"... when they win it's meritocracy but when we win it's identity politics." So damn true. What an incredibly powerful speech. I was not aware of N.K. Jemisin or her series but I will definitely...
"... when they win it's meritocracy but when we win it's identity politics."
So damn true. What an incredibly powerful speech. I was not aware of N.K. Jemisin or her series but I will definitely be checking it out now.
The books she won the Hugo-trifecta with are, all current event completely aside, incredible sci-fi novels. Definitely some of the best sci-fi I've ever read.
The books she won the Hugo-trifecta with are, all current event completely aside, incredible sci-fi novels. Definitely some of the best sci-fi I've ever read.
A little bit of a tangent to the article but I've been seeing GamerGate pop up more and more as the kickoff point for alt-right points of views spreading across the internet. Can't say I'm...
A little bit of a tangent to the article but I've been seeing GamerGate pop up more and more as the kickoff point for alt-right points of views spreading across the internet.
Can't say I'm surprised, so many of the alt-right tactics we see now were hammered out and polished during the GamerGate days when they discovered how loudly shouting lies with confidence was really all that was necessary to convince so many people.
It really was. It took an already toxic community and gave them someone to hate. And what people never seem to address is that few things are as intoxicating as righteous indignation. But the...
I've been seeing GamerGate pop up more and more as the kickoff point for alt-right points of views spreading across the internet.
It really was. It took an already toxic community and gave them someone to hate. And what people never seem to address is that few things are as intoxicating as righteous indignation. But the thing is, in order to feel righteous and do things like call people racial slurs online, you have to buy into a really warped worldview. And as people sink deeper and deeper into that hate hole their worldview has to become more and more warped so that they don't have to acknowledge that they are the ones who are wrong.
Also I think it's pretty clear now was only very briefly about "Ethics in Gaming Journalism". It was very much about white males feeling like their space was being invaded and lashing out. The overlap between GamerGators and Sad/Rabid Puppies and ComicsGaters seems to be pretty significant.
Oh boy, I'd say it was never about that. I don't trust any movement whose followers can say "We don't have to practice it, we just want others to!" with a straight face—triply so when the "it" is...
Also I think it's pretty clear now was only very briefly about "Ethics in Gaming Journalism".
Oh boy, I'd say it was never about that. I don't trust any movement whose followers can say "We don't have to practice it, we just want others to!" with a straight face—triply so when the "it" is journalism i.e. reporting of facts!
For me at least, it seemed like the ethics of gaming journalism was something worth discussing when GamerGate first started. AAA games from EA seemed to be getting great ratings from Gamespot and...
For me at least, it seemed like the ethics of gaming journalism was something worth discussing when GamerGate first started. AAA games from EA seemed to be getting great ratings from Gamespot and IGN even when the games were terrible. The way that advance copies were sent out only to reviewers who gave good reviews to certain studios seemed shady, and it just seemed overall like "gaming journalism" was in the pocket of the major studios.
But within like, a week, it was pretty clear that what people really wanted to do was hate on the dreaded SJW menace and how it was ruining video games as an industry. Which has led to where we are now.
Hm? I recall the blackballing of outlets and issues about review copies were always pretty widely covered and exposed, like when Sony blackballed Kotaku, or when Jeff Gerstmann was fired. I'd say...
The way that advance copies were sent out only to reviewers who gave good reviews to certain studios seemed shady, and it just seemed overall like "gaming journalism" was in the pocket of the major studios.
Hm? I recall the blackballing of outlets and issues about review copies were always pretty widely covered and exposed, like when Sony blackballed Kotaku, or when Jeff Gerstmann was fired. I'd say video game journalism was going just fine. There were problems but nothing that would have called for a movement like GamerGate. Video game journalism was never entrapped in a dense payola scheme. Everytime someone tried, it was very easily found out.
I worked on a small gaming site around the time and the only place that I felt that we weren't getting a fair shake was in the work that required reputation. Not a personal connection, but a reputation. We couldn't get questions answered, and we couldn't get scoops. All we got were press releases that were mass-emailed out.
As far as review copies, EA was very good about sending us review copies but smaller publishers ignored us frequently. No matter what the review score was, the big publishers never seemed to exhibit any bias about review copies. The smaller studios ignored us frequently but that wasn't out of spite or malice—they were simply too small to have the framework in place to manage review copies being sent out to every site that asked.
Metacritic was honestly the company that flouted their power the most at us, not any dev or publisher. Publishers loved it when they got another review. Metacritic knew that if we weren't on their site, we were prevented from developing a better reputation.
As for why those games always scored high... well, that's a bit of an inherent bias when you can only review so many games in a month, and you choose all the better ones. Would you think anyone was interested in reading a review of a small Polish studio's very mediocre shooter Infernal for Xbox 360 compared to another AAA publisher's third-tier title? Our stats showed people were not, and our bottom line felt it hard. Those AAA games generally do skew higher because they really are of reasonable quality compared to some of the real crapware out there. For every AAA annual release that was another blah entry, there were a dozen really bad indie and small titles that we were sent too. If we could have written reviews for every game in the inbox, there would definitely have been a lot more balance to the overall review scores.
This isn't to suggest that perhaps there was some finagling at some outlets (again: Jeff Gerstmann) but the instances are much, much rarer than one would think.
We never got onto Metacritic, by the way. The site died quickly.
Yeah, it honestly does bother me that the minimum score AAA games get these days is a 7 unless it's a totally broken and literally unplayable mess. And IMO it's no coincidence that so many game...
Yeah, it honestly does bother me that the minimum score AAA games get these days is a 7 unless it's a totally broken and literally unplayable mess. And IMO it's no coincidence that so many game review sites used to be plastered with full page, totally custom themes advertising the games they were reviewing. But it became abundantly clear to me almost immediately, with the insane Zoë Quinn rumor mongering and appalling hate campaign directed towards her by that crowd, that gamergate was more about encouraging harassment and misogyny than any legitimate complaints about game journalism ethics. It's really a shame, too... since I do still think ethics in gaming journalism is an issue worth discussing but you can't even really bring it up anymore without risk of being associated with the gamergate assholes.
I haven't been keeping up with new scifi/fantasy releases the past few years so I hadn't heard of her books but the Broken Earth trilogy sounds really interesting!
From a purely sci-fi standpoint I think they are wonderfully original in the same vein I felt The Three-Body Problem was original. They're very clearly their own thing, and I loved all three of...
From a purely sci-fi standpoint I think they are wonderfully original in the same vein I felt The Three-Body Problem was original. They're very clearly their own thing, and I loved all three of the books.
How did you feel about the writing itself? I really enjoyed the creativity and thoughtfulness of Three-Body, but thought that the prose was either stilted to begin with or else suffered terribly...
How did you feel about the writing itself? I really enjoyed the creativity and thoughtfulness of Three-Body, but thought that the prose was either stilted to begin with or else suffered terribly in translation.
I thought the writing was decent. Definitely not the same issues as Three-Body because Jemisin is a native English-speaker. I thought it was excellent for sci-fi. Personally what ruins spec-fic...
I thought the writing was decent. Definitely not the same issues as Three-Body because Jemisin is a native English-speaker. I thought it was excellent for sci-fi.
Personally what ruins spec-fic books for me is terrible dialogue. Jemisin does dialogue fine, so I was able to get caught up in the world-building.
Are the Broken Earth series sci-fi btw? As in, is there much development of the human implications from a technological or social situation that humans might live in? From reading reviews it seems...
Are the Broken Earth series sci-fi btw? As in, is there much development of the human implications from a technological or social situation that humans might live in? From reading reviews it seems to be more fantasy & magic based than something which might exist?
For example Nights Dawn Trilogy had too much magic in it for me even with the fig leaf at the end.
I would say it's both, kinda. It falls better into the overall umbrella of "spec-fic". There is magic, but eventually the root of it is explained. Also the world is a society that has grown out of...
I would say it's both, kinda. It falls better into the overall umbrella of "spec-fic". There is magic, but eventually the root of it is explained. Also the world is a society that has grown out of a post-apocalyptic planet and it really explores the kind of society that could thrive in a very hostile environment. The "social situation humans might live in" is really forefront, moreso than the magic.
It reminds me a lot of Le Guin, world-building wise.
Just finished the last book in the TBP was wondering if there were enough people on Tildes who'd finished the set to start a discussion. Some parts of the 3rd book are not things I could imagine...
Just finished the last book in the TBP was wondering if there were enough people on Tildes who'd finished the set to start a discussion.
Some parts of the 3rd book are not things I could imagine reading from a Western author.
Exactly. That's part of what made Three-Body so great for me. It was definitely coming from a non-Western point of view. I've started reading sci-fi from the Strugatsky brothers and I'm enjoying...
Some parts of the 3rd book are not things I could imagine reading from a Western author.
Exactly. That's part of what made Three-Body so great for me. It was definitely coming from a non-Western point of view. I've started reading sci-fi from the Strugatsky brothers and I'm enjoying them too. As much as I love Western spec-fic, It's nice to have something fresh from time to time.
My father turned me on to the Three-Body Problem trilogy, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you have a favorable comparison between the two trilogies, I'll be sure to put this trilogy on my reading...
My father turned me on to the Three-Body Problem trilogy, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you have a favorable comparison between the two trilogies, I'll be sure to put this trilogy on my reading list for the fall. Cheers!
Vox's The Ezra Klein Show has an interesting episode with N.K. Jemisin in which she gives a seminar in world building: http://podbay.fm/show/1081584611/e/1535360400
Vox's The Ezra Klein Show has an interesting episode with N.K. Jemisin in which she gives a seminar in world building:
"... when they win it's meritocracy but when we win it's identity politics."
So damn true. What an incredibly powerful speech. I was not aware of N.K. Jemisin or her series but I will definitely be checking it out now.
The books she won the Hugo-trifecta with are, all current event completely aside, incredible sci-fi novels. Definitely some of the best sci-fi I've ever read.
Her stuff is amazing, not just this trilogy but her older work as well. You've got some great books ahead of you.
A little bit of a tangent to the article but I've been seeing GamerGate pop up more and more as the kickoff point for alt-right points of views spreading across the internet.
Can't say I'm surprised, so many of the alt-right tactics we see now were hammered out and polished during the GamerGate days when they discovered how loudly shouting lies with confidence was really all that was necessary to convince so many people.
It really was. It took an already toxic community and gave them someone to hate. And what people never seem to address is that few things are as intoxicating as righteous indignation. But the thing is, in order to feel righteous and do things like call people racial slurs online, you have to buy into a really warped worldview. And as people sink deeper and deeper into that hate hole their worldview has to become more and more warped so that they don't have to acknowledge that they are the ones who are wrong.
Also I think it's pretty clear now was only very briefly about "Ethics in Gaming Journalism". It was very much about white males feeling like their space was being invaded and lashing out. The overlap between GamerGators and Sad/Rabid Puppies and ComicsGaters seems to be pretty significant.
Oh boy, I'd say it was never about that. I don't trust any movement whose followers can say "We don't have to practice it, we just want others to!" with a straight face—triply so when the "it" is journalism i.e. reporting of facts!
For me at least, it seemed like the ethics of gaming journalism was something worth discussing when GamerGate first started. AAA games from EA seemed to be getting great ratings from Gamespot and IGN even when the games were terrible. The way that advance copies were sent out only to reviewers who gave good reviews to certain studios seemed shady, and it just seemed overall like "gaming journalism" was in the pocket of the major studios.
But within like, a week, it was pretty clear that what people really wanted to do was hate on the dreaded SJW menace and how it was ruining video games as an industry. Which has led to where we are now.
Hm? I recall the blackballing of outlets and issues about review copies were always pretty widely covered and exposed, like when Sony blackballed Kotaku, or when Jeff Gerstmann was fired. I'd say video game journalism was going just fine. There were problems but nothing that would have called for a movement like GamerGate. Video game journalism was never entrapped in a dense payola scheme. Everytime someone tried, it was very easily found out.
I worked on a small gaming site around the time and the only place that I felt that we weren't getting a fair shake was in the work that required reputation. Not a personal connection, but a reputation. We couldn't get questions answered, and we couldn't get scoops. All we got were press releases that were mass-emailed out.
As far as review copies, EA was very good about sending us review copies but smaller publishers ignored us frequently. No matter what the review score was, the big publishers never seemed to exhibit any bias about review copies. The smaller studios ignored us frequently but that wasn't out of spite or malice—they were simply too small to have the framework in place to manage review copies being sent out to every site that asked.
Metacritic was honestly the company that flouted their power the most at us, not any dev or publisher. Publishers loved it when they got another review. Metacritic knew that if we weren't on their site, we were prevented from developing a better reputation.
As for why those games always scored high... well, that's a bit of an inherent bias when you can only review so many games in a month, and you choose all the better ones. Would you think anyone was interested in reading a review of a small Polish studio's very mediocre shooter Infernal for Xbox 360 compared to another AAA publisher's third-tier title? Our stats showed people were not, and our bottom line felt it hard. Those AAA games generally do skew higher because they really are of reasonable quality compared to some of the real crapware out there. For every AAA annual release that was another blah entry, there were a dozen really bad indie and small titles that we were sent too. If we could have written reviews for every game in the inbox, there would definitely have been a lot more balance to the overall review scores.
This isn't to suggest that perhaps there was some finagling at some outlets (again: Jeff Gerstmann) but the instances are much, much rarer than one would think.
We never got onto Metacritic, by the way. The site died quickly.
Yeah, it honestly does bother me that the minimum score AAA games get these days is a 7 unless it's a totally broken and literally unplayable mess. And IMO it's no coincidence that so many game review sites used to be plastered with full page, totally custom themes advertising the games they were reviewing. But it became abundantly clear to me almost immediately, with the insane Zoë Quinn rumor mongering and appalling hate campaign directed towards her by that crowd, that gamergate was more about encouraging harassment and misogyny than any legitimate complaints about game journalism ethics. It's really a shame, too... since I do still think ethics in gaming journalism is an issue worth discussing but you can't even really bring it up anymore without risk of being associated with the gamergate assholes.
I haven't been keeping up with new scifi/fantasy releases the past few years so I hadn't heard of her books but the Broken Earth trilogy sounds really interesting!
From a purely sci-fi standpoint I think they are wonderfully original in the same vein I felt The Three-Body Problem was original. They're very clearly their own thing, and I loved all three of the books.
How did you feel about the writing itself? I really enjoyed the creativity and thoughtfulness of Three-Body, but thought that the prose was either stilted to begin with or else suffered terribly in translation.
I thought the writing was decent. Definitely not the same issues as Three-Body because Jemisin is a native English-speaker. I thought it was excellent for sci-fi.
Personally what ruins spec-fic books for me is terrible dialogue. Jemisin does dialogue fine, so I was able to get caught up in the world-building.
Are the Broken Earth series sci-fi btw? As in, is there much development of the human implications from a technological or social situation that humans might live in? From reading reviews it seems to be more fantasy & magic based than something which might exist?
For example Nights Dawn Trilogy had too much magic in it for me even with the fig leaf at the end.
I would say it's both, kinda. It falls better into the overall umbrella of "spec-fic". There is magic, but eventually the root of it is explained. Also the world is a society that has grown out of a post-apocalyptic planet and it really explores the kind of society that could thrive in a very hostile environment. The "social situation humans might live in" is really forefront, moreso than the magic.
It reminds me a lot of Le Guin, world-building wise.
Just finished the last book in the TBP was wondering if there were enough people on Tildes who'd finished the set to start a discussion.
Some parts of the 3rd book are not things I could imagine reading from a Western author.
Exactly. That's part of what made Three-Body so great for me. It was definitely coming from a non-Western point of view. I've started reading sci-fi from the Strugatsky brothers and I'm enjoying them too. As much as I love Western spec-fic, It's nice to have something fresh from time to time.
My father turned me on to the Three-Body Problem trilogy, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you have a favorable comparison between the two trilogies, I'll be sure to put this trilogy on my reading list for the fall. Cheers!
Bought books 2 and 3 last week. Can't wait to get started. I find her writing style hard to read quickly, however, so it'll be a bit of a slog.
Vox's The Ezra Klein Show has an interesting episode with N.K. Jemisin in which she gives a seminar in world building:
http://podbay.fm/show/1081584611/e/1535360400