#gamejournalism

In fact game critics are superior to critics of other mediums. Critics of paintings and sculptures barely even criticize, they just look for meaning and understanding. Do you know how much better Michelangelo's David would be if we were there to criticize that his exposed penis would cause rape triggers? Good job early 1500's Renaissance feminists, you set us back about 500 years. Movie critics make critiques but only after the film is out and they don't understand that a movie like Skeleton Man should be compared to the same artistic standard as Blue Jasmine. They believe in different audiences when in reality there should only be one audience like we think games should have, the 'Everyone' audience. As game critics we critique media before it even comes out. It used to be the only time we would provide opinion was when reviewing games in regards to graphics, gameplay, sound and longevity. Now we get to insult it and decry its bigotry with just mere concept art or a minute trailer and then when the review comes we really hit the creator where it hurts in review scores for not listening to us earlier. I don't care how well your game plays, that's not important. We can push for censorship or art direction changes to fix the creator's mistakes or try and smear their name to all who dare click. We are truly the critics above all critics.

Now people have argued that if you want change in this industry that, "you should go out and sell to that market you know is there. Make the art yourself, put out the games that you think need be made. Go out and create!". Well there's a bit of a problem with that. Creating games is amazingly hard and complex. I tried and all I got going was 'hello world' and then it was all syntax errors and compiling errors. I'm fine with writing lines and lines of how games don't fairly represent my socio-political agenda but lines and lines of code? 'if (can program or design) {make game} else {revile games and their target audience}'

As this is our fate we do the next best thing, which is to find someone with a modicum of ability, with a game that fits our world view and then promote the game and the creator as hard as we can. By showing AAA how amazingly reviewed these games they will one day force their devs to copy that winning formula. Publishers should force their writers/designers to stop creating things for white males, who think every day is humping season, and start creating things for journalists like me.

I hope this article has given you a better idea on why gaming journalists like me and the amazing militants at sites like Polygon and Kotaku are so important to this industry. Without us you would never know how uncultured you were.

Artistically signed,

Critic of Duty: Modern Warhol