Folks who’ve decided to forfeit wealth, happiness, and hygiene for a life of writing winding, snark-ridden passages about videogames are – needless to say – an eclectic bunch. We come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Basically, we’re a rainbow of dysfunction – with an emphasis on “fun”! Or something. How is this relevant to anything? Well, if you have a bunch of people doing a thing for very little money, odds are, a decent few of them are going to be downright terrible at it. GJAIF, however, takes things a step further. The blog’s basic argument? Games journalism is in the gutter, and it’s shoveling sewage down the throats of all who cross its path. As I’ve stated before, I don’t entirely agree, but where there’s smoke, there’s usually a fire. Games journalism has more than its fair share of problems, so GJAIF is definitely deserving of discussion.

The transition

“Gamers deserve better” is a relatively recent addition to the site. Initially, GJAIF was less about legitimate criticism of the field and more about ruthless nitpicking. “Here’s a glaring typo!” “This is a minor factual inaccuracy!” Etc. However, author Ben Paddon decided that savagely berating journalists through an (admittedly entertaining) series of ad hominem attacks was getting in the way of his larger message, so he decided to take a brief break and change things up. His new goal? To stop picking on individuals and start criticizing larger issues. The results, however, have been mixed.

All told, he started off pretty strong. For instance, this short essay on the value of strong writing and consistency in the field is well-argued and provocative, and he quite handily took Kotaku – the biggest gaming blog in existence – to task for being generally lackluster and treating its community like a police state.   

Recently, however, he’s fallen back into his old ways, frequently attacking the same few writers repeatedly without much real constructive criticism. He’s also taken to re-blogging posts by another alleged watchdog who goes by the handle “semprafi, ” but semprafi’s basically all of GJAIF’s flaws with none of the bright spots. I used to have a lot of respect for GJAIF’s whole operation, but now? Not so much.

Feminism

For almost the entirety of February, GJAIF was inundated with posts concerning treatment of women in the gaming industry. It all started with a nice Twitter argument from the always classy Jim Sterling of Destructoid fame – a writer who’s 50 percent man and 50 percent attention-whoring machine. (That proportion, of course, leaves very little room for shame or dignity.) Granted, Jim wasn’t the only one to blame. His target kicked the whole thing off by posting vaguely erotic fiction involving Sterling and God of War creator David Jaffe (seriously), but instead of taking the high ground, Sterling proceeded to call her things like “feminazi slut” and other such highly gendered pejorative terms.

Ben countered by saying that Sterling should have kept his tongue in check, as that’s not appropriate behavior for anyone – let alone a “professional” journalist. For many readers, however, that wasn’t enough. “How is equal treatment for females relevant to games journalism?” was the rallying cry of an army of skeptics. Ben, however, shut down that argument by saying that, duh, it’s relevant in an industry that’s 90 percent male. He also deconstructed some popular anti-feminist arguments, again with a high degree of eloquence and maturity.

Here, I think Ben definitely had the right idea. The world’s a sadly sexist place, but if you want to see that backward mentality thriving, look no further than the gaming industry. Helpfully, Ben also pointed readers in the direction of Go Make Me A Sandwich, a blog that chronicles the gaming industry’s horrifically sexist streak. Whether or not any of this will actually have an impact remains to be seen, but at the very least, people are fighting the good fight – even if it’s not a popular one.

Not shit journalism

GJAIF isn’t all doom and gloom – just mostly. Occasionally, Ben highlights an exemplary piece of work in hopes that others will follow in its footsteps. Recently, he cast favorable glances in the directions of Rock Paper Shotgun’s real investigation of Fox News’ Bulletstorm “investigation” and Destructoid’s in-depth coverage of Topware Interactive’s apparent attempt to threaten reviewers into awarding its game a higher score.

Without a doubt, both pieces are fantastic, and Ben was right to point them out. It’s just a shame that he doesn’t do it more often. I feel like – if he was a bit more even-handed and a bit less dismissive – people who actually work in the field (the ones who need his message the most) would be more likely to listen. As is…

“We’re fuckwits, you say? Go fuck yourself.”

There’s an increasingly vocal segment of the games journalism community that’s painted a giant target on Paddon’s back, including some of the field’s best and brightest. Ars Technica lead games editor Ben Kuchera, for instance, has savagely torn into GJAIF time and time again – often in a rage-fueled fury that’s out-of-character for someone who otherwise conducts himself so professionally. It’s unfortunate, too, because Kuchera is an excellent representative of what games journalists should aspire to become, yet he’s completely at odds with the guy who’s attempting to champion improvement in his field.

Granted, much of that can be attributed to Paddon’s aforementioned initial/now re-emerging method, which – at times – looks more like a barrage of brutal insults more than anything else. After all, it’s hard to get behind someone who won’t stop picking fights with all your best friends. For now, then, it seems that Paddon still has a long road ahead of him.