UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VIDEO GAME DEVELOPERS AND
THE VIDEO GAME ENTHUSIAST PRESS
by
ROBERT MARK FURRY
A major project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS in PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION
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Abstract
Herein I use Grounded Theory to examine current state of video game journalism,
using examples pulled from publicly accessible information posted by the journalists
themselves, and recent works done on video games, new media, and television. I have
found video game journalism to be both beholden and infatuated with the video game
industry, a nepotistic and dependant niche of journalism. The market for both video
games and video game journalism is seen to be growing, but its value as an artistic form
is not.
The current state of video game journalism demonstrates inadequate coverage for
games and gamers outside a certain niche. However, many parallels can be drawn to early years of television, in both the industry and academia. This has lead me to the hope that while there are difficulties in studying the medium now, the understanding and acceptance of ludology and video games will only improve with time. Video Game Press iii
Acknowledgements
I would first like to thank those who were kind enough to speak with me in the course of this endeavour. Other journalists and developers I would like to express my gratitude to are those who go beyond just their duties to produce text and games to opine on the nature of the industry itself. Without these two groups I could not have written this paper.
My classmates also writing their major projects also formed a great support, together we all managed to overcome our individual challenges. My parents for their helpful comments when I looked lost and for letting me be when I was head-down and rushing along. Video Game Press iv
Table of Contents
Abstract ii
Acknowledgements iii
Table of Contents iv
Introduction 1
Literature Review 3
Method and Limitations 6
Findings 10
Nepotism 10
Art and Money 14
Invisible Gamers 18
Discussion 28
Conclusion 37
References 39
Appendix i 43 Video Game Press 1
Introduction
Video games as an entertainment medium are growing at a pace that can spark jealousy from more traditional forms of entertainment. Some of those from those other
industries are embracing video games as a means to expand upon their own media
presence, witness Steven Spielberg's foray into 'directing' games and Aerosmith, among
others, encouraging the expansion of music games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
As its own entertainment medium games have their own media, however, upon any look,
cursory or in depth, this journalistic niche is nothing like those for movies or music; there
are no Roger Eberts or Lester Bangs commenting on this new media. Video games are an
entertainment medium born in an era of publicists and media strategies, and as such has a whole new form of relationship between journalists and developers.
The journalists covering this medium are more involved in them than perhaps any have been since the emergence of film or television. The generation of journalists has grown up with games and has had an enthusiasm for them for a long enough time that they hold that their jobs of "playing games all day', despite deadlines and pressure, is one of the best jobs they could possibly have. However, these media outlets are subject to endemic advertising, which has the possibility of leading to issues between an outlet's editorial and sales staff. Furthermore, due to the managed nature of a game's publicity before release, media outlets face pressure from developers to post positive scores on preview and review scores on key games as to not upset the company, which is their only source for games from that publisher.
The journalists involved in this niche themselves will often debate their own role and the perception of the industry as a whole. I will start with their own picture of Video Game Press 2 themselves, and together with some pre-existing work on video games and new media.
Using their publicly accessible debates, I have compiled, coded, and analyzed using grounded theory, the nature of the video game press. With that analysis I will discuss how it is that the journalist/develop dynamic works and the mutual goals that they have.
To meet those goals I discuss the barriers they face; nepotism, questions of artistic integrity, and a focus that ignores many of the people who could also be called gamers. Video Game Press 3
Literature Review
The academic study of games reached the popular digital press in the August
2006 issue of Wired magazine. "Ludology: n. The academic study of videogames. Taking
its name from the Latin word for game, and deriving techniques from literary and film
theory, ludology analyzes Ever quest as art and Grand Theft Auto as cultural artefact"
(Keats, 2006). With that entry a broader audience became aware that academics were in
fact studying games, but what this did not do was tell us how they were being studied and
what understandings were being developed.
Ludology is an emergent and interdisciplinary field. The study of games can be
seen from a meeting of computer science and film studies, such as The Language of New
Media (Manovich, 2002), or an economic viewpoint can be used to understand why
people spend money on videogames and how they are valued, and the field of psychology
seeks to understand the effect of games on players. Those fields, along with sociology, business studies, and communications can also be combined, such as the case for Digital
Play (Kline, Dyer-Witheford, & De Peuter, 2003) although that book takes a more
Marxist approach to the nature of video game developers than I will take here.
Perhaps with so many fields contributing to our understanding of videogames, ludology becomes a term too broad or diffuse to be used. Certainly amongst ludologists there are factions. Summarizing what he sees as a trend, Juul writes, "The new conflict in video game studies is between those who study players and those who study games"
(2008). Here I am studying neither the players nor the games, but how those who make and write about them interact and affect games and gamers. The writings of ludologists are then useful for background understanding of the themes of games, but are not core to Video Game Press 4
my work. Similarly, my work may help them develop better understanding of the period
between a game being made and being played, but will not be applicable to all of their
work.
Already mentioned is The Language of New Media (2002), a book where the
author Manovich uses video games as an example of his broader concepts on electronic
or digital media. The value of his book is the conceptualization of electronic media of
having distinct parts, which are both visible to the viewer or player, and invisible working
behind the scenes to generate those very images. This separation between the visual and
narrative elements and the ludic ones is a theme that is repeated elsewhere in literature.
Unit Operations (Bogost, 2006) is another work that seeks to develop a new
method of understanding and critiquing media. "I will suggest that any medium ... can
be read as a configurative system, an arrangement of discrete, interlocking units of
expressive meaning. I call these general instances of procedural expression, unit
operations" (Bogost, 2006, p ix).
From just these two examples the different approaches to the understanding of video games can be seen. One method is to place the component parts of these deconstructions into pre-existing theories so that the authors can synthesize a theory on video games' role in our lives. The other is to take the analytical method developed for videogames and apply it to a broader spectrum of art and entertainment.
Other research into video games places more importance on the business of games. These studies understand the commercial reality of games which is that nearly every video game consumed by the public has been made by those looking to make a profit. The seemingly intractable and occasionally contradictory balance of art and Video Game Press 5 consumerism is a matter of debate for me, my interviewees, and for the journalists themselves. An example of this kind of writing is in Digital Play (Kline et al., 2003) where the authors understand that the way that videogames as cultural artefacts are presented to consumers is vital to understanding them.
I have chosen a specific link in the culture of games and gamers, described by those I have mentioned above, to explore. In order to do this, I have relied on Grounded
Theory. I started with Constructing Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2006) to develop a path for how I would approach my work. In the latter stages of writing I turned to a volume edited by Byrant and Charmaz, The Sage Handbook of Grounded Theory (2007), to further refine my understanding of the process I have undertaken to develop conclusions from the data. Video Game Press 6
Method and Limitations
Data for this project were collected through two audio sources; a phone interview,
and podcasts involving members of the press. During some of these podcasts developers
were also present providing a chance to view multiple perspectives at once. Textual
sources included the major online video games media outlets, along with blogs belonging
to members of that press and other contributors.
Podcasts were selected based on their attendance, meaning I was more likely to
listen to one involving a developer. Also the real world circumstances around their
recording time affected if I were to listen to them. As an example, podcasts from the
weeks of major conferences, or recording around the time of an event in the industry,
such as the firing of Jeff Gerstmann from Gamespot or the release and subsequent
questioning of reviews of Halo 3 or Grand Theft Auto 4 are more likely to be cited here than those from quieter news periods of the industry.
Interviews were requested through email and phone calls to organizations.
Unfortunately I received very few replies to these requests. Examining the question of why I could not break through and reach more individuals on the journalist/developer relationship yields uncertain answers. The first answer is something a receptionist stated to me during a phone call, "We are too busy to be involved in anything like that"
(Personal Communication, 2008). Other possibilities include secrecy. Non-disclosure agreements are a standard practice for the industry, and it is possible that within that realm, even the promise of confidentiality was insufficient for public relations departments to authorize interviews. The consent form used as for participation in my research is attached to this paper as Appendix i Video Game Press 7
Ultimately I was only able to conduct one interview which was done over the
phone with the sole journalist interested in speaking with me on the subject of the
videogame press and developer relationship. One is obviously a number significantly
lower than I had hoped and anticipated. Possible reasons for this will be discussed later in
the paper. The interview was open, with my intent being to allow the interviewee as
much time as possible to speak their opinions on the topic. Upon an opportunity to do so,
the interviewee was encouraged to continue to move along one of the primary themes of
this paper, nepotism, the art and commercialism debate, and the scope of journalistic
niche.
The interview was conducted with the promise of confidentiality, and with this
promise direct quotations from the interviewee will be used very sparingly as within the
relatively small group of games journalists it may be possible to identify someone based
on one or two opinions if they are not part of an overall consensus.
Insofar as my original intention was to have almost exclusively human data
sources through interviews, I proceeded through the ethical review process of Royal
Roads University. This process took place from November 2007 through until I was granted clearance for interviews in January 2008. The interviewee agreed to the interview and provided the consent form within the rules and regulations of Royal Roads
University.
In constructing a grounded theory there is a question as to how much data is sufficient. Stern addresses this and suggests 20 to 30 hours of interviews or observation
(2007, p 117). Here I have not managed 20 hours of interviews, but combining the hours of interviews with podcasts I have listened to, I have exceeded 30 hours. Furthermore, I Video Game Press 8
have also collected a number of blog posts, reviews, and magazine articles as non-verbal
data. While my data-set is not the ideal I set out to have, it is sufficient for the creation of
a grounded theory.
My sources are also exclusively English speaking, and predominately American.
This is not indicative of the entirety of video gaming worldwide. Asia and Europe are
each markets that are as large or are larger than the United States in terms of money spent
on games. While there are similarities between American and European outlets, Asia, and
specifically Japan, has a different outlook on the developer/journalist relationship. My
interviewee noted an example of Japanese developers requesting questions in advance of
an interview. Due to my limitations to a mostly North American press, the global nature
of video games is not entirely explored here.
Given the sources I was using there seemed to be little use in fully transcribing
and coding data sources such as podcasts. There is much of what Stern refers to as filler
(2007), in that there are tangential conversations in the podcasts covering topics such as
flavours of Mountain Dew, varieties of scotch, beer, and the reaction of the journalists' wives and families to what they do. These conversations being irrelevant towards my research purpose, I did not invest the time to transcribe and code them.
My observations were to instead listen to the podcasts multiple times, making notes of conversation topics, and the time of different statements so that I may quote them later. Unlike other observational data, I was fortunate to have the ability to pause, rewind, and review my data instantaneously. This was quite obviously very useful for the initial coding process and for memo-writing. Video Game Press 9
I use the words coding and memos in their contexts of grounded theory. I used both direct quotes and abstractions from articles and podcasts as codes. These were sorted into memos, the broader thoughts and themes that held together all of the different codes.
They were selected based upon their presence across sources. Many of my sources are recorded on the same day or sufficiently close together that the codes that appeared in more than one source were likely candidates for expansion. Memos were written and sorted using a combination of Microsoft Word and OneNote. An advantage to sorting the codes written into different Word documents into OneNote is that the latter program note and tags where an item was copied from, allowing me to track how some of the ideas and concepts were formed. This process ensured I could easily tell what came from which source and kept the dining room table clutter free. Ultimately the memos formed under three broad categories which I outline below. Video Game Press 10
Findings
While coding my data, I found three major themes: the nepotistic nature of the
journalist/developer relationship, the questioning of video games as an art or commercial
industry, and the stratification of games and gamers. In this last portion I focused on the
mass untouched by the gaming press, the so-called casual game market. The first and
third are serious concerns for the legitimacy of the press, the second is a question that
involves not just the press but also society and the medium itself. I have titled these three
categories as Nepotism, Art and Money, and Invisible Gamers.
Nepotism
Video games journalism is described as enthusiast as that is the group that it arose
from. Traditional media outlets were not providing enough information to the public
about video games, and so the fans stood up and created new journalistic outlets.
However, to fund these they could not tap the advertising budget of companies not
involved in video games. This forced them to seek advertising dollars from the
companies that made video games. This endemic advertising is something that is a
burden on the journalists themselves, many of whom would prefer to have non-game
related advertising in their magazine so that they would not have to worry about this
possible ethical quagmire.
One of the issues facing the journalists is how they react to games that are part of
a series that they enjoy. Of the top 100 selling games in the recent year sixty-three of them, and nine of the top ten, were sequels ("Top 100", 2008). This results in a dilemma
for review editors, as they must weigh the potential reviewers' preferences for previous titles in a series in deciding who should review what game. Game developers are also Video Game Press 11
aware of these tendencies and their publicists try to push to have certain people review a
game in the hope that their requested reviewer will give the game a higher score.
This practice by publicists to encourage specific staff members to write a review
has another side, this is that games that are sequels or are otherwise linked to previous
titles have expectations associated with them. During their podcast of February 21st, 2008 the cast of lup Yours stated that they have lower expectations for games that are based on
new intellectual property than sequels (Pfister, 2008a). These expectations, or lack thereof, are due to there not being previous entries in the series for the game to be judged against, it only has to compete against other titles in the same genre. Similarly games that have been shown to the public less often, or in a shorter time frame, appear to be less likely to have such lofty expectations from the enthusiast press.
The term used to describe those who have a seemingly unwavering appreciation for certain games or companies is fanboy. Fanboy is generally used as a pejorative, and makes a difference from being a fan or aficionado by implying a blind loyalty. Thus it should be seen as a condemnation of the enthusiast press when Zack Hiwiller stated, in reaction to comments on Grand Theft Auto 4, "GTA4 is better than anything I've been allowed to put out there and more of a rag on the Fanboy Media for failing to challenge us developers" (Hiwiller, 2008). This conjures up the idea that the developers, as they are looked up to by the journalists as bringing forth that which they love, are not respected as they can fail to have a sceptical eye for games and are too eager to laud a title as the turning point for the medium as an art.
This view of press as a tool is furthered by a blog post by N'Gai Croal of
Newsweek. He relates a story where he spoke with a publicist about what seemed to be Video Game Press 12
routinely poor reviews of the games published by the publisher's employer. After this the
company pulled its advertising from the offending enthusiast press outlet, and within 6
months the editorial tone in that publication regarding that company's games had shifted
from usually negative to positive (2007). The trigger for the company doing this was
recognizing that the enthusiast press outlet in question was regularly scoring their games
lower than other outlets, and generally being more negative than their competitors.
"[T]he matter-of-fact way in which the publicist shared the details of their [sic] company's scorched earth retaliation led us to presume that this was considered an acceptable way to deal with the specialist press, in a way it would not be with the mainstream media." (ibid)
There are occasions where journalists strike back at publicists. During his tenure
at lup, Luke Smith routinely exposed to the public the nature of his difficulties with
publicists for developers through blog posts and his comments on podcasts, as News
Editor for lup.com. Most notably is expectation of Square-Enix to have plot details of a
game remain under embargo so that the North American press could not speak of them
despite the fact that the game had been released in Japan and where there were videos available of gameplay (Smith, 2006). This would appear that the developers may see the press as extensions of a publicity strategy rather than legitimate news sources with independent means.
Another example of tension between the video game press and developers is an incident between Sony and the blog Kotaku. Kotaku successfully developed a story on a product in development at Sony. They informed Sony of the impending story and requested a comment on it. In response Sony informed them that if they published that story Kotaku would no longer have access to Sony's developers or events. Kotaku published the story and received an email from Sony's head of PR stating that they were Video Game Press 13
no longer welcome. After the outcry that ensued from Kotaku publishing that email, the
two reconciled (Crecente, 2007). The product in question was announced less than a
week after but as of June 2008 it has not been released to the public (Purchase, 2007).
Not all of these disagreements have happy endings for both sides. Assassin's
Creed was a game that was being heavily hyped by Ubisoft. It featured a premise of
playing as an assassin in the Middle East during the middle ages. Beyond that, the details
were very sparse, information that did surface came from people who did voice acting for
the game slipping details (Haynes, 2006). The previews of the game were tightly
controlled by Ubisoft. One of the more negative previews was from lup.com and EGM.
Subsequently the developer, Ubisoft, pressured them regarding this preview. The
difference in opinions of lup versus many other popular sites led lup to not publish their
review of the game. This did not spare them Ubisoft's wrath, for they were subsequently
banned from Ubisoft's early access events.
The latest trigger for the self-examination was the firing of Gerstmann, a long time editor, from Gamespot. The precise circumstances are not publically known, as
CNet, the corporate entity owning Gamespot, refuses to comment, Gerstmann says he cannot comment because of a binding legal contract. The speculation for the firing revolves around a negative review for Kane & Lynch: Dead Men a game which was heavily advertised on the Gamespot website. This was the catalyst for items such as the previously mentioned article by N'Gai Croal, which spurred further debate on the matter of the video games journalist's relationship with the developers.
An interviewee stated, "I think publicists are misunderstood by everyone." Going on to explain how they were misunderstood and by whom they said that publicists are, Video Game Press 14
"Misunderstood by marketing departments who think that publicists can tell a reviewer
how to score a game." This myth that publicists can control how games are scored
sparked Dennis Dyack's comment, "I'm worried about the effects of marketing and PR
on the actual legitimacy of the industry" (Pfister, 2008a). The legitimacy that Dyack and
others seem to seek is an artistic one, whereby videogames can be accepted culturally as
being as artistic as other entertainment mediums, most notably film, rather than
something that is largely controlled by corporate interests and messaging.
Art and Money
"For a medium that commands the world's largest audience, there has been
surprisingly very little written about video games when it comes to its art and design"
(Kelman, 2005). This statement, prominent on the back cover of Video Game Art
(Kelman, 2005) is a definite truism in the academic sphere. However, art, or at least the visual quality of video games, are frequently at the forefront of conversations amongst the video game press.
The value of artistic expression in video games is something that is more vocally underappreciated than other mediums. Take as an example the statement that "video games have not had its Citizen Kane yet, Bioshock reaches for it but does not succeed"
(Hocking, 2007). This statement strikes as a rebuttal to some of the praise for the game
Bioshock received, such as the claim that, "By the time it ends, you'll likely feel quite different about how you interact with games, and more importantly, how they interact with you" (Pfister, 2007b).The acclaim the title received largely revolved around this thought, that the game had redefined how games could interact with players, but says nothing about its artistic merit. Video Game Press 15
To use terminology from Bogost (2006) all of Citizen Kane's units weave
together simply into its greater whole. Bioshock also has units, ludic, audio-visual, and
narrative, but they supposedly do not resonate as well as a coherent whole, leading to
Hocking's description of it suffering from ludonarrative dissonance. However, Bioshock
has a Metacritic score of 96 out of a possible 100 or universal acclaim ("Bioschock
reviews", 2007), and sold more than 1.7 million copies making it the 29th best selling
game for the March 31 2007 to March 31 2008 time period ("Top 100", 2008).
The details of Bioshock''s retail success is indicative of the lucrative nature of the
video games industry in terms of the money that the public spends purchasing them. In
terms of entertainment dollars video games now rival both movies and music (Anderson,
2007). Given rising development costs, the business side of games is increasingly
important. A developer cannot create a game with the level of detail and features
expected of top tier titles without a large development cost incurred before receiving any
money for the game. They will also need to advertise the game to recoup that expense,
the supposed $100 million cost of Grand Theft Auto 4 being a prime example (Bowditch,
2008). This means that games must be successful, making developers more risk-averse in
their development approach.
In video games this conservative development approach tends to mean sequels.
Take examples of the releases of Halo 3 in 2007 (McDougall, 2007) and Grand Theft
Auto 4 in 2008 (Feldman, 2008), both of which set records for the amount of money brought in for a video game in a short time period. The seemingly assured success of these sequels goes to justify their hefty development costs, whereas a new title would be less likely to receive the same level of support. Video Game Press 16
While this conservatism seems at odds with an artistic spirit to innovate that
would be expected in a new medium, in a number of cases, such as Halo 3, the sequels
continue a story always intended to be told in multiple parts. In the case of the Grand
Theft Auto and Final Fantasy series there is a set of common themes or mechanics, but
the narrative features an entirely new cast, and the methods of play may be the same,
slightly evolved, or radically different.
Despite any criticisms regarding the narratives of video games, they appear to
have a great deal of influence and importance to the audiences of anyone writing about
them. Spoilers, the term used for discussing story details of a game or movie. It is used
most frequently as a warning to ensure that nobody is angered for learning what happens
next without having played the game. This fear of spoiling the plot details of a game are
so pervasive that before any discussion of a game where there may be such details
discussed, journalists will explicitly state that they will be discussing them and for those
who do not wish to hear the conversation should go away. This explicit and routine
shunning away of portions of the audience may be unique in professional media. The phenomenon has developed to the point where in a recently launched podcast the
segment dealing with older games and discussing the plot was and will from now on be after the credits (Pfister, 2008c), and even in more academic pursuits as exhibited in
Gamer Theory (Wark, 2007) wherein, during a discussion on Deus Ex, the author refuses to give any explicit details of the fifth ending to the game.
This valuation and respect of the storyline of games, the creation of the spoiler taboo, should be seen as tantamount to raising the artistic value of games to a higher level. If video games existed only as game play, if they only had value in a ludological Video Game Press 17
manner, this phenomenon could not exist. That there is a taboo regarding spoilers means
that the value of narrative is seen, but may not be consciously favoured by journalists
except in the rare instances that it is seen as a major aspect of the game's quality, as in
Bioshock or the Metal Gear series, or something that seems contrived and tacked on, as
in Boom Blox.
Limbo of the Lost was released, and recalled in June 2008. The reason for the
recall was due to a fan reviewer for the site Gameplasma.com noticing similarities
between the game and Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion which had been released in 2006. How
the game was released with these images is not yet known, but it does appear as though
many games have been plagiarized (Thang, 2008). In discussing the story, the cast of lup
Yours said the following:
There's a comment here, if this was an art project and it was composed of found objects, the end result would be to say that videogames are so like, you know interchangeable and undistinguished that you could take pieces from all these different games and throw them together and still have what might be a cohesive world (Pfister, 2008d).
These comments exemplify Manovich's view of New Media, or can be seen as demonstrations of Bogost's Unit Operations. The journalist's comparison to an art project is also valid, as this variety of copying is acceptable in art circles it is not in professional media ones. The other levels of the comment relate to the lack of variety in video game settings, and Manovich's thoughts on how different layers can be transposed in new media.
The lack of variety in video games can be cause for complaint from journalists.
An example is the wave of World War 2 shooters in recent years which prompted comments such as, "It's bad enough publishers insist on churning out WWII first-person Video Game Press 18
shooters, but Medal of Honor: Vanguard reduces the series that started the trend to "worst
offender" status" (Lee, 2007). The complaints on games such as Doom 3, or Quake 4, and
contrast them with some of the praise for Metroid Prime 3 where it was appreciated for
having different art styles in different portions of the game. While this could seem
obvious for students of other media, visual variety within games is not common.
The Lost in Limbo situation is reminiscent of the ROM hacking phenomenon, where older games are remade into very different experiences, using the art of multiple
games within the physics engine of another. ROM hacking is a topic worthy of its own
greater study, but I choose to mention it because of the possibilities posed by the phenomenon exemplify some of the reasons that technologists and futurists believe games to have a rich possible future.
The ROM hacking and other methods of separating the aspects of games is something that would be advocated by an understanding of the Language of New Media
(Manovich, 2002). From his definition new media, such as video games, a key concept in differentiating from other forms of media is that there are multiple parts of the whole piece. In new media there may be a visible layer and then a layer that determines how the viewer is able to view the visible layer. Applied to video games, beneath the layer of visuals and sound there is a physics engine, and beneath a layer of narrative there is game-play.
Invisible Gamers
What is the most problematic factor about the perception of video games as art amongst developers and the press is that not only do they have this obsession with video games as not being as much of a true or high form of art as something such as cinema, Video Game Press 19
but they make categorizations within the medium as well. Numerous titles are derided as
being kiddie, girly, or casual, and thus not worthy of artistic or creative respect from
journalists or developers.
When Nintendo first released the Wii in 2006, it arrived to some derision amongst
the supposed hard-core audience because of its lack of processing power relative to the
Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. However, in non-gaming circles, particularly corporate
ones, it was met with optimistic curiosity, wondering if the Wii could expand the market
for consoles and sell to those who would not buy a Xbox or PlayStation 3 (Sterlicchi,
2007). Already earning money comparable to Hollywood's box office, further growth
would have to come not just from the wallets of those who are already involved with
gaming, but from women, and adults who were not. This audience, most frequently
labelled as "casual" by the press and developers, is growing and is increasingly targeted
by developers, and derided by the press.
What is of foremost concern to me is that journalists do not cover these games.
Despite being focused on video games, and these titles being video games, and in many
instances very popular games, journalists do not seem to care about these titles at all. The
primary example is the 57th highest selling title from March 31, 2007 to March 31,2008,
Hannah Montana. ("Top 100", 2008)
After the game being repeatedly high on the sales charts, John Davison then of
Ziff Davis purchased a copy of a Hannah Montana game for the Nintendo DS. He had to purchase the game by himself because Disney, the game's publisher did not wish to provide the media outlet with one, as they would for other games they are involved with, such as Kingdom Hearts, The reasoning they provided for this was that the game in Video Game Press
question was not intended for the audience that John Davison wrote for and as such
Disney had no interest in having the game reviewed by them. Shane Bettenhausen
confirmed this as a regular practice by stating that when the publication he writes for,
Electronic Gaming Monthly, requests a game aimed at children the developers
immediately ask if they are requesting the game so that Seanbaby, their resident
humorist, can play and write about it (Pfister, 2007a).
After spending some time with the game, John Davison described it as a rhythm
game. Beyond a few criticisms of the games narrative content, Mr. Davison's
impressions were generally favourable. This kind of criticism is not uncommon in games
for that system, or any of Nintendo's platforms. Of Boom Blox Shane Bettenhausen
stated, "I can't say enough good things about the game. The only thing I don't like about
it are the characters. I really don't like them. They are so kiddy. You can be stylized and
hip.. .They look kiddy, they look like something you would find in a two year olds crib"
(Pfister, 2008b). In both cases the gameplay aspects are lauded but the visual narratives
are provided disdain. Overall the games are given decent scores.
A game that can be viewed as being looked over by the video game press is Flight
Simulator by Microsoft Game Studios. This is a title that is iterated upon less frequently than franchises such as Madden by EA, which receives annual editions, but nevertheless generates significant dollars in sales, and likely more time in play. The simulator is used as a base for a community that expands upon it, adding features such as flight traffic control, and even going so far as to force players to wait for their turn to take off.
However, there is significantly more coverage for Madden than Microsoft Flight
Simulator amongst the some of the larger video game press outlets. By using the sites of Video Game Press 21
IGN (http://www.ign.com), Gamespot (http://www.gamepsot.com), lUp
(http://www.lup.com), I did a search for the number of articles on the version of Madden
NFL 08 on the PC and PlayStation 3, as well as the number of articles for Flight
Simulator X on the PC. Both of these games are the most recently released games in their
respective series. On IGN the Madden games received more than triple the amount of
coverage than the Flight Simulator, 17 articles for the latter and 54 for Madden on PC, 93
on PlayStation 3. Gamespot was closer with 20 articles for Flight Simulator compared to
Madden's 31 for PC and 41 for PlayStation 3. lUp had the worst differential with 3 items
for Flight Simulator as opposed to 25 for Madden on PC and 33 on the PlayStation 3.
This discrepancy creates a niche of journalism within the niche of video game journalism. This niche is filled by fan sites, built and maintained by the fans of the game,
or by the developers of the game itself. These are managed not by the same publicists that
handle the press, but by Community Managers, who provide news and hype to the fans,
and receive feedback and criticism to provide the developers.
The positions of Community Manager and that of reporter are similar in their
relationship with the public, and so it should not be a surprise that journalists are hired
away from their jobs to fill these positions. Ziff Davis has lost no fewer than three editors
for these positions, Luke Smith and Che to Microsoft (for Halo and Forza respectively),
and Bryan Intihar to Insomniac.
Forums, hosted by either the developer, enthusiast press outlet, or by fans provide a place where a variety of opinions can be voiced. Each forum has a different community and purpose, guided by its founding. Boards hosted by the developer may be oriented towards game-play tips, news about new titles from that developer, and wish-lists for Video Game Press
future products. Enthusiast press outlets will do much the same, but be more active and
have a wider range of games and topics discussed, additionally, they will also be more
likely to feature advertising throughout. Lastly, the forums created and hosted by the fans
themselves, with no other affiliation, are beyond any ability to stereotype as any specific
style of community.
Finally the two objects exemplify two different types of cultural economy... Here was a new cultural economy that transcended the usual relationship between producers and consumer s or between, "strategies and "tactics" (de Certaeu): The producers define the basic structure of an object, and release a few examples as well as tools to allow consumers to build their own versions, to be shared with other consumers. In contrast, the creators of Myst followed an older model of cultural economy. Thus Myst is more similar to a traditional artwork than to a piece of software — something to behold and admire rather than to take apart and modify. (Manovich, p 245,2002).
Here Manovich helps define video games as unique amongst other entertainment media as they can exist in two different cultural economies. Manovich refers to how they
operate as a cultural artefact, but the difference holds with video games opposed to other cultural artefacts. For instance, while television programs and movies can be purchased on DVD, this is not necessarily the primary source of revenue to cover the costs of their production. In the world of video games, the predominant trait is that games must be purchased before they can be experienced. This makes most games a financial investment as well as an entertainment medium.
Given lead times for production and delivery to retail, it seems inaccurate to view the potential success of a game as being dependent upon its review scores. The marketing is likely more important, with the reviews just being a part of that. "Ask Michael Pachter whether it was the Metacritic score or a call to Wal-Mart which gave him better insight into the success of BioShock." (Boesky, 2008). However, reviews are a necessary feature Video Game Press 23
because they are a major way that games can be seen by the community, and the ability
of the press to review the game first fits into and promotes their role as an opinion leader.
The larger question around this opinion leadership is if it is something that is good
for everyone. If Dennis Dyack is uncomfortable with the degree to which public relations
manages a games release and public image, are there legitimate problems? This fear is
part of his larger dislike of the preview and review process, which is not an opinion
shared by much of the press. My interviewee stated on the critique/review debate, "For
most people a game review is enough."
So it appears that while there is a lip-service paid to wanting games to be a serious
art form, the business side of games in the form of publishers and marketing, along with
the enthusiast press reinforce its status as a low entertainment form. The enthusiast press may genuinely want to break this form, encourage a greater level of critiques and higher
discourse on games, but their ability to do so is severely hampered by their dependence on endemic advertising. As a preface to what was intended to be a critique of Bioshock,
Hocking wrote:
Roughly speaking, we could say game criticism is for game developers and professionals who want to think about the nature of games and what they mean. Game reviews are for the public - for people who play games - and they are intended to help those people make decisions about which games they should buy. (Hocking, 2007)
An interviewee offered contradictory statements in this matter. The first statement was "The text of the review should serve as criticism." However, the interviewee later stated, "A game reviewer is there to help you figure whether or not you should buy this game. A game critic is there to help you think about the game you already bought or are interested in" (Personal Communication, 2008). One interpretation of these statements is Video Game Press
that something that is written by a critic will have a review score, but a critique in the
written body, one written by a reviewer will have a review score but not a critique in the
body. This would require us to know who is a critic and who is a reviewer. As that does
not seem to be a reasonable method of examination, I believe that more stress has to be
placed on "should serve as criticism" as being evidence that the press does not yet believe
that it is fulfilling its desired role as critics for a higher discourse, but only as product reviewers to determine if one should buy a specific product or not.
The buy or not buy purchase decision develops some of the problems associated with the stereotypical gamer. This is the defensive reaction that develops when forced to choose between two options that are likely equal in benefit. After making that decision, say between a PlayStation 3 or an Xbox 360, the person becomes more devoted to that choice than a more neutral party.
Video games have a confused image in the press. The average person who plays video games is 33, and there is a much more equitable split between genders than may be entailed by the press, both enthusiast and mainstream. The enthusiast press continues to cover and provide praise for games, eschewing or mocking the academics or mainstream press that express concern over their effects on people and children, which is only to be expected by their nature as enthusiasts. This is evidenced by the previous description of a game like Madden getting more than more popular games that are not necessarily coveted by the enthusiast press, such as The Sims which has sold, in its various incarnations and expansions, more than 100 million copies ("Sims Celebrates", 2008). It seems clear that the enthusiast press is not reaching the average gamer. Video Game Press
The treatment in the enthusiast press contrasts sharply with the mainstream media
where examples such as the coverage following the Virginia Polytechnic Institute
shootings prompted,
"Early news reports of the student who slaughtered 32 students and teachers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 2007 emphasized his quiet nerd-like characteristics that belied a murderous rage underneath. This followed the same pattern as reports for several other school shootings in the 1990's and 2000s, which at first suggested that the killer was an asocial youth who overindulged in consuming violent media" (Butsch, p 144, 2008)
Similarly, when new popular titles are released that have a violent nature, these same
questions are raised in the mainstream media about the possible detrimental effects of
video games. By focusing on games from an outsiders perspective, relegating them to
basements and nerds, the mainstream press also provides a disservice to its audience,
which may be closer to the average gamer than the enthusiast press'.
However, as evidenced in the sales figures, violent games do not encompass the
majority of videogame sales, or "quiet nerd-like" players describe the majority of users.
The apparently controversial nature of violent video games prompts them to have a greater media exposure than they would seem to deserve in both the mainstream and enthusiast press. The reasoning for their overexposure in the mainstream press can be likened back to the history of television and theatre in American history, as explained by
Butsch (2008). The new form of media used predominately by a young male audience is associated with any and all negative connotations that the young male audience has. The media may be considered overly subversive to the safe social fabric, such is the case when games are blamed for violent acts, or the thought that videogames are responsible for increasing childhood obesity. Video Game Press
There is not as well-written explanation of the preferences of the enthusiast press.
What is more likely is the nature of the press as being part of a particular audience
reinforcing the importance of that audience to itself. Thus the enthusiast press focuses on
the aspects of videogames that it is enthusiastic for, these are the titles termed core or
hard-core by observers. Other games, despite being very popular among the general
population, fall by the wayside. This is a conscious decision on the part of both the
enthusiast press and developers. On the side of the enthusiast press, there is the example
of the decision to cover or not cover downloadable games. Stephen Totillo looked into
the lack of reviews for Peggie, a game that sold over 10 million copies online, and was
told by Jeff Gerstamann, formally of Gamespot, that the game did not appear to target the
site's core demographic and so it was not reviewed, the core demographic nevertheless
seemed to adopt the game and it became a popular title (Totilo, 2008). A vice-president
for the developer of Peggie said to Totillo, "marketing budgets are tiny to non-existent
for "small" PC games and casual games in general, and Peggie is no exception" (ibid).
This example fits the concept of the marketing circuit as proposed by Kline et al.
(2003). Videogames, as cultural artefacts, are, as already discussed, commercial products.
In order for them to be profitable, the publishers create a cycle of marketing that includes the videogame press. The videogame press are willing participants in this cycle for a number of reasons, firstly as enthusiasts they enjoy having the access to games, but being part of the cycle has become part of their business plan.
This recognition of their role in the marketing circuit has led some videogame press outlets to create tools that are aimed towards developers. IGN has GamerMetrics, and Gamespot has Trax. Both of these services boast of their usefulness to developers Video Game Press
and publishers. "Track the observed and reported interests of your fans by title, platform,
and genre, and generate audience profiles" (IGN) is how IGN says that its GamerMetrics
can be useful for developers. Gamespot says of its Trax service,
Launched in Ql 2003, GameSpot Trax is the industry's most advanced tool for tracking and analyzing essential game data, including consumer awareness, interest and purchase intent, competitive mindshare, campaign effectiveness, audience profiles, and editorial coverage. GameSpot Trax is the scorecard for the games industry. (Gamespot Trax)
Both of these services seek to integrate the press outlet into the marketing strategy
of developers.
N'Gai Croal reports that they have been successful with this pursuit. As the
services became part of both their own strategies and of retailers buying plans, developers
have developed methods of manipulating the services. These methods include advertising
more on the site, the endemic advertising that feeds the enthusiast press. Other ways are providing the outlet with exclusive access which allows that outlet to increase their own pageviews and advertising revenue. The publicists for game developers unabashedly call these tactics manipulation (Croal, 2007).
The manipulation providing exclusive or early access is the most concerning to the integrity of enthusiast press. My interviewee noted that most review covers result in a score not lower than 8/10. This is because when there is an exclusive review given, the publicist has taken pains and feels sufficiently confident in the tastes of the reviewer that this kind of positive score will be the result. Video Game Press
Discussion
As much as there was a great deal of material I was able to study, I was, as I
previously mentioned, unable to have as many interviews as I was hoping to. The nature
of game developers and games journalists as public figures prone to privacy issues is
possibly a real factor in my problems in obtaining interviews. There is a joking example
of fanboys gone too far in the Ctrl-Alt-Del web-comic, wherein the protagonist sneaks
into the studio developing a game that he is looking forward to in order to play it early
(http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/archives.php). It is possible that these kinds of things
are sufficiently common to make those involved in the industry value their privacy more.
Indeed the only journalists to respond to my requests were those whose email addresses
were publically available and who I did not have to try to contact through a web form or
through hearing an email address on a podcast. Despite having contacted a number of the
major developers in North America, only two acknowledged my requests, one flatly
stating that they did not have time to participate in any activities not related to marketing
or development and another had a member of public relations meekly attempt to make
contact.
Beyond this form of corporate protectionism, there is also the matter of the
industry trusting academics. There have been a number of retorts back and forth between
some gamers and some ludologists that would indicate a distrust of the latter from the
developers, one example of this kind of exchange can be seen by Roger Travis' article
"Quibus Lusoribus Bon?" (Travis, 2008) and Ian Bogost's reply (Bogost, 2008). This avoidance of academia may be another prime cause that my research was not embraced by prospective interviewees. Video Game Press
This avoidance of academics and research does not invalidate the potential
contributions that they may have to the industry. The first potential boon comes in
resolving the artistic/commercial conflict alluded to by journalists and developers. This is
best done by describing video games as a primarily low art, as opposed to other mediums
that may trend to have both high and low exemplars. They have artistic merits but are
really being made for commercial gain rather than some grander pursuit of truth and
artistic beauty.
The view of games as low art would depress some developers, but still leave them
believing that they may yet transcend this status with something particularly magnificent.
This group is also keen to praise great work done by their peers. Journalists who review
games frequently discuss games' artistic merits in visuals, narrative, and interactivity, and
in many ways are likely the most optimistic about the artist value of the medium. "That
is, as I've said, a game where I want to watch the story unfold. You can almost just put
that out on a DVD and I'd just watch it" (Gerstmann, 2008) this quote from a podcast of
the members ofGiantbomb.com refers to the game Metal Gear Solid 4 from Konami. In
this case the story is actually elevated above the game.
It appears from my research that both the journalists and developers wish to have
what they do have a validation that they see their counterparts in places such as Rolling
Stone and film as having. What this ends up doing is limiting their scope of interest,
especially the journalists, to an audience that is small and perpetuates the negative
stereotypes that they wish to break. To attempt to abstract a theory from these findings regarding the artistic nature of video games is that the nepotistic nature of what video game journalists hype the most is what they themselves are the most enthusiastic about. Video Game Press
The relationship between journalist and developer develops a spiral favouring their
shared demographic and interests.
"It is vital to understand how videogames are marketed" (Kline et al., 2003). Here
I have examined how a particular part of the videogame industry conducts itself, the
marketing and symbiotic relationship between developers and journalists. While there are
the limitations to my research in conducting interviews, those studied are verbose in their
work, and many are not shy with voicing their opinions in podcasts and other public
venues; however, the role and nature of the video game press is something that appears to
be evolving.
There may be an evolution of how the video game press operates. What some
cultural anthropologists would argue remains constant about journalists is that they
construct a reality (Couldry, 2005). The tools from IGN and Gamespot for tracking audience awareness and the willingness of developers to manipulate this firmly develops this concept from abstract to very real. Within the audiences of these websites, publicists are trying to create a reality wherein their game is the most hyped and anticipated title coming. This will increase the number of titles purchased by chains and thereby increase the sales potential of the title. The success of this strategy also depends on the enthusiasm of the video game press and their perception of the game. Unfortunately this can prove to be an imperfect barometer of a game's success. Taking the example of Boom Blox, despite having "generally favorable reviews" ("Boom Blox Reviews", 2008) the game did not sell as well as some analysts or games journalists expected of a title from
Electronic Arts and Stephen Spielberg (Miller, 2008). Video Game Press 31
There are a number of existing theories that may be used to understand the role
and nature of the video game press. Indeed one could try to adapt any existing media
theory to them. This would be inefficient as there has already been some theoretical work
done in understanding how video games are marketed. Kline et al. (2003) suggests a
circuit of marketing forces involving marketers, consumers, and the commodification of
hype. It is easy to place the role of the video game press as part of this commodification,
especially with the marketing tools that IGN and Gamespot have developed. This view
constricts video games to being marketed to a specific audience and neglects a far
broader reality than stereotypes allow.
Video games have reached a volume where it is not possible for niches of journalism or academia to truly be effective. However, they have not become as openly
socially acceptable in comparison to movies or television to be allowed the coverage
necessary to truly understand the breadth and variety of video games. This stereotype
remains even in academic work, with Kline et al. describing one of the dilemmas facing
the industry as "violence or variety" (p 54); however, the success of systems like the
Nintendo DS and Wii, and their so-called non-games such as WiiFit, Cooking Mama, and
Brain Training, alongside the tremendous proliferation of profitable games relating to
children's franchises seems to place that stereotype as woefully outdated.
Judging from my data I have to take issue with the other dilemmas that are proposed by Kline et al. (2003), not only does "violence or variety" seem to be focused on a specific subset of people, but so do "commodification versus play" and "enclosure versus access" (p 54). The argument for play and commodification being opposites ignores points that would be made by Bogost (2006) or Manovich (2002) in that there are Video Game Press 32
multiple layers to video games. Multiple games might be built upon the Unreal Engine
from Epic Games, but this does not mean all of them are the same game. Part of games
can be commodities yet still have artistic differences. Similarities in playing styles
between games can be part of a grammar and style for games much as how there are
common techniques in creating films. The argument over access to video games is a
much more valid one. This is recognized by noted games industry analyst Michael
Pachter by stating that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are not part of the mainstream
culture because their price excludes them from being readily purchased by a broad
spectrum of consumers (Snow, 2008). That there is a high entrance cost does prevent
access to games for many, but this again is a subset of games, specifically consoles, and
people who play them. There are still a great number of games available for computers,
systems such as the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, and Sony PlayStation Portable that
indicate that there is still access to games, but not necessarily all of them.
If Kline et al. (2003) is inadequate, my data must lead to another possible theory.
In still adapting an existing media theory to my data, video game journalists appear to be positioned as leaders in identifying and promoting games. They are particularly targeted by the developers to generate interest in the developer's titles. The journalists are also
seen, as demonstrated by the John Davison/Disney affair, as having specific target audiences. Those journalists that do not have the audience the developer is targeting are not approached. As my interviewee pointed out, smart publicists know which outlets to approach and different journalists like to put different kinds of product out (Personal
Communication, 2008). This abstraction explains the lack of coverage for casual, kiddie, Video Game Press 33
or girly games because the people developers believe will buy those games are not within
the sphere of influence of the journalists who write about games.
The abstraction I form from my data does not create a positive image of the
current state of video game journalism. What is perhaps the most encouraging aspect
about video game journalism, when compared to other niches, is that those involved
appear to be constantly evaluating their own role in the both the journalistic and video
game industries. The ideas I have explored could not have been so examined were it not for the public musings of those involved in it. This contrasts with the disappointment in the apparent lack of effort to broaden the target audiences of video game journalists, though it should be noted that mainstream outlets such as Newsweek and MTV do employ video game journalists.
What is unique about the video games press is that what it covers is a media itself.
It must exist in some kind of hybrid of product news and reviewers and art critics. From the data I have presented it appears that this is a balance that has not yet been reached because of the dependency on the developers for access as well as revenue. As editorial control is tenuously in the hands of the journalists the quality of criticisms is diminished and news content has to be placed in context with the marketing intentions of developers.
Currently, using pre-existing communications theory, I would place journalists as opinion leaders within a segment of society. Katz (1957) is a study that could possibly be redone in the age of the internet, examining if certain hubs of the internet act as opinion leadership. From the data I have collected it does appear as though the video game developers use a two-step model to their marketing. There is direct marketing through advertisements and their community managers, but the developers also target some of Video Game Press 34
their efforts towards video game journalists. It would appear then that the developers are
constructing a "two-step flow of communication (Lazarsfeld, 1948)" (Katz, 1957).
Having these two-steps poses a potential problem for the industry. If the press see
themselves as part of this two-step process and therefore an extension of the marketing of
the companies towards the 18-40 male demographic, then they are succeeding. However,
if the press wishes to see itself as an independent journalistic enterprise, its seeming
inability to reach out beyond a specific demographic, and intentional ignorance of a wide range of available games popular to many are severe problems that they need to address.
The ideal world of video game journalism, complete with reviews and criticism, attention paid to premiere works of video games on par with that paid to premiere examples of film and literature, more frequent coverage of games in the mainstream press, and honest evaluations of so-called casual games, is possible. By all indications from the data, this outcome is also greatly desired by many journalists. However, given the examples outlined by Butsch (2008) with television, this world will not exist without a seismic shift in the perception of video games throughout society, and a wider adoption of them. Thankfully, it is more likely to occur faster than the evolution of television because of the extensive research already done and underway on the impact of video games on people, examples of which can be seen on the websites I have cited, as well as on academic journals such as Game Studies. It may be that the existence of this research will lead video games along a smoother path regarding societal prejudices than that which television experienced.
The first steps for the journalists and developers towards this will be a change in their relationship. Without a greater honesty between these groups, encouraging the other Video Game Press 35
to strive for better and better results, it is less likely that either of their dreams of an
artistic world of video games will come to fruition. The first thing that I believe that
needs to be done for this is to understand that there can be artistic merit in a mass market
product. Their elitism as to what construes a good video game is something that also
needs to be adjusted. Too frequently a game is judged not on its merits but its source or
audience. If Boom Blox is legitimately an excellent title, and it is aimed at young
audiences, how many other titles go un-reviewed for targeting youth despite having the
possibility of being excellent?
Subsequent steps will be to move beyond the hyperbole that can surround a large
budget game's release, Grand Theft Auto 4, Metal Gear Solid 4, Halo 3,and BioShock
being some examples, and to provide the same quality of coverage to other titles. It is
because the text of the reviews for these games that the reviewers venture closest to what they believe may be critiques, which may be a potential force to push forward the
industry with regards to its artistic merits. Without having to review a game towards a purchase decision, as much of the audience will already have made that decision, the journalist is free to actually discuss the broader merits of a title. If more titles receive this kind of treatment, there could be a greater emphasis on artistic quality as the journalists exploit their opinion leadership to create a demand among their audience for this quality.
The video game press must at the same time broaden its own horizons. To remain focused on their current demographic, and to try and define a core gamer is to remain niche and secluded. It is difficult to prescribe how that can be done in the current media landscape. Borrowing themes from Jeff Jarvis (http://www.buzzmachine.com), it is possible that rather than creating new outlets for different demographics that play games Video Game Press 36
(i.e. women and children), video game journalists and developers can offer content to outlets that already target these demographics and help improve the image of video games to reflect their reality. Video Game Press
Conclusion
The field of Game Studies or Ludology is in its infancy. There is not yet a firm set
of methods or theories with which to examine videogames. As much as I have done so
thus far, it is difficult to condemn the enthusiast press' practices with regard to
videogame reviews when there is not necessarily another method with which they are
frequently discussed.
What I believe is most important from what I have examined is to understand that
the kind of relationship the video game press and developers have is not exclusive to
them. Other hobbies also have websites, discussion forums, and magazines devoted to
them such as golf, boating, fishing, and hunting. These will also have the endemic
advertising and need to maintain positive relationships with producers to have early
access to new products for reviews and comparisons. The relationship between journalist
and developer develops a spiral favouring their demographic and interests; which I have
stated earlier could possibly be restated as; the relationship between journalist and insider
develops a spiral favouring their demographic and interests, depending upon what further research shows.
The professional video game press does not seem to be doing an adequate job of covering all of the games that are being released. During an interview I discussed the requirements of a review with my interviewee, especially when compared to movies, which are video games' primary source of comparison. In this exchange he raised a frequently made point, movies have a fixed duration, many people can see one at once, and in a few hours have their complete experience. Where it might take 2 hours to experience a movie, it is not unlikely to have a game require 10 hours of game-play to Video Game Press 38
fully experience, while others can take up to 70 or 80 hours to complete (Personal
Communication, 2008). With the volume of games that are released each year, my
interviewee agreed with me that there just are not enough video games journalists to
review each one, let alone have a variety of opinions on the matter.
What I hope comes as further research into video games and its niche journalism,
are examining if there is a correlation with sales to preview and review scores. There are
large catalogues of preview and review data, but it must be widely selected and hopefully
taken from a range of long-lasting publications over a reasonably long time-frame. This
topic also may be limited to North American, or at least English speaking outlets,
examining the process of localization and the difference between coverage of import
games between Japan and the United States would be another topic broaching both
communications and cultural research. Video game journalists discuss narrative elements
and the way that stories are told in video games, such as earlier quotes on BioShock and
Metal Gear Solid 4. How stories can be told within the framework of video games is another topic of discussion.
Academic research has lacked research into thoughts such as an enthusiast press, endemic advertising, and the nature of the video game press. Here I have taken the first steps to filling this void. There is much work to be done, but here I have cast one stone in a possible foundation, as well as pointed out other sturdy sources and interesting rocks to be overturned for all the wealth they cover. Video Game Press
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Appendix i
RESEARCH CONSENT FORM
My name is Mark Furry, and this project is part of the requirement for a Master's Degree in Professional Communication, at Royal Roads University. My credentials with Royal Roads University can be established by contacting Dr.XXXXXXXXX at [email protected] or at 250-391-2600, ext: XXXX. This document constitutes an agreement to participate in my research project, "Video Games: Evaluating the Developer/Journalist Relationship." The objective of my paper is to determine the nature and major impact factors in the relationship between videogame developers and the videogame enthusiast press.
To develop this understanding I will be asking questions regarding how you go about writing stories on games, how you value interactions with developers, and about how interactions are affected by review scores. These interviews will take approximately one hour, and the results of my research will be submitted by the end of June 2008. Information will be recorded as digital audio files and, where appropriate summarized, in anonymous format, in the body of the final report. At no time will any specific comments be attributed to any individual unless your specific agreement has been obtained beforehand. All documentation will be kept strictly confidential. You are not compelled to participate in this research project. If you do choose to participate, you are free to withdraw at any time without prejudice. Similarly, if you choose not to participate in this research project, this information will also be maintained in confidence. By signing this letter, you give free and informed consent to participate in this project. Name: (Please Print):
Signed:
Date: