[Gamasutra news director Leigh Alexander peels back the lid on an industry built around play, and finds problematic toxicity and unhappiness in the games business, from developers to media to the audience they both serve.]

Some excerpts from the article that are applicable for games journalists:

"So you just get to play video games all day?"

You’ve probably heard that one before, whether you’re a developer or a member of the games media. And you got pretty annoyed, or at least you did after the fifth or sixth time someone said so.

...you will probably enter games journalism blogging on UberGam3rzHell dot com for free, glad when you get one comment that says "tl;dr" because at least it means someone clicked on your headline. Okay, so maybe it’s not always quite that extreme, but the fact is that the game industry is actually quite a deceptively-stressful place, and fresh-faced younguns with dreams of "playing video games all day" are in for it.

Some game journalists work their asses off for little pay, begging for scraps of interview access from a looming wall of corporate marketing, only to receive snide lectures from bloggers on how they’re not "real" journalists, to be privy to swaths of peanut-gallery essays about how they’re not "real" writers. Writers, reviewers and critics of all stripes cope with being made largely-lambasted "personalities" by a consumer base that often seems more interested in the writers than they do about the work being done in the field the writers cover.

This should be more than enough material for a discussion on working as a games journalist.

People think playing games all day is an easy thing. In theory yes it is, but when you factor all the note talking and gruelling punishment you put yourself through playing games you have no interest in, how is that easy? All the rubbish games you have to play for a review. Its very difficult to find the time to play games that I like for any length of time, and I don't even get paid as of yet.

It really depends where you are.

"Games" and "Journalism" probably shouldn't be connected in the same sentence, but if you're looking for some, hardcoregaming101 is probably the only place doing any work of note. The rest of the work is just sitting around waiting for the wire to glomp created news on writers who put out in order to stay current. Writers aren't sent out on journalistic assignments, they're inside a room playing games that were given to them by a publishing company so that they can do some self-advertising while keeping the content afloat. This is not a semantic argument either, because it gives game writers and game critics more than they are worth due. For the most part, the content of game sites is completely devoid of any notable rigor, and when the writers call themselves journalists on top of that, it can't be all that surprising that others don't take them seriously.

Leigh could learn a lot with a little humility, but the idea that maybe the writing really is that bad (and it really is) doesn't fit into the worldview. If anything, her anger at the criticism is only proof of an immaturity that is at the heart of game writing, mostly nostalgia for a bygone era where games (and those writing about them) could do no wrong.

Put another way, when we start hearing about banned videogames and the underground movement they caused because of their "dangerous political views" we can talk about the significance of games as a journalistic endeavor.  Until then we're all just critics, doing what critics do.

I agree. Most who are called "game journalists" (and I include myself in that number) are really just game critics. I'm trying to get used to referring to myself in those terms, after years of calling myself a "game journalist" just because that seemed to be the label that everyone thought fit.

The question I would add to the discussion is this: do we really NEED game journalists? What would they really report? Critics are up to the task of interviewing developers about their upcoming games. We're up to writing game previews. What in the industry requires actual journalism? To my mind, just about nothing does. EA was mistreating its employees. Okay, that could do with some journalism, but that's really more within the scope of a business publication or what have you. Activision is treating some of the Infinity Wards crew in a contemptible fashion. Again, that's more the business writer's beat. There just isn't much about the games industry that really requires journalism, as with other entertainment industries. Notice that most "journalists" who write about movies, for example, simply regurgitate gossip about what Angelina Jolie is doing this week.

I think we'll all do much better for ourselves when we just get used to living our lives as critics, not wannabe journalists.

Oddly enough, I feel game critics are precisely what this industry lacks. Looking into the job listings here and other things, it seems like you have to write news if you want a position doing reviews, and the two are NOT the same. Your food or film critic for the local paper may have abilities in making contacts and finding out what is going on, but first and foremost they are dedicated to movies or food. You don't have them go out to report on stuff going on between reviews. Their job is to critique.

To me it feels like there needs to be a greater division between people who report on games and people who critique them. Those who critique really ought to look at how other industries handle reviews, as well as familiarizing themselves with basic design concepts, usability and even film arts. These things can help look at games in a more serious manner than just "Well, I didn't like it, so it gets a 6/10".

I agree with Chris on the grounds where he states that game critics are what the industy lacks. There aren't to many people who will tell you straight forward that a game is garbage. I would like to add that there are a few different types of Video Game Journalists.