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Ethan Meydrich
Mr. Berge
English 103
30 October 2018
Game Criticism: A Developing Form of Narrative Criticism
Game criticism is an important component to the gaming community that has had controversy since its humble beginnings. Players look to critics and reviewers for opinions and ratings on games, often helping them decide if they should buy a game or not. Companies have even gone as far as paying youtubers or critics to play and give positive reviews of their games to hopefully boost sales. Major gaming media platforms such as IGN, Kotaku, and Polygon have capitalized on this and have focused heavily on reviewing games, offering criticisms, and ranking games. Videogamedunkey’s video, “Game Critics”, brings forth an important view on the current state of game criticism. With almost 8 million views to date, Dunkey argues the ineffective nature of current trends in game criticism and satirizes popular trends in reviews done by major gaming media platforms. Dunkey’s main points include: decentralized opinions, misunderstanding between critic and reviewer, reviews that read exactly the same, critics too afraid to give actual criticism, and rushed reviews. Critics, players, and gaming media sources alike all had different reactions to Dunkey’s video. Some critics had strong dissenting opinions such as Paul Tamburro from Mandatory, but others such as Patrick Klepeck from Waypoint believed the points he made in his video have been plaguing the community. Players in general seemed to support or follow Dunkey’s view on the topic especially in discussions on Reddit revolving around game review sites. It wasn’t until I came across a study done by Ayse Gursoy on game criticism that I found a major point that wasn’t being discussed, the difference between reviewing and critiquing. Dunkey’s video focused on what would be considered reviews under 2
Gursoy’s definition and not actual criticism. This study along with the article written by Chuch
Klosterman led my research in another direction I didn’t quite expect. The major differences between reviews and criticism that even exists in other forms of narrative such as films and literature. My discourse analysis will go over Dunkey’s argument and how it is correct/incorrect while also looking into the gap of information about the difference between game reviews and game criticism.
Dunkey’s video
Videogamedunkey’s argument goes over key problems in the current state of game reviews. Dunkey’s first point is decentralized opinions in large mainstream media sites such as
IGN, Gamespot, and Kotaku. These decentralized opinions lead to conflicting voices and ratings from the same media source and lead to a confusing outcome on the overall opinion of the game given to the audience. Dunkey then continues, stating that the most important factor for true criticism is a built-up understanding between the critic and their audience. Dunkey claims that all reviews should be an extension of the last so that the audience understands what kind of games the critic responds to. The importance in following a critic is not to always see eye to eye with them, but for them to be consistent and give you a valid opinion and understanding of the game through their experience. Another major point Dunkey argues is that the writing for the reviews is often lazy and repetitive. Dunkey compares the “professional” writing to the summary on the back of the box but with a number score at the end. He continues by accusing critics of being too afraid to give their true opinions on games due to the relationships they have with game companies. Factors such as early copies and footage supplied along with being paid for their reviews cause critics to not be as honest in their ratings. Finally, Dunkey ridicules sloppy writing 3 by the critics, pointing out that the numerical score they give often does not align with what they said during the review.
Major Sides
While not the first person to call attention to game criticism, Dunkey’s video seems to be the catalyst for major reactions throughout the communities involved in this topic. At first, angered game critics took to twitter and berated Dunkey for his video.
Game critics in general seemed to disagree with Dunkey’s points and some even went as far as to insult him. Critics such as Paul Tamburro, Phillip Kollars, and Paul Tassi all gave Dunkey respectable responses he admired and responded to. The players, mostly on reddit discussions, at large agreed with Dunkey’s argument. Many players also saw the reaction by the game critics as unprofessional and something that proved Dunkey’s points even further. The video created a clear divide in stance between the two major groups, critics and players.
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Critics
The large majority of critics who ridiculed Dunkey or his video did not give adequate responses to his video. However, Paul Tamburro argues against some of the main points Dunkey used in his argument such as decentralized opinions in mainstream gaming media:
An outlet as big as IGN has multiple different departments working on multiple different elements of the site, from reviewers through to video producers and podcast hosts. With so many elements in play, it’s inevitable that the site may host a positive review of a new Sonic game (a specific example made by Dunkey), only for its video presenters or podcast hosts to then criticize the same game. (Tamburro)
While Dunkey may be right about differing opinions throughout a media site such as IGN, with such a large company it is inevitable that different members of IGN will have different opinions on games. Although this may cause some disparity in an overall view of a game, this is not an issue that can truly be fixed while allowing all members of a source such as IGN the ability to give their thoughts and opinions. Tamburro also digs into Dunkey’s point on the problem with numerical review scores.
However, whereas Dunkey believes the flaws of this system is solely the work of the gaming media, in reality there are a number of factors that prevent the numbers 1 – 6 being utilized as much as they arguably should be. Game reviews indicate to the reader whether or not they should buy a game. That is their sole purpose. Over the years, the goal posts of review scores have been shifted due to a number of factors, from score aggregation site Metacritic causing publications to make their review score standards more homogeneous, through to consumer perception of what does/does not equal a good review score changing. (Tamburro)
Tamburro agrees with Dunkey on the issue of numerical review scores, however, Tamburro claims the true issue lies in the purpose of a game review. Tamburro believes that the purpose of game reviews have changed overtime from sites such as Metacritic and the consumer valued numerical rating system. At the end of his article Tamburro concludes:
In the end, Dunkey’s video unwittingly serves as a summary of what many people get wrong about the review process. While each outlet is different and there are certainly criticisms to be leveled at the current scoring system and the looming presence of Metacritic, his complaints echo the frustrating lack of logic employed by some when it comes to analyzing how games media should operate. Given that Dunkey’s video has 5
been met with praise outside of the media he’s criticized, it seems that these preconceptions are unlikely to change anytime soon. (Tamburro)
Players and Consumers
Players and consumers in general appear to stand behind Dunkey on the issue. As a
YouTube personality with a following of over 5 million subscribers, Dunkey clearly has an upper hand on his audience compared to critics. Using Reddit as an outlet for player reactions, one can find a clear negative connotation associated with mass review sources. For instance, user
CMDR-FusionCor3 posted a discussion titled, “What gaming review sites are actually trustworthy?” and the general consensus of the responses was to find a single personality of choice or to focus on watching gameplay. Another reddit discussion by user Sterisk asked, “Are game reviews actually bribed?” to a gaming subreddit community. User Warskull replied:
The way it happens is that the PR at the gaming companies puts subtle pressure on the review sites to keep the scores high. They create conditional review embargos (you can't release your review before X date unless the score is higher than 80), buy ads on the site, and the gaming sites are reliant on the developers for content. So there is a lot of pressure to keep developers happy on the business end. Warskull’s reply shows a clear negative view on review sites and game critics in general that seem to be held by a large number of players.
Are the points Videogamedunkey made in his video and the negative views held by the players towards game critics true?
In another video by videogamedunkey, “Microsoft Sucks” Dunkey talks about how
Microsoft offered to pay Dunkey for him to make a video on one of their new games for the
Xbox 360. Dunkey criticized the game heavily, calling it boring and making fun of the game throughout his video. Microsoft upon seeing this, took down the video and did not pay Dunkey for the video he made. In an article by Luke Plunkett at Kotaku titled, “Yes, a Games Writer was 6
Fired Over Review Scores”, Plunkett looks into a controversial situation where an editorial director was terminated from Gamespot suspiciously.
So disclose Gerstmann has, confirming with GameSpot's Jon Davison that after a succession of challenges with management and advertisers he was "called into a room" and "terminated" because he "couldn't be trusted" as editorial director (ie, in charge of reviews), kicking off one of the saddest and sorriest episodes in an often sad and sorry relationship between games writers and games publishers. (Plunkett) An article by Forbes’ Erik Kain titled “IGN's 'Prey' Score Is Why Video Game Reviews Need To
End”, explores a controversial review given by IGN Dan Stapleton. “After a game-breaking save game bug rendered Stapleton's play-through of the game unplayable, he gave the game a 4/10.
Stapleton found himself in the awkward position of giving a well-received game (that he enjoyed) a really bad score.” A largely held belief by players is that reviewers are often paid off by companies to give their games positive reviews. An article by Engadget looks into an FTC complaint Warner Bros. received for Shadow of Mordor.
According to the commission, Warner Bros. required (PDF) the online influencers they hired to make a video that "promote[s] positive sentiment about" Shadow of Mordor. That video should "not show bugs or glitches that may exist" and should "not communicate negative sentiment" about Warner Bros. These influencers also had to promote their videos on Facebook and Twitter. The commission didn't release a list of the YouTubers the studio paid, but it did name PewDiePie as one of them. (Moon) Another article by The Verge details a program by EA that pays Youtubers to promote their games.
Video game publisher Electronic Arts has an entire program which pays YouTube fans to promote games like Battlefield 4 and Need for Speed: Rivals. It's called Ronku, and If a report at NeoGAF is accurate, the company pays gamers quite a bit: $10 for every 1,000 views, or roughly $200,000 for an entire 20,000,000-view Battlefield 4 promotional campaign. In order to qualify for some of that money, YouTube video creators apparently have to follow specific instructions about how to promote the game. (Hollister) 7
The Difference Between Review and Critique
Throughout my research on this discourse very little was mentioned about the actual goal or purpose of game criticism. Dunkey seemed to touch on it by believing that a critics power is in being consistent with their opinion and by building an understanding between them and the audience. Paul Tamburro harps on it briefly stating that the point of the review has always been to indicate to the audience whether or not they should buy a game. A study by Ayse Gursoy quotes Chuck Klosterman in defining reviews as “consumer advice”. However, Gursoy includes a definition of criticism too as “having an image about what that artistic medium should be doing and talking about the moments where that is happening.” I believe that this is the key area where the groups in this discourse should turn towards. A game review does not just have to be a 8 summary of the game along with a numerical score rating on its technical features. True game criticism should go into discussions on the meaning of the narrative given by the game and talk about the possible cultural context influences of the game. Game critics can talk about where the game can push forward as an improvement of games in general or even look back to where the game evolved from. A major part of Gursoy’s study is spent looking into film criticism because films, like games, are a narrative. Great films are often deeply dissected and carefully studied to the point where older films have great influences on films today.
Conclusion
The current state of game criticism today almost seems to be a promotional campaign run by companies hoping that inflated numbers on their games will boost sales. The fact that games are a business comes with the inherent fact that companies and producers will use monetary gain and other methods to receive better reviews from game magazines and gaming influencers such as Youtubers. However, this problem is present in all forms of consumer products and encompasses many more discourse communities than just this one. The gap of information in this discourse lies in the difference between review and critique and the community’s awareness of it. The goal of the players, critics, and all other groups involved in this discourse should be to identify whether an individual is reviewing or critiquing a game and what that individual’s purpose in writing is. Game reviews could be viewed by the community as advice on whether or not they should buy a game, allowing the current ad-like state of reviews to continue but separating it from true critique. Meanwhile, true game critics can focus on deeper concepts such as culture, influences, and the meaning of games in their writing. The separation of the two can lead to an understanding between the community and resolve this discourse.
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Works Cited
Chuck Klostermann, "The Lester Bangs of Video Games," Esquire.com, June 30, 2006,
http://www.esquire.com/features/ESQ0706KLOSTER_66.
CMDR-FusionCor3, “What gaming review sites are actually trustworthy?” Reddit,
https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/6k6wb6/what_gaming_review_sites_are_ac
tually_trustworthy/
Gursoy, Ayse. “Game Worlds : a Study of Video Game Criticism.” DSpace@MIT,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013, hdl.handle.net/1721.1/83834
Hollister, Sean. “It's Not Just Microsoft: EA Pays YouTube Personalities to Promote New
Games.” The Verge, Vox Media, 21 Jan. 2014,
www.theverge.com/2014/1/21/5332306/electronic-arts-ronku-pays-to-promote-games-on-
youtube.
Kain, Erik. “IGN's 'Prey' Score Is Why Video Game Reviews Need To End.” Forbes, Forbes
Magazine, 16 May 2017, www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2017/05/15/igns-prey-score-is-
why-video-game-reviews-need-to-end/#45c0dd9a668a.
Moon, Mariella. “Warner Bros. Paid YouTubers for Positive Game Reviews.” Engadget, Oath
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settlement-paid-game-reviews/.
Plunkett, Luke. “Yes, a Games Writer Was Fired Over Review Scores.” Kotaku, Gizmodo Media
Group, 19 June 2013, kotaku.com/5893785/yes-a-games-writer-was-fired-over-review-
scores. 10
Omegafriend. “Dunkey Pisses off Game Critics.” Funnyjunk, FunnyJunk, LLC, 10 July 2017,
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Sterisk, “Are game reviewers actually bribed?” Reddit,
https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/sdp2p/are_game_reviewers_actually_bribed/.
Tamburro, Paul. “Why Dunkey (and Many Others) Get It so Wrong About Game
Reviews.” Mandatory, Evolve Media LLC, 13 July 2017,
www.mandatory.com/culture/1292341-dunkey-many-others-get-wrong-game-reviews.
Videogamedunkey, director. Game Critics. YouTube, YouTube, 8 July 2017,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG2dXobAXLI.
Warskull, “Are game reviewers actually bribed?” Reddit,
https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/sdp2p/are_game_reviewers_actually_bribed/.