Video Game Journalism

Panelists

Quinn Wageman, Account Executive, TriplePoint PR (Moderator)
Andrew Yoon, PlayStation Lead, joystiq
Julianne Greer, Content Manager, Themis Media
Hal Halpin, ECA Matthew Hawkins, freelance writer

The video game journalism session was moderated by a PR guy, in an ironic twist given the tensions many gamers perceive between editorial freedoms and publisher PR wanting media outlets to stay “on message.” Quinn Wageman began by asking all the panelists to introduce themselves, and then share their paths into game journalism. Educational backgrounds and precise paths varied wildly, but the constant element was a passion for games and actively writing. Julianne Greer, for instance, found herself writing a lot of training materials and coupled that with her love of games, ending up at the Escapist publisher.

Andrew Yoon, on the other hand, wrote a blog and commented frequently and articulately on forums. Seeing an advertised opening at joystiq, he applied and waited. He said it took so long for them to get back to him that when he finally got an IM to the effect of, “Hey, so… you wanna work for us?” his first reaction was “Who are you?!” He stressed that patience is key while trying to break in, and that it is imperative to just keep writing.

Asked what they enjoyed most about their jobs, all panelists agreed that it was interacting with everyone else who shares their passion for games, from the developers to the gamers and readers of the content they produce. Asked what they enjoy least, Hal Halpin put it succinctly as “People who have no passion for games, and can’t understand our passion.” Halpin’s work at the ECA, which includes running the GamePolitics.com and GameCulture.com blogs, involves interacting with law and policy makers, and he described the hostility that some of them respond with as draining. “Not to mention [the infamous] Jack Thompson,” a comment which drew chuckles.

During the Q&A session, an audience member asked what the panelists felt the prognosis for game journalism in print was, in the era of the internet, and how to elevate game journalism beyond being a PR outlet to dealing with larger issues about gaming as part of life and culture. Julianne Greer felt that “the economics of print are just not there. The stories that need to be told, the ones that people feel won’t work online because the audience doesn’t have the attention span, will emerge over time as the audience continues to mature.” In her experience publishing The Escapist, she said, Themis was finding that lengthy, genuine criticism was working online.

Matthew Hawkins pointed out that costs continue to rise for print while circulations continue to decline. “The writers I’ve spoken to at Kotaku and other online outlets mostly don’t want to write the stuff they write. They want to do the big exploratory pieces and talk about the culture of playing games, but the mainstream is mostly interested in a number or letter review and what’s coming out.”

Andrew Yoon defended print. “I want to believe in print because I like the physical medium.” However even he admitted that the outlook was bleak.

Hal Halpin spoke solely to the level of criticism, pointing to the ECA’s GameCulture.com and stating that it was started to reflect the social, cultural and lifestyle issues around games and gamers.

Almost at the end of the session an audience member raised the termination of Jeff Gerstmann at GameSpot, and all the panelists agreed that there needs to be a careful separation of editorial and marketing interests. At the same time, they argued for boldness in writing based on a firm conviction in the merit of the things they write. Speaking of joystiq, Andrew Yoon revealed that they had been blacklisted by a publisher because of an unflattering piece they published about an upcoming game.

Ultimately, however, all agreed that delving into the intricacies of the Gerstmann affair would be an entire session unto itself, and better addressed some other time.

Session coverage by Oluseyi Sonaiya

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