Earlier this week, I was having a conversation with ScrewAttack's Destin L about the gaming press, most notably about how so many videogames lately are getting incredibly high review scores, with nearly every major release apparently able to do no wrong -- even though gamers themselves later come out to say such games weren't even all that good.
As we theorized why this could be, I came upon the possible conclusion that positive press was being motivated by fear, and the more I think about it, the more likely it seems. As I scan the gamer community and find what seems to be a rabid and possibly deranged army of quasi-human attack dogs, it's difficult to not draw a correlation between rampant fanboys going off the rails and a gaming press that doesn't want to step out of line and say bad things about a game.
This article isn't an accusation, and I don't intend to point fingers at anybody. We are merely posing a question here. Is the gaming press scared of its readers?
We published an article yesterday that pointed out a number of game design tricks that developers use to falsely extend the length of their games. It was of course, merely an honest and personal opinion, but it seems that many among the gaming community don't actually want honesty in their games coverage. They would rather only ever read the words of someone completely marching in step with their way of thinking. Thus it was that Mega Man 9 was criticized for something, without being written off as complete garbage, and a number of people flipped their lids.
It's not just that they disagreed. Oh no, that would be too tame for them. Unlike those who responded to the article with respectful disagreement, a number of readers simply could not help themselves piling on the personal insults. Now, I've been doing this job for almost three years and I've been called every name under the sun. The constant stream of gay jokes and fat jokes and remarks about my ability as a writer is something I've had to get used to. That seems to be the wage of having a personal opinion and daring to share it.
That said, it really does get to you sometimes, and it wouldn't surprise me if some writers see the pure vitriol and venom that gets poured all over their peers and decide that they don't want any part of it. I get this feeling that a number of games media outlets see this kind of bullshit happening and will do anything to appease the wrath of a fanbase that, to be honest, is made up of a significant number of petulant and spoiled brats who seem to think that trying to be as personal and hurtful as possible is just punishment for someone not reacting to a game they like with complete adoration.
One of my favorite examples, of course, is Killzone 2, which has unfortunately become inextricably linked with insane and childish fanboyism. The notorious Totalvideogames.com review of the game gave it an 8/10, and it was followed by a 40-page-plus comment thread of some of the most insulting and disgusting bile I've ever been ashamed to read on the Internet. Who seriously goes into this business to be shat upon like that? I can hardly find it a stretch to imagine that people are writing just to give the people what they want, rather than what they think.
When I wrote my own Killzone 2 review and gave it a 9.5, it was suggested by some that I'd done so to avoid a shitstorm, very much like I'm theorizing here. I can't convince you that I did not, and I also can't blame anybody for thinking that was the case, especially as I'd had people before the review practically attempting to bully me into giving it a high score.
A number of games seem "protected" by their fans these days, and they will go out of their way to not just defend a game, but tear to shreds anybody who dares threaten the aura of perfection that they have surrounded their favorite game with. You can't point out the myriad flaws in Fallout 3 without Bethesda fans going on the warpath. Woe betide any who dares to suggest that Halo 3 isn't all that great. Let's not forget those who spoke out about Sonic Unleashed ... oh. Well maybe they got away with it.
I still remember the 8.0 Grand Theft Auto IV review we did, the one that someone said "flew in the face of popular opinion." How DARE we do such a thing? How dare we turn the world on its head by having the gall to suggest that a great game should get a great score, and not a perfect one? Is it any wonder that the title received almost unanimous critical acclaim, with those kinds of reactions waiting in the wings for a less-than-perfect score? Again, many of the game's reviewers may indeed have felt that it was the greatest game ever made, and a new Ocarina of Time for our generation. I am merely wondering aloud if the potential backlash from readers might have had anything to do with it.
I think the best commenters are the ones that impugn the writer's "journalistic integrity" at the same time they are basically demanding to be lied to. I'm not sure if they're aware of the blatant hypocrisy that comes with demanding integrity alongside insincere pandering, but it's hilarious to see nonetheless. Then there are the ones that sidestep your writing and just go for you as a person. Apparently, the way you write gives people a deep insight into your personal life, and they'll rake it up just because they disagree with you and can't handle it. In many ways, these fanboys are acting like fucking terrorists ... except somehow with even more sexual repression.
Who wants to deal with whining children on a daily basis? I don't, even though most days I unfortunately seem to. However, in a business that is based on pageviews and readers coming back for more, I dare say a number of outlets will say or do anything in order to stop their fans from going elsewhere. I've had a number of readers tell me they would "quit the site" over a particular review, taking their business elsewhere like a stuck-up bitch who didn't like their waiter in a restaurant. America especially has a "make the customer feel like royalty, even if they're stupid trash" policy, and I think that can easily carry over into games media.
Without naming names, I've had some writers speak to me in the past and talk about being "worried" over an article they're working on. The articles themselves have been perfectly fine -- well written, honest and perfectly fair. However, they've been worried about the reader backlash because they really don't like being called an "ugly fucking cunt with no talent" because they're just doing what they love doing. One can, of course, just write it off with the attitude that "it's just the Internet," but show me someone who puts their genuine personality and face on the Internet and doesn't get at least a little affected by personal remarks, and I'll show you a liar or a psychopath.
It's nothing new, either. Do you know why FOX News blames violent crime on videogames instead of stupid parents who aren't living up to their responsibilities? It's because FOX News is watched by stupid parents who aren't living up to their responsibilities, and they don't want to deal with the backlash. Why does the Daily Mail complain about immigrants? Because its readership is a bunch of fascist van drivers who have gotten it into their heads that England is somehow a "pure" thoroughbred nation. Most media outlets have forsaken honesty in the name of pandering, and I fear that games media is just the same -- people not saying what they want to say, just what their followers want to hear.
I'm certainly not saying that everybody in the gamer community is this sniveling, crying, infantile little shithead, of course. I've had the privilege of getting to know some incredibly cool members of the community and having some intelligent debates with those who disagreed with one of my statements, but were able to not get emotional as if I just shot their mother in the head and fucked the hole. Sadly, however, these are not the people with the loudest voices. They are not the ones creating 40-plus-page threads full of abuse.
It is unfortunate, but I believe that a number of writers have resigned themselves to the fact that there are simply too many babies in the gaming community, and have started to just write to keep them from throwing a tantrum. It's the path of least resistance, after all, and they still get paid at the end of the day, minus an army of feral kids snapping at their heels.
Who can blame 'em, really?
Contest:
1:00 PM on 04.05.2009
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Just keep doing what you're doing, Jim.
Went from almost 10 to almost 8. Why? Lack of advertising/hype for the second.
Reviews are motivated by how many items a reviewer gets (you know what I mean) how many direct interviews with the company, exclusive interviews, shots, videos. The more they promote those who advertise the more they know that company will come back.
There are already known companies who do not even get review copies of games because they continually underrate the companies games.
You know this.
I don't mind doing that. Sellouts are sellouts, deceivers are deceivers, cowards are cowards.
I don't pretend to understand how someone can be so bloody defensive over a game. I have had people insult games I like, but I usually shrug it off. For example, "The Call of Cthulhu: The Dark Corners of the Earth" remains as one of my most treasured games. Still even if someone came up to me and said 'CoC is shit because the combat system sucks!' I'd have to concede to their criticism of the combat system because it was shoddy. However nothing they'd say would keep me from playing it again and again.
It's too easy to overthink this sort of concern. I have to agree with you that the best explanation for this does relate a lot to the 'Customer is Loyalty' attitude. Having had worked in a restaurant I saw many folks treat our waitstaff like shit for seemingly no reason other than they could get away with it. It's the bullshit sense of entitlement that these folk seem to have. "It's me or nothing! I'm the most important one here! It's what I want! Me! Me! Me!" It's that kind of attitude that probably gets drawn over into video games.
Or we can simplify my statement into the following, "People are smelly half-flaccid cock-itches and they should eff off into Hell."
So when an article comes along a doesn't declare "the single greatest achievement in human history" they get mad. Not mad at the reviewer like they act but mad at the game itself for it is not the promised land of milk and honey they built up in their mind. I would say in all honestly if Brawl or Killzone 2 didn't have an army behind it months before it came out. It would be interesting to see the reactions to reviews and even if the reviews themselves would change. Because hype does effect us all even reviewers like yourself(not your fault, every review is plagued). So I guess we can truly start to appreciate games wholly as their self when we stop caring about them. I hope that made sense, once agian. Tired, ramblings.
Good journalism is not giving people what they want, it's giving people what they need.
Perhaps they should quit gaming flat out. That's my honest suggestion.
Since reviews seem to be first impressions, I'd be very interested in follow-up reviews. Perhaps call it "A Month Later" or something like that
Anyway, I appreciate the honesty at destructoid. Keep it up
Tell it like it is, Jim. I look for honesty in reviews, not blind faith.
STFUAJPG
I like your writing style Jim despite the controversy it can cause (primarily among people that for some reason can't tell when you're kidding or not) and trust that you have your head in the right place and know what you're talking about.
Another reason why reviewers tend to have a different score than gamers is that the video game press reviewers are dependent on video game companies or publishers to give them their daily dose of previews, trailers, interviews, and scoops, and also advance review copies of the games. If the reviewers give those game a bad score, the game companies and publishers may refuse to give them anything else unless they are more "nicer". Naturally reviewers are wary of this and try to give a unbiased but sort of accurate score in order to appease the video game companies and publishers while at the same time not dissapoint the fans.
Unlike most people here I don't just gloss over your article and say "GOOD JOB JIM", I read the whole thing and if there's something I don't like I call you on it.
Calling you fat was not needed that's true but you have the habit of insulting this community numerous times and you've published tons of articles that are just thinly disguised trolling, whenever I see an article here with 200+ comments, 90% of the time its you who wrote it, if you can't take it then just quite, I personally won't give a shit and will be quite happy that you're gone but don't whine about "babies" in this community when you do your damdnest to poke at them and insult them, I could have taken this article coming from anyone else but not, this is hypocrisy at its finest, you have no room to complain about the people insulting you when you do it to them.
You reap what you sow Sterling.
I can't comment for those other sites but I can on you, I agree with you on the part that some people get to attached to big name games and bitch and moan when it doesn't get an 11/10 but not on the rest, stop being such a cockmunch and maybe people won't respond the way they do to you.
If you want proof, read any other writer here, read their comments, you are the only one here that gets a lot hate and vitrol, you ever wonder why?
Brad, Collette, Niero, Dale, Nick, Hamza, I have never seen a single angry comment in their articles, but yours? All the time depending on what its about, I think your best written piece was the one about banning other substances but beyond that, its just you and your troll-fest pieces which I imagine your write like that get a raise out of people.
Best example I can think of your attitude was the Too Human debacle, you gave it a 2, your review was full of half truths and it was obvious you didn't try other classes and people said so in your comments, how did you respond to them? You wrote a joke a blog and gave it an 11/10.
So yea, YOU get those replies because of the way you act, YOU get those replies because of your past behavior so I'm going to use a line D-toiders love so damn much, STFU and stop whining.
And I urge the rest of community to do their own research, I know a fair group of people who would be more than happy to visit d-toid every single day and make it their number 1 news site if Jim was gone and that has nothing to do with Jim's quality of articles, just his past history.
Christ, even in the podtoid you acted like a dick, how do the other writers stand you?
Well, that's my one comment for the next six months...toodles!
Even though I have some dangerously awkward atraction for Jim's useless articles (he has a Gamesradar kind of trash , entertaining) I have to agree with you , half of Jim's articles are pure flame baits , and all of them have a little flamebaiting in it , I just guess that Jim needs attention/gets paid per comment/sees too much hentai ...
There should be a feature that allows you to hear your comments spoken back to you before you post it. Because then, a lot of the retards who whine about a low score given to a game that hasn't come out yet, and one which they've NEVER ACTUALLY PLAYED, can hear how retarded they sound
This is the most BS I heard this year .
So do you. And me.
At least he is HONEST about who he really is...
And I support him for that.
As someone who was often made the pariah way back when Final Fantasy VII was the best RPG EVAR, I can relate to the words in this article. People can be stupid defensive about their favorite games and will lash out at those who speak ill of it. If you were in the business of making money selling your opinion to others, you would be frightened if hordes of rapid fanboys were watching and waiting for your reviews. I say kudos to those who have the courage to give a highly anticipated game lower marks than the fanbase expects because its what the games deserve.
And its sad to see some people are already taking this article as a chance to make personal attacks against you. But I guess the internets are serious business.
For Christ's sake. You got called out because you used a poor example of trial-and-error gameplay. It has nothing to do with this crap about honesty in journalism. There were way better examples that you could have used: Ghosts N Ghouls and IWBTG.
Are you stupid or something? I've got 6 words for you: Condemned Two, Twilight Princess, Anthony Burch.
Anthony Burch is Jim's siamese twin , even more evil , they are in a eternal fight about art games and the irony of Rev's "oh , I'm so cult" personality and the piss poor quality of HAWP jokes ...
@Kyousuke Nambu: you're kind of proving a point I was going to make without any help at all. Even though you may have said something worth hearing, your way of going about it makes your opinion shit to everyone. From what I understand, Too Human does indeed suck, but I don't know, so I won't go into it. But I'm willing to bet that the people that disagreed with Jim's review didn't put their opinions even remotely as "politely" as your comment is leading me to believe.
I liked the article, and it's because of fanboys like that that I very rarely join forums. Hell, I was a reader of destructoid since damn near the beginning and only start posting in the last couple months. They infuriate me, not because of the opinions the spout, but because it reminds me that there are people like that out their. Ugh.
Wow, what a fucking philosopher you are. It's not like some of us were saying this exact same shit years and years ago.
I guess nobody ever really listens until they have to deal with the problem personally.
It all, in core, goes to Nintendo, and that is where the largest coefficient of this bullshit resides (because Nintendo were the first with a large enough audience for allegiances to fester). Everyone is a pussy ass bitch when it comes to talking about Nintendo in any kind of an official representative manner blog wise. "Nintendo does this and this bad, BUT, HOWEVER, ALTHOUGH" and then a list of positive things have to be written because a shitstorm is imminent if you do not put a positive spin on the article to pacify the morons.
I think Gerstmann is still getting death threats for that one review he did for some shitty ass Nintendo game (probably Zelda IIRC, which is the zenith of regurgitated [to use a word you used in another article, which I liked] pigshit in gaming). And this upcoming spirit train bullshit. Everyone barfed inside their mouth (anyone with a brain) when they saw it at GDC, and then went to their blogs and wrote "HAPPY DAYS, NEW ZELDA EVERYONE!" instead of "Look at this fucking uninventive bullshit they're trying to use as a cash cow for imbeciles once again."
Enjoy your craft. You, your co-workers and your brothers from other mothers (Kotaku, Joystiq, etc.) were largely helpful in its perpetration (as blogs are the new big thing). Revel.
(Like for example if someone reports this post. It won't be for all the swearing and how inappropriate it is (it's that too), it'll be because I said the last good Zelda game was twenty Zelda games ago, when it was original).
Your grammar is atrocious, sir.
Mega Man 9 is a perfect example of trial and error game-play. Yeah, pretty much any game with roots on the NES or arcades employs it but if there are people that take offense to stating a fact about game-play that is isn't even intrinsically negative then it's pretty clear they're just looking for an excuse to argue.
Perfect example? No, it isn't. You might wanna look up a game called IWBTG before you start spouting off.
@Jim: All your reviews fall on deaf ears ever since you gave "I just shot their mother in the head and fucked the hole" a 7/10. Biased, so biased. And gay.
and just because there are other, better examples doesn't mean MM9 doesn't fit the Trial and Error gameplay formula perfectly.
Animal Crossing, Pokemon, even the recent RE5 are kind of examples of this.
The game gets great reviews, they are good games, they tick all the right boxes but some fans(the loudest ones) feel let down they feel more could be done and so whine about it but go over the top saying things like "WORST GAME EVAR"