Dyson's Fear 3.0

Esquire:The Lester Bangs of Video Games

re: The Lester Bangs of Video Games

This article is troublesome, not because it over-estimates the entire milieu of videogaming, but because it over-estimates the appeal of videogaming.

The reader reactions for Gamespot's interview with the writer of the article speaks volumes. The reason why there is no 'good' video game journalism, is that it attracts the sub-moronic. The people who aren't interested in video games will not ever be interested in videogames, especially in the socio-political climate of the here and now. There are far more important subjects to be written about, despite how far videogames have wormed their way into popular culture.

There will be no Pauline Kael or Lester Bangs, as the medium isn't even remotely interesting enough for the greater world to care about, and the exceedingly low level of intellectual power behind the current audience for videogame journalism isn't even remotely close enough for that level of social awareness to evolve out of it. (Man, was that ever a run-on sentence.)

When the average 'engaged' reader of a site like Gamespot is a slack-jawed throwback with the social skills of a small rodent, like the individuals whose posts grace the comments section of the interview, who can expect anything to evolve to the level of Kael or Bangs. Also, the double-oughts aren't the 60s or 70s. This is the highest that crass commercialism has ever been, and everything wallows in shallow, stagnant pond of substanceless media.

We're talking about the same media that made Paris Hilton a celebrity, and the people who bought into it.

We're not talking about particularly smart, critically aware people here.

I wish I could e-mail this response to the author of the article, because I believe I've answered his question.

posted by Jason @ 10:06 PM