Curmudgeon Gamer
12 June 2007
More Curmudgeonly Comments About Mac Game Journalism
I like Inside Mac Games a lot. That quick apology aside, ethically they're still giving me fits. I remain extremely concerned with the extreme integration between Inside Mac Games and macgamestore.com, and the site's large, advert/header banner continues to be "sponsored" by the store that shares an owner, no, IS owned by the "news" site. That IMG hocks the same stuff it purports to "review," a word which implies a degree of fairness and impartiality to me, isn't news to most IMG readers, I wouldn't believe. Still, it's unethical for a site doing gaming news and reviews to sell those same games.[1]
I wonder if some of this proverbial incestuous dilemma accounts for the recent disconnect between the content of IMG's RSS feed and the content of one of the features it advertises, IMG's editor's latest blog entry. You'd expect the RSS feed and the article to match up. I don't think they do.
From the feed:
From Tuncer's Blog:
If you've known about it for weeks, it's not a surprise. If you've known about it for weeks, where is our news? Dang it, folk, if you're simply pandering to sources, withholding information until they believe it's time for it to be made public, they're not your sources, you're their shills.
I believe we've had some discussion about NDAs and their effect on journalism -- um, killing it -- before.
Why didn't Tuncer tell us about the announcement weeks ago? If Inside Mac Games is that the best Mac game news outlets have to offer, which I believe it is, we've got another classic case of IMG's predilection for "journaltisement".
So just for fun, let's end with our standard mantra: Buy used books, get your games at Ambrosia, and when you're riding your bike at night, always, always wear white.
[1] At times, I've seen advertisements for games on this site. I don't see a dime of that ad revenue. I think Matt might fairly literally see a dime, but will let him deal with any ethics violations there himself after saying that I'm 99.44% confident he doesn't pick what runs, and I know (hope?!) he doesn't get a percentage of each sale from those stores.
I wonder if some of this proverbial incestuous dilemma accounts for the recent disconnect between the content of IMG's RSS feed and the content of one of the features it advertises, IMG's editor's latest blog entry. You'd expect the RSS feed and the article to match up. I don't think they do.
From the feed:
IMG's founder Tuncer Deniz weighs in on today's surprise announcement made by Electronic Arts. Although he's estatic [sic] with the six titles announced, he questions whether EA will be happy. Will EA be in it for the long haul or is this just another "experiment". [sic](emphasis mine; comments about Bolivia nearly resisted)
From Tuncer's Blog:
A few weeks ago I learned of EA's intention to bring some of their game titles to the Mac and since then I've been wrestling with the consequences and impact of EA's 'renewed' commitment to the Mac.(emphasis again mine)
If you've known about it for weeks, it's not a surprise. If you've known about it for weeks, where is our news? Dang it, folk, if you're simply pandering to sources, withholding information until they believe it's time for it to be made public, they're not your sources, you're their shills.
I believe we've had some discussion about NDAs and their effect on journalism -- um, killing it -- before.
Why didn't Tuncer tell us about the announcement weeks ago? If Inside Mac Games is that the best Mac game news outlets have to offer, which I believe it is, we've got another classic case of IMG's predilection for "journaltisement".
So just for fun, let's end with our standard mantra: Buy used books, get your games at Ambrosia, and when you're riding your bike at night, always, always wear white.
[1] At times, I've seen advertisements for games on this site. I don't see a dime of that ad revenue. I think Matt might fairly literally see a dime, but will let him deal with any ethics violations there himself after saying that I'm 99.44% confident he doesn't pick what runs, and I know (hope?!) he doesn't get a percentage of each sale from those stores.
Labels: apple, ethics, img, journaltisement
--ruffin at 17:25
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