Destructoid, Fraser Brown: Games Media Awards trolled by sponsor [October 29th, 2011]

Well… yeah. Yeah, Fraser. They kind of do.

I’ve been quiet about the GMAs, largely because the very idea of game journalists celebrating their “achievements”, such as they may be called, seems like a monumentally preposterous idea. It’s the journalistic equivalent of a pie-eating contest. Truthfully, I have to give credit to Grainger Games for absolutely nailing their contribution to the evening.

This may strike you as odd, but I’m not fond of trolling. I don’t see the point of it. Nor, I suspect, do Grainger Games. I don’t think they had in any way, shape or form “misjudged” their presence at the GMAs. I think they looked at game journalism, looked at what it is, what it does and what it represents, and planned accordingly.

Looking at the content of sites like GamesRadar, Destructoid, Kotaku, and IGN, to name four of the biggest names in the field, it’d be difficult to see how you’d go wrong with poor-taste midget jokes and scantily-clad women.

They catered to what they perceived as their audience. Rather than writing pissy articles about how the GMAs were “trolled”, perhaps it would be better if game journalists reflected on exactly why Grainger Games thought these sort of antics would be acceptable at an award ceremony highlighting the “best” of the field.