LA Complexity :: Championship Gaming Series

Portland on the Podium- Is video killing the written media?

By: Jon “Portland” Higginbotham

Welcome readers! I'd like to apologize for my hiatus I haven't gotten around to writing one of these for quite some time now, but rest assured I'm back! First I'd like to give a shout out to a number of you who no doubt missed me and have been eagerly awaiting my next editorial, like my loyal fan D-Loc (Yo buddy!) as well as complexity's favorite article flamer bootman (Hey man go easy on this one!). As always, the opinions expressed in this article are of my own and do not necessarily represent those of the Los Angeles compLexity or its parent companies.

Throughout the tumultuous history of mankind, the media – the means by which we communicate ideas, opinions, and news to vast audiences – has been a prevalent influence in the life of the everyday "Average Joe". Okay, so maybe I should say it has been a strong influence in modern society; I don't think many African countries have caught onto the idea of "media" – they just use tongue clicks and mouth noises (which is very difficult to make a newspaper out of, as you might imagine). Aside from Africa and other third world countries, the media has played a crucial role in relaying worldwide news to the citizens. Throughout the history of the media we have seen it transition into several different mediums, and even now I believe we are seeing it evolve into a more sophisticated form, one that is more fitting to future and current generations. What I am speaking about is, of course, the internet.

That may sound dandy and all, I mean why should you care? The internet is a great tool – it's brought us the pleasures of online video games, Tay Zonday and Samwell, countless Portland on the Podium articles (not to mention countless Intraweb Files articles too!), the opportunity to get laid without leaving your grandparents basement via female impersonating pedos, oh and did I mention Tay Zonday? Indeed, the internet has brought us many great things. However, I can't help but notice the direction the internet is taking our society.

(You may be thinking, -- Why is this guy writing about society I thought this was an eSports website, what is this, some crappy college paper he grabbed off the net? Furthermore, what's with his last name? Higginbotham sounds like the name of my butler; I bet this guy got made fun of at school. Let me check out his CGS profile page to see how dorky this guy looks. Wow he's actually really, really handsome, I guess that offsets his ridiculously long last name. – Perhaps I went on a little tangent, but regardless, I'll tie eSports into this article further down the line so just keep reading, I know it's hard…)

The growing popularity of the video media has resulted in the tragic decline of the written word. Let's be honest, when's the last time you actually bought a newspaper for reading material, not for hamster bedding. Chances are you haven't in a long time – most Americans haven't.

"The newspaper industry, already suffering from circulation problems, could be looking at its worst numbers in more than a decade." –Wall Street Journal

"A report released Thursday by the National Endowment for the Arts says the number of non-reading adults increased by more than 17 million between 1992 and 2002…NEA chairman Dana Gioia, himself a poet, called the findings shocking and a reason for grave concern. 'I think what we're seeing is an enormous cultural shift from print media to electronic media, and the unintended consequences of that shift,' Gioia said." – CBS News

What does the seemingly imminent fall of the written media say about us? Put bluntly, it means we're dumb. We have developed into a culture obsessed with the need to have everything fast. To accommodate our fast paced lifestyle we've bought into a perversion of true honest news media for the sake of time, which in turn has spread this ADD-like disease nationwide. The result? We have "The Hills", which effectively lowers your IQ each minute you spend watching with your mouth ajar, hoping Heidi will finally dump Spencer. (Seriously Heidi, you need to get rid of that guy…)

This is where gaming comes in. Video games have only stimulated our need for mind numbing video stimulation. I don't think video games are entirely bad; Hell if it weren't for video games, I'd be out of a job! (But then again where would I be if video games never existed? Probably spending my time doing something productive like, I don't know, reading or writing a book?)

How long is it, until all forms of written media are extinct? The newspaper companies have the right idea of going "online" but I fear even articles on the internet will be overshadowed by ever popular video. No one will want to take the time to read what one journalist has to say when they can just watch the video. What does that mean for gaming community? It means web sites like GotFrag and SK will opt for video news instead of old fashioned biased journalism, and even the CGS sites might become strictly video which is bad news for me. I really have a terrible voice for T.V…

#1 agree

I prefer reading news, articles,etc. than watching it

There are a lot of things that are much better read than watched

When fate throws a dagger at you, there are only 2 ways to catch it: by the blade or by the handle.

Nice Article , I' am waiting for bootman to post something negative about the article lol.

Hopefully the CGS becomes more video accustom to with things like player interviews etc. ; journalism is good etc. but i'd like to see the whole CGS teams involved in webcasting etc.