The Independent’s Thomas Sutcliffe argues the case for more national coverage of interactive entertainment
National newspaper The Independent’s credibility as a ‘friend’ of the games industry has been further strengthened, with a new opinion piece questioning why interactive entertainment is ignored in mainstream media.
Just days after the newspaper offered its largely well-received ‘Top 50 Games’ list, columnist Thomas Sutcliffe has pointed the finger at Fleet Street for shunning one of the most relevant and important forms of modern entertainment media.
In his piece, entitled, ‘Why Don’t We Take Computer Games Seriously?’, Sutcliffe writes:
‘… given the almost universal enlistment in an activity that only 20 years ago was the preserve of home-programmers and hobbyists – [there’s a] mismatch between the scale of teenagers' involvement in video games and the relative invisibility of this creative field in what you might call the traditional media.
‘From time to time a new game release, such as Will Wright's recently released Spor [sic], will edge its way on to the news pages – and most newspapers carry some form of capsule reviews . But usually they're tucked away in the back alleys of the publication, while film and music and television continue to dominate the big boulevards.
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‘Mainstream television does virtually nothing. Arts programmes remain almost exclusively dedicated to cultural forms which are also-rans for many teenagers.
‘There are two reasons why this should be so. The first would be that video gamers get this stuff elsewhere – from magazines such as Edge or Wired, and from online gaming sites, where no one needs to explain what "respawning" or "first person shooter" actually means. And, since they get it there, they aren't that fussed that it doesn't exist elsewhere.
‘Unlike jazz enthusiasts – persistently besieging Radio 3 for a better deal for their favoured art form – gamers don't need to nag. The other explanation would be that the traditional media still doesn't get it. That, despite all the articles about the scale of the industry and its threat to older forms of diversion (and older forms of fiction) it isn't something that needs taking seriously. Or, possibly, that it isn't something that can be taken seriously, in the sense that a film or a pop record can.’
Comments
The Media doesn't take games seriously
I think it goes deeper than that. Sadly, games are not "taken seriously" because there is generally not enough bad stories to write about. I think the general media have no interest in games unless it involves someone being killed in the name of or some poor kid has an epileptic seizure.
The thing about games is there is nothing much else to report about other than the game itself. We have not got the "celebrities" found in other media so you don't get the likes of Miyamoto-san, Moore or Molyneux getting papped as they are buying milk or "walking" - maybe they are not cute enough... The last dev I ever read about was Jade Raymond and as much as she tried to talk constructively about her Creed project all we read about was how gorgeous she was. Oh, and then when the game didn't perform as good as hoped what do we read? Negative reports of her being just a pretty face (no need to expand. The comments were deeply disrespectful to such a talented creator)...
Games are not taken seriously because the majority still see it as an entertainment for teens, and we all know what the media perceive teens to be - hoodie culture good for nothings.
Until the general media can begin to see past its labelling fixation and understand firstly that not all kids are killers and that developers do not make games to feed those evil minds, we will get nowhere. We currently live in a very negative climate where the only news is bad news - Credit Crunch, gas prices, and banking. News currently only seem to fit one goal, and it seems to be to ensure fear is at the forefront of our lives. Games do completely the opposite and bring joy and entertainment, and it's creators don't fall under gossip magazine radars at present.
Still, don't worry. We will be back in the papers real soon - Saints Row 2 is nearly out! And if we want to see more of us in photos then maybe we will have to convince Kaz or Reggie to get out of the back of a car in crouchless panties.
Re: The Media doesn't take games seriously
Wow, that comment was extremely well written and contained some very valid points. Are you are professional writter? If so, where do you write?
You, Savage Cabbage, are an hero.
Re: Re: The Media doesn't take games seriously
Thanks Jack :)
I'm not a writer - just a gamer. Maybe the newspapers should hire one.
Re: The Media doesn't take games seriously
Celebrities and stories.
The only reason movies and music are newsworthy is because they are performed by people. People who publicise themselves through news stories and people who can be interviewed.
Very rarely do you see any of the support teams of movies or music (think producers, technicians, graphics artists, best boy grips etc etc) get interviewed, because the public do not see them and so cannot relate to them. It is only these 'back stage' people who work on games.
The other reason movies and music are better served by traditional media is that they have stories which can be linearly summarised. You could describe the plot or backstory of a game in a newspaper, but in a well designed game, the real 'story' emerges from the players actions in the game world. It would be very difficult to explain this in a newspaper article, as it varies for each person that plays it.
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