Saturday, April 30, 2005

life without Internet access is like life without a bed . . .

. . . you can sleep, but it's just uncomfortable.

And unnerving. Having moved flat this week, I can no longer leech off of the family computer, and that wonderful broadband connectionn that keeps the blood flowing to my heart. I have, in an act of complete desperation, purchased a laptop, which, I have been informed by text message (isn't technology a wonderful thing?) will arrive at my doorstep shortly.

Until then, I've had to go without. Let me tell you how 'going without' Internet access feels.

Lonely, for a start. I haven't been able to instantly message my global friends list for a week now - how can I feel important if I don't hear that reassuring 'bleep-bleep' noise at least fifty times a day?

Out of the loop: I don't have an aerial for my television, my radio is still at the family home and I can't seem to muster the strength to attwempt the ten minute walk to the local newsagent, so I have no idea what's going on in the world. More importantly, I can't keep refreshing Gamesindustry.biz every five minutes either - keep up the good work Rob!

Falling behind - the single worst side effect of going without Internet access for more than two days: my guild mates in World of Warcrft are leaving me in their wake. I'm lvl 51, Xero is 54 (last time I checked) and everyone else seems to be 60. I need my bloody laptop!!!! Must grind!!!! Ahhhh!!!!

Saturday, April 23, 2005

pr for the people

I've often thought that at the heart of all this crappy game journalism that seems to be flying about are crappy games journalists. But it's not all our fault. I've come to realise that crappy game PR is to blame too.

For as long as I can remember, game PR's ship out bog standard press releases to the mainstream media, notifying of releases, new features and general uninteresting rubbish. Instead, they should be thinking harder about tailoring press releases to specific journalists that talk about interesting subjects.

For example, game PRs should have gone nuts when the figure for the in-game economy for Everquest was worked out as the 77th richest in the world. That should have been all over the mainstream media.

When Hollywood scriptwriters get on board with games, and find the transition difficult, that should alert PRs to an excellent opportunity for features in arts suppliments.

When political activism starts happening in MMOs, that needs to be shipped out to broadsheet news desks across the country.

When we start to see accurate, historical storytelling in action shooters, we need features on living World War 2 through games.

I'm not saying it's easy. In fact it's very difficult to persuade mainstream journos to write about games in an intelligent fashion. But it's possible. And it won't start until PRs pull their fingers out.

. . . and breathe.

Perhaps, instead of moaning, I should do something about it myself . . . from the dark side.