Why video gaming can’t be positive
Now I’m sure many of you have seen this site (and sites like it) and thought that the stuff we write is just negative. Now I was reading an interview on GamesRadar with Jeff Gerstmann talking about his new site, GiantBomb.com. In the interview he discussed how GiantBomb will bring the positivity back to gaming and that it will be a site for people who just like to play games. Now as much as I like to play games, I disagree that gaming journalism should all be positive. As with anything there is good news, and bad news and unfortunately the bad news is just as important.
There are many sites online that are not positive about video games. Take any review site for example. Do they just give good scores? Of course not, and that’s because there are bad games that deserve those scores. Likewise there is good news and bad news. Do news programs only report happy, positive events? Nope, because, again, bad things happen. Anyway I was therefore surprised when I read this interview and saw Jeff wants GiantBomb to be about:
‘The big thing with Giant Bomb is that we want to bring the fun back to videogames on the Internet, you know? We want to get away from all the negativity and all this other stuff and really focus on what matters, and that’s the games themselves, the people that make them, the people that play them, and that’s what we’re going for this Summer.’
I can understand what Jeff wants. Many blogs make fun of video games, and everyday forums rage with arguments over formats, consoles and games. Jeff obviously wants to get rid of the hate, and bring a bit of positivity back into gaming. It’s a great idea. I’d love it if the only games released were fantastic, there were no delays and there was never anything bad in the gaming industry, but unfortunately that’s not the case.
This is recognised by N4G on their posting guidelines:
‘Even though negative news about a console can make the fans angry, it is still news and should be posted as any other story.’
So while a site could report good news only, and just review good games, they would be deluding themselves and their readers. Bad stuff happens and it’s just as important.
Sources: GamesRadar, N4G
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April 21st, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Gerstmann? Positive? The guy that was know for always being negative in all his reviews? Enough with the April Fools jokes already.