Lowest Common Denominator

Regardless of what I think of their work, I try not to criticize other outlets, insult other journalists or anything tacky like that. After all, we're all on the same side here, everyone's fallible and I certainly don't claim to be Captain Queen Awesome or anything, to say the least.

But when IGN does something like this, I can't help it. What the fuck were you guys thinking? Do you really think so little of your audience? Worse, do you really think so little of the industry?

I don't care if people look down on me when I don't do well or if I sell myself short. I make plenty of mistakes and I can give you a laundry list of things I feel I should be doing better. But if people look down on my work and my field and my industry and the things I believe in because you do this kind of crap, then that's another issue.

Lots of us really, really care about treating games and gamers with respect, and it's like you just spit in our face. Are you really as stupid as this makes you look, or do you just totally not give a shit? Are you that desperate for traffic, or were you just angling to set up a new "horrors of GTA" story for your Fox parent? I completely cannot understand this.

And since I'm already on the soapbox, hey, what the hell: you guys should maybe write a little better, too. Like I said, I usually don't see it as my place to insult my peers, but the bad PR stuff like this gives game journalism is an insult to all of us.

Props to Totilo for actually asking them the all-important WTF, with much more polite composure than I.

[UPDATE: A friend has pointed out to me that IGN's "citizenmike" has a rather flippantly defensive response, including the statement: "It is exactly that kind of subversive, amoral behavior that GTA has been designed to celebrate." Really? I don't find the tone of the series celebratory, and if I had to guess, I'd say it's a statement of shock at the excesses of America. But given that the Housers so rarely discuss it (wonder why?) how on earth would you know?]

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