Text Tree: A Week of Interviews on New Media v1.2

To finish out today’s installment of our seven part interview series “Text Tree” we’ve got an interview with MTV Multiplayer blog Editor Stephen Totilo (seen above pulverizing/being pulverized by Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em). The interview touches on a few specifically pertinent aspects of games coverage and Stephen sums up why podcasts are king (even though they have yet to become truly monetized) in an era of “But I want my information noooooow, Daddy!”

(GEEK): As MTV Multiplayer’s head writer and a guest on a variety of well known gaming podcasts, could you explain why you think podcasting is an important approach for games coverage, and more specifically, games journalism?

You picked a good week to ask this question, as the purchase by UGO of 1UP has put fans of some of the most popular gaming media podcasts in deep distress. What I think podcasts do so well is provide voice and allow nuance. The voice point is obvious, but the nuance one might be a little less so. Gaming media, like a lot of media, thrives on the short and the quick. Any reporter who strives to present an article that has some depth and length to it faces the challenge of getting their readers to engage in those pieces in full. That’s hard online, which is where most gaming media exists these days. People have a tendency to skim or to be satisfied with a snappy headline and intro paragraph. I’ve found that those same readerrs have a greater tolerance for long podcasts. They’ll listen to someone talk about a game or interview for 10 minutes via a podcast but may not have the patience or time to consume the 1,000-word or 4,000-word story that would have been needed to present the same volume of information. Get people listening to your podcast and you’ll get them listening to a lot more of the details in a way that more easily fits into their lives.

(GEEK): In your time as a games journalist/games enthusiast, you’ve seen games writers laid off or resign for other ventures (be they game-related or otherwise). It could be said that the cutbacks we’ve seen budget-wise in games journalism are symptomatic of changing business models that are effecting journalism on the whole. In that regard, do you believe MTV Multiplayer or, maybe more importantly, all publishing entities in the games journalism industry are adequately adapting to changing business models?

If every outlet or every company or every person adapted adequately to the needs of the media business, then everyone would be popular and rich, right? There are different ways to succeed. I think that those in the gaming media who conduct themselves with the humility of working for their audience — the role of any good reporter being to serve the people out there rather than a personal agenda or the agenda of those whom they are reporting on — have a good chance of surviving and thriving. That said, the media is a rough business and the proliferation of free gaming media does present some profit challenges. Some people can do great work and see little for it. And that can prompt the need for new businesses, new approaches, new outlets, new jobs. Thankfully, talent always finds a home and a paycheck. Always. As for MTV Multiplayer, I’m thrilled at the support we get from MTV as a whole, which has only increased each year since MTV News began covering video games full-tme when I started here a week before E3 in May of 2005.

(GEEK): And finally, what else do you believe we should be doing, as journalists, to pursue better coverage going forward? What should we be doing better?

I answered that above, I think. But I’ll reiterate: work for your readers, your audience. Assume they are intelligent. Treat them with respect. Keep your work interesting. Be skeptical. Be accurate. And use fewer abverbs. You almost never need them, generally.