Paddon and Sterling Give Game Journalism a Breath of Fresh Air - News

by VGChartz Staff , posted on 24 January 2011 / 2,172 Views

As some of you that follow this site may know, I am interested in some of the larger systemic issues that I feel negatively affect the games industry and game journalism in general.

So when I found the Game Journalists are Incompetent F*%!wits site, I was happy to see someone taking the first steps towards building a kind of accountability towards the game journalism field. While it may just be a single Tumblr blog, today I felt the beginnings of what I hope is a real stride towards building at least a structured narrative about what game journalism should or shouldn't be.

That feeling of hope came in the juxtaposition of Ben Paddon, creator of GJAIF, and Jim Sterling, among other things the reviews editor at Destructoid. In a truly excellent discussion of the field at Original-Gamer, the two sat and talked about their similarities and differences.

That's right - talked. In a civil, informative, and often amusing fashion, the two spoke about issues such as the responsibility of a site to its readers, writing for hits or Google Trends, and broad failings (and successes) of game journalism in general.

It was a delightful listen, and it made me change some of the feelings I have about what certain sites pass off as news. One of the biggest points I took away was honesty as a writer, to not only yourself but also to your readers.

And if there is one quality I would give Jim Sterling it is the quality of honesty. Whether you think of him as repulsive or eloquent, he is honest to his readers and made excellent points about giving readers the content they want. He encouraged constructive criticism from readers and acknowledged it as a principal way for writers to grow their craft and also grow the relationship they have with the people they write for.

I've sometimes felt like a lone voice when I defend Jim's work, usually because it is so easy for someone unfamiliar with him to label him as a prime example of everything wrong with game journalism. I used to think that as well, but through an interview I conducted with him and through his Jimquisition videos I found him to actually be an excellent and honest voice about the industry, despite his sometimes crass delivery.

As for Ben Paddon, I've found myself very much in support of his work at GJAIF and someone with uncommon grace given the thankless job of telling people, often unversed in dealing with direct criticism, they not only can they do better, but that they should be doing better. I hold his transparency when blogging in very high regard and hope that others will follow the tradition of alerting readers when edits to a story are made.

Both Paddon and Sterling made excellent points, refuted each other civilly, and still had wonderful energy despite sometimes being on opposite sides of an issue. It was really refreshing to see people coming together to discuss something, rather than the snide, fly-by-night personal attacks that appear on Twitter so often.

So if you have some time to spare I really recommend listening to two funny men discuss a field they are both passionate about. I really hope to see not only Original-Gamer but also other sites taking up this kind of feature, as this is truly an excellent beginning to understanding game journalism and making the industry better for everyone - writers and readers.

Bravo to everyone involved!

The podcast can be found here.

Disclaimer: This article is the work of one writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of gamrFeed, its staff, or management.

6 Comments

LordTheNightKnight (on 27 January 2011)

"Are we really thinking about the same Jimi "the flame bait review" Sterling here ?"

The reviews aren't flame bait. Reviews that hate, or even like, games for stupid reasons are flame bait. I disagree with Jim on a lot of things, but his reviews are his honest opinions.

Cheddarchet (on 24 January 2011)

I've actually always liked Jim Sterling. I don't often agree with his reviews, but I've always thought the editorials he used to write were quite funny, and I sometimes enjoy the Jimquisition series he does now, too.