Sunday Thoughts: Personality
Your weekly dose of rambling blog
Published: 12:00, 29/08/2010 by Kris [Halbpro].
28It’s actually pretty easy to be a journalist. All you really have to do is write a few words about your chosen subject, possibly regurgitating content from other journalists or press releases. Being a good journalist is a lot harder and takes a lot of different qualities working together. For me one of these is personality. A good journalist, in fact just a good writer, should be able to show some of their own personality in a piece. Does anyone really want to read completely bland, robotic pieces that could have been written by anyone at all or stitched together by a well programmed computer?
If you look at great print and broadcast journalists I really respect like Jeremy Paxman, Charlie Brooker or Andrew Marr they all have a huge amount of talent as writers or broadcasters, but they also always manage to bring through a lot of personality even when discussing serious subjects. There’s a very fine line to walk between adding personality and still treating a subject with the correct amount of seriousness when you’re dealing with relatively serious news, one that Charlie Brooker only just manages to skate even though he’s supposed to be a fairly light-hearted columnist.
Of course gaming journalists have it much easier when it comes to inject personality. At heart we’re just entertainment journalists. I don’t mean that to sound denigrating, but we write about games; it’s not like we’re covering developments in the Middle East peace process, or interviewing David Cameron. It’s easy to inject a bit of fun and personality when the topics you cover aren’t exactly earth shattering; there’s still a line to walk but it’s a much easier one to walk.
You only have to look at people like Jim Sterling, Jeff Gerstmann or even Jerry Holkins (although he’s more someone who writes about gaming than a journalist) to see just how much personality gets injected into game journalism, and it’s something I always try to add to my own pieces. By no means am I saying that I’m anywhere near close to the level of the writers I’ve talked about here, I certainly wouldn’t consider myself a great journalist by any measure. However I do try to make stuff humorous when appropriate and I think it’s one of my strengths. In fact I would imagine it’s one of the reasons that TSA decided to give me a shot.
For those of you who don’t know before I was a writer at TSA I did a podcast called Second Nature, I still do on the odd occasion. It also featured former TSA writer David Howard (now of MediaKick fame) and basically it was just us being us. We were once accused of using fake ‘over-the-top’ personalities to make the show more appealing, but it’s a pretty fair representation of how we behave with some ums and ahs added – it’s an odd effect that microphones seem to have. I’ve never really asked but I think the personality I displayed on the podcast was one of the reasons that TSA felt I might have what it takes and brought me into the fold.
Of course too much personality may be an issue for some people, in particular those who want to see gaming taken seriously. It’s hard to get the mainstream press to take games seriously when a lot of the writing about the subject seems very light hearted and crowded with in-jokes.
Perhaps it’s expecting too much for entertainment to be treated in such a serious manner, although other forms of entertainment have a balance between the entertainment side and the more serious side of things. For example films or books often get discussed as being culturally significant and as art, there are very few writers who treat games in the same manner. The medium might get a little more respect if more writers treated it that way, but I don’t know if it would make any real difference to games themselves. If the games aren’t changing then what’s the point?
I like to think that here at TSA we manage to walk the line between entertainment and covering gaming topics about right. I wouldn’t like to say anything so pretentious as to say the site as a whole has a personality in the writing that features, each writer has their own style and inflections that they use. I think we do a good job most of the time, how about you?
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29/08/2010 at 12:01
Member since: Jan 2010
you do a very good job, there arn’t any biased ego’s in the staff, which is more than I can say for other sites.
:)
29/08/2010 at 12:24
Member since: May 2010
i come here for gaming related news not to be ‘entertained by your writing style’ seriously get a grip.
29/08/2010 at 12:44
Member since: Nov 2009
I’m unsure as to whether this is sarcasm or not, but I agree, with the essence of your comment. I’m not interested in the personalities of the writters on the staff rosta. Granted it is almost impossible not to inject certain elements of your personality into any piece you write ( I find tuff’s pieces to be a great example if this), but the facts, are the important thing. Yes the delivery can be enhanced by enthusiasm, and it’s clear that most of the staff are passionate about games and the industry, but too much personality just feels a bit too cheesy, and almost smacks of wanting to show the world how ‘cool we are’
I should probably mention that I do find a healthy balance between facts and personality at this site, and it’s one of the contributing factors
29/08/2010 at 12:46
Member since: Nov 2009
As to why I visit here daily instead of joystiq. I think the answer is don’t try too hard and it will be fine.
Ps. Fuck you iPhone and your shitty way if viewing the comment your typing!!!
29/08/2010 at 13:03
Member since: Forever
…and yet you read a whole piece that explicitly was /not/ news and found reason (however self-important and ignorant) to reply to it.
You’re welcome.
29/08/2010 at 13:14
Member since: Feb 2009
Sorry what? Fair enough if you come here for news, and you are indeed entitled to your opinion, but as colossalblue has said, this isn’t a news piece, so why are you commenting? Also “get a grip”? A bit harsh I’d say.
Oh and nicely put, Kris. Personality is one of the main reasons I come to TSA (I’m not looking for too much news, but something interesting that will make me laugh), along with the community side of the site.
29/08/2010 at 14:05
Member since: May 2010
peespee63 i completely agree with everything u just said :)
29/08/2010 at 14:06
Member since: Apr 2010
That was a strangely hostile reply! I came here for the news initially and stuck around because of the personality!
29/08/2010 at 14:12
Member since: Sep 2009
Completely disagree with you MrBlack – yes gaming news is important and that is what brought me to this site, but it is the personality and community that kept me coming back.
Before I found TSA I used to use the Google News search for PS3 news, yes that provided a lot of news but it was a soulless experience. Now if I want to know what’s going on in gaming I come straight here. I’ve picked up on the writing styles and opinions of some of the staff and that helps me put their articles into context, further more some of the most entertaining and best reads on the site are opinion pieces such as this one.
Anyone can set up a gaming site that comprises of Press Releases and copy-and-paste articles from other sites, but would it be something I would go back and visit daily? I very much doubt it. To be really successful a site like this (and indeed a print magazine) needs to have a ‘heart’ and that comes from the fantastic effort put in by all the writers to make even the most mundane of announcements an entertaining and worthwhile read…
Keep up the good work TSA, some of your readership do appreciate it!
29/08/2010 at 15:27
Member since: Forever
This is exactly what we try to do and seeing it written down by a reader, unsolicited and generously coated in honesty makes me really happy and a little bit proud.
Thanks for the kind words :)
29/08/2010 at 14:39
Member since: Jun 2009
If you just want your traditional gaming news go to another videogaming website. You’ll eventually be back.
30/08/2010 at 08:07
Member since: May 2009
I come here purely for the personality and stellar writing. What’s with all this “news” spam?
Best website ever!
29/08/2010 at 13:13
Member since: Nov 2008
I actually prefer the opinion pieces and general discussions rather than the news. To understand someones mindset rather than just reading facts and figures is much more appealing to me.
You guys do it well although i do miss one old TSA staff members articles a fair bit.
29/08/2010 at 13:22
Member since: Nov 2009
I think all round, the site has it just right. It’s more than the some of it’s parts. The varied articles, the community, the points, the meets (personally I think this is a stroke of genius), the forum etc. I would say that keep things as they are (personality wise) and it will continue to grow and influence other sites ( that are probably Turkish or whatever the other site was! ) just don’t get stuck up your own backsides would be the best rule of thumb!
29/08/2010 at 13:27
Member since: Dec 2008
If we didnt inject out own style in to the writing it would be as boring as.. certain other sites.
29/08/2010 at 13:44
Member since: May 2010
like ign
29/08/2010 at 23:55
Member since: Apr 2010
More like Eurogamer…
*shudders*
29/08/2010 at 13:32
Member since: Jan 2009
“TheSixthAxis – Gaming news and Opinion”
The news here is injected into the website with just the right amount of personality, in-jokes and the like to make it that little less bland. But it’s all about that “Opinion” piece that the journalist/writers personality comes through. I’ve often enjoyed reading nofi’s articles on retro gaming, or DJ-Katy’s rants, to name a few. They each have their own unique style which I enjoy and think it’s one of the reasons I keep coming back to this site, and don’t really even go anywhere else.
29/08/2010 at 13:34
Member since: Jan 2009
oh, and nice article btw Kris.
29/08/2010 at 13:41
Member since: Dec 2008
QUestgion>: Are you a load Monks who Jump, or you Jump over Monks? i must no.
29/08/2010 at 13:45
Member since: Jan 2009
I always thought of it as a bunch of monks, who jump. I imagine say 10 of them on a trampoline all jumping in unison.
Madness!
30/08/2010 at 00:20
Member since: Jul 2009
As long as we don’t let tuffcub write stuff, we’ll be fine. :-p
29/08/2010 at 14:33
Member since: Jan 2010
I like how a lot of people forgot to click the “Reply” button before commenting on Black’s comment. But I agree, without having your own writing style your writing does just become news, I like this site because it offers both news and personality, a very homely feel to it, in a nice way, not like how you’d use homely to describe certain shrill but none the less happy women.
29/08/2010 at 16:31
Member since: Jun 2009
Im a regular because of the personalities that are on this site. I mean we all can tell a Tuffcub tag headline a mile off
29/08/2010 at 19:44
Member since: May 2010
look im all for opinionated games journalism and i love the tsa i just feel its the community that gives tsa its personality. i find the articles enjoyable and informitive i dont find any article ‘entertaining’ that was the point i was trying to make,
29/08/2010 at 20:33
Member since: Forever
I come here for the badly made points.
29/08/2010 at 23:56
Member since: Apr 2010
Zing!
29/08/2010 at 20:16
Member since: Aug 2010
Yikes this article has set some of the cats amongst the pigeons!
I’m fairly new to the site but think TSA finds a good balance between personality (i.e. humour and opinion)and fact. Keep up the good work!