Good Game ‘Rei: The Blogosphere’ Dissection

July 14th, 2009

good-game-logo

A few months ago I received an email from someone at the ABC (that’s the Australian Broadcasting Corporation) to help them with their research for an upcoming to be feature for TV show Good Game. They wanted to discuss games blogging in Australia and somehow discovered me. Surprised, I know. I would have figured they’d have wanted to quiz people like Jason Hill or those Hyper washouts not me. But anyways, I was already an avid viewer of the show, so with such a great opportunity I naturally I offered my services, firing back an email as soon as I could. In the following weeks though I never received a reply, but never chased it up either as I was caught in the usual end of semester crunch at uni. Upon making it through the clear, I sought to re-send my email or give them a call, but considering that by then they’d probably completed the piece, I decided to let it slide*. After all, given this prior information, it was inevitable that I’d eventually write a piece like this, so my thoughts would come out in the end anyways.

That segment went to air last night, and I subsequently have quite a few opinions on it. Actually its timing works out perfectly as I’m falling behind in the next article in my mini-series evaluation of various professional and enthusiast publications. I’ll be covering gamesTM next, you can read about Official Nintendo Magazine and Hyper here and here.

Good Game (ABC) Show Overview

As mentioned, Good Game is a television program on the ABC, it’s a half hour show which runs weekly and has been active for an endearing three years – rather successful for a show of its nature. As recently announced on the community forums, Good Game was the most downloaded show off the ABC last month, another testament to the production. Good Game’s success – and the key reason why I continue to watch – lies in two parts. The first being the two presenters, referred to as their screen names; Bajo and Junglist. The duo are characterized as typical gamers and their performances thrive off the subculture to colour their on-screen personas. Yet unlike other productions this is never done in a way that’s degrading or diminutive towards the medium. Also the two – players themselves – comfortably fit their roles and use the available thematic to create a fun on-screen dynamic which is warmly enjoyed by both players and non-players. The two present what is rather constructive and well researched material. The producers clearly care about the quality of the show’s content. The historical feature ‘Backwards Compatible’ is mostly well researched, interviews flesh out the features, while a myriad of neat ideas are incorporated into the reviews such as the two presenters reflecting opposing sides, using the video medium to highlight obscurities within appointed games and using gags to highlight opinions and more personal responses to games. This is all kept rather diverse most of the time. Sure, the odd feature may be a little textbook-y at times, but the crew generally cover fairly appropriate topics as well as hand-picking a good variety of games for review, including downloadable, niche, indie and casual titles.

These two elements ensure Good Game maintains a respectable quality, far away from the demeaning overkill of similarly-minded, video game-themed productions. Additionally, everything is kept jargon-free which low barriers to entry.

Rei: The Blogosphere – Good Game Segment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccOlji5zNlk

Rei is Good Game’s semi-regular investigative feature segment by Tracey “Rei” Lien of Hyper Magazine fame. Tracy is a new recruit for the latest season. To date she’s covered topics such as the Australian internet filter, casual and flash games, and cosplaying, while doing a pretty admirable job at it too. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed most of her work and was naturally anticipating the blogging feature. I guess part of my anticipation was waiting for them to make a mess of it. I could just see it coming…sorry.

Key Issues

The key problem with Tracey’s feature was that its predominate angle (online bloggers vs print media journalists) pigeonholed the blogging and print media mediums espectively. Basically the angle typecasts each medium as a single, polarized writing style (objective and subjective news writing) and then compares the two on these grounds, with journalistic qualities being the point of contention. The two key players; Daniel Staines and Ben Mansill play out their respective roles, but their argument doesn’t actually make sense.

The irksome “video games journalism” phrase is the root cause and carelessly used throughout. Journalism is the word for collective print media, as well as the profession of reporting news stories. Video game enthusiasts and writers tend to ignore “journalism”’s connotation towards professional news reporting (and associated ideals), instead using the term “video games journalism” as a blanket statement for “video games writing”. Good Game and the participants fall into this trap, and what inevitably ensues is a bit of a mess. This is to be expected when you question a print media journalist and a games blogger who over what is naturally an often misconstrued topic; games journalism. The journalist gives the clichéd objectivity talk, while the games blogger talks about opinion writing as if it were (news) journalism. This makes for a very confusing segment.

The feature ignores this issue – seemingly a part of the problem – and puts the irrelevant opinions together to form some sort of incohesive argument which never makes little sense. Fortunately the feature digresses near the end where the other participants discuss games blogging beyond the generalized perception of opinionated-news, effectively putting the original angle of the piece out of its misery. Considering that we now that we know what the key issues, let’s look at the segment specifically as it’ll flesh out my assertions, while drawing attention to some other issues.

Analysis

Tracey’s introduction sets the precedence of this battle between print and web fighting for precious real estate, with readers migrating to websites and blogs.

Dan Staines of Eegra (yes, I’ve never heard of it either) begins with the introductory spiel on blogging which is geared as a contrast to print, not specially journalism, he’s just talking about the assets of the medium which is good. Ben Mansill, who we find out founded some pretty terrible magazines, follows by taking the opposing side, trumpeting the qualities of print media as well as some behaviorial flaws of web writers. The pair are discussing general print vs. web differences, which is suitable.

In fact, if the feature stayed on course like this I think it would have been rather good. The wider angle would have allowed them to explain how the qualities of self authorship, url, images, video and networking features affect the type of writing that bloggers produce. It’s the same reason why we abbreviate when we text; forces of the communicative medium. This approach would have allowed them to clearly explain why a great deal of games blogging is rather subjective in the first place.

Dan returns and uses the point of how blogging is independent as a strength. It would have been nice to know exactly how the medium is “independant”, but sure. Ben cuts back, shaking his head, rebutting to Dan’s comment and repeating the journalistic flim-flam. It’s at this stage that the feature derails. Good Game have in this instance pitted the a quality of the blogging medium (independence) against news reporting which Dan and Ben unknowingly playing out their roles. The independence of bloggers is unrelated to journalism practices of objectivity. Yet the way they’ve been piece together implies a rebutall, an argument. Ben’s comments also generalize games blogging, thanks for that.

Surprise, surprise, John Keefer from Crispy Gamer arrives, I never expected the show to feature him, nor was I familiar that such an old codger actually worked at Crispy Gamer. He points out the difference between enthusiast press and journalists. Even now I’m a little confused with the different entities floating around. There’s print journalism (seemingly, entirely objective “journalism”), print journalism-esque, wannabe blogger (enthusiast media, which by Ben’s account seems to be too subjective and totally opinion) and then another entity which may or may not include what Dan was talking about, ummm…criticizing PR and games, maybe opinion too, hard to separate the differences. Each participant is talking about unrelated matters yet the piece is put together as though they are talking about the same thing, in turn confusing viewers.

Tracey then asks Dan directly about objectivity, which he provides the most dubious answer that journalism isn’t about reporting facts. He highlights the misunderstandings that I discussed before.
Of course, he isn’t actually talking about journalism. He’s talking about games writing on the whole, most likely criticism and opinion pieces; the sort of writing he does, in which his comments are valid. The show is comparing journalists to opinion writers and having them square off on objectivity, this is irrelevant to blogging which can swing either way.

Tracey’s next segue is baffling. She starts with “while..” but never enters the second clause. Oh well, it’s about niche, opinion sites. Finally, acknowledgement that we do cover more than news articles slimed with opinion, yay! Oh look it’s Ben Abraham, ringleader of blogging boy’s club Critical-Distance and that Graffiti Gamer dude Daniel Purvis, another pair of Dans and Bens. The duo cover their bases pretty well, highlighting the individuality created by self authorship. Still, it’s unknown how their ideas are related to the journalism argument. In anycase, Ben and Daniel’s comments finally steer the show back on track, emphasizing the strengths and weaknesses of either medium, rather then causing headaches with an over-generalized, nonsensical argument. Their digression put the show back on track somewhat, the ending comments are in the same vein, ditching the ill thought out comparison.

That’s basically all that needs to be said, the the concluding comments are fine, irrelevant to the bulk of the segment.

I can’t help myself but mention John’s particularly hypocritical and rather amusing comment that he has “a very, very hard time with information put out there for the sake of hits”. Obviously he’s referring to news piece, but it’s a rather bizarre comment from a writer who works for a site brimming with tasteful, attention-grabbing editorials such as STFU 2009: The 10 People We Hope Will Shut the F*** Up at This Year’s E3.

*I think it’s probably a mistake on my behalf as at the time Gmail was failing to receive and send a number of emails. I think I have the problem sorted now, in any case I’ve updated my about page with instant messaging and Skype details, so feel free to use those instead if you’re ever feeling lonely.

Additional Readings

Good Game Interview – PALGN

Zero Lightseeds – Tracey Lien

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Mega-Self-serving Anniversary Jib Jab

May 30th, 2009

sack-boy-cute-smile

Consider the past weeklong vacation as a short respite to pace out the writing routine. I’ve been maintaining a steady pace since January and although I could easily keep the flow going, I wanted to just relax for a few days while I round up the rest of the working semester and finish the latest column for GSW. I’ve also managed to clear off two games in the downtime too, which should pave the way for upcoming content.

In a few days it’ll be the second unofficial anniversary of this blog. That is, two years ago I separated my game-related writing from my personal blog and channeled it through here. In reality though, I’ve been writing for maybe two and a half years plus, it’s just that when I made the cross over I timestamped the older content with more recent dates to give the site better structure. Confusing backstory aside, I think it’s worth reflecting on my blogging journey, particularly as I’ll likely be sharing E3 commentaries next week.

A Story of How I Found Some Words

I’ve always considered myself lucky that I’ve been a retro gamer before such a term even existed. Even though I’m only 20 years old, I lived through the remaining parts of the NES era playing catch-ups as the system was fading out, thanks in part to later PAL release dates. Eventually I migrated to the SNES and Gameboy. Years later I finally caught up in the Playstation era while simultaneously enjoying games handed down by family members on the Amiga 500 and so it goes..

This scatterfield history as a player always on the fringe of the latest releases, trying to cover his tracks, ensured that I was always mining for information on past-hit games. I spent healthy amounts of time investigating old games, when I started coming across topics that were unfamiliar and decided to investigate those as well. It was this curiosity which lead to the post ‘The Official CD-I Reference’ on my long-running personal blog.

From there I slowly started to migrate from writing routine diary entries to writing about games. I started blogging about games before I’d even consciously read a video game blog. I just pursued games writing for my own interest in mind as I wanted to not just learn more but to fill a void where I had no one to discuss games in such a light.

Although some of the earlier pieces of content were solely news pieces cribbed from other sources, I began airing concern over a series of congruent topics that I felt were being overlooked elsewhere. Such as; how gamers play a role in representing the medium, the hardcore disregard for casual games, the mix of quality titles for traditional players on the PSP and retro gaming.

At this stage, I still didn’t have much faith in other gaming blogs. The first time that I actually took an interest in other blogs was after landing on Retro Gaming with RacketBoy for the second time, where I spent maybe 9hrs straight reading every article on the site, as well as finding other sites such as Press the Buttons and Siliconera through the portal. Racketboy really opened my eyes to another side of retro gaming and it was from there that I started having faith in other people’s opinions on games.

After stumbling across Racketboy, I began to find my place within the blogging community. From there I began to come in contact with more academic blogs such as the Brainy Gamer, both of these writers influenced the type of content I was producing. Like a young infant I was replicating what I consumed. This second phase brought about a greater critical perception of what I was reading and my tastes shifted accordingly.

Then in July last year I brought out a redesign of the site (the same design you see now). The new design idealized the direction I wanted the site to move. A month after the re-design I was living in Shanghai. The experience of being away from everything that previously defined my place on the earth, allowed me to find my writing slant as well as become re-accquainted with myself in an almost enlightening manner. The process allowed me to think through my future direction and form a methodology to approach it. I applied this to the only game I was playing at the time; Quake and it was met by some kind words by Simon Carless over at GameSetWatch, confirming that I was on the right track.

Since then I’ve managed to take aspects from all of the previous forms of writing and turn it into a style of my own. Last year, I expressed concern about my writing level, and while I’m miles away from the dream, I’m rather chuffed with how I’m going. Proofreading this article displeases me, but I still have a solid handle on my words and a level of writing that can get me into sites like Racket Boy, Video Games Blogger and Gamasutra. I guess GameSetWatch/Gamasutra is more or less the top of the unofficial hierarchy of video games writing, so I have little to fret over.

Writing Voice

With all that behind me, I want to quickly map out what I consider to be the skeleton of this blog as well as the pieces I write externally.

Anecdotal Writing

Games are deeply personal experiences. They have to be, we all have different mental, cultural, and social make-up that colour our interpretations – there is no way they aren’t personal so we should speak in a way that justifies this ideology. I’m not sure how well my writing achieves this, but it’s an unwritten rule.

Approach to Criticism

There is an awful amount of noise relating to what insecure individual might call “games criticsm”. The unanimous part is that there is a lack of it. I personally feel weary of using the ‘c’ word simply because of the snotty-nosed stigma that’s associated with the term in a gaming context. In anycase, there is no doubt that much of what I write can be classified as critique.

People make a big fuss about the methodology towards criticism, when actually it’s really simple. Criticism requires one to explain how something achieves a set task, so all that’s required is choosing what those things are and investigate. The difficult part is making it sound interesting. Games are just sets of rules (factor in presentation if it’s relevant) therefore explaining the rules sets and design, and relating them to a 3rd party topic can be kinda tiresome. ie. Part A works with part B to achieve segment C which is part of overarching topic. It takes a really good writer to weave it well. Oh, and be sure to talk about the game too, 99% of people that attach the ‘critique’ banner to their writing often talk phat air.

Writing Content

There are four self-explanatory areas that I write about, being;

Editorial
Retro Games
Games and Culture – My calling card
Criticism/Games Discussion

The editorial ranges considerably as do retro games. Games and culture is obviously what I am slowly becoming famous for while at the same time trying to avoid people falsely perceiving me as some kind of expert. And of course, study games as texts, talking about the merits of games.

I’ve found that every time I try to work outside of this rubric, my writing suffers greatly. Makes it difficult trying to write for external sources after the news-reviews-previews trifecta.

…And My favourite Posts

You thought it was about to end right? No, not before I spout out my favourite articles from the past 2 years. Sorry;

Retro Review Lufia 2: The Rise of the Sinistrals
Thorough for the time of writing, I was particularly proud with how I handled my write up on my most liked RPG.

Hidden Secrets/Clues in the Resident Evil 5 Trailer
I’ve always felt as though us bloggers are the chief scrutinizers who are quick to react to the latest stories with keen investigation, surfacing any hidden details. I learnt that from Stephen Totilo and I think that this article was the first instance where I applied it.

Super Mario Land 2 and Totally Rad Retro Review
Matt sounds rather terrible voicing the reviews, we just couldn’t work around noise issues with the mic, in anycase, I’m proud of the two video reviews we produced.

DP’s Retro Gaming Compilation Wishlist
During this time I was on a high of unique ideas showing off another asset that all bloggers should strive for; a constant stream of creative ideas.

Watch Morgan Webb Totally Degrade Video Games on the Tyra Banks Show
The language analysis is pretty weak, but again, I came across a good idea, fleshed it out and made it into a rather successful post. I don’t think I like it as much as other people did.

We Place Faith in The Conduit
I just enjoyed writing this piece. I really ought to do another posts that looks at the way IGN stimulates the Nintendo fan culture into supporting Red Steel, Conduit, Nitrobike and now even the latest High Voltage software.

MGS4 After Thoughts
I covered MGS4 quite extensively and through many articles I eventually articulated myself decently. The series is very grey in a world that only accepts black and white. It’s still a pity that people either evangelize or crucify the series.

How Does it Feel to Play a Video Game?
This article represents me finding my feet and summarising my feelings at the time to a tee. Reads poorly now. Second favourite.

Culture Bred Through Game Design
Up to this point I’d made a raw mess when discussing games and culture, this post is the first step in the right direction.

The Love of the Land – Zelda: Twilight Princess
I just love the eloquence of this piece. I hope to follow it up, but I’m bloody stuck again. Argh!

Marketing Stimuli, Previews and Chicken Feathers
This reads like a dog now, but it represented the raw state of mind I was living through at the time. Wrote this while in China, killing myself through meditative jolts of culture shock. I cringe to read it again, but easily my favourite article.

Quake and the Feeling of Nightmare
Nailed my new approach for the first time, rather pleased. Also feel like I represented the strengths of the game, particularly the way the assets take on new meaning in a modern context.

Yakuza 2: The Cultural Dynamite
Finally nailing this cultural thing. Still rather scratchy though.

Downloadable Drug
I like describing gameplay and game experiences, it doesn’t work with all games though, but it worked here.

Play Impressions (And the Rest #1)
There’s a lot of dribble regarding Flower out there, I bloody hate it.

Bookworm Adventures Deluxe – Linguistic Observations
Angled this one well, related to an academic discipline too, which always makes me appear cultured.

Hyper, Print Media and Tips for Survival
I have second thoughts about some of my points here, but still a strong article that drummed up some attention.

Metal Gear Solid Novelization Break down (Part #2 Tangible Differences)
Thinking outside the cube again. I need to submit this to a MGS fan site someday.

Tuition of Curves: WipEout HD
I failed to capture the feeling of playing this title due to my weak English skills. Very difficult to describe, feels deeply intimate and much like women – I hope I got that message across.

Opinion: The Place Of Games In Culture
Yeah, they posted it on Gamasutra, yikes! This post represents the footing that I can now step off from to talk about games and culture.

Classic NES review: Nintendo World Cup
I liked all the reviews I contributed to these guys, and hopefully I’ll do some more sometime. This one was probably the best.

Conclusion

So this is what happens when you become over accustomed to writing disrespectfully long articles. I ought to finish on a high note, so with that in mind, look for more content on the way, as per usual. I’m also writing for another source now, I just hope that I’ll be able to talk about it real soon. Sorry for making this so self-serving. Toot toot!

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Would You Believe?

April 30th, 2009

I’m sorely disappointed. I wanted to begin this post with a clip from Get Smart, with Max running through the “Would you believe?” gag. Oh well, this clip below is still pretty funny. Get Smart is an interesting case study into the way early TV portrays ethnic stereotypes. Sometimes it’s truly atrocious. >_<

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftgAG3Vnif8

As you know, I’m really interested in this games and culture topic, and although I’ve discussed the issue to good length a couple of times here already, I’ve been rather apprehensive towards tackling it head on. That’s fine though as I feel better equipped for the task now than I have in the past. So I wanted to fix this issue and began writing a series of posts on games and culture. By the time I finished my introductory piece I was pretty chuffed with the results; an extended essay that covered more or less the basic framework of my idea. Writing out my ideas in full made me realize the great injustice that is the lack of discussion on games + the culture, linguistics and anthropological realms. With a primer written up in solid english, I figured that I owed it to the disciplines to allow this topic to receive the attention it deserves and went to the only place that I figured would accept it; GameSetWatch. Turns out the Mr. Carless really liked my piece and offered me a biweekly column on the site.

I guess I have ample opportunity to discuss this issue now, right? You can read my article here:

Column: ‘Lingua Franca’ – The Place Of Games In Culture

The name lingua franca means the prime language adopted in a multilingual community. I hope to discuss not just culture, but the linguistics side of things too, in the column. Because after all language = culture. I’ll post links to any new external pieces here, as I always do. For now, I have to clear up some homework and then figure out how to overcome stage fright for the next column entry.

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