Should game journalists be forced to make games?

Posted Oct 13th 2009 12:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Biz, Indie

From time to time, game journalists get accused of not understanding how games are made by developers. Usually this happened when a critic slams a game title and then the developer defends it. But could journalists get a better critical viewpoint of games if they tried to make one themselves?

That's the opinion of Dan Marshall of indie game developer Zombie Cow. In a new chat at Gamasutra, Marshall states, "I think all games journos should be forced to make a game somehow, see how they get on. It gives you a more rounded perspective." While we think journalists shouldn't be "forced" to do anything they don't want to do (First Amendment and all that) there are certainly lots of relatively easy ways to make a simple game out there for anyone to make. And ultimately that's the best thing about making PC games; total freedom to make any game you want without having to worry about console companies' approval or license fees or even getting approval from an app store. And if game developers have that freedom then game critics and journalists should have the same freedom to write about games.

Tags: time-gentlemen-please, zombie-cow

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

While I think it's true that you do get a more rounded view once you get a peek behind the curtain, I think it may hurt the industry if all journalists were forced to have some game development experience. I like journalism from different perspectives and I think one of the best ways to get info on anything is reading material written from different perspectives.

Furthermore, if journalists were forced to make a game they would lose their view from the average consumer's perspective who does not have game dev experience. I prefer my journalists to be voices of the every man. If i want a game devs perspective on something I'll read a game devs blog.Posted at 12:26PM on Oct 13th 2009 by endofworld

Gamers aren't forced to make games, why should game reviewers? Game reviewers are supposed to rating things for the general public and I think the less insight they have into creating a game, the better their opinions will be for those actually paying for the games.

As a gamer, I don't give two ******* about how a game is made. All that matters to me is if it's fun or not.Posted at 9:43AM on Oct 16th 2009 by Sinnix

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