Big Picture Mode
Nathan Brown on reconnecting to the right things in 2018
One of the most frequently levelled accusations against game journalists (feel free to add your own sarcastic airquotes) is that we don’t do enough proper, long-form investigative work. I suppose that’s fair enough, but something I often think is overlooked is that, if you want the way games are covered to change, you, the reader or viewer, have to change in kind. In doing so you can make not only the game press better; you can make the Internet better too, and we could do with some of that right now. What follows is a set of recommended New Year’s Resolutions for how we all might better approach the gaming Internet. Unsurprisingly, they work equally as effectively for the Internet as a whole.
For a start – and this really should be obvious by now – do not click on articles with which you can tell you vehemently disagree from a quick look at the headline. If you suspect something has been written specifically to elicit a negative reaction from you, avoid it like the plague. Ideally you’ll then resolve to avoid the entire website on which it was published, as that’s really the only way they’ll get the message, but I’ll leave that decision to you.
Next, I suggest that you, as the reader, follow a simple rule abided to by just about every right-thinking writer on the planet. Do not read the comments. There is rarely anything but bile and bad vibes that will make you feel worse about life, the universe and everything within minutes. There are exceptions, certainly – I’m continually impressed by the quality of discussion below the line at Rock Paper Shotgun, for instance – and I’ll assume you’re intelligent enough to make your own decisions based on your own experiences. But ask yourself this: how many times have you read an online article’s comment thread and come away feeling like it was a worthwhile use of your time, and from which you’ve really learned something of value? And how many times have you come away sad, or angry?
Which brings us elegantly to Twitter. Follow people you like. Stay away from those you don’t. I see a lot of hand-wringing about the need to break out of our bubbles, to open up to the world beyond our echo chambers, because it’s our close-minded insularity that led to Brexit and Trump and, I dunno, Battlefront II or something. Well, fuck that. Is following an alt-right YouTuber, or a whatabouting dullard, or Donald Trump (the only person on the planet whose New Year’s Resolution was ‘spend more time on Twitter’) going to make the Internet a better place, or my life any better? Clearly not. Twitter was born as a way of staying cheerily close to the people you like and respect, not as a method of keeping tabs on a hate mob. Don’t rise to it; don’t get into fights, don’t hate-follow or bait-quote or subtweet. It’s not worth it. Debate is long since dead. These days, all anyone does is shout.
I’d like to see a little more care, too, in how we use YouTube. The clickbait rule applies even more strongly here, since the written press’ cynical gaming of Google’s search algorithms has absolutely nothing on the way video makers have exploited them. I have a personal rule about exclams in video titles that serves me well. There’s plenty of great stuff on YouTube, but much of it gets buried by shouty reaction videos, list features and clickbait. If you’re not sure about something, log out before you watch it, lest your recommendations be forever filled by FIFA pack openings and Anita Sarkeesian hate videos. And maybe footage of dead bodies, since that’s apparently a thing now.
Above all, please stop sharing things you hate, or think are bad. Why on Earth do people do that, anyway?
My main New Year’s Resolution for using the Internet, however, is simply to use it less. My connection went down for a few days late last year, and life as good as ground to a halt (not least for the kid, for whom scheduled television is a horrifying, abstract concept). Sure, I couldn’t live without the Internet; it’s capable of so many wonderful things, but it’s also home to so much of what’s wrong with the world today, he said, shaking his stick at a cloud. I’m trying to use my phone less. As a family we’re reducing our screen time. I’m not even playing much Destiny any more.
I’m not suggesting you do all of this yourself, of course. I’ll leave it to the Internet to insist how you should feel about something. But there’s one loud lesson here I hope we can all agree on: magazines are brilliant, aren’t they? Do keep buying them.
Nathan Brown is Edge’s editor. If you liked this page, you can’t like or comment – but you’re welcome to subscribe
Above all, please stop sharing things you hate, or think are bad. Why on Earth do people do that, anyway?