Video Game Journalism: Contributing to Gaming’s Bad Image?
Thanks to the mainstream media, most households know the terms “Hot Coffee”, “Columbine”, and “seXbox”, and their relationship to video games. Gamers suffer a poor reputation from the distorted images painted in the news or on television. But have our own journalists done their job in defending us…or are they tossing more kindling to the flames?
In this week’s Robot Punch!, we explore a recent example in how gaming media continues to fail in lifting the stigma associated with video games.
Of course, you burn as many calories reading books, but no one would make a poster against that.
In late March, it was reported that 25 year old Tim Eves died suddenly while playing on his Wii Fit. He’d just gotten off the phone with his mother when he dropped like a stone, dead. Eves was quite active in his life and was considered to be in excellent physical shape.
Doctors have told the family that it’s likely he died of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome. If I may say, it adds an extra touch of depression for someone to die of something called “SADS”. I would have called it “Gradual Infant Death Syndrome”. In any case, no one knows the actual cause of death; Tim just kinda, well…stopped.
This is a terrible thing to make light of his death, I know. God chose to take Mr. Eves long before he’d truly had the chance to experience life. However, the truly bad comedy in this story is the spin by which it was reported.
I’d originally found this story via Kotaku, a gaming blog which sucks in all video game-related news from all corners of the web and distributes it to the masses. This can be a double-edged sword in that while it brings to light interesting stories that might otherwise be overlooked, it also echos the stories’ tones broadcast by the original source.
Well, what could be the harm in that? Read the article again. What does the Wii Fit really have to do with this man’s death? If the casual reader were to merely glimpse the headline, the first impulse is to assume that the Wii Fit was the cause of his death, when in fact, it’s a negligible detail. Kotaku (like most other news sites) does nothing to address the ridiculous headline.
The mainstream media delights in demonizing video games. Almost every week, there’s a report somewhere about how video games cause violence, solicit porn, or deliver our children into the clutches of pedophiles. Nearly all of them exaggerating the facts in order to get people angry or scared enough to stay tuned in.
In the story mentioned above, it could be equally possible that Mr. Eve’s phone had a role in his death. If the reporters had worded the story with emphasis that he’d died after using his phone, that probably wouldn’t have sold as well. However, video games are a hot topic; the Wii Fit needed mention in order for the story to sell. Odds are that those devices were simply bystanders to the event. Like a lamp or his girlfriend, they just happened to be in the room at the time.
That being the case, why—why, Kotaku?—is our own enthusiast media advocating this gross portrayal of our beloved hobbies by reporting these same stories? I agree that these stories should be told if they are in fact relevant to our niche sub-culture, but wouldn’t it be wise for video game journalists to exercise the appropriate filters? Otherwise, they’re just as guilty for giving credence to sensationalism.
It’s the responsibility of video game journalists—in the interest of the industry and our community—to not confirm the poisonous messages cast by the mainstream, but to respond. As our ambassadors, it’s their duty to act with count-points, debunking any false correlation between gaming and societal ills. By reinforcing this yellow journalism, it only makes gamers ashamed of themselves for sharing the pastimes of these monsters.
Besides, have we so quickly forgotten the good that Wii Fit has brought to the world?
Tags: Journalism, Kotaku, mainstream media, rants, video game journalism, Wii Fit
what’s your point!? trying to sell Wii’s or what is the article about!?
this text is def in my top 10 worst articles ever read, sorry!
Agreed! Weak article; I thought if you’d call out Kotaku it would be based on a good argument. Instead I get an attention deprived blogger crying out into the cyberspace void…
You missed the point of the article. Kotaku reported that another news outlet was running a sensationalist story, giving gamers a bad name and abusing the Wii Fit for free publicity. The death of the man was entirely secondary.
Go back to 4chan and bitch to some 12 year old. This is one of the worst articles i have ever read. Where is your detail and proof? your basing your argument around the fact that a gaming website or journalist is REPORTING ON ACTUAL NEWS. What in the hell are you even arguing about? No where does kotaku or joystiq or any of those sites ever look down on gaming and try to boost their reader count by throwing in articles such ass “boy killed over ds, games to blame”. these sites merely report on information they receive. That’s like saying you want fox news to stop reporting bad news about republicans so that the appear better then they are…o wait…
If anything, you could argue that these sites actually have a bias towards video games. In every article that ever included a death or injury involving video games, these sites go on and roll their eyes and make it clear they think the media itself has blown the issue out of proportion and make video games look bad.
I am not sitting here and defending the people who blame video games for violence. I am merely telling you that your logic and frame of mind are completely wrong and bias. Clearly that aa in journalism from your local community college didnt work out too well.
Umm, yeah, good job there, except when Kotaku reports on something, they aren’t leaving it in the same light the original article portrayed because Kotaku and all it’s members are against the sensationalism that the media uses to demonize video games. That is why Kotaku has its own place to write an article, saying how stupid the media is, and then links you to the original article so you know where it’s coming from. Kinda like a reference you would have to put in a term paper.
Also, Kotaku is more or less for mainstream gamers. I’m sure the majority of people reading Kotaku happen to be gamers so the context is understood in which the article is written. We know how the journalists are and how they write so we understand (usually, lol :p) what they are getting at.
As the few above said, poorly written article with absolutely no substance and now evidence of claims, jsut to have something to write.
That was useless. There is no point to this paper, and you’re biased against Kotaku based on one article that you managed to notice. That was your one point of “evidence” against the website, but if you had managed to do any research into this topic, you would notice the frequency of these kinds of articles that appear on Kotaku, with their sole purpose to mock the media’s weak stabs at the video game industry and the “effects” of video games on the insane children of the US today. Spend a little more time before spewing up garbage on your iPhone.
I can see what you’re all saying… I think my mistake was that I targeted Kotaku too much as an example and should have focused more on the point I was trying to make.
I hope that we can all agree that most gaming journalists don’t do enough to counter the fear mongering that the mainstream media creates.
Did you even read the full article on kotaku? They are not stupid and their views do not necessarily mirror their own opinions. Next time do more research. And go back to school and learn what satirical writing looks like.
I’ve read tons of articles stating all the bad effects of video games but I’ve read an interesting article: http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1421576 and it changed my view on games. Anyway, yeah it was like you were hitting Kotaku but I get what you’re trying to say that the media is a bog factor how the market sees video games and alike.