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Kotaku: Click link, receive headache.


On 03/29/2013 at 02:39 AM by Caesar

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I feel like this may be a moment where I'm preaching to the proverbial choir.  Everyone on this site is a gamer, and I'd guess that most - if not all - of you spend good amounts of time browsing various websites to get the latest news on games and the industry.

And as such, you're probably no fans of Kotaku.  Heck, I know I've got little reason to be.

Maybe instead of the preaching metaphor, this is one of those moments in which yours truly shuffles to a group of his peers with a beer in hand, wearing a look of complete befuddlement upon his face.  The words coming out of my mouth form only sentence fragments in between bits of stammering and pauses, which are in turn interrupted by sips from said beverage before it relocates to my forehead in an effort to cool down my frazzled brain.  And like the good friends you are, you listen to my woes with your own drinks in hand.

 

Games journalism wasn't something I really followed until I joined 1Up.  I'd read the occasional article, usually only those which struck my immediate interest.  I didn't have ideas of which sites were good or bad, or if there were any particularly crummy writers out there period.  I got a bit of a crash course in that after reading articles on 1Up and from many other sites.

Kotaku wasn't an unfamiliar name with me, but I never visited their site at all.  I wasn't curious, but I knew a few groups across the internet had a respective bone to pick with them.  And got-dang, I can still see why.

Frank Cifaldi tweeted his disappointment yesterday at an article/blog published by Kotaku about documents released by the FBI stating some of their findings in the home of Adam Lanza, the Newtown shooter.  Go ahead, read it and see if you don't have a reaction similar to his.

 

I don't know why, but part of me feels like this frustration is kind of my fault.  It's as if I should just come to expect this kind of frustrating garbage from Gawker Media.  I have a number of friends on Facebook who post links from Jezebel, another website from said media family.  And Kotaku itself is really playing the "feminism in gaming" card, because that's currently a hot topic, even if their articles themselves are trash (see: Patricia Hernandez).  Don't get me wrong--I think it's a discussion that needs to happen more than even some gamers realize (and definitely more than the industry may think).

But then we get crap like this.  We get a post that manages to blow its load early on an inflammatory headline and some of the most hackneyed writing I've ever seen.  Fitting that the author used to work for Time, because only such a sensationalist, virtually removed article like this could go into a publication that doesn't actually cover games.  But just as fitting, because what is a Gawker article without the structure to make it prime click-bait?

And that seems to be Kotaku's thing: putting up content that's sure to bring in the views but lacks little actual substance.  I've read from one or two other sites that they're also quite notorious for claiming their status as "just a blogging site" when an article gets blasted, but shortly thereafter referring to themselves as a serious game website.  I don't know, I don't have any proof or experience to exactly back that assertion up--but having read a couple of actually good articles on there, and then getting a prime turkey like this one, I'm inclined to throw some more faith behind that claim.

 

I'd like to think that games journalism - a field not without its fair share of controversies - has been growing stronger year-by-year as it attracts many more writers, from the professional level even on down to amateurs like ourselves.  But getting crap like this makes me wonder how much longer that fine-tuning process will take.  Gawker isn't small potatoes, and I wonder how long it'll take for them to either get constantly good content (focusing on writing actual articles, telling the crappy writers to hit the showers) or get left in the dust.

All I know is that that process will sadly take too long, and the internet will collectively be grinding its teeth until that day comes.

Happy Mask Salesman, displaying my feelings where words have failed.


(Author's note: I'll admit that this hasn't been one of my better posts anywhere online.  I've been fighting a bit of a headache tonight, and some of this REALLY hasn't made it much better.  But I needed to get it out, and I'm sure I'll revisit this topic sometime in the future with results you'll find far more satisfying.)


 

Comments

Super Step Contributing Writer

03/29/2013 at 04:49 AM

Despite having been on 1up then here since 2006, being a gamer since four or five, I still pretty much click on random topics that interest me and don't know much about game sites outside of 1up, Kotaku, IGN, Pixlbit, and I'm aware of egmnow because I used to love reading EGM.

As for the article itself, it doesn't really say much at all, just Adam Lanza had lots of guns, played COD, and that along with his mental illness may have correlated to his actions in some way. And? I mean I assume the guy's point is that playing violent games can have a different effect on a mentally unstable person than everyone else, and I don't disagree, but he doesn't elaborate at all. Just says a bunch of random facts and moves on, so why not just copy/paste the FBI item list, then below it say "Adam Lanza played COD according to a neighbor, and had a mental illness." It would get across the exact same information much quicker, and it's not like that would be all that much  less rushed than what he did anyway.

Caesar

04/01/2013 at 06:10 PM

Exactly.  And that's why seeing this from someone who's written for other publications, especially a noteable print magazine like Time, makes this article so frustratingly mediocre.  It doesn't actually say anything, just "Oh hey, he had some game systems, and here's some other articles (re: which probably lay out the findings better than this one does)."

Ranger1

03/29/2013 at 11:32 AM

Wow, that piece is remarkable in it's complete lack of any substance.

Caesar

04/01/2013 at 06:08 PM

Remarkable for being completely unremarkable.

transmet2033

03/29/2013 at 09:00 PM

I am currently annoyed at kotaku for taking nearly 2 weeks to long to talk about shovel knight.  

Caesar

04/01/2013 at 06:10 PM

Make a stink about how it's sexist--then you can expect them to talk about it.

BrokenH

03/29/2013 at 09:15 PM

 I'm clinically "mentally ill" but violent videogames never turned me into a killer. I thought reading that may help lay some stereotypes to rest for the rest of you.

 What's odd in my experience is "over counter pharmaceuticals" like depakote,paxil,eskalith,lithium,and geodon impaired my judgement and made me more violent and manic. Moral of the story? Be careful with drug cocktails,kids! Even "legal medications" can mess you up!

 After experimenting with "mental health drugs" I went back to my oath of being straight edge and solving my problems the old fashioned way. (Y'know, by admitting to them and working on solutions other than drowning myself in a bunch of pills) Needless to say, both my physical and emotional well being improved after that!

 As for Kotaku, don't get me started. Jezebel is just as bad if not worse. Not all fringes of feminism are gawd awful but there are a lot of "pseudo white knight sensationalist writers" who flaunt their feminism and like it's a trend in style. I can taste the stomach bile in my mouth just thinking about it!

Caesar

04/01/2013 at 06:08 PM

So the moral might be that Dr. Mario is worse than a violent shooter?

I think the angle of the article - that video game systems were found in Lanza's belongings - is a little more than insulting to us as gamers, and the fact that Kotaku is the source publishing feels kind of like back-stabbing.  It doesn't really mean anything in the long run, and it doesn't actually establish anything.

And I agree with your last point on Jezebel as well.  I think all that really needs to be said is that the Gawker Media family is nothing but crappy click-bait.

Coolsetzer

04/01/2013 at 06:54 PM

I remember that article. It seemed to be just like a lot of other posts on there: clickbait without any substance. I admit, I browse the site to see if there is anything worth reading. That's about 1 in 20 posts. Even when they do run an opinion piece, it's a damn 5,000 word essay. There isn't much of any real journalismon there, as evidenced by lack of meaningful stories and a frequent stealing of content from Reddit. I sent them tips more than once, but they apparently don't even look on there. Don't even get me started on their commenting system!

Caesar

04/01/2013 at 09:34 PM

As I mentioned, there seems to be this "disconnect" in terms of what Kotaku wants to be and how it wants to be regarded.  Some comments I saw on a few other sites pointed out how Kotaku will publish a piece which gets flamed, and tosses out the excuse that they're "just a blogging site, they aren't really journalists"; but not long afterward they'll insist that they're indeed a serious outlet.  I can't say for certain how true that is, so if anyone has specific examples, please point them out.  But I have seen them post exclusive articles and information (such as the Austrailian hacker who ended up with a Durango dev kit), which are indeed interesting and everyone flocks to, but then we'll get these flacid, dime-a-dozen rehashes from other sources.  Honestly, it confuses the heck out of me and makes me wonder how reliable some of their hotter exclusives really are.

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