Even some of the most widely respected media outlets in the world have a strong focus on the sensational. Millions dead, celebrity fallouts and cats saving dogs from burning buildings. It’s the hook that grabs the audience and causes them to pick up that magazine, buy the paper, or, nowadays, head to the website to see just what is behind the quick blurb. Game journalism certainly has its own style in many of the most widely visited publications and blogs, with major magazines dolling out perfect scores for yet unreleased games, the latest teasers for a new secret project leaked on a developer’s blog, or a cat saving an Xbox from a burning building. The audience that the gaming press and publishers cater to is a little bit different, at least according to Leigh Alexander’s latest blog entry which highlights the relationship that the press has with its audience in gaming, and the problems that may be holding the industry back from a true mainstream journalistic path.

The topic of how the gaming communities react to news and just how the news is generated is quite a broad issue to tackle, but it boils down to the cyclical nature of the industry and just how each group influences the other. People in general are looking for controversy in some fashion, which is evidenced by the droves of consumers grabbing the latest tabloid magazine to see why Angelina is leaving Brad for the fourth time this year. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that a contrarian editorial regarding the latest blockbuster hit, or a post about a lawmaker tabling veiled threats about legislating the content of games altogether catches the eye of readers across the world wide web and draws them to react. Alexander is more interested in the responsibility of some sensationalist material, and just why it all happens. Essentially, gaming publications need people to read their content in order to assure their sponsors and advertising agencies that their latest campaign is being handled effectively. The best way to grab people’s attention is good old fashioned yellow journalism, and it can often cause a wave of controversy where perhaps none exists. This can negate the hard work of a marketing agency towards a triple-A title, or decimate the sales to a particularly finicky audience.

She spends some time citing the stress that people within the industry can feel just wondering if the wrong headline will end up on a fairly visible blog, or if a popular journalist’s opinion of a game mechanic goes the wrong way, it could end up costing hours of sleep and perhaps thousands of dollars in sales. Most people would like to believe that the public is not so easily swayed, but the growing popularity of meta-ranking websites for reviews continues to demonstrate that people are concerned with how a product is rated by the crux of the gaming press. However, determining whether or not it is the audience driving this theme or the overall style of gaming journalism is a hard thing to call.

When you take a look at most communities that are based on the net, there is always a backlash over the smallest thing. One only needs to take a quick look at any given Slashdot article to see the wave of cynicism that follows every announcement or legal battle. There is always someone in the wrong for a very good reason, so why do videogames get viewed differently by the press and by industry analysts. The internet and games have grown up together and been closely tied in their development. Both shot through puberty in the late 90′s, influenced by the grunge and rap music no doubt, and have come to a head as some of the most defining advances of the current generation. As gaming has started to hit a point where it is a major consumer force, the internet has developed as a communication platform that gives everyone the ability to express their opinion in bold type on the front page. Gaming isn’t necessarily in peril of falling into a cycle of self-destruction, as film and other media rely heavily on the quick turnarounds that brings in audiences just as fast as they leave, but it does need to hit a stride and let those who are growing up with the medium evolve into journalism to let a new landscape of how it is covered emerge. Perhaps its not as much games being driven by the media, but the media being driven by the games, and the method on capturing that audience is getting harder and harder to judge.

Image by Paul Gilligan