Awarding Game Journalism - What Should We Do?
Kyle Orland's latest GameDaily column discusses Intent Media's new UK-based Games Media Awards, and he's done a good job of summing up an event which I'm, to put it politely, a bit uncomfortable about.
My quizzical looks are particularly because Intent's Stuart Dinsey explained that "...he'd like to get votes from "all the leading companies" in the games industry, probably by asking PR representatives to consult with their colleagues and place a vote to represent the company as a whole... Dinsey said they might consider letting members of the press vote and that the final voting panel would likely be some mixture of industry and press."
Enter a NGJ czar with some pithy comments: "But the mere specter of industry voting was enough to give some members of the press pause about the awards. "The games industry are the last people who should be voting for awards in games journalism," said British game freelancer Kieron Gillen. "It's a bit like the prisoners voting for who's their favourite prison guard." Gillen said he worries that the industry voting will make the award one "you wouldn't want to win.... because it's basically shorthand for 'Lapdog of the year award.'""
As Orland notes of the largely UK-specific awards: "Hard hitting critiques and investigative journalism are unlikely to be rewarded by the companies that work so hard to generate positive coverage and keep secrets until they're ready to be announced." So... what to do about the lack of game journalism awards judged exclusively by peers? Anyone want to start some, separately of the companies we work for? Not that we probably have time, doh.
[A possibility - I note the IGJA has some commentary on this very 'game journalism awards' issue, although they are probably giving me hideous looks over my attempted style guide critique. But hey, I just found a good defence of the guide on Games.net, so it's possible I'm just wrong/grumpy on that one. Anyhow, IGJA, take the lead on the whole journo awards thing, and I promise to behave in the future!]
Comments
Yeah, Simon, Games.net likes the guide... why don't you? *pout*
As for the independent game journalism awards, it's something I could see the IGJA doing if/when it really gets going.
Posted by: Kyle Orland | April 14, 2007 7:58 AM
If any game writer is really and truly desperate to be recognized for his efforts, why not join SPJ? Why don't we all join, actually? We're supposed to be real journalists, right? I'm sure any game writer who could win an award in that lot would be a truly remarkable creature - nigh-mythic, even.
Posted by: parish | April 14, 2007 9:23 AM
I actually feel that a lot of the better, looser game writing out there would be less well recognized by formal aggregations of (largely print) journalists.
Having said that, we got Game Developer and Gamasutra nominated in the definitely non game-journalist centric Maggie Awards, so I'm not against that type of thing.
And I would hope other game journalists reading this would try to do the same for relevant competitions in their area.
But, for example - I'd like to see the possibility that 'best game critique' as an award would go to your Cooking Mama review, Jeremy.
Or perhaps 'best investigative piece' in games to encourage some longer-form reports that actually seek things out. Y'know?
Posted by: simonc | April 14, 2007 9:38 AM
I'm just curious as to what pictured former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam has to do with this...
Posted by: alistairw | April 14, 2007 9:51 AM
Ah, Google image search for 'award', I think. I thought maybe they were handing out awards in the picture, but I guess they're not. Still - it looks neat!
Posted by: simonc | April 14, 2007 10:27 AM
That's flattering, Simon, but I don't think my Cooking Mama review deserves anything but "novelty of the year" status. It presumes too much familiarity with the game, its predecessor and a fairly niche TV to work for a general audience. Same with the twitter-style Lost In Blue 2 review.
Posted by: parish | April 15, 2007 9:16 AM
Money is a good enough award for me. Write to eat, eat to live! :P
And heck, I just want to write depthy, mind-blowing, socially responsible articles because it's fun. Maybe I missed the memo, but I always thought that was what you were supposed to do in journalism, awards or not. Then again, I never went to journalism school (I'm a poly-sci dropout). Perhaps awards are the best incentive for "real" journalists? For now, I'll maintain my naive, innocent world view.
Posted by: Not RedWolf, I Swear | April 15, 2007 10:10 PM