A Fine Line Painted With a Thick Brush

The, "blogosphere" (a buzzword we here at QPHQ try to avoid at all costs) is full of many different types. There's those that host their own personal blogs in order to talk about their lives, their pets, their jobs, etc. There's also people who own and operate their own blog, but on a more professional (or at very least, less personal) level - - for instance, a developer blog.

Then there's, "the big three." You know 'em, love 'em, or hate 'em. Truth be told, you probably have some allegiance to one or another (personally, I prefer the writing on Joystiq to anywhere else.) Time and time again, the argument is brought up: Is a blog news? Is a blog journalism? The short answer is no. The correct answer is, much like most things, "it depends." However, some of us bloggers adhere to at least a rough outline of journalistic principles. Apparently not Jim Sterling.

Mr. Sterling, of Destructoid fame, had this to say in a recent entry on the website:

"I don't like using the term 'journalist,' to describe myself. As Reverend Anthony put it himself on RetroforceGO, I am a blogger, not a journalist. A journalist is someone who investigates, who goes out in the field, finds the news. He interviews, he prods, he asks the kind of questions nobody else is asking. What do I do? I merely spread the word. I look at what the journalists have brought to us and take part in what I've seen referred to as the 'blog echo,' the posting and reposting of news among the entire mass of gaming blogs out there."

Now I know that I don't speak for all of us when I say this, but I know I speak for some of us: journalism is at the very core of what we do. Without adhering to those principles, being proud that we are, to some extent, amateur (and often professional) journalists, we are simply writing fiction. Words like, "truth" and "honesty" come to mind - - important words to a journalist.

Now don't get me wrong, I understand the differences (and oftentimes, massive hurdles) the world of bloggers has to encounter versus print media. I appreciate the fundamental differences. This doesn't mean we don't operate on the same principles and it certainly doesn't mean we shouldn't hold ourselves to the same scrutiny. It is these very ideas that challenge, "the blogosphere' and its credibility, especially in a mainstream forum.

In so many words, while (on some level) I understand what you're trying to say in your piece Mr. Sterling, these kinds of "I am who I am" pieces about bloggers versus print media do no more than to draw a thick line between two nearly synonymous forms of media.

So, QP reader, where do your loyalties lie? Mine loyalties remain firmly with....me.

An Army of United Nerds, or, How I Learned to Think Like a Group of People

The shit storm began roughly two weeks ago. Well, the most recent shit storm at least. Joystiq, like many other videogame news sites, has been running nearly daily coverage of the ridiculously outlandishly overblown controversy around EA/Bioware's, "Mass Effect." (The story has even warranted its own wikipedia page.)

Initially, the controversy was just one unheard of conservative blogger ranting about his gut reaction to the few YouTube videos of, "Mass Effect" he somehow stumbled upon. As gamers discovered his piece, they reacted to him and, as if things weren't ridiculous enough in his piece, Fox News even picked up the, "story" and ran with it. Geoff Keighley (yes, that Geoff Keighley) was asked to appear on Fox News to, "discuss" their claims - - and when he did, he was lambasted from all sides by arrogant downtalking and infantilization. The video is a great example of how Rupert Murdoch has turned Fox into all entertainment all the time. Political consideration aside, the lack of any respect towards the integrity of their own institution, none the less journalism on the whole, makes me wonder who's really out there, as a gamer, watching Fox for news.

Gamers run the gamut from conservative to liberal, politically speaking, just like the rest of the U.S.A. Gamers are not a unified group of people with the same political views, the same religious views - - we can't even agree on what horse reigns supreme. Fox News misrepresented the facts and, at very least, blew things way out of proportion. In doing so, Fox officially unified gamers behind something: a common enemy.

Cooper Lawrence, an "expert" in developmental psychology (I'm putting my money against that), became that figurehead. Ms. Lawrence thought she'd drop by a Fox newsroom and appear on a quick mid-day television show and in doing so, also promote her book. Based on her commentary, gamers flooded the Amazon.com page of the book she was promoting with negative reviews, claiming, much like she had, that they had never read the book but it was clearly terrible.

My question is this: Should gamers be enabling more stupidity like what happened at Fox by reacting as such? Yes, Ms. Lawrence acted that way herself - - does that mean we should too? Funny: clearly. Mature: not so much. And you? What do you think?