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With the death of Games For Windows magazine this week,the long-standing question of the viability of print gaming journalismhas once again come up for discussion. Though we're focusing on gaming,it's really a much broader issue that numerous voices have spoken on.Is the age of print in gaming dead?
The never-ending flow of new and increasingly-dynamic content availableon the Internet renders the timeliness of print nonexistent, and gamingprint rags have largely survived on exclusives and reader loyalty. Wereit not for the exclusives, though, the latter would surely begin tofade: it already has thanks to the prevalence of scanningthat brings exclusive magazine content online and free moments afterthe first reader receives his copy. It's extremely hard to combat, andfrankly nigh-impossible to avoid.
When it comes down to it, print gaming rags are ultimately going to beforced to head online. The competition is too fierce and the generalreadership too tech-minded nowadays to ignore the plethora of free,up-to-the-second content available on the 'net.
I just don't agree, and I think losing game writing in print would be aterrible thing for the industry. Sure, general news gets out to printmuch slower than it does via the Internet, but a well-run gamingmagazine has the team and the budget to cover things in-depth, get thegood features out, and, more importantly, these stories can be readwhile in the can. As one reader commented yesterday, are we going tohave to put a laptop stand in the bathroom? Because that's what the endof print game writing would mean.
With a mixture of features, reviews, interviews, and news, I don't think there is any reason why a monthly gaming publication can't still work.On the other hand, I'd also like to see more gaming coverage inmainstream magazines. Everyone runs movie reviews, and I think it wouldbe great to see more general-interest or entertainment publicationshire a full-time game writer. The more markets there are for top-notchgame writing, the better it will be.
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Historically, the reason print magazines have had the chance to createbetter feature writing is simply because outlets had more time todevelop ideas and write, and, more importantly, they had a privileged statuswhich got them behind the scenes with great intimacy. Those days arechanging. We here at Ars, for example, now get the chance to do thatkind of in-depth writing when we hit shows like CES and E3 and spend time with products like the Novint Falcon.
Furthermore, broader publications are already picking up the slack.While they may not be the most compelling, all of the major men'smagazines—Stuff, Maxim, FHM,and so forth—now include game sections, with pictures, reviews,interviews, and the like. You get a quick fix of print gaming news andopinions, but you also get a whole host of other content for yoursubscription dollar.
The argument that magazine feature writing is in some way undeniably superior in print falls flat; sites like The Escapistare proof positive that thoughtful online writing is taking place. Asthat snobby attitude continues to dwindle from relevance—or, rather, asonline journalism becomes more prolific and more profitable—so, too, will the quality of online coverage improve. It's inevitable, really.
I would hardly say that the gaming coverage magazines like Maximprovide is anything worth emulating. Their "reviews" are short,shallow, and barely an afterthought. I'm talking about actual,honest-to-goodness game writing. It's very possible that monthly gamingpublications are slowly dying, but I think it would a great loss ifthere wasn't solid writing about games in print.
I think as more and more people pick up gaming as a hobby and the market gets wider and wider,people will want their information about games delivered in a varietyof different ways. Some like checking their RSS feeds in the morning.Others like reading magazines. Some buy a daily newspaper. Games for Windowswas a great magazine, but it seems odd to write about PCs when most PCenthusiasts are, you know, on their PCs. It's a very specific examplethat shouldn't cause people to think the sky is falling.
I don't want less print game writing, I want a whole lot more.
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