Saturday, May 10, 2008

Kyle Orland - Interview


For the first in a series of interviews I like to call "People Who Actually Know What They're Talking About" (don't even try to make an acronym out of that), I spoke with Kyle Orland. He's a free-lance games journalist who has been writing about games since he started fansite Super Mario Bros. HQ in 1997. Since then he's written for several gaming publications and now primarily Joystiq, Gamespot, and Crispy Gamer.

What I learned?:
  • Games journalism is still relatively young, just as videogames is still a young media. At this point in movies, there still hadn't been "Gone With the Wind" or "The Wizard of Oz."
  • Newspapers are cutting a lot of their media critics. Being a journalism major, I really feel like I should have heard about this before.
  • In enthusiast gaming publications, there tends to be a lot of coverage of triple-A titles (most recently Grand Theft Auto 4) and not a lot of focus on independent, or indie, developers. This can make it difficult for indie developers to break into the industry successfully.
  • And digging around on his blog, I found a link to the Videogame Journos Network, aptly subtitled "because the world needs another social network." The Game Journos Network doesn't look like it has quite the social buzz levels of Facebook or Myspace, but being connected in this circle of contacts couldn't hurt the aspiring games journalist.

Interview (lite version):
See full, raw instant messenger version here.

Differences in videogame enthusiast publications and mainstream media coverage?

VideogameJournalism: of course, videogame trade publications will be more oriented towards that "hardcore" audience, but do you notice any distinct differences in videogame trade publications and mainstream media coverage?

Kyle: Yeah, and most of them spring from that difference in audience. The mainstream coverage tends to have to explain things more and focuses on the new and exciting stuff. Where the specialist publications will talk about anything and everything.

But we're starting to see a middle ground develop, I think, at outlets like Newsweek and MTV. Their online coverage has been well-informed but still accessible and interesting to people who don't live and breath this stuff, I think.

VJ: Do you see any one of those three levels gaining more ground or growing more than the others in the near future? Or do you think they'll all develop at a fairly even pace?

Kyle: Well, I feel like mainstream game coverage is a victim of bad timing in a way. Newspapers are cutting book, theater and movie critics left and right, going freelance or simply neglecting to cover those areas. In such an environment, it's hard to pitch game coverage, especially to older editors who might not play games or know anything about them.
The specialist press is getting kind of saturated too. I mean, how many outlets do you need running the same screenshots and trailers? You need a really unique angle or voice to break through the noise. The middle ground is probably the way with the most potential (as usual).

I think as the gaming audience gets older, and as those who didn't grow up with games start to leave the positions of editorial power, you'll see games joining TV, movies and other entertainment as a pillar of entertainment reporting.


Why isn't games journalism taken seriously?

VideogameJournalism: So, in your opinion, what do you think is the main reason that games journalism isn't taken seriously?

Kyle: There's a loaded question =)

VJ: haha, sorry.

Kyle: I think it's mainly because games journalism, like video games, is a young medium. At this point in the history of film (about 40 years in) we hadn't had "Gone With the Wind," "Lawrence of Arabia" or "The Wizard of Oz."

So, the subject itself isn't really mature enough, though that's starting to change. In the journalism specifically, a lot of journalists got their start because they liked games and could kind of string together a few sentences. In the early '90s, the people writing game magazines by and large didn't have journalism degrees or advanced training in writing... they just knew games. Standards are increasing these days, but there are a lot of ethical and institutional problems still out there.

Game journalism's ethical and institutional problems? (aka, swag)

VideogameJournalism: I see... could you maybe touch on what you think are the greatest among these ethical and institutional problems?

Kyle: The standards for what is and isn't acceptable to accept from a game company are all over the place. Outlets will constantly trade credibility for early access and that "exclusive first review." Or go to lavish junkets to get access to a hot new game... along with a trip on a Zero G flight, or a week at a Hawaiian beach house (with the developer), or attendance at aparties that fill up Dodger stadium (like Sony's at E3).
It's no different from the rest of entertainment reporting, really, but I think the games press is so young that they're more succeptible to be swayed by this stuff
...
But more than the influence of schwag, I think the games press is too quick to jump on the heavily hyped games. Look at all the coverage Grand Theft Auto 4 is getting. There are plenty of other games out there that could use a fraction of that attention. But if they don't have the marketing budget or the big name behind them... it's tough to break through.

Now Grand Theft Auto 4 deserves a lot of coverage... people are interested in it. But it seems a bit disproportionate sometimes. New franchises and new companies have a really tough time getting attention.
Videogames may not have reached the maturity of film,
but that's definitely changing.

7 comments:

Stine Eckert said...

You do a good job of breaking down the load of text into paragraphs and bullet points. This makes it really more accessible for the reader. I did not know that video games journalism is a serious journalism field, how good that you will blog about this young field as it evolves. It would be helpful if you would explain some of the abbreviats, e.g. swag, GT4. This would make it easier for newcomers to learn about the field

Bethany said...

Hi Meghan! It was really interesting to read about how the downsizing of newspapers is hurting all kinds of cultural content, video games included. I know movie and book critics are seen as more expendable, but I hadn't really thought about the generation gap that can harm video game coverage.

I also liked how he explained the difference between specialized publications and mainstream media coverage of games. I myself know nothing about gaming and would never pick up a magazine about how to beat the latest version of a game, but I would read a story about how gaming united people or teaches them skills.

I agree with Stine -- explaining some of the gaming terms would really help newbies like me. I would also like to see more graphics, maybe even of different video game covers or the gaming magazine section at Little Professor.

Chris Kardish said...

I love that your links are in no way superfluous. Linking to the NYT article and the interviewees blog were great ideas. Video game coverage is something I know nothing about (and I'm guessing I'm not alone) so your topic is especially interesting. I do agree with past comments about the use of insider's jargon or lingo. Also, I liked the layout of your blog in general. It's text heavy but it doesn't feel that way. Good job.

Stine Eckert said...

Thank you for adding a picture of Kyle. That is a good addition to your interview.

Stine Eckert said...

Hi Meghan,

I tried clicking on your two other blogs about gaming in your profile but both links seems to be broken. I was going to recommend your blogs to someone who is researching video game journalism. It would be great if you could look into repairing the links as the seem to promise more interesting posts, especially "Karmic gamer".

Meghan said...

fyi, added the picture at the bottom :D

Meghan said...

I know I posted this comment a few days ago, but it didn't seem to take. So, here it is, again:

Thanks for all the great comments, guys, especially because I didn't notice some of the abbreviates/terms (i.e. swag, GTA4) at first. However, I spelled out the acronyms and linked certain words to the definitions.

Also @Stine, thanks for letting me know about the broken links in my profile. I fixed them earlier, but they seem to have reverted back to not working for some reason. I'll try to fix them again. And thanks for recommending my blog to another person researching game journalism. I hope to hear from them soon!