EDITORIAL: A Gaming Identity

[Colour Scientist]

What about arsebiscuits?

I find that I'm quite the arsehobnob to be perfectly honest.

Oh, here we go.

Special snowflake syndrome.

I suppose you want me to represent arsehobnobs in my games? You can't just force diversity like that, there has to be a reason for the characters in the story to represent arsehobnobs. Arsebiscuits are clearly the majority, we buy most of the games, therefore we own them.

You want arsehobnob games?
Make your own.

 

[Caiphus]

Are you even really an arsebiscuit if you're THAT casual about it? It kind of pisses me off that just anyone can call themselves an arsebiscuit when they clearly don't even know the first thing about being one.

We need a different term. Arsebiscuit has become too dilute thanks to posers.

Well excuse me for enjoying games in the way that makes me comfortable. Arsebiscuit is no longer the elite term that it once was, and you and all the other "hardcore" arsebiscuits are going to have to deal with it.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Are you even really an arsebiscuit if you're THAT casual about it? It kind of pisses me off that just anyone can call themselves an arsebiscuit when they clearly don't even know the first thing about being one.

We need a different term. Arsebiscuit has become too dilute thanks to posers.

Well excuse me for enjoying games in the way that makes me comfortable. Arsebiscuit is no longer the elite term that it once was, and you and all the other "hardcore" arsebiscuits are going to have to deal with it.

Oh my God, can you just step off our hobby, please?

Spoiler

 

[Promethax]

You guys do realize that the whole "war on gamurzz" thing is a smokescreen, right?

 

[Dragonbums]

Sniparoo

It's not really the games you play, I'd say it's your interest in the medium itself

Like you're posting here, so obviously have some interest in the gaming industry

Again, nothing wrong with people who just pick up, play and forget

I honestly think that the demonization of the "casual" crowd came with the Wii and rise of the mobile game market. Like...there was a really huge shift in their perception when those things happened. Like a line of Us Vs. Them. Especially when other devs started to try to make games to make an entry point into their franchises (like Skyrim)


There is nothing wrong about playing and forgetting. After all we constantly say that games are for entertainment (and art when we want to be taken seriously I suppose.) but lately, unless you played videogames since the fucking Nintendo 64 days, don't you dare come out and say you love videogames only to be found out that you play Candy Crush.

I can find that super alienating to people outside of this community and it's really sad.

 

[Nurb]

I think this Slate Article is nice and balanced and gives a riddling with holes the silly idea that "Gamers are over"

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2014/09/gamergate_explodes_gaming_journalists_declare_the_gamers_are_over_but_they.html

That's a good article, which also makes another good point:

"[The anti-gamer] articles were additionally unseemly because gamers were being preached to by the very same people who have been commodifying them. As Florence said, so much of the game journalist's job has indeed been glorified PR, and the rest is not reportage but cultural think pieces, like the ones that have earned so much opprobrium over the last week."

So many sites that lump all gamers together under the "bigot" label for disagreeing with their narrative also demand ad revenue from the people they're finger waggling at, and many of the writers want the paycheck and perks of a real journalist without the responsibility, accountability, and standards. Content to be part of the AAA marketing and hype machine while more and more gamers go to youtubers for real, honest impressions of new releases or indie titles.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Well, that was disappointingly serious.

I've decided that editorials will be more "srs" than the other stuff but they'll only be every other day

But the gist I wanted to get across is that I have an opinion!

Wait...

Taconews just put out a story with less bias and more journalistic integrity than the Guardian newspaper's article on the same subject:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/01/how-to-attack-a-woman-who-works-in-video-games
(they had to update the piece to reflect the fact that the writer was a personal friend and funder of Zoe Quinn and therefore the article could suffer from bias.)

Thats...

That's really something.

 

[Barbas]

I honestly think that the demonization of the "casual" crowd came with the Wii and rise of the mobile game market. Like...there was a really huge shift in their perception when those things happened. Like a line of Us Vs. Them. Especially when other devs started to try to make games to make an entry point into their franchises (like Skyrim)

There is nothing wrong about playing and forgetting. After all we constantly say that games are for entertainment (and art when we want to be taken seriously I suppose.) but lately, unless you played videogames since the fucking Nintendo 64 days, don't you dare come out and say you love videogames only to be found out that you play Candy Crush.

I can find that super alienating to people outside of this community and it's really sad.

It's deplorably petty-minded and tribalistic mentality. You'll always catch more humans with honey. Sometimes you have to apply it to an improbably huge spoon and pick them up by the head with it, but it's a lot more pleasant and constructive than just screaming at them.

I prefer the terms "Gamespinner" and "Gamewizzard" anyway.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Well, that was disappointingly serious.

I've decided that editorials will be more "srs" than the other stuff but they'll only be every other day

But the gist I wanted to get across is that I have an opinion!

Wait...

Taconews just put out a story with less bias and more journalistic integrity than the Guardian newspaper's article on the same subject:

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/01/how-to-attack-a-woman-who-works-in-video-games
(they had to update the piece to reflect the fact that the writer was a personal friend and funder of Zoe Quinn and therefore the article could suffer from bias.)

Thats...

That's really something.

I have mixed feelings about that article. It was another bias piece framing this whole thing as "Misogynerds" and was just badly framed and very poorly thought out.

BUT Jenn Frank is a freelance journalist who received so much pushback on twitter and social media due to that artcile she had a bit of a breakdown, recinded some of her words, said some on her 'side' had abandoned her to her fate and then has said she is quitting writing about games all together.

She made one ill convinced article in which she could not see her conflict of interest. This was NEVER about hounding people out of their jobs. She seems legitimately broken down. It's not like the professional victimhood of someone like Sarkeesian or Quinn, she really tried to engage and the social media storm got the better of her.

Wow. I didn't know that.
While it was a badly researched as it took the same biased slant all the other articles used, I don't think the author deserved that. It's a real shame that someone has actually quit journalism over this. I just want stricter regulations for videogame journalists and more accountability, not any sort of harassment or pain like that.