Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ex-Kotaku staff go independent and launch Aftermath

aftermath.site

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 178 posts

Re: Ex-Kotaku staff go independent and launch Aftermath

#161

Post by valanha »

jchw wrote: post #153
cdata wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a thread that I think I may agree with here - something along the lines of the regression towards the acceptable sexual mean in mass media - but you specifically called out a trend where "people have become regressive about sexuality in video games", stating: > a bunch of people were convinced to go all the way from 90's style "toxic masculinity" to a totally puritanical anti-sexuality stance To the contrary…

> Surely a lot of people are paying money for these video games, or else they would not be produced. Absolutely. It is important for me to be clear that I do not believe video games are significantly less sexual overall. I do think, however, that people's treatment of sexuality in media is dramatically different, and the amount of criticism and scrutiny that it receives outpaces most other social issues these days. T…

Exchanges like these give me a small bit of hope for humanity! Thanks cdata and jchw!

Re: Ex-Kotaku staff go independent and launch Aftermath

#162

Post by jccalhoun »

r113500 wrote: post #59

if you look into the names of the founders, all of them are activists, one of them has a colorful gamergate history, one mentions labour issues in their byline. their position statement is in the fourth paragraph, it starts with "widespread labor organizing, industry-changing mergers and acquisitions, sweeping layoffs", and then reads "We need a curious, independent press to hold power to account, to cut through the…

What exactly makes you think that they are in any way socialist?

Re: Ex-Kotaku staff go independent and launch Aftermath

#163

Post by cdata »

jchw wrote: post #153
cdata wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a thread that I think I may agree with here - something along the lines of the regression towards the acceptable sexual mean in mass media - but you specifically called out a trend where "people have become regressive about sexuality in video games", stating: > a bunch of people were convinced to go all the way from 90's style "toxic masculinity" to a totally puritanical anti-sexuality stance To the contrary…

> Surely a lot of people are paying money for these video games, or else they would not be produced. Absolutely. It is important for me to be clear that I do not believe video games are significantly less sexual overall. I do think, however, that people's treatment of sexuality in media is dramatically different, and the amount of criticism and scrutiny that it receives outpaces most other social issues these days. T…

I understand where you are coming from. I think we agree that there is something dysfunctional about mass media and its relationship with those who consume it in 2023. But, we probably disagree about the nature of that dysfunction.

My favorite thing to point at to illustrate my own take is the utter corporate sterility of Meta's "Horizon" social vision compared to the untamed (and often sexually-charged) landscape of spaces like Second Life and VRChat. There is a clear mismatch here: open-ended channels show us the forms of creative expression that the human psyche is drawn towards when given a blank canvas. Meanwhile, Meta reduces creativity down to something that the corporate hegemony considers "brand safe." You can be whatever you want to be on Meta's platform, so long as it is an anatomically correct human who aligns with a handful of well-defined social archetypes (all vetted by committee to be a representative cross-section of the diversity of humanity dontchaknow).

Even if I don't agree with your specific claims, this at least seems to rhyme with some what you're observing here.

Re: Ex-Kotaku staff go independent and launch Aftermath

#164

Post by brucethemoose2 »

nerdjon wrote: post #147
brucethemoose2 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, Kotaku was either a firestarter or a SEO chasing dogpiler way too often. > Mass Effect Andromeda was the straw for me Always good to see a fellow Andromeda appreciator/semi-appreciator.

Here is my thing about Andromeda, it was a bad Mass Effect game in the same way that Mario Sunshine was a bad Mario game. The bar was incredibly high so in comparison it was a "bad" game. But both were still solid games. now ME:A had its faults (especially at launch), but to this day I blame Kotaku for single handily causing that game to fail and the public perception of it being the way it was and we never got the D…

I couldn't agree more, with every word. Except for:

> I have a Mass Effect tattoo that I plan on turning into a sleeve so I am not exactly... impartial

I'd say this lends you even more credibility, because way too many trilogy superfans hated Andromeda to a silly extreme. And you get Mass Effect.

I often wonder how Andromeda would have been recieved if it wasn't branded a Mass Effect game, and launched like a week later.

Re: Ex-Kotaku staff go independent and launch Aftermath

#165

Post by Goronmon »

notjoemama wrote: post #44
smcl wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a pretty hyperbolic take on games reviewers, other than the paid reviews which does exist but is pretty easy to identify and ignore. I've seen games being criticised for being too hard but even Elden Ring, Lies of P et al aren't getting 1/10 for that. I've seen people lamenting the same lazy copy-pasted male character being the protagonist again and again, but never decrying that it's outright sexist that a m…

Isn’t there a discussion to be had about journalists (and activists) needing to insert intersectionality into fantasy worlds in a genre for a demographic that didn’t ask for it? I’m detecting an air of elevated ego in your reply. I understand the toxicity that has and does (now to a much lessor degree) exist, but can’t we recognize when social justice jumps sharks? I think we can. It’s ok to admit when activism goes…

Isn’t there a discussion to be had about journalists (and activists) needing to insert intersectionality into fantasy worlds in a genre for a demographic that didn’t ask for it?

Don't we need to have a discussion first to debate whether you should be writing comments on such topics first? I mean, I didn't ask for your opinions, so I think it's a discussion worth having.

Re: Ex-Kotaku staff go independent and launch Aftermath

#166

Post by nerdjon »

brucethemoose2 wrote: post #164
nerdjon wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is my thing about Andromeda, it was a bad Mass Effect game in the same way that Mario Sunshine was a bad Mario game. The bar was incredibly high so in comparison it was a "bad" game. But both were still solid games. now ME:A had its faults (especially at launch), but to this day I blame Kotaku for single handily causing that game to fail and the public perception of it being the way it was and we never got the D…

I couldn't agree more, with every word. Except for: > I have a Mass Effect tattoo that I plan on turning into a sleeve so I am not exactly... impartial I'd say this lends you even more credibility, because way too many trilogy superfans hated Andromeda to a silly extreme. And you get Mass Effect. I often wonder how Andromeda would have been recieved if it wasn't branded a Mass Effect game, and launched like a week la…

I think part of the reason I say that is... I don't want to say I have a lower barrier for more Mass Effect but at the end of the day more Mass Effect is a positive to me and I am willing to forgive a lot.

Same deal with Halo, I also have a tattoo of it and I have stuck with Halo Infinite this entire time (and that is finally paying off).

I feel like many of those that hated Andromeda are also those that said that the ending of 3 ruined the franchise. Which... yeah the ending sucked. But I don't understand how a crappy 10-15 minutes ruins a close to 200 hour playtime for the trilogy. It for sure hasn't stopped me from replaying the entire trilogy multiple times or waking up this morning, seeing the date and knowing to put on my N7 shirt.

> I often wonder how Andromeda would have been received if it wasn't branded a Mass Effect game, and launched like a week later.

I have wondered that quite a few times. Especially if it still had the BioWare name attached to it just as a new IP. People would have been a lot less critical and... out for blood frankly. And maybe more people would have just ignored it and the game could have just had peace...

Re: Ex-Kotaku staff go independent and launch Aftermath

#167

Post by menacingly »

jccalhoun wrote: post #160
menacingly wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Careful, it’s gatekeeping to prefer that your game journalists have ever played a game at all other than when researching for an article. They write like this because it’s how anyone writes on a topic about which they have no experience. If you embed me as a wartime reporter, I’ll talk about the weird food and noise, not what most people reading the article want to read about.

You really think that these people who have worked for multiple gaming sites and are now starting their own gaming site really don't play games? It seems like there would be an easier way to make a living than writing about something you don't care about.

I do think that, and a lot of other people do as well. It’s why they aren’t taken seriously and have a hard time being employed unless we’re in wasteful high growth economic states.

And identifying a profitable market segment, inserting yourself as a critical member, and blaming doing a poor job on vague concepts of gatekeeping and bias seems like a good enough way to make a living that they keep trying at it

Re: Ex-Kotaku staff go independent and launch Aftermath

#168

Post by imwillofficial »

almatabata wrote: post #157
kevingadd wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kotaku is one of the only game outlets that actually got blacklisted by publishers for negative coverage. What's the integrity violation you're so upset about? I hope it's not a completely made up one like gamergate

For reference this is why people have a low opinion of kotaku, they publish clickbait stuff without double checking properly before publishing: * https://www.keengamer.com/articles/news/kotaku-uk-apologizes...

Right. I don't know anything about gamergate. My comment is sole based on their low quality output.

Re: Ex-Kotaku staff go independent and launch Aftermath

#169

Post by HDThoreaun »

AlexandrB wrote: post #72

I find it funny how many comments here complain about the infusion of politics into games media but not one mentions the fact that games media in general is a prime example of "access journalism". Most gaming media outlets live in fear of losing access to pre-release copies of games because it would mean their reviews will lag behind their competitors. This means they go easy on games (the average review score on any…

I think reviews in general suffer a lot from the commodification that's happened as the gatekeepers have conglomerated. I never trust reviews from publications that have a whole team of reviewers anymore, you have to find individual, usually independent, reviewers who have their own fanbases to have any trust. Best video game reviewer is dunkey, best music reviewer is anthony fantano, I haven't found anyone I love for movies or film, but I'm always looking.

Re: Ex-Kotaku staff go independent and launch Aftermath

#170

Post by pr0zac »

Chris2048 wrote: post #154
pr0zac wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What, there are still people that believe this? That Nathan Grayson never wrote reviews on any game by Zoe Quinn is easily verifiable, like you can just go look at the webpage. The claim has had zero veracity for years, that its false is widely known and documented, theres multiple Wikipedia articles discussing how and why its wrong. I don't think I've ever read an article on Kotaku, I never read any games news and b…

Review? No. But possibly "positive coverage"-> https://archive.ph/LXLli The top screenshot comes from DQ, and the post lists it as a "standout".

I hate that I spent the time to check but this was posted a few months before Grayson and Quinn were together. Even if it weren't its really not much of a smoking gun.
Post reply on HN