Last week’s EGM/1UP fiasco has gotten me thinking a lot about the industry. I’ve been at Megatonik for a little over a year now, casually posting now and then as it struck my fancy. During that time, I’ve learned a lot about games journalism. The problem I’ve encountered in dealing with the painful reality that EGM will never grace my mailbox again is that, unlike this hobbyist, love-driven blog, the biggest video game news sites are businesses. That isn’t to say that the people that write for them aren’t passionate about what they do, because they are. The big difference is that the people in charge don’t necessarily care about video games. At the very least, they probably care about money more than games, which is privately infuriating but, to be fair, these people are businessmen and women, probably with families, and I should try to be understanding of their decision. Of course, those decisions would be easier to swallow if they didn’t include canceling my favorite magazine and laying off bunches of talented people.

So yes, at first, I reacted with plenty of rage. Rage at the loss of EGM. Rage at the loss of lots of great writers (though most of them have trucked over to eat. sleep. game. and started the wholly inspirational Rebel FM). Rage at the plain injustice of it all. I wound up shooting off a few angry emails to different podcasters and bloggers practically begging for them to share in my rage. Luckily for me, the Drunken Gamers (over at RobotPanic.com) responded to my email with characteristic levelheadedness and wisdom, essentially saying, “hey, UGO aren’t bitches. They’re a business, making business decisions.”

Fair enough. It’s just a shame that the cogs that make up the incredible and magical machine known as games journalism are both incredible, talented people and, at the same time, easily disposable by the people in charge. What makes that fact even harder to swallow is that I hope to be one of those cogs some day.

I guess that makes me a masochist.

But hey, all we can do after bad things like this happen is but our leather thongs back on and pick the whip back up. After all, this is an industry run by love and passion, and while we might have some bumps on the road, we’ll always have each other.

Now put your ball gag on and get back in bed.

Categories: Love