And A Ruined Utopia Is?

Often the gaming media gets caught up in marketing hysteria. So much so that the entire institution of gaming journalism appears to become a completely mindless rampaging beast. Unable to ask questions. Unable to actually do their jobs as a result of the hype of millions of gamers all squealing in unison as the "game of the year" hits the marketplace and falls onto our chosen consoles and PCs.

The hairy beast of hype has rolled in with Bioshock. For some gamers this release has been a bitter sweet experience, but for the media it has been the game which so many have been quick to label as "Game of the Year". This is typical of the journalism that gamers are presented with. A group of individuals, or "the journalists", are too quick to label games with the necessary dosage of hype rather than to question when questions have to be asked. Firstly, where have the journalists been who have been asking the questions which needed to be asked of the DRM system implemented in the PC release of Bioshock? Why aren't they barking down the doors of the publishers and asking questions about the reasons for this choice? Instead gamers have to do this themselves. Chasing these issues through the official Bioshock forums.

Another indicator of a generation of gaming journalists who really don't care and are happy to just report crap is their acceptance of marketing speak as a part of gaming reportage. There aren't many gaming writers around who really care or love the language they use. As such, we are continually seeing writers and journalists reporting inaccuracies in their language describing games. A fallen uptopia is not a utopia at all but a dystopia. As soon as a utopia stops being idyllic and represents the hellish vision which Rapture has become then the place can no longer be described as a utopia. It is a dystopia. This is the opposite of a utopia. However, we continually see Rapture described as a "ruined utopia" or "fallen utopia". These are the terms which Ken Levine used to describe the world of Rapture. If he chooses to describe the world in this way then that is his choice, but surely gaming journalists should pick up on the error and report the world as a dystopia which is what it is.

Unfortunately, I don't believe that gamers really care any more anyway. They don't particularly care about language. They certainly don't care much about the way games are reported. Gamers are becoming the mindless sheep which marketers require of consumers who are conditioned to purchase without thinking first. That is all we are. We are conditioned to believe the hype. We are conditioned to respond to advertising. In this way gaming journalism is nothing more than an extension of the advertising man's copy writer.

Needless to say that Bioshock is an excellent game, shame about the journalism which has had to report it as such.