A Dissection of Current Gaming Media

     So I've recently been noticing the disconnect in gaming media and the actually game devs and consumers. It comes down to a question of what role does gaming journalism/media have as a role as to what consumers get exposed to and biased opinions or what we as developers aspire to.

     John Bain aka TotalBiscuit has recently posted a few podcasts, tweets and a video in particular that Inspired this piece which covers the subject.

     It offers many opinions I personally share. When I think of gaming media I want to know facts to start.

Release dates, platform specifics and options for PC, options for disabled gamers etc. The Op-Ed pieces and critques are great, but they are long from the traditional printed format I grew up with. I remember when I'd open an issue of Nintendo Power or EGM where the reviewers had bios listing their favorite games and genres which would give you a degree of certainty of if this person making an Op-Ed or review shared the same idea of fun games you played. With the recent Op-Ed pieces attacking even the term "gamer" all released within close to 24hrs of each other has been a recent disturbing trend.

     Op-Ed's comment sections and twitter comment or youtube comments often have a toxic environment or a lack of debate due to restrictions. Sites like even this or typical gaming sites doing Op-Ed pieces are great, but when they push a certain agenda and censoring differing opinions and not covering both sides is where I have an issue. With how much there is available on the internet when it comes to facts and opinions if you're going to call yourself a journalist why are you no longer covering stories like a journalist? Why is there no coverage of both sides of the story?

     With Youtube and so many gaming sites now it seems like it's a focus on just relevance. I can potentially be just a fan who builds up a slight following covering a game on Youtube and have my own voice that directly is in competition with traditional gaming media. I've done this before with some indie titles on my own channel and gotten interviews with said devs which benefitted both myself and the dev that gave me exclusive access. If this is the case with someone small such as myself imagine what happens at a larger scale with AAA devs. At some point you have to seperate the friendships and access such as this with remembering you have a responsibilty to those that read/watch/listen to you. 

     Attacking your own audience and own livelihood like a lot of these Op-Ed pieces attacking the term "gamer" due to a few bad apples has left me scratching my own head. What are you trying to accomplish? In any community there is always ome bad apples especially with the anonymous nature of the internet. A prime example for myself I love the NFL, but I I was to diregard the term "football fan" everytime some drunken idiot started a brawl or acted up at a game...

     There is a lot more Op-Ed I could get into myself about the whole #gamergate, etc issues, but they are just a small piece of a larger question of what do we as fans of gaming, game developers, and just people in the industry in someway asking of what gaming media is and what it should be. Is there any reason to ask that it is both equally beneficial to the writers/content creators and consumers at the same time?

     The last thing I'll leave you with is an old snippet from an old Amiga Power magazine I want to say (an old Amiga magazine) which pretty much was sarcasm, but sums up how I feel about gaming media currently as a whole.