Before I cut to the chase, I'd like to thank iamsuperman's blog post http://n4g.com/user/blogpos... regarding this issue. In his blog, he mentions what gaming journalism should do in order to present a more "fair and balanced" tone in all of their outlets, whether it be reviews or articles. After reading both that blog and viewing the usual comments that come through here, I had to ask myself: Who's going to take the first step towards a more welcoming atmosphere? I purpose that you, the reader, and I can be the first to achieve a better gaming atmosphere IF we can recognize these aspects.
1.) Opinions and bias are not going away
Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, Onion News, New York Times, and even NPR are all examples of educated indivduals giving biased news at some point or another, whether it would be through suspicious camera shots to their talk show hosts. We need to recognize that another opinion will be leaked in some way shape or form into a review (and some news articles). Yes, it's shocking to see Edge, IGN, and every other reviewing site to think that not every exclusive is the "cat's meow". Even though reviews have objective means of displaying the game's true quality, the reviewers themselves all have dispositions to find different qualities of a game to be more important than others. The problem with this, as seen with some low scores to hyped games, is the backlash received by the community for this disagreeable score; however, the advantage is the ability to find that certain reviewer you can relate with that gives the best explanation (in your opinion) as to why this game is bad/mediocre/good/excellent. The reason this is number one goes by the rule of finding a problem by first recognizing the problem.
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2.) You're wasting time by complaining, rather than making a change internally.
This is more of an uplifting aspect to the blog, rather than an analysis. How many examples have we seen throughout the Bible where someone is dawned with a sense of "spiritual self-realization" in order to change his/her outlook on life, or a situation at hand? The answer would be dozens upon dozens, I imagine. Although you may be questioning my example, I've used it to help you, as the reader, to realize that this isn't the only generation to be bombarded by these types of complaints, only the technology has changed. Throughout various stories, both fiction and non-fiction, the general outlook of said character usually only makes a turn for better once they've changed internally; more often than nought, the external situation has stayed the same or even gotten worse in some cases, yet he/she stays with their new outlook in order to feel satisfied. With number two on this list, I hoped this would come off as the no-brainer solution.
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3.) Attack the quality of the review content, not the review score.
If you are a usual to n4g, it's easy for you to notice that ps3 and 360 fanboys feel that certain sites have it out for some of their system's heralded exclusives. Just the other day, I was greeted to comments on Edge's recent review score for inFamous 2 that made me appauled to be a member of this site. For every herd of users who say "But you gave X exclusive a higher score than Y exclusive", you'll be lucky to see a handful of users grab a quote FROM the review and make a complaint about the diction, grammar, etc. You should also note that these attacks against a certain site are exclusive only when exclusives to a console are involved. This is a definite sign where gamers need to understand the reasons why this game received this score before openly attacking it.
I've even seen it in my own personal reviews (there was some good criticism given as well, mind you): http://n4g.com/channel/call...
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4.) Patience is a virtue
Face it, the reason some of these disagreeable sites have such a strong following is that they started from somewhere, made their way up the ladder, and lost sight of what gamers truly wish to see from the site altogether. I believe that we, the "website sojourners", can be the first to create a better enviroment on the internet if we go after the "meat and potatoes" of the site, rather than bashing the flair that gives the site more hits. You don't need to start a revolution in order for the industry to change for the better, just let your honest voice be heard before the masses and the internet will have one less troll to worry about.
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
Asking the gaming community to change is like wishing for world peace. As great as it sounds, it'll probably never happen, especially on N4G. I support positive change in a way, but I'm also cynical about our ability to change the attitudes of such a large demographic. So, like you said, all I can do is be an example and hope it doesn't get worse than it already is.
This sounds a bit like you're saying "I'm perfect, follow my example" instead of accepting the fact people are who they are and aren't gonna change.
People are biased: We're not robots. We have emotions and we tend to choose sides.
Point number 2 is just silly. Possibly inspired by the michael jackson song: "Man in the mirror". If you wanna make N4G a better place, you gotta look at yourself and make a chaaaaange!!!
Actually, I agree with point 3, people are too quick to look at a score and say, "OMG A 7? THIS IS A 10/10 GAME, UMAD???"
Not sure what you mean by point 4. Don't really know what patience has to do with the point you made there, but I know myself that I sometimes start writing and (Oh, look there's a fly) I forget what I was trying to say.
Nice blog post, Dood. :)
George Carlin has this excellent quote about life.
He said "When you're born in life, you get a ticket to the freakshow." Carlin Mentioned he's one of the few people who watches the freak show.
That's how I view this situation and most things that happens in life. The problems with the gaming community will never change as long as there is gaming. People like me and you who don't really like it can't do a thing about it. Just change yourself. That's all that matters to each person. Now of course this applies to real life too. Real life problems have NO real solution. Sometimes things are made worse when you interfere and think you can make a difference.
Just shake it off.
All I can say on the matter is Pavlov's Dog. :D
All trolls have been conditioned to instinctively cause aggravation at the mention of the word 'exclusive'. It usually results in saliva pouring from the salivary glands...This saliva is needed in order to make the sh*t that is about to leave said trolls mouth far easier to impart upon a gaming community.
The irony of it is that people will then attempt to defend what ever sh*t has been dribbled over <insert exclusive title here> which in turn escalates into the average article you see on N4G on a daily basis.
You can't change this, thats just the way it is. :D