these words aren't just for show

In light of Wednesday's post that talked about the rise of our hobby as an accepted medium, I began to think about our subculture as it is seen by outsiders and the general media. In recent years we've seen the formation of Professional gamer leagues like the CGL which entails real rewards for FPS twitch gamers: prize money, sponsorship, and even infamy in the online gaming circuit.

Most importantly though has been the ascension of amateur game journalism. Back in the day, when the only two choices on the magazine rack were Gamepro or Nintendo Power (an obvious imbalance, but telling of the era) you really didn't have much of a choice of who to turn to. As the hobby picked up steam, the glut of magazines soon followed - EGM, Game Player, Next Gen and the specialist magazines like my beloved PC Gamer. It was easy to provide a scoop then, too - access to the developers and publishers was exclusive. But then along came the internet, the amateur publisher's dream come true.

Sites like Penny Arcade, Evil Avatar, Game Girl Advance, Shacknews and insert credit directly and successfully compete with online media conglomerates like gamespot, ign, and gamespy. These independent sites are becoming the place to go for news and real, unfiltered opinions on the industry. As the media conglomerates rush out and gobble up all the fan sites in an attempt to obtain readership (see IGN and gamespy), corporate policies soon turn these sites into sad parodies of their former selves. The fans want street cred, and that's what they get with the previously listed sites.

I don't kid myself at all about being a "game journalist". I'm not hung up on pretensions; I'm just a guy that loves to play games and write about them, and would completely happy if I could attend at least one E3 in my lifetime. However an article at Game Girl Advance got me thinking this week about what I'm doing. It was written by a gamer who is currently a developer working in the trenches, and finds that his access to code and the methods behind actually making the game have taken the soul out of why he plays. He concludes by saying that games have become boring, because he focuses on the technical details, the design issues, and the gameplay compromises that are blatantly obvious to someone in the field as opposed to just playing. In a way, being obsessed with game subculture and consistently surrounding myself with gaming related information potentially exposes me to the same type of disaffection. I will never make a game, but the bounty of gaming news sites opens me up to a side of the industry the typical gamer might not see, or even care about. Furthermore, writing a review requires a certain amount of analysis beyond the superficial. "This game is rad!" may not be as helpful to someone as a description of the game's graphics engine or a comparitive study with games in the same genre. I always make a point of bringing the most information to the reader, and sometimes this can be tiring. I don't expect their descision to buy a game to hinge on what I've written, but to know that it may help in some way makes the extra effort worthwhile.

But does writing about games take the fun out of it? Does the in-depth, or even cursory analysis of games and gaming ruin the excitement of the hobby? Does reviewing a game completely ignore the developer's intentions? When does gaming stop being fun and just turn into another job? I don't get any compensation. I spend valuable time playing games and formulating reviews in my head simply for the enjoyment of it (much to the disdain of The Wife). I promised myself I would stop if it ever became a job or something I don't enjoy doing. I've never been that concerned with readership or hit counters or visitor comments, but the occasional discussions that happen in the wake of something I've written are definitely encouraging.

On that note I'd like to take a moment to thank EvilAvatar, the webmaster over at Evil Avatar (aduh) for starting a banner program that aims to bring back the sense of community amongst gaming websites that seems to have been lost over the years. I think banners are a fine idea given that EA is considered by many to be a community leader, and not necessarily as just a tool for self-promotion. And best of all, EA is doing it for free. In light of the IGN/Gamespy merger and in-your-face ads being more prominent on the majority of gaming News and related sites, this is a great grassroots effort to share the spotlight with the gamers that love to play and share their experiences with the rest of the world in their spare time. Be it writing a review or drawing a webcomic, the appreciation of the hobby is there - now it has just become that much easier to find.

I'd also like to welcome the new readers that have been directed to this site by the above banner and the mention on Evil Avatar. Feel free to join in the discussion; we won't bite, despite the fact that some of us bloodthirsty psychopaths have played Manhunt.