#NewGamesJournalism: Lauren Wainwright sacked.

Something Fishy wrote:ok then. a club for man babies and the odd female. lets be fair about this.

Falsey wrote:I should probably qualify my single paragraph comment too by saying its because I wouldnt place much trust in either of them. The quality of the writing could be a beautifully composed piece of modern prose, but if its all gooseberry fool I dont care.

I don't follow. How could it be a beautifully composed piece of modern prose, but "all gooseberry fool" at the same time?

rudderless wrote:

Falsey wrote:I should probably qualify my single paragraph comment too by saying its because I wouldnt place much trust in either of them. The quality of the writing could be a beautifully composed piece of modern prose, but if its all gooseberry fool I dont care.

I don't follow. How could it be a beautifully composed piece of modern prose, but "all gooseberry fool" at the same time?

It could read fantastically, but still be total nonsense.

Something Fishy wrote:

rudderless wrote:You said it was "a club for man children". I hardly think that's a glowing endorsement of the profession.

don't be so sensitive. Blimey. It was a bit tongue in cheek but a bit serious too but so what.

It's my job, that's what. A job I work really strawberry floating hard at, for really long hours, for mostly pretty awful pay. And I do it because I care about games and I care about the quality of my writing. I care that the people that enjoy it and say nothing are entertained and/or enlightened, preferably both if possible. I know a lot of you think it's a picnic, just playing games all day and then carelessly tapping out a bunch of nonsense that takes us all of five minutes when we're done. But you don't actually understand how it works. So yeah, I am going to take umbrage at people who don't know writing off my entire profession because of their own ignorance.

I'm not under any illusions as to how ultimately meaningless my job is. I'm merely here to give my professional opinion on something. I know I'm not contributing to world peace or curing cancer, and while you claim journalists are incredibly self-important, I doubt anyone takes themselves that seriously. But I know many writers that take their job seriously. And that's a big difference.

Falsey wrote:

rudderless wrote:

Falsey wrote:I should probably qualify my single paragraph comment too by saying its because I wouldnt place much trust in either of them. The quality of the writing could be a beautifully composed piece of modern prose, but if its all gooseberry fool I dont care.

I don't follow. How could it be a beautifully composed piece of modern prose, but "all gooseberry fool" at the same time?

It could read fantastically, but still be total nonsense.

Nonsense is something that doesn't have intelligible meaning. Something can't read fantastically if it doesn't make sense.

rudderless wrote:

Falsey wrote:

rudderless wrote:

Falsey wrote:I should probably qualify my single paragraph comment too by saying its because I wouldnt place much trust in either of them. The quality of the writing could be a beautifully composed piece of modern prose, but if its all gooseberry fool I dont care.

I don't follow. How could it be a beautifully composed piece of modern prose, but "all gooseberry fool" at the same time?

It could read fantastically, but still be total nonsense.

Nonsense is something that doesn't have intelligible meaning. Something can't read fantastically if it doesn't make sense.

I could write you an article now about the artistic merit of Rapelay and how it has profoundly shaped the industry in the time since its release. It'd be well written, well put together and thought out. But it'd be total shite because its a game about raping young girls.

It couldn't be well thought out if it's saying those things about Rapelay. I think you have an over-inflated opinion of your writing skills.

thought out, not well thought out.

an I can write well good

Falsey wrote:thought out, not well thought out.

Well, it couldn't really be well put together, as the argument would instantly fall apart, it being a game about raping girls.

I'm out now, because it's evident you're determined to get the last word, regardless of how feeble your argument is, and I've got better things to be getting on with. I only wish you did, too.

rudderless wrote:

Something Fishy wrote:

rudderless wrote:You said it was "a club for man children". I hardly think that's a glowing endorsement of the profession.

don't be so sensitive. Blimey. It was a bit tongue in cheek but a bit serious too but so what.

It's my job, that's what. A job I work really strawberry floating hard at, for really long hours, for mostly pretty awful pay. And I do it because I care about games and I care about the quality of my writing. I care that the people that enjoy it and say nothing are entertained and/or enlightened, preferably both if possible. I know a lot of you think it's a picnic, just playing games all day and then carelessly tapping out a bunch of nonsense that takes us all of five minutes when we're done. But you don't actually understand how it works. So yeah, I am going to take umbrage at people who don't know writing off my entire profession because of their own ignorance.

I'm not under any illusions as to how ultimately meaningless my job is. I'm merely here to give my professional opinion on something. I know I'm not contributing to world peace or curing cancer, and while you claim journalists are incredibly self-important, I doubt anyone takes themselves that seriously. But I know many writers that take their job seriously. And that's a big difference.

Dude I work strawberry floating hard at mine to and have for years. Doesn't stop a lot of people shitting on it blaming computers for everything they can't do and calling us geeks from hell.

but so what, you have to just grow some thick skin and realise life's too short to care and you can't govern what people think. Do they matter to you? no then their opinion doesn't matter.

i don't matter to you so strawberry float what I think Rudders.

I used to care a lot and get really bothered people couldn't appreciate it. At some point over the last few years finally reached a point where I just couldn't give a gooseberry fool anymore. Feels a lot better not worrying about stuff you can't change.

You shouldn't really assume that we don't know how writing works. I've written tons over the years, though most obviously in the fields of IT and Teaching but i do understand the work that goes into analysis and review well enough. I fully appreciated you work hard.

rudderless wrote:

Falsey wrote:thought out, not well thought out.

Well, it couldn't really be well put together, as the argument would instantly fall apart, it being a game about raping girls.

I'm out now, because it's evident you're determined to get the last word, regardless of how feeble your argument is, and I've got better things to be getting on with. I only wish you did, too.

Whilst I appreciate the suggestion that Im just here to annoy you Im actually just posting between jobs on the servers.

Geez a job, Falsey. I have a law degree.

Prototype wrote:Geez a job, Falsey. I have a law degree.

gooseberry fool just got serious.

Im not sure these are the kind of jobs you want.

Falsey wrote:an I can write well good

Falsey wrote:Im not sure these are the kind of jobs you want.

I can make you coffee, I can write about your favourite games.

Prototype wrote:

Falsey wrote:Im not sure these are the kind of jobs you want.

I can make you coffee, I can write about your favourite games.

Well whilst both of those sound great, the kind of jobs I was talking about are automated tasks on the machines. Now, unless you are familar with tron grade human analogue to digital technology Im not sure I have much to offer.

rudderless wrote:

Fatal Exception wrote:Waaaa. Bleeding heart male feminists If he actually had standards he would avoid the whole of future publishing and not moan because his journalism isn't good enough to be in the more mature mags or websites run by them.

You mean Edge, the magazine he was employed by for several years?

Edge is pretty gash these days. When you filter out the filler in articles you could condense each page of text into about 3 sentences of actual information. I'm going to be honest though I didn't look into this guy's history, nor do I care that much.

Something Fishy wrote:Dude I work strawberry floating hard at mine to and have for years. Doesn't stop a lot of people shitting on it blaming computers for everything they can't do and calling us geeks from hell.

Sure! But that's different to people coming into somewhere they know you frequent and banging on about how gooseberry fool your entire profession is. Imagine if you were in your favourite boozer with a load of people from your work, and someone who knows you go in there comes in and loudly says "all [whatever tech job you have] are strawberry floating rubbish"?

but so what, you have to just grow some thick skin and realise life's too short to care and you can't govern what people think. Do they matter to you? no then their opinion doesn't matter.

It's nothing to do with being thin-skinned. I read the comments threads, and see the idiocy spouted therein on a daily basis. But if I see ignorance and I'm in a place where I can defend my profession against it, damn straight I'm going to. It's not just about me, it's about a bunch of people I know and respect who work a lot harder than anyone gives them credit for. I'm not saying you don't work hard, but if you said it I doubt it would be loudly questioned wherever you went.

I used to care a lot and get really bothered people couldn't appreciate it. At some point over the last few years finally reached a point where I just couldn't give a gooseberry fool anymore. Feels a lot better not worrying about stuff you can't change.

But I want to try and challenge preconceptions. I'm not at the age yet where I've given up trying to defend the medium that I still love despite the daily challenges I face as a freelancer in a precarious climate for journalism/criticism.