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Too Many Game Critics Suffer From "Look At Me" Syndrome

November 21, 2009 in Blog comments 12

There are many well respected game sites on the 'net who write fair and (mostly) unbiased articles and reviews. But there are even more sites that will do anything to gain traffic, even if that means losing all integrity. Using gimmicky pictures to draw attention, writing flamebait articles, issuing reviews that "clearly contrast sharply with the norm" just for the sake of gaining hits, etc.

Here is an article that takes a look at game critics who suffer from "look at me" syndrome...

This pic is a visual example of what too many video game critics have been doing as of late: using a gimmick to get more people to read their article.

In this particular case, I'm talking about issuing a review that clearly contrasts sharply with the norm, thereby causing a big ruckus and generating plenty of traffic for the author's website. We are in a unique position in this industry, in that the vast majority of journalism happens in the virtual realm and further, most all sites depend on traffic for revenue.
Miss Razz via psxextreme.com »
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  • 0
    Insanity Prevails Nov 21, 09
    Some unfortunate truths in this article, but I really don't get where the long term benefit is. Sure, these lower sites get some initial traffic with some crappy rebel article, but it's not enticing readers to keep checking out the site, and eventually it gets to the point where it's "lol, it's just these guys again".

    I suppose there's some humour value to it though.
    • 1
      Mishtram Nov 21, 09
      Hmm, yet Zero Puntuation and a dozen other similar sites continue to accrue a massive fanbase, because they go "against the norm."
      • 1
        Moonrise Nov 22, 09
        That's a dozen out of what though, thousands?
      • 3
        Shinobi_razor Nov 22, 09
        ZP usually makes valid points, where as the critics talked about in this often write total bullshit thats not even true or barely true.
        • 0
          Red 9* Nov 22, 09
          Yup. There's a difference between going against the norm just for the sake of it (ie making no real point to why you dislike it), and pointing out actual valid facts for going against the norm.
  • 1
    HisServant77 Nov 21, 09
    Too true

    Unfortunately I fear that this sort of thing is not going to stop either. With the flood of overly-emotional and overly-competitive fanboys that came into existence this gen . . . I fear that because those fanboys and the like have no desire to be reasonable or NOT argue and all that, this will carry over to the next gen as well unless some things change.

    We're probably in for a LONG, bumpy ride.
  • 5
    Existence Nov 21, 09
    This article could have been a analysis on this idiot
    • 2
      ZL Nov 21, 09
      I definitely agree.

      Sorry, 25 character limit. =(
    • 0
      HisServant77 Nov 22, 09
      Definitely! That's a great example there!
  • 2
    Red 9* Nov 21, 09
    This article hits a lot of right notes. We've been seeing a lot of what they're outlining here lately. A lot of smaller sites seem to be hating on respectable games just so they're different from everyone else. Such games as Arkham Asylum, Uncharted 2, MW2, and almost every fall games so far has had someone put up an article about "How terrible this game is and why nobody should like it". It's getting to the point where half the articles on GG are like that.
    • 1
      Insanity Prevails Nov 21, 09
      Soon enough there will be so many smaller sites trying to act as the rebels that they'll start producing articles that legitimately praise the good popular games in an effort to stand out from the crowd.
  • 3
    Tiger of Wu Nov 21, 09
    Would I in turn become Captain Obvious if I mentioned journalists without look-at-me syndrome having point-out-the-obvious syndrome?

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