(90% of you reading this article are thinking “No Duh” but the point of this piece is to hopefully inform the 10% and maybe get a little discussion going for the 90%)

If you are interested in writing about the game industry, one of the first things you’ll notice is that the material you find interesting is often overlooked. An article that is genuinely thought provoking can be overlooked for one titled “The five hottest butts in gaming”. While this is not a behavior that is limited to the game industry, it’s still disappointing.

Yep, this will get you a few hits

The slightly perplexing thing is that there’s a disconnect between what gamers are willing to read, and what they spend their money on. Games like “Rumble Roses” or “BMX XXX” tend to do very poorly, but an artistic game like “Braid” did surprisingly well. On the other side of the equation, a news story with a half naked female as the header image will get ten times as many views as an article discussing the emotional undertones of Silent Hill 2.

A perfect example is this article itself. Stop and ask yourself what caught your eye about this piece. More than likely it was the header image. Your eyes were drawn to the half naked woman and you clicked on the link in the hopes that there would be more. This is not actually a bad thing. Articles outlining Cammy’s awesome legs are a perfectly valid piece of entertainment. Even if it appeals to our primal minds rather than our logical minds, it’s still entertaining. While this article may seem to be attacking the “tabloid” style of game writing, it is actually just attempting to temper the expectation of any writers looking to enter this industry.

The trick, and I hope the more seasoned writers will agree, is to strike a balance between the two. Find a “hook” to put into your writing style that will appeal to the gaming masses as a whole. A talented writer can bring in the readers by initially appealing to their primal minds and by the end of the article have the reader thinking deeper thoughts about video games.

For those of you who clicked on this piece just for the pics

The main goal of this entry is to warn those would-be writers who are considering a stint in game “journalism”. There is a place for well written and articles discussing the finer points of video games. There is also a large market for pieces that do nothing but appeal to the lowest common denominator. Both are valid and have their place in the game blog hierarchy. You just have to be comfortable with the idea that your article about the hidden meanings of Alan Wake might be overshadowed by an article discussing the “jiggle physics” in the new Dead or Alive game.

~Daniel~