If you’ve read my book (or at least page 22), you know I use the word “journalist” very carefully when describing game reviewers. I see no shame in the titles “reviewer” or “critic” whatsoever, but I feel “journalist” is pushing it if all you do is evaluate software. But over my career, I did a fair amount of journalism too — writing features, reporting news, finding facts, researching information, interviewing people, assembling all those pieces into a larger, digestible whole for the reader. I encourage game review as a first, accessible step into a career in the games media, but those advanced skills will give you better opportunities in the long run. If you’re interested in doing more than reviews, that advanced role comes with extra responsibilities.

Up here on my soapbox, I can’t help but notice some people who are not taking those responsibilities seriously. Getting hits on your blog or views on your video does not make you a journalist, yet it seems there’s a fair amount of folks who confuse attention with credibility. 

Case in point, with a personal twist: At my day job, I answer gamer questions, and someone wrote in to ask if Activision would be re-releasing No One Lives Forever. That game was developed by Monolith and published by Fox Interactive. A few years later, Vivendi bought Fox Interactive and, later, Activision, so it’s a logical assumption that Activision might have the IP. I did some digging at work and could not find proof that NOLF was still at Activision; several properties were sold off around the time of the big merge, so it’s certainly possible that someone made an offer for it. It ultimately came down to “it looks like we don’t have it; if we did, we probably would have put it on GOG by now.” For good measure I asked a friend at the NOLF developer, Monolith (now a WB studio) and — while it is not strictly his job to know such things — he, too, couldn’t confirm the fate of the franchise.

So, my duty is done. I replied honestly that I don’t believe Activision has the rights so I don’t think you’ll see anything NOLF coming from my side of the fence.

Now, at this point, my old media spider-sense got tingling. Surely someone owns it, right? It didn’t just disappear and it’s likely not in the public domain this quickly. Maybe Activision does have it after all; maybe Monolith has it and my contact simply wasn’t in that loop; maybe another publisher bought it and is quietly sitting on it for its own reasons. Fan-favorite cult IP goes missing? Sounds like a newsworthy story to me, and there’s already some information to go on.

Instead, to my disappointment, nobody picked up the trail. The bulk of the reporting consisted of the embedding or quoting of my video and saying “Activision doesn’t know where NOLF is.” Worse, some outlets incorrectly spun that as “Nobody knows who owns NOLF.”

Can I impolitely suggest that someone would know who owns NOLF if you got off your ass and did some journalism? This sloppy, inaccurate reporting and general lack of motivation to dig deeper is a core frustration for me right now. Lazy hearsay should not pass as media coverage. We need more people doing the work and thinking for themselves.

I see coverage falling into three categories lately, from most engaged to laziest:

Investigation
Someone realizes there is information to be found, research to be done, truth to be uncovered and comprehended and reported. Someone goes and gets this story — in this NOLF example, a writer or editor starts calling their contacts at companies to try to track down the location and ownership of what was once a major franchise, and one that still has a passionate fan base. There will be blind alleys; there will be “no comment”s. This is why we call it work.

Comprehension
Some folks aren’t going to do the research — maybe they don’t know how yet — but they will at least listen to the video and understand what it says. At the very least, a reporter with comprehension will present what they have heard factually and accurately, perhaps adding their own thoughts for further discussion with their audience. In terms of motivation and fact-finding, they’ve missed the bus, but simply by understanding what a bus looks like now, maybe they will catch the next one when they recognize it. However, a responsible, critically thinking reporter will not say “Nobody knows where NOLF is” when the actual information was “I don’t think Activision has it.” This akin to hearing “The pizza I ordered is not ready yet” and concluding “That pizzeria is out of business.” Journalism is not a game of Telephone.

Repetition/Reiteration
This requires the least amount of effort, and it’s what many smaller outlets (and some larger outlets) often do: They repeated what they hear. It’s certainly easy to listen to someone speak and say “here’s what they said,” and requires little to no ambition. Parroting might be newsworthy when it comes to a politician speaking, or even a game’s fact sheet when people want to know specific details or turns of phrase, but in a case like the NOFL question, it’s a sure sign that the writer has no reporting instincts whatsoever. They should not be calling themselves journalists.

And perhaps they don’t. I do realize that some bloggers and YouTubers do not consider themselves journalists — they are seeking attention, not responsibility — but at that point, they’re just adding noise, which helps nobody. It doesn’t even help themselves, when potential audience members figure out (and they will) that these not-journalists have nothing new to say, nothing to add to the conversation. Why listen to an echo when you can seek out a source?

I believe a lot of folks take the easy path because they want the easy hits. But real reporters don’t go for the easiest path all the time. People who make names for themselves in games media must earn the respect attributed to their names by all those things that define journalists: fact-finding, investigation, analysis. A lot of hopefuls miss that part, I think — they just see media members with status and access and they want that too. If you want that, no matter how meager, you need to find facts instead of simply repeating a lack of them.

By the criteria I’m offering here, there are definitely people out there doing it “right.”  But I think too many inexperienced writers and site editors (and subsequently readers) are settling for less. When news breaks or information is released, I’d encourage you to think critically about what you hear, see, and say. With no responsibility comes no credibility.

Critical Path got a nice shout-out from GamesRadar for those of you looking to expand your videogame library — that is, not your library of games, but your library of  books about videogaming. “Even if you don’t currently plan on joining the freelancer ranks,” writes Henry Gilbert, “his detailed approach to reviews will have you thinking more critically of the games you play every day.” Thanks Hank!

I just got back from PAX East, which is always a blast. I sold a few books, but only brought a handful compared to previous years. I am wondering if it might be worth doing a booth at PAX Prime. I’ll do some research.

However, I just got a fresh shipment of books today, and I will be bringing them to WonderCon Anaheim, where I’m speaking on a panel about how to get a job in the games industry. The panel takes place at 5:30pm in Room 300DE. Come and say hi and/or bring your copy of the book; I am happy to sign it (or Authorgraph the digital ones). And if you have been putting off getting a paperback…here’s your chance!

Critical Path is now officially one year old. It’s comforting to say “it’s been out for a year” after saying “it’s been in the works for eight years.” One day it will be out longer than it took to create, and by that time, I will probably say “I wrote a book? I don’t remember writing any book.”

Sales have been pretty good. I’m not getting rich, and I’m not topping any sales lists — but it was not an abject failure, I got some great feedback from readers, and considering I self-published a first-person book on a niche topic for a niche audience, I’m certainly happy to see that it’s found its way into the hands (and hopefully heads) of as many people as it has. And I am grateful on a daily basis for the word-of-mouth recommendations that I see on social media. I am hoping these will continue as more and more people discover and enjoy the book. My dream has always been for this to become a standard work on the topic — maybe even a textbook or part of a curriculum’s reading list.

So while I still have challenges as an author, you still have challenges as a reader! I have always been a puzzle nerd, so I buried two easter eggs in the book — all editions, print and digital. To date, only one person has told me that they found both. I consider the first egg to be fairly easy — and a handful of folks have reported that they spotted it — but the other egg is apparently far more difficult than I expected it to be. And that tricky one has a better payoff: A hidden chapter. All the info you need to find and read this hidden chapter is in the book itself. Look closely, think critically, and have fun.

And thank you for 365 days of support!

If you’ve read the book, you may recall me discussing the magazine shorthand “TK” as placeholder text for something that is “to come” in the production of that article. (It’s page 79 of the book if you wanna go check it out.) Kat was flipping through the September 2012 issue of O — Oprah Winfrey’s monthly magazine — when she spotted this high-profile mistake on page 169:

Clearly there was one more step to be done with this photo, and that was to put in different text into the screen of the Blackberry before the page shipped to production/the printer. Somehow the editors missed it and it went out this way (at least in the digital edition).

So, two things to remember: You can never check your work too many times before the deadline, and yes, TK really is a thing. (BTW, I always answer phone calls with emails. I’m a rude guy, I guess.)

I was able to record the audio of my How Not to Write a Game Review at PAX Prime 2012 (thank you, PAX Enforcers!). Here it is as an MP3 file. You will also want these three examples as you listen along:

1. The author’s raw copy
2. The editor’s notes
3. The rewritten copy

Thank you to everybody who came out (and found the hidden Raven Theatre!) and listened to me live. I hope you find the advice useful!

I am on several PAX Prime panels at the end of the month, but one is just about Critical Path. If you’ve read the book, you know there’s a sample review filled with newbie mistakes. Rather than just repeat that live, I’m working with a friend to create a second flawed sample review, which I will break down and edit live on stage, a bit at a time. This will be fresh content prepared just for PAX Prime. Afterwards, I will have a few books for sale and I’ll be happy to sign any you might bring with you.

How Not to Write a Game Review takes place Saturday September 1 at 4pm in the Raven Theatre. Come to Seattle and we’ll point out some glaring mistakes together.

Turns out that little Tweet a few weeks ago was a teaser for a longer review of the book. Dean Takahashi posted an entry on VentureBeat today, and it’s all flattering and complimentary. The best part for me: “It has enough concrete examples collected over years that I can say that I can refer aspiring game journalists to this book now, rather than write them long missives about how to break into the game beat.” Considering Dean’s experience and stature, I couldn’t ask for more.

If you are going to be attending San Diego Comic-Con, I hereby invite you to attend this panel on the evening of Thursday, July 12:

6:15-7:15 How to Get a Job in the Video Gaming Industry— Moderator Francis Mao of Capcom leads a panel of industry insiders from a variety of game companies and industry outlets to share how they got to “play video games for a living,” and the wide assortment of career paths that are available. You don’t have to be a programming whiz or a stellar digital artist to have a fun career in the video game industry. Hear what job opportunities are available in areas such as public relations, marketing, retail, publishing, editorial, and more. Hear from actual SDCC fans from past years who are now in the industry. There will be a Q&A session plus an opportunity to speak with and network one-on-one with the panelists after the session. Room 6A

If you want a book and haven’t gotten one yet, I will have a few for sale after we’re done. I’m also more than happy to sign your existing copy if you bring it with you, and I’ll have postcards if you want an autograph for your digital edition (but remember that Kindlegraph is always an option there too).

Considering that Dean Takahashi’s book Opening the Xbox is one of my favorite game-industry books on my shelf, this tweet sent me over the moon:

On vacation, I read @DanAmrich’s Critical Path book on how to review video games for a living…He does a nice job. http://www.criticalpathbook.com

I’m downright honored!