more inclined toward the former. rkajdi posted:Dunno, you're the one who came up with a huge false equivalence between poorly socialized people with a hobby and actually oppressed people. I think you (willingly?) missed the part where I said I stop well short of claiming you can "marginalize" a group based on their consumer hobby.
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Jun 10, 2016 01:51
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afeelgoodpoop posted:Gamergate got most its energy from the low key black listing and hit pieces games media was doing against developers for years. People would not care about "artistic criticism" unless all that is is saying something is sexist/racist and contributing to social media campaigns to keep it from being sold/coming out. Exactly this. Games writers who fancy themselves in the business of high-minded criticism, to a man, suffer from the inability to articulate their points in anything approaching a reasoned manner. Two flavors of game "criticism" overwhelmingly dominate: clickbait-style pearl clutching, which gamers react poorly to because it's the same tired poo poo they got during the 90s/00s, and it doesn't matter if it's coming from opportunistic journalists now instead of opportunistic politicians. The second flavor is articles in which the writer is clearly in love with the sound of their own voice, use 100 words where 1 would do, and usually tie a video game to some personal baggage. They are even less able to tolerate criticism of their criticism, and, as lynch does, use the looming spectre of Gamergate as a boogeyman to deflect it, usually making a snarky social media comment about "lol manbaby fedora nerd loser" in the process. I do think it's interesting how the Gamergate shitshow is characterized as both an impotent, laughable death rattle from a dying breed of "shitslinging hyper consumer," AND an ever-present mighty barbaric horde with the magic power to turn words on the Internet into real life terror and carnage. Which it is depends on whatever fits the writer's agenda at the time.
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Jun 10, 2016 16:47
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Panzeh posted:"What if I could talk to the monsters in doom" is probably going to result in a more entertaining article than "WOW STELLARIS BEST GAME EVER PARADOX YOU ARE THE BEST". Not if what you want from game journalism is reliable, down the middle of the plate buying advice, because these things are expensive products first and foremost at the end of the day. Game journalists are a lot of things, but I don't think "entertaining" is one of them.
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Jun 11, 2016 15:42
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rkajdi posted:A journalist got fired because he gave a less than stellar review of the Kane & Lynch 2. Basically, the production house played the "We give you ad buys, so drop this guy for not loving our game" and the website folded like a cheap suit. There's some irony that this was seen as a meh by the lunatic fringe of gamers made exactly zero issue with this, probably because it made sure that their precious AAA market would be free of criticism for a few more years. I know you have a weird hard on towards attacking and stereotyping gamers for some reason, but this is very false. Gamers were loving pissed when Jeff got fired and overwhelmingly supported his new independent venture. It eventually got big enough that the new parent company of the site that fired him made amends and bought his new site. It's definitely possible to review a video game without getting into your pet personal issues much in the same way it's very much possible and desirable to review an iPhone without getting into your thoughts on how Foxconn is evil, or to review a meal at a restaurant without going on a rant about how you think the tipping system/GMOs/the contractor who built the place is bullshit. I know this is a very strange concept for some, but it is very possible to compartmentalize one thing from another. People do it all the time as part of being a functioning human being, as the alternative is ending up a Glenn Beck/Josh McIntosh "It's all CONNECTED" lunatic. I also love how some seem to think there's no middle ground between "Nintendo Power" and "I don't care if this game is fun, the politics hurt my fee-fees, 2/10."
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Jun 11, 2016 20:02
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