There are some trends in the game journalism scene that I believe prove detrimental to the industry. Unfortunately my degree is not in journalism, so I am no expert on the topic, but I would like to do a write up that describes the outline of a journalist site I would like to see. I understand much of my outline would not be beneficial for the site's company monetarily, but it is simply what I would like to see (in a perfect world) from a gaming journalist website.
The main attraction would be the news. There would of course be large portions of the site dedicated to providing news from the industries dominating platforms (PC, Sony, MS, Nintendo). But, there would also be sections dedicated to the changes happening in the industry as a whole.
For example, there would be a section titled "Technology", and it would be dedicated to new and upcoming technologies in the gaming industry. There could be a story on the Oculus Rift and virtual reality under this section, for example. Or maybe a story on the prominence of procedurally generated game worlds.
A great feature of the site would be documentaries on important eras in gaming history. Think Vice News. One of the documentaries could be on the changes brought to the industry due to the emergence of 3D technology.
Then, we have the reviews. But they are not game reviews in the traditional sense of, "ign gives Halo 9.42/10". Instead, they would be simple explanations of the games and their features. They detail what you can expect from the game when you purchase it.
There will be NO opinions in the reviews, whatsoever. Neither of the company, nor the journalist writing the review. No points, no opinions, just a run-down of the game.
The next section (separate from Reviews) is titled Opinions. Here there are names of the various journalists that operate the website. You may select a specific journalist to hear what they have to say about a certain topic.
Here, journalists say whatever they want to about a game or technology. It can be about anything pertinent to the industry. They are not allowed to give 'points' to any product. They simply state, this is what I like, this is what I don't, and here's how I think it could affect the industry.
The journalists will never be forced to endorse a certain product because that product's company is funding the website. Of course, because of this, the journalism website will probably never be funded by game companies to begin with.
It will be made clear that what is written in opinions is the 'opinions' of the individual journalists, and not the site as a whole. That way we can avoid "-website- says this game will suck!" being reported by opposing websites.
Each journalist hired must maintain a professional demeanor at all times and refrain from any sort of unnecessary bias during reporting.
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So there you have it. This is the type of content I would like to see from a gaming news site. Hopefully, as our industry matures, we will start to seem some websites like this come to the front.
If anyone knows any sites similar to what I have described, I would love to be linked to them.
What are your thoughts on how video game journalism can be improved?
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TL;DR (I'm at work) But I think it would be nice if the "journalists" actually knew what the hell they were talking about. I can't count the number of articles on Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2 I read that were simply factually wrong.