A few years ago, rogue games journalist Kieron Gillen launched the term New Games Journalism. Amidst a flurry of reactions from all kinds of media, both on- and offline, it became clear that what he really intended was not a new paradigm but a calling name for a method of journalism which deviated from the standard 'the graphics are cool, the weapons are not and it's over too soon' template...
Rereading an article from The Guardian on the subject I was redirected to 2 most memorable articles that were written by AlwaysBlack, and which inspired Kieron to come up with the phrase, linking the style of the pieces to the journalism ethic of Hunter S. Thompson. Who would, if his ashes weren't fired from a cannon, be revolving in his grave upon the use of the word ethic.
Both articles are a very good way to get introduced to the power of games and virtual worlds, portraying the way people get involved in them, the effect that ingame events have on the player (sometimes even physical), morality issues,... Especially for people who don't really 'get' the current gasping over Second Life and other virtual worlds.
The first one, entitled Bow Nigger, features the game Jedi Outcast. Originally conceived as a first person shooter situated in the Star Wars universe, but the main attraction was the multiplayer duelling mode, where players could duke it out with lightsabers in different arenas. And as any gamer will tell you: the quality of a multiplayer game depends on the people you play with.
The second one, Posessing Barbie, recounts an educational encounter in There, kind of an early Second Life, which never really outgrew it's 3d chatbox status. Of particular intrest to the 'should we let our children play anything' debate, but with a bigger outlook on the way people are affected by the way they are behaving ingame.
Oh, and if anyone reading this should happen to know what happened to State, or any of it's members, could you leave e an email? It kind of disappeared overnight at the time...
They kind of disappeared. There's a State IRC channel somewhere, but I forget the server. If you're interested in chasing them down, go and hang around Always Black's forum, as I believe there's a few of them there.
KG
Posted by: Kieron Gillen | 21 February 2007 at 14:18