Full FeedGame journalist offers list of words to be banned from game articles
As I read an article about banning certain words from our journalistic vocabulary by Gus Mastrapa of GameDaily I had to admit, he does have a point.
“Let’s pretend I’m your editor for a second. Done laughing? Okay, how about we talk seriously about cliché and weak, meaningless words and the way they diminish the impact, entertainment value and clarity of games journalism,” Mastrapa wrote. The list of words he would like see banned in 2009 which includes:
- Hype. In this section he gets a little confusing about the over use of the word “hype” when referring to talking about video games as far as marketing of the said games goes. Mastrapa explained that using “hype” is piling all the opinions of fans and writers “under one umbrella.” So basically avoid making blanketed, over exaggerations in a story to over emphasize a game and its fans.
- Title. Under this section of his story he picks apart the words “Video” and “Games” as they are used in headlines. “We have a big problem in video games. We’ve only got one or two reliable words to describe the stuff we write about,” he suggested finding supporting words to help describe a game rather than fall back on the ol’ faithful words of “Game” and “Video game” and become more creative. A few words he suggested include using “flick,” “tune” or “tome” to help describe the games we are writing about.
- Meh. I have to agree with Mastrapa that using words like “Meh” is kind of a lazy, but at the same time I’m guilty of using this word when blogging on my personal spaces. But what other word can you use to describe a shoulder shrug or a silent opinion that we’re simply not amazed by a game. “... when you say ‘meh,’ you say nothing. If that’s your point, that there’s nothing worth saying, either don’t bother or come up with a more original way of not saying it,” he wrote.
- AAA. In this section, I’m confused as to how three letters are even part of describing a game. I’m still learning the “1 out of 100 percent” scoring system for games. So, like Mastrapa I’m leaving this section alone.
- Graphics. I’m not even going to really comment on his break down of the word “Graphic” in a story since he pretty much explains it himself. “There’s a reason why we laugh at that commercial for Westwood College where the half-stoned game tester talks about “tightening up the graphics.” It’s because people who use the word “graphics” to describe the settings, art, animation, design and direction of video games sound like they’re eleven years old,” he wrote.
- Acronyms for Video game titles. In his break down of game title acronyms I agree we do tend to go a little crazy with the use of acronyms but to me it is sometimes considered a necessary evil. Who wants to spell out World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy: Crisis Core throughout an entire story each time its mentioned? And most sites have a set headline space we must figure out how to fit our titles in. So its actually much easier to refer to them as WoW or FF:CC. Besides, as I traverse through the online community most of the people I run into speak in acronyms for more than just the game titles when speaking of their games. So, sorry Mastrapa, I disagree that no one will know what we’re talking about if we use acronyms but I agree if we get too crazy we end up confusing everyone.
But he does have valid points, as I said earlier in this story, but to aid in the writing adventures of fellow game journos he ends his story with a few words writers may consider using.
“And just so I’m not ending the year on a sour note I’ll leave you with a handful of words I’d like to see more of in the games writing of 2009,” he wrote. “Please feel free to use the following ten-cent words to your heart’s content: post-mortem, taxonomy, symposium, grok, round-table, game designer, developer, texture artist, tester, blockbuster, NeoGAF-crasher, bomb, mega-budget, micro-budget, freak-out, color palette, environment, scenery, atmosphere, animation, eye-candy, diversion, actioner, adventure, cartoon, symbolic, life-like, realism, surreal and psychedelic.”
Read [Game Daily] Also Read [PlayStation Pro Game Dictionary] Also Read [UnWord Dictionary]
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i agree you shuouldn’t use “hype” because it sounds negative to me
and the rule of thumb for acronyms is to spell it out the first time, them use an acronym the rest of the time (I am an English teacher afterall!) So unless someone decides to start reading your article in the middle, it shuold all be fine.
oh and i can honestly say i never used “meh” in any of my articles :)
on December 29, 2008 at 03:15 AM - LINKArticles like Mastrapa’s, which seem to pop up every few months, exemplify two points.
First, that many people who are paid to produced online verbiage are not trained (or at least well self-educated) writers, often forget their audience and rely too heavily on fan-centric jargon.
Second, that writing about video games (journalism?) is still a very young and painfully maturing field.
on December 29, 2008 at 01:31 PM - LINKYes, I agree you should spell it out on the first reference. I think acroynms are okay in headlines because most gamers already know what those acroynms mean anyways. Meh to me is lazy talk. It’s not really a word but a noise. Like I said, I’m kind of guilty when it comes to using that word. Especially when trying to communicate with a bunch of people on MGO (metal gear online) that you could care less who takes the sniper points and who goes kamakazie on the opposing team when you know “team work” is a concept they have yet to grasp anyways.
on December 30, 2008 at 12:04 PM - LINK