Comments on: “I” Versus “We”

By: This (Gaming) Week 01: November 18 2009 « Benny's Bumper Blog

This (Gaming) Week 01: November 18 2009 « Benny's Bumper Blog — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:37:48 +0000

[...] “I” versus “We” – In a more specific equivalent to the above link, RPS man John Walker talks about whether it’s acceptable to use personal accounts in review text, using ‘I’ and ‘We’, and there are some interesting points raised. Over the years I’ve generally found myself drifting away from the big sites like the IGNs and GameSpots of this world in favour of those places where the writer’s personality shines through (places like RPS, VG247 and Eurogamer are good examples), and in these internet-heavy days of blogs and Twitter feeds and the like there’s clearly a lot of interest in personal opinions. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Podcast Episode #3: LadyJ….. Is here#307Fashion Police: Week of November 2 Categories: Gaming Link Dump, Linkage Tags: 2009, de-makes, games journalism, Left 4 Dead, LucasArts, Tim Schafer Comments (0) Trackbacks (0) Leave a comment Trackback [...]

By: John Walker

John Walker — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:05:45 +0000

Orrrrr, what I argued above, where reviewing anything without personal pronouns is dishonest and inappropriate. Claiming that it requires some extra degree of difficulty or skill to leave them out is ludicrously wrong. Any half-talented writer can write without personal pronouns. Using them well is a fine skill.

And you might want to read some game reviews if you think the “we” problem isn’t common.

By: David McBride

David McBride — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:55:09 +0000

Your discussion of novels written in the first-person triggered a memory: a (particularly fine) novel written in the /second/ person called Halting State:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Halting-State-Charles-Stross/dp/1841496944

The author wrote a fascinating post on the subject, too:

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-old/2006/04/20/

By: techmachine

techmachine — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:37:20 +0000

If we’re talking product reviews of any kind, rather than some kind of product-related op ed, the use of the first person should generally be abhorred. That’s not to say the alternative use of “we” doesn’t present problems. But the whole “collective snot” thing is a rather contrived distraction. Only the talentless, lazy hack would fall into such a trap. Broadly speaking, the skilled scribbler will minimise the use of personal pronouns in reviews, period. There’s usually no need for them and they generally cheapen the feel of the piece.

Of course, games journalists like to imagine they are involved in some form of higher art, bringing ego into the equation and in turn making a liberal sprinkling of ‘I’ inevitable.

A game review can still be very good despite the use of ‘I’. But as a general rule, it would be even better without it.

By: hausplant

hausplant — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:29:23 +0000

i dont really know how you guys envision RPS, or what you want to achieve with it;

but intellectually stimulating articles like “to sleep, perchance….” make my visit worthwhile.

i can read zillions of articles about modern warfare 2 anywhere..

it’s nice to give people stuff to think about once in a while.

By: Lewis

Lewis — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:52:07 +0000

“As well as rounding up or down nuanced scores and adding in peculiar new grammatical mistakes.”

Or, in the case of Tom’s Modern Warfare review, just outright bloody changing the score and removing bits of the text that didn’t fit with the new number, I take it?

By: SuperNashwan

SuperNashwan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:30:12 +0000

The reason I read RPS is because you guys are free to write what you want. I’d hate for the site to start second guessing itself as the audience grows.

By: P7uen

P7uen — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:15:10 +0000

You can read the first page of a book before you buy it, which should help, it’s a bit like a demo of the book.

By: Juliet

Juliet — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:12:35 +0000

I’ll look forward to reading about your neuroses!

I see the ‘we’ narrative thing like videos from boybands; apparently they are all in love/ breaking up with the exact same person, and have reached a consensus in feeling about it.

I find myself having to do the ‘we’ for my blog posts on behalf of the company I work for. Trying to work out whether it would be appropriate to suddenly grow an individual voice.

By: Andy Krouwel

Andy Krouwel — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:02:12 +0000

If we don’t celebrate the ‘I’, then Amiga Power taught us nothing.

Dammit, I’ve just we-d all over my reply.