I will start by saying what this article is not.  I am not going to discuss “gamergate.”  I don’t even like that term.  I’ve never liked the whole put-gate-on-the-end scandal naming convention.  It only worked that one time, and now we’re all referencing Nixon over and over again.  I digress.  I am not talking about that scandal.  If I even tried, this article would be outdated before I even got it posted.

Instead, my intention is to briefly focus on some of the aspects that have come to light during this scandal.  I won’t go too deep, given that I’ll be the first to admit I don’t grasp everything that has happened.  I also have absolutely no intention to go into the sex lives of those in the gaming media, nor do I wish to comment about release the details of these sex lives to the public.  That’s not my place.  What I will, discuss, however, is some of the absurdity that I have witnessed, and what my pragmatic response would be.

Let’s begin with the label “gamer.”  This is a label that I haven’t liked for years.  It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be known as a gamer.  I just thought it came across as silly.  Folks who read books aren’t called “bookers” after all.  With all the loud noise I’ve seen lately about this title, I’ve come to rethink my position.  We may not have “bookers,” but we do have “readers.”  What do you call a person who plays games? A player?  That has other connotations.  So, the term “gamer.”  Why I ever talked myself out of using it, I couldn’t say.  It’s perfectly logical.

So, is the “gamer” identity dead?  No.  I’m not sure where the sanctimonious tone came from.  You can’t just erase an entire identity of a “gamer” any more than you could a “reader” or a “dentist.”  It’s a descriptor.  So long as I can use a controller to make Mario jump on the mushroom, I’ll be a gamer, and no pseudo-intellectual self-righteous pandering will make me stop saying it.  The very argument of it is as silly as the amazing coincidence of all the articles saying the such a thing popping up at the same time.

Now, let me touch on games journalism.  To put it bluntly, there is no such thing as games journalism.  I will repeat.  There is no such thing as games journalism.  The people who write these articles on other sites are not journalists.  I am not a journalist.  Again, I am not a journalist.  I’m just some guy who says my opinion and my faithful seven readers read them and either laugh or sigh.  I do not investigate, I do not uncover news, as I am not a journalist.

The other folks in the games media are not games journalists, either.  We’ve had close, but there has never been journalism.  In ways unlike any other medium I’ve known, the games media and the games industry are in bed with each other (no pun intended).  It’s a chummy relationship that I assume came from games being such a niche market for so many years that the media could only survive by working with industry, and vice versa.  I get it, but it doesn’t make the media into journalists.  It often feels like they repeat what the games industry tells them.  They are a slave to the advertising dollars by the games industry, so the perception says.  The anecdotal evidence is around.

Whether or not those advertising dollars influence any or all media members is still a point of contention.  As my readers tend to be smarter than average, I’ll leave them to derive their own conclusions.  However, the very appearance of corruption undermines principles.  It undermines a sense of integrity, whether that integrity is present or not.  Relationships between the media, the PR, and the industry also undermine the work of the media by undercutting its impartiality.  Again, it need not actually corrupt the media reporting, it only needs to give the appearance of impropriety.  Perhaps the assumption was that gamers wouldn’t notice or care?  I’m not sure, nor would I speculate that it was any one thing.  Suffice to say, gamers have noticed.  But as it relates to games journalism, there is no such thing as games journalism.

Now, let’s talk about some people I don’t like.  Since I don’t want to set off any Google alerts, nor do I wish to give these people more attention than they already have, I’ll speak in terms of generality.  Certain YouTube personalities with perhaps a bit too much ego have come under much fire from individuals who disagree with them.  Given the average set of YouTube comments, I could see why these people are upset.  The anonymity on the web certainly does not bring out the “best” in people.  Typically, when these YouTube personalities create new content, it is met with either dedicated discipleship, or staunch rejection, sight unseen.  That’s just not healthy.  At least see the thing you hate before you hate it so you know you hate it.  Also, don’t threaten to kill somebody.  It’s just tacky. On the other hand, being threatened doesn’t mean you’re right and it doesn’t mean you can condemn a wide swath of the populace. That is also tacky.

As I conclude my voyage through pragmatic perspective with just enough absurdity to keep it interesting, I implore others to do the same.  You don’t always have to pick sides if you don’t want to, but at least do your homework and pick the side you truly believe is right. Also, you certainly don’t have to dive headfirst into controversy.  Personally, I’ve found that reading about the sex/personal lives of these people to be dreadfully boring and not at all revealing of anything I didn’t already know.  It was easy to see that games media was in trouble, likely corrupt, and that there was no such thing as games journalism.  An ex-boyfriend who leaks the sexual information of a cheating partner simply shows they were both scumbags, and ironically perfect for each other.  It certainly absolves nobody of their sins, but it makes a mess of things. I think at this point I can safely say we all can’t get along, but you can’t provoke me any more than I’ll let you, games media. I’m better than that, and so are all eight of my readers. (I’m assuming I’ve gained one by now.)

As this thing develops, with its silly name and lack of games journalism, I urge my readers, all eight of you, to keep a level head as self-enclosed echo chambers of the same circular arguments churn, and maintain a voice of reason. You certainly don’t have to, nor probably should you, remain neutral. While I understand that this was the result of several factors and faults are on both sides of the fence (one side more than the other), once again, I stress that the extreme actions taken by some gamers do not negate the wrong done by the media side here.  However, if you can only take one thing out of today’s article, please remember: There is no such thing as games journalism.