- Joined
- Dec 8, 2020
Imagine the reality where you are so hungry for any kind of clout or attention but you are so uninteresting you have to go the "Games (((Journalist)))" route for it
Games Journalism General
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Tanner Glass
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2016
"Video Games are Art except when the Art is an examination of what it means to struggle in the face of a difficult challenge - then it isn't Art and needs an easy mode."
Giantbomb is fucking dead, Jesus Christ. They're really just got bought vulture style to be a "brand" for a low cost/low maintenance podcast network - I cannot believe Jeff would ride the boat down to the bottom like this instead of leaving with Brad/Vinny/Alex. I went back a few pages to see who called it because someone exactly called.
They're just letting any SA Let's Player with ~10k subs and no traction just walk on the channel, it looks like the business model is going to target smaller content creators in a predatory manner.
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2017
This shit is the saddest part of it all. I thought Jeff would at least try to salvage it, but instead he's letting Bakalar become the new face of the company
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2019
The whole games are art argument is a road to ruin.
For games to be art as a valid argument, you need to have a low opinion of games to begin with. So you already prioritize other forms of media over games. And in essence wind up turning games into things that encompass everything but the strength of the media format.
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2021
This is pure desperation and the close but not quite end of Giant Bomb. I could not sit through Bakalar and Ryckerts video and just now got the gist of what they are doing...trying to make a series about how Dan does not understand things? Do they not realize these are just off the cuff conversations in a podcast and trying to force them now seems unnatural? And judging by the comments, people are not receptive to this at all. A lot of people find it annoying. I do not think this is Bakalar's fault. Somebody was tasked with with trying to expand Giant Bomb, and now we know who told Red Venture's "NO". Vinny, Brad, and Alex all probably knew this was an impossible task, and Bakalar, who probably needed to keep his job, said yes. Now he is throwing things against the wall, hoping something sticks, but I do not think anything is working. There is no way to see subs or views on Giant Bomb, so judging by the metrics on their youtube channel and comments, you can see that engagement has fallen off of a cliff. Just give it time, eventually Gerstmann and Bakalar will be cut loose, and it will be filled with a bunch of literal who's until the website gets the axe. This is pathetic.
I will not be surprised if we see Gerstmann as a new member of Nextlander by next year, along with a new patreon tier goal for exclusive Jeff content.
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2018
For me, the big concern now is archives. With the shift to YouTube, some of the old content is already "lost". There was a dedicated team called "Giant Bomb Unarchived" which saved as many livestreams and other media as they could.
As good as the "best of" compilations that litter YouTube are, most of GiantBomb's best doesn't work outside of the original context. It's like saving a comedy routine, but only saving the punchlines. I remember hearing at some point that GameSpot still has all or most of the golden age GameSpot content on a hard drive somewhere, it's just a hassle to make it work on modern systems.
Brad buying into coof fear mongering doesn't surprise me. Every few weeks Brad would talk about some article he read online about weird exotic animals or unusual diseases that can kill you in horrible ways.
As good as the "best of" compilations that litter YouTube are, most of GiantBomb's best doesn't work outside of the original context. It's like saving a comedy routine, but only saving the punchlines. I remember hearing at some point that GameSpot still has all or most of the golden age GameSpot content on a hard drive somewhere, it's just a hassle to make it work on modern systems.
Brad buying into coof fear mongering doesn't surprise me. Every few weeks Brad would talk about some article he read online about weird exotic animals or unusual diseases that can kill you in horrible ways.
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2019
Which is ironic because he was the first one to succumb to neo-liberalism.
The most deadly virus of all.
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2017
This is why so many games "journalists" are such assmad little pussies. They went into tens of thousands in college debt in hopes they would be raking in 50K a year and accolades, only to be beholden to shitty sites like Kotaku, Vice, and Buzzfeed that expect them to tow a political line lest the Twitter NPC crowd cancel them into oblivion.
Well Intentioned
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2018
So a World of Warcraft dev decides to take a potshot at Asmongold. Asmongold responds to it.
Kotaku writes an article framing it as Asmongold is 'taking aim' at the devs, doesn't cite the developer who started the fracas and makes a hilarious claim:
Good to know that publicly available information doesn't constitute doxing!
https://kotaku.com/the-world-of-war...keting&utm_campaign=dlvrit&utm_content=kotaku - Archive
Kotaku writes an article framing it as Asmongold is 'taking aim' at the devs, doesn't cite the developer who started the fracas and makes a hilarious claim:
Good to know that publicly available information doesn't constitute doxing!
https://kotaku.com/the-world-of-war...keting&utm_campaign=dlvrit&utm_content=kotaku - Archive
World of Warcraft has been bleeding players since the start of the year. Add to that the drama swirling around a big-time streamer and the general toxicity that festers in just about every online gaming community and you have a recipe for bad stuff to happen. Simply put: It’s tough to look at certain corners of WoW and not feel like Community’s Donald Glover carrying pizzas into a room that’s on fire.
Even before Activision Blizzard became the center of a California lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment and discrimination, the active player population of Blizzard’s flagship MMO had been falling year after year. A lot of players have been unhappy with recent expansions, and some have even tried to piggyback general complaints about the state of the game onto larger discussion of what’s wrong with Blizzard’s work culture.
The exodus appeared to fly into overdrive in early July, however, when the massively popular WoW streamer Asmongold decided to start streaming Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn instead. If community frustration over a lackluster Chains of Domination update and generous free trials for the competing MMO supplied the tinder, Asmongold was the match, and recently he and his fans have been taking direct aim at WoW’s developers.
It began when someone on the Asmongold subreddit posted an image of a WoW developer liking a tweet that suggested Asmongold himself was in part responsible for making the WoW community so “trash.” While some content creators foster a collaborative relationship with the developers who make the game they cover, Asmongold has a reputation for being combative and hyperbolic in his criticism of WoW. The streamer, who regularly tours the r/Asmongold subreddit in his streams, went on to lambast the lone WoW developer for insinuating he was a symbol of what was wrong with the community.
“I have to read this bullshit, right, I have to read this bullshit that gets the seal of approval from the people that work at the game, who make the game this way,” he said. “Before you call me toxic, deal with your own fucking game.”
Events only escalated from there. A bunch of other posts targeting the specific WoW developer started appearing on the subreddit, many of which have now been deleted by the moderators because of failing to remain civil or encouraging harassment. One person even sent the developer a message over LinkedIn telling him to “get fucked.” The developer screenshotted this, including his harasser’s LinkedIn name, job role, and city, and shared it on Twitter. Asmongold’s fans then accused the developer of doxxing, despite the fact that no private info had been released.
“The moderation team of /r/Asmongold is made up of volunteers that act independently and our actions and comments do not necessarily reflect those of Asmongold himself,” a Asmongold subreddit moderator told Kotaku in an email. “We do not condone any sort of harassment or brigading, no matter who it’s targeted towards.”
Today, Asmongold followed up on the controversy, writing on Twitter, “Recently more than ever I’ve been accused of harassment when I’ve had the audacity to defend myself and my community. The idea that I should allow myself to be attacked is driven by narcissism and entitlement. I don’t punch down, I don’t punch up, I punch back.”
You could try to disentangle potential legitimate grievances from the shitty mob dynamics. Asmongold infamously encouraged players to spit on those in-game who spent money on fancy mounts as an act of protest against WoW’s current updates and monetization model. Blizzard then removed the spitting emote from the game. At the same time, there’s clearly plenty of ambiently toxic behavior in the game that has nothing to do with Asmongold. Blizzard has historically been criticized for failing to aggressively moderate hateful speech in WoW and other games. It only began finally blocking some racial slurs altogether earlier this year.
But beyond the competing counter-claims of who’s more responsible for WoW’s toxicity problem, the fact that some players have taken to doubling down on harassing developers over the latest flashpoints is just further evidence of what a bad spot the game’s in at the moment. Blizzard recently set about purging in-game references to a past developer accused of sexual harassment as part of an ongoing effort to “re-build trust” in the wake of the California lawsuit. Even so, some fans and content creators are still debating boycotting the game and other Activision Blizzard products until the company agrees to employee demands for more equal and inclusive working conditions.
There’s clearly a lot of soul-searching going on in the larger WoW community, and this latest shitstorm will likely only add to it.
Even before Activision Blizzard became the center of a California lawsuit alleging widespread sexual harassment and discrimination, the active player population of Blizzard’s flagship MMO had been falling year after year. A lot of players have been unhappy with recent expansions, and some have even tried to piggyback general complaints about the state of the game onto larger discussion of what’s wrong with Blizzard’s work culture.
The exodus appeared to fly into overdrive in early July, however, when the massively popular WoW streamer Asmongold decided to start streaming Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn instead. If community frustration over a lackluster Chains of Domination update and generous free trials for the competing MMO supplied the tinder, Asmongold was the match, and recently he and his fans have been taking direct aim at WoW’s developers.
It began when someone on the Asmongold subreddit posted an image of a WoW developer liking a tweet that suggested Asmongold himself was in part responsible for making the WoW community so “trash.” While some content creators foster a collaborative relationship with the developers who make the game they cover, Asmongold has a reputation for being combative and hyperbolic in his criticism of WoW. The streamer, who regularly tours the r/Asmongold subreddit in his streams, went on to lambast the lone WoW developer for insinuating he was a symbol of what was wrong with the community.
“I have to read this bullshit, right, I have to read this bullshit that gets the seal of approval from the people that work at the game, who make the game this way,” he said. “Before you call me toxic, deal with your own fucking game.”
Events only escalated from there. A bunch of other posts targeting the specific WoW developer started appearing on the subreddit, many of which have now been deleted by the moderators because of failing to remain civil or encouraging harassment. One person even sent the developer a message over LinkedIn telling him to “get fucked.” The developer screenshotted this, including his harasser’s LinkedIn name, job role, and city, and shared it on Twitter. Asmongold’s fans then accused the developer of doxxing, despite the fact that no private info had been released.
“The moderation team of /r/Asmongold is made up of volunteers that act independently and our actions and comments do not necessarily reflect those of Asmongold himself,” a Asmongold subreddit moderator told Kotaku in an email. “We do not condone any sort of harassment or brigading, no matter who it’s targeted towards.”
Today, Asmongold followed up on the controversy, writing on Twitter, “Recently more than ever I’ve been accused of harassment when I’ve had the audacity to defend myself and my community. The idea that I should allow myself to be attacked is driven by narcissism and entitlement. I don’t punch down, I don’t punch up, I punch back.”
You could try to disentangle potential legitimate grievances from the shitty mob dynamics. Asmongold infamously encouraged players to spit on those in-game who spent money on fancy mounts as an act of protest against WoW’s current updates and monetization model. Blizzard then removed the spitting emote from the game. At the same time, there’s clearly plenty of ambiently toxic behavior in the game that has nothing to do with Asmongold. Blizzard has historically been criticized for failing to aggressively moderate hateful speech in WoW and other games. It only began finally blocking some racial slurs altogether earlier this year.
But beyond the competing counter-claims of who’s more responsible for WoW’s toxicity problem, the fact that some players have taken to doubling down on harassing developers over the latest flashpoints is just further evidence of what a bad spot the game’s in at the moment. Blizzard recently set about purging in-game references to a past developer accused of sexual harassment as part of an ongoing effort to “re-build trust” in the wake of the California lawsuit. Even so, some fans and content creators are still debating boycotting the game and other Activision Blizzard products until the company agrees to employee demands for more equal and inclusive working conditions.
There’s clearly a lot of soul-searching going on in the larger WoW community, and this latest shitstorm will likely only add to it.
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2019
Asmongold is right though, people are leaving the game because they fucked it and they're generally unhappy.
If this is coming from people who played your product for years, maybe spend some actual time rethinking mechanics that you've implemented. An MMO is not set in stone and bad decisions can be patched out.
The toxicity has like existed since day 1 for WoW that's literally baked in at this point. But the core gameplay for WoW was tolerable which kept everything in check. But that's gone at this point replaced by endless grinds and other half brained bullshit.
The game isn't about adventuring or exploration anymore, it's about being shoved into the raid conveyer belt and the game not making it's main endpoint worth it enough to do the content.
A major point about having a huge ass open world is to make it worth exploring. But quest design is in the shitter replaced with gimmick bullshit story phases. No fun solo bosses to fight, 5 mans are ass. So it's literally just Raiding if you want anything interesting.
Honestly they need to readjust, and probably rebalance the whole game which removes the DPS, tank, healer trinity and make it be that any 5 players can group up and also remove timer cooldowns for raids. That would lower the bar for downtime by a major extent and people can just casually do stuff with multiple people. If the main focus is now 100% raiding don't put arbitrary timers on it.
That would be a way to compete with FF14 by opening up stuff mechanically.
Tanner Glass
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2016
The main issue, is, that core design team is actually not very good and (IMO) never has been.
WoW/Blizzard has heavily committed to several, unreversable/unpatchable design decisions. They're well past the point of this problem being something they can "patch out". Even if they could, to Asmon's point - there's no one left at Blizzard that's capable of making something good.
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2019
Yeah in their current shape you're absolutely right.
But if they ever wanted to actually rescue the game and clean house that's what they would kind of need to do. Something similar to what FF14 did to save itself after it's first version failed.
I don't think the patches are unreversable, it's just that they would be a pain in the ass to reverse. The Private server community is huge and has reverted the game back to many points.
Well Intentioned
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2018
Yeah. Asmongold's opinions shouldn't be discounted because he isn't an asskiss like Taliesin or devs don't like his personality. For better or for worse, he has a large fanbase and that's representative of your customers.
Kotaku needed to do a better job of explaining the issue. That Retail WoW has been a mess for several expansions now, that there are serious design issues and there are a vast number of subscribers who are unhappy. Instead, it's framed as "Asmongold streamed a rival game and he's shitting on the devs undeservedly."
A dust up between a major streamer and a game dev is something that's noteworthy. Fully explore the story, rather than using it to ingratiate yourself to the devs/company and cranking out this garbage.
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2017
Git gud
So if Journalist Mode makes it so people with actual skills can enjoy the game on real modes that's fine. We can just laugh at the people who turn on invincibility and other easy modo options on their first playthrough
But there is a totally free alternative out there that lets you enjoy the scenery and cutscenes without hurtywurtying your wil' thummywummies. It's called watching videos of other people playing.
Tanner Glass
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2016
It's not that patches are the issue, it's the game itself is basically destroyed. I would maintain that it was never finished, but some examples.
Some examples of design decisions they've heavily invested in and realistically will not move away from.
1) Horde Vs Alliance - Arguably the "core" design of the game.
- Separates all communities, servers, battlegroups in halves that cannot co-operatively play with one another.
- Huge amounts of story/lore that you will never encounter because it's "faction only". The horde are much more involved with the "main" story at all times (Thrall, Garrosh, Sylvannis).
- Faction imbalance is massive and always has been. Of the 61 current "World Best Raiding Guilds" that finished the new raid on Mythic - 4 of them are Alliance and 57 of them are Horde. Alliance only make up roughly 30% of the "top PVP" players in Arena.
- Blizzard offers no incentive to balance the factions and instead sells a faction transfer - letting it get worse instead of better.
2) Class and Specializations - another "core" design
- Some classes are restricted to certain races. This was incredibly sloppy when the game released (9 classes, 8 races) but now is a fucking nightmare with 12 classes, 14 "core" races and 10 "allied" races.
- Compiled on top of this are racial abilities and even some racial spells - meaning that some race/class combinations are just better than others.
- Class balance and design are frequently dogshit and clearly weren't fully thought out at any point in the game. Any melee spec that dual wielded spent a full decade being dogshit until they got enough +Hit Rating gear. Ret Paladins and Hunters get completely reworked every expansion or so. In the most recent "World First" race, of the 100 players who took the top 5 spots - only 2 were Rogues.
- Specializations are supposed to be different ways to play a class but this was never fully realized. It works for classes who can fill different roles (ex - Druid, Paladin, Monk, etc) but only if the class is currently "good enough" to do it. For a class that has 3 DPS specs - they never feel very different.
3) Community Building - the "heart" of the game
- Horde/Alliance splits all communities in half as a core design philosophy.
- Blizzard has intentionally removed "servers" as the hearts of their MMO communities through sharding, phasing, battlegroups, LFGroup, LFRaid, and so on.
- Blizzard has done this further by having faction change, server transfers, name changes as paid optional services. This makes it substantially easier for people to not engage with their communities.
- Blizzard has intentionally designed crafting to be sub-standard and there isn't a meaningful player economy to speak of. As a Warrior, there's never a reason to make friends with an Armor/Blacksmith because they can rarely, if ever, help you do anything. Any crafting that's worthwhile is tied to raiding 100%.
- Blizzard has also completely destroyed the economy in both Retail and Classic by allowing rampant Real Money Trading to take place. In Retail this goes a step further by being officially sanctioned by Blizzard via the WoW token.
You could probably make a hundred of those points - I literally cannot think of a single thing that you could reasonably salvage from current WoW - they've done such a bad job for such a long time it's virtually unfixable without just literally deleting everything (a Realm Reborn style) but that's not an option because WoW has characters that have existed for 16+ years. Blizzard has demonstrated that they have extreme difficulty actually creating new games and WoW2 would likely take the team 10+ years at the current rate.
Activision/Blizzard are likely paying extremely well for positive stories - given how much shit they've been eating in the press.
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2019
That's kind of a big issue because games shouldn't be passive like that. And the people who do shit like that want that to be the default or base line.
All these genres that remove interactivity where it just becomes press X to watch just destroy what made games well... games. There's no strategy no exploration, nothing that encourages experimentation with the systems in the game itself.
Well Intentioned
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2018
I'm skeptical they're paying for shit. There's full mention of the lawsuit/scandals.
This is just more of the adversarial role Kotaku and similar sites have with "gamers." Asmongold is like the prototypical example of the kind of people Kotaku holds a great deal of disdain for.
Tanner Glass
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2016
Games Journalism, at it's very heart, is about taking dirty money from companies and making good PR/advertising disguised as unbiased articles.
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2020
Don't forget Brolylegs - he plays with his face, because he can't use his arms, or his legs, and yet, he's one of the best Street Fighter players around. If a man who literally has to play with his face can become a professional Street Fighter player, what's these game journos' excuse? GIT. FUCKING. GOOD.
Well Intentioned
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2018
100% agree. The majority of games journalism is fluff and advertising.
But companies generally don't have to straight up pay for an article. Simple shit like early access, review copies or merchandise is usually enough to entice these retards. They don't really need to play 'extremely' well because they're already doing what they want. Plus, these same morons are inclined to treat companies with kid gloves because they don't want to anger them and risk losing access.
Dangle a beta key in front of them and watch as they piss their pants in anxiety over whether they should say something 'bad.' I bet that the author agonized over whether or not to include the lawsuit information in the first place, arguing relevancy and that it might take focus away from shitting on his intended target.