Column: 'A Journalistic Bent: Word Science'

In his latest column, veteran UK game journalist Jim Rossignol takes a close look at "the state of writing about games", suggesting that wider cultural reference points are the true keys to communicating the magic of video games to everyone. Rossignol starts by noting of the problems in reviewing games, comparing them to other media: "The film critic who has only seen Jerry Bruckheimer films is going to have a very narrow set of experiences against which base his criticism, no matter how popular or well-made those films are. Likewise, the games writer who just loves the RTS and exults over Warcraft 3 is going to begin to falter as his range of attention broadens. The longer games take to play, or books to read, or films to watch, the smaller our range of comparable experiences becomes. I can't usefully review flight sims. It's impossible. I don't have the palette of previous experiences do so with any authority, or even much creativity. Of course I've played a number of the big sims, but I'm acutely aware that my capacity to be funny or observant about the genre is always hamstrung with uncertainty." You can now read the full Gamasutra column on the subject, including plenty more on constructive methods for expanding the reach of games media (no registration required).