Culture of Hate

The media probably tops the list of things gamers love to hate. We know, we suck. We don't know what we're talking about. We're somehow biased toward every publisher and console at once. Our scores are wrong, our opinions are wrong, yeah, we know. And don't think we don't complain about gaming media as much as you. We probably complain more.

Gamers hate the media because of the proliferation of marketing and advertorial content, poor quality original editorial, and outright jealousy at journalists' privileged (and undeserved) access to new games. Game journalists are routinely accused of being on the take, and it is a commonly held misconception that review scores can be bought by pumping sufficient ad dollars into a media outlet. The proliferation of blogs, forums, and web video have given voice to that mistrust, whether founded or not. While the application of the term "journalism" to what we do is eminently debatable, there are professional standards that many of us strive to live by. Incidentally, these standards don't apply to bloggers or forumites, who have no qualms about picking up unsubstantiated rumors and parroting them as fact into the echo chamber of the interweb.

That is not to say that the games press is blameless. But what goes on behind the scenes is rarely if ever as sinister as people would like to believe. One forum poster actually asserted that it's a known fact that GamesRadar is owned by Microsoft, thereby providing clear evidence of why we hate Sony so much (for the record we're owned by Future and we don't hate Sony). The poster was apparently confused about GamesRadar stories appearing in MSN UK's game channel through a content licensing deal, and immediately leapt to the conclusion that we're owned by Microsoft and therefore completely biased. Relentless and shameless marketing has led to a baseline level of mistrust between gamers and journalists.

That is not to say that the games press is blameless. But what goes on behind the scenes is rarely if ever as sinister as people would like to believe. One forum poster actually asserted that it's a known fact that GamesRadar is owned by Microsoft, thereby providing clear evidence of why we hate Sony so much (for the record we're owned byFutureand we don't hate Sony). The poster was apparently confused about GamesRadar stories appearing in MSN UK's game channel through a content licensing deal, and immediately leapt to the conclusion that we're owned by Microsoft and therefore completely biased. Relentless and shameless marketing has led to a baseline level of mistrust between gamers and journalists.