Why Are Corporate Gaming Journalists So Bad?

Video games have been around since the early 90s — taking the world by storm. And with it, a rise of corporate gaming journalism has been witnessed.

Just like the regular newspaper journalist, such gaming journalists have built themselves somewhat of a negative reputation.

Let’s discuss why this has occurred, some examples of this within the industry, and how gaming journalists are improving.

The Problem with Game Journalists

Overall, video game journalists have probably been a net-positive for society. They guide you through games. They write about tips and tricks. And, they are a source of amusement.

Such journalists have been somewhat alienated from the general gaming community. They are typically seen as out-siders, that aren’t a true gaming enthusiast.

One redditor described their thoughts of gaming journalists as, “… It makes me cringe every time I think about them [Journalists], does anyone even read their articles?”

So, where does these negative feeling come from. How have these journalists made such a bad name for themselves? The primary issue is their PC (Politically Correct) nature, and their lack of authenticity when reviewing games.

Lets begin with their aforementioned lack of authenticity. Big companies, such as IGN, and PC Gamer typically lack any incentive to publish any negative reviews for games. Because the game developers and the article publishers are typically collaborating — and, usually have each other on speed dial! This leads to uninteresting and dry games appearing as a 10/10 in reviews.

Plus, these journalists typically are highly restrained in what they can, or cannot say. Working for such large publishers, they are limited in what words that are allowed to write. This leads to a lack of trustworthiness with the reader, as the gaming community is typically more interested in the cold, hard truth.

NeuralGamer.com — a Site Done Right

Let’s Begin with an example of a website that has got it write. Such websites are typically smaller in size, but provide accurate information.

neuralgamer.com is a gaming website, that produces simple-to-understand guides that the average gamer can understand. The site also features multiple tips and tricks for various popular, and unpopular games.

Furthermore, the site isn’t littered with ads, and doesn’t have one of those irritating anti adblocker programs.

What do Mainstream Gaming Publishers Do Wrong?

Now, let’s look at a textbook example of an irritatingly poor website design, that looks spammy and hell to navigate.

This is PC Gamer, a prominent website within the gaming niche. In contrast to the aforementioned neuralgamer.com — as soon as you open the sites homepage, the top half of the page is taken up by ads, or prompts.

As seen, the menu of the site only includes a few games — this lacks any kind of diversity. This means that to access smaller games, it is harder.

Furthermore, as you scroll through the sites posts, you will notice a sense of ‘spammyness’. In which, the articles are low quality, and all around bad. That primarily due to the site owner wanting to publish as many posts as possible, as fast as possible.

The owner lacks any kind of regard for good quality content.

Summary

There are many reasons to dislike gaming journalists employed by big-business. Their lack of authenticity has created a lack of trustworthiness within the gaming community — in which, there are various ways to get around this, and to find good publishers.

One example we found was neuralgamer.com, that provides high quality, easy to read guides, tips and tricks. This has been our take on why corporate gaming journalists are so bad, and why the gaming community dislikes them.