Eurogamer Staff Meltdown?

[Dogg Thang]

There is such thing as bad publicity. If they end up with loads of hits from this and yet have many people thinking Eurogamer publishers godawful rubbish, that's not a job well done. That's shooting themselves in the foot.

[Sketcz]

Reading the title of this thread I thought it was referring to this. Then I checked and realised that's from VG247. Still, seems to be a lot of bizarre satire going around at the moment. Someone must have spiked the cocaine pool these chaps frequent.

Well i like his dry black humour, maybe it's a Scottish thing, and i enjoyed his wacky views on consolevania, he kinda reminds me of our own beloved Sketcz, they think the same, have a weird view of the industry and our hobby, but most speak the truth and are pretty knowledgeable.

You're making me blush, mrbubbles.

The sad fact is, most of the time when I've browsed non-specialist gaming press for coverage on games, that is the exact tripe they print. I think it's the Guardian that has a tech section written by people who know games, and it's OK I seem to recall, but so often I log out of Hotmail and there's an MSN "games article" being advertisied, written by someone who clearly has never played games, but is trying to be all "front line". The most ridiculous are the FHM and lad's mag reviews, where I think to myself, why bother? Or this rubbish. I'm not saying this piece by Rab is effective, I just get what he's implying.

Any way, I hate most specialist games press too.

[MisterBubbles]

Another good article by Rab http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...?page=comments

[Sketcz]

Bloody good feature that. Bloody good.

[noobish hat]

It's how the whole world is run, it doesn't surprise me to know that it's also how gaming journalism is run.

[Sketcz]

You should do a stint on the inside, "in-house", in their filthy plastic trenches. I saw things, man. Things that would blow your mind.




[Games] Journalism is not a profession or a trade. It is a cheap catch-all for ****-offs and misfits - a false doorway to the backside of life, a filthy piss-ridden little hole nailed off by the building inspector, but just deep enough for a wino to curl up from the sidewalk and masturbate like a chimp in a zoo-cage.
- Hunter S Thompson

[Sketcz]

Here's a follow up to Rab's article, by an RPS guy. It's equally as good:

http://botherer.org/2012/10/24/games-journalists-and-the-perception-of-corruption/

[noobish hat]

And now alll those moments will be lost in time... like piss in the rain...

[BaronSqwelch]

Did like that feature...I normally hate his "comedy" stuff tho tbh

Wasn't til I got into twitter that I realised how insipid most "journalists" are...followed loads but have trimmed that right down to a few good ones, like the RPS guys and (for my shame) a couple I find attractive, but then I ignore their babbling and just look for a 'view photo' post

[chopemon]

Lauren Wainwright made a legal threat to Eurogamer about the article so the part mentioning her has been removed and Rob Florence is no longer writing for Eurogamer. Piece on it by John Walker here.

[Brad]

Wonder what they threatened? All he did was quote what was on her public twitter feed that the entire world can still see. The correct response would have been for her to have written a reply. Now the whole thing has got much more publicity than it ever would have and her name will be dragged through the mud by people who only know half the story.

[MisterBubbles]

Seems a boycott of SE and Tomb Raider is now in order, anybody else want to vote with their wallet?

[MisterBubbles]

But her name says shes working for SE( on her Twitter account ) , what are the general public to think, she's posting hashtag stuff at the GMA's about Tomb Raider but says this is just her love of the series. it this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuqry9SMjQM

[Sketcz]

Silly sausages. Don't they know that once online it NEVER goes away?

Here's the offending section that was removed:

One games journalist, Lauren Wainwright, tweeted: "Urm... Trion were giving away PS3s to journalists at the GMAs. Not sure why that's a bad thing?"

Now, a few tweets earlier, she also tweeted this: "Lara header, two TR pix in the gallery and a very subtle TR background. #obsessed @tombraider pic.twitter.com/VOWDSavZ"

And instantly I am suspicious. I am suspicious of this journalist's apparent love for Tomb Raider. I am asking myself whether she's in the pocket of the Tomb Raider PR team. I'm sure she isn't, but the doubt is there. After all, she sees nothing wrong with journalists promoting a game to win a PS3, right?

Another journalist, one of the winners of the PS3 competition, tweeted this at disgusted RPS writer John Walker: "It was a hashtag, not an advert. Get off the pedestal." Now, this was Dave Cook, a guy I've met before. A good guy, as far as I could tell. But I don't believe for one second that Dave doesn't understand that in this time of social media madness a hashtag is just as powerful as an advert. Either he's on the defensive or he doesn't get what being a journalist is actually about.

The cause of this entire problem with corruption and supposed compromise, and countless other problems as highlighted by various parties, is because in the UK writers are not paid enough.

Staff writers and section editors (News, Review etc): between ?12k and ?15k at the top of the spectrum

Full Editors/EIC: between ?17k and ?22k

Compare that to a proof reader at somewhere like IPC Media in the UK, where the starting salary for a proof reader is ?22k with ?500 annual wage increase. A grammar monkey earning more than someone who needs t run an entire publication! Or American magazines or websites, where the staff salaries are considerably higher, and no one is even classified as "staff writer" - they're all editors.

When you can barely afford rent or food, the dangle of carrots from PR houses must tempt quite a few.

[Brad]

Good old Stu Campbell:

http://wosland.podgamer.com/