There's been a lot of discussion of "gaming journalism" in the last few days on Destructoid, and it's been very interesting to read it all. Being in both the online gaming media and in the traditional media, it's interesting to see this debate over whether sites like this one are actual journalistic sites or even what the games journalism industry itself is all about. I've been thinking and studying it a bit myself, and for those of you who are wondering just how this glorious Web machine works, here's a little bit of info:

So how's it all work?

First and foremost, it's a race for clicks and page views. Exclusive game-related stories and breaking news first makes up a big part of this, more so than most regular features do. More people reading your site = more advertiser interest = more money. And of course, more money = you being able to do more stuff, like pay writers and bring aboard additional staff. Keeping the best people around can be quite expensive.

So it's all about being first?

No, not exactly. You want to beat your rivals to the punch, but at the same time, you can't lose your credibility, so you do have to be careful with what you run. Once you lose that, no matter what you do, you're dead. And while people used to let bygones be bygones, the Internet does not forget, no matter what you might try to delete or hide from them.

But those news stories are really just a way to attract people to your site. Once you have a captive audience and credibility, that's where the deeper writing in features and longer news pieces comes in. They give your site substance and additional credibility as an everyday news source. Plus, they let you show off your writing skills and help you establish just exactly the kind of site you're going to be.

Think of it this way: the breaking news stories are like the shiny displays in a store window that draw you inside. When you get in and see all the cool stuff there, then you stay awhile and check everything else out.

But you guys get free stuff from developers all the time. How can I trust you?

That's not entirely true. If you work for IGN or Kotaku, then yes, you get free stuff regardless because of your reach. But a Destructoid or a smaller site doesn't have that liberty. Sometimes, companies get upset when you're brutally honest or they just don't have the resources to fulfill every review request. And in the case of a Destructoid, when your reviews have 2-3 people giving their thoughts on a game, that means more often than not, the reviewers themselves probably had to purchase a copy because no publisher I know is able to give more than a single review copy (per console) to anyone. And yes, we sometimes do get to go on crazy adventures or go to parties for game releases, but we're still working them.

And what about E3? PAX? Tokyo Game Show?

Those are working events. Yeah, you get to have fun there, but trust me, the work-to-free-time ratio is about 500:1. Most of your day is going to press conferences, going to game booths, playing games, interviewing people, then going back and trying to write up the news and your impressions before everyone else has their stuff up. By the end of the event, you are likely tired, hungry, sore all over and ready to just crash.

OK, OK, you make good points. But you must make a ton of money, right? I mean, with all the pageviews and exposure.

I'll tell you this right now: 95% of writers out there are never going to make a living off writing about games. They do it simply for love. Coincidentally, it's something they tell us in the traditional media as they lump more and more work upon us while cutting our pay every few months, but that's the difference. For the most part, the people who write for the Web are interested in gaming via the hobby side of things, and since they're writing for free or for a small amount of money per post, they're generally happy. If it was all about the money, you'd probably only have 4 or 5 gaming Web sites or blogs out there, period. And a lot of the reason there's no pay involved has to do with advertising; online ads are cheaper because they are so plentiful and because they can be rotated in and out so frequently. Only sites with corporate backing (IGN, Wired, Gamespot, G4, Kotaku, etc.) can afford to pay a large staff of several people to do this gig full-time.

There's not much journalism in games journalism, is there?

Not as much as traditional journalism, but there is actually quite a bit more than you'd expect. Gaming bloggers and writers can definitely use journalistic skills, like fact-checking, interviewing skills and being able to write concise, interesting copy, on a daily basis. There also ethics that they, like the traditional print and broadcast folk, must abide by or they'll be out on their ass quick.

Ethics, you say? Like avoiding bias?

Well, we all have our favorites and we all have games we hate. There's naturally bias in some things, and sometimes, being a fanboy of a game can help in the interview process. But it's important not to let fandom get in the way of covering stories or in reviews. Especially those two things.

Reviews makes sense. But why games you're a fan of?

Because it is the job of the people you are talking with to pitch the game as "THE BEST THING EVAR." Yes, even the people you have known for years. Being a fanboy can lead to slanted coverage or not asking follow-up questions or tough questions to developers. You don't want to be a hardass, but you also don't want to be lobbing soft questions in for them, too. My basic rule of thumb is, "Don't trust anyone, period."

Wow, my head hurts from all this text.

I know, I know, tl;dr. I get that a lot.

So what should I draw from all of this?

That gaming journalism isn't just a bunch of idiots on a blog yelling to try and get hits, and it's not the New York Times. Don't expect it to be either, but do expect professionalism from your gaming writers, something that almost all of them give on a daily basis, and know that there's a lot of work and time that goes into JOURNALISM for vidja gamez.

(Author's note: And on that time thing, it took me close to 90 minutes to write this 1,135-word piece and edit it.)