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Let's talk Tim Rogers

Published: Wed 20 Aug, 2008 | 24 Comments
Tags: Tim Rogers

Let’s get this out of the way: if you don’t know who Tim Rogers is, you probably won’t find the following text interesting at all.  In fact, you will probably say something, ahem, witty in the comments section like, “Too long, didn’t read.”  That’s fine; like Jersey Girl, this isn’t for you.  For those of you that made it past the purposefully protective pretension, I’m glad to have you with me.

 

So, Tim Rogers: a man I can’t decide how I feel about at all.  On the one hand, his introspective form of new gaming journalism is a breath of fresh air in an industry where it’s all about delivering cold, clinical and “objective” pieces that attempted to take something purely subjective and quantifiable while at the same time attempting to assure an audience that games are art and that dedication towards them is not a waste. 

 

Rogers already believes that video games are “the literature of the moment”, so he doesn’t waste his time trying to write a piece that gushes over Bioshock’s narrative, claiming it to be proof that video games are worthwhile; in fact, he scathing reminds his audience that as far as narratives go, Bioshock’s is pretty lacklustre and full of holes. 

 

Rogers also writes pieces that are deeply personal.  He doesn’t attempt to write pieces that try and encompass the view points of every reader – the death knell of any review is to second guess your audience – but instead chooses to write about his own personal experiences with the game.  He even goes so far as to include anecdotes about what he was eating at the time.  It’s very real, and even if you don’t agree with him, you at least understand why he feels the way he does.

 

On the other hand, Rogers is a pretentious prat of a man, obsessed with reminded you how much cooler and more underground he is than you.  He constantly name drops the developers he’s met, the Japanese culture he’s exposed to, and how he was into something way before it became cool.  In itself, this isn’t too bad; it’s refreshing to actually have the reality and context of the gaming industry injected into a piece of writing.  It doesn’t make him Lester Bangs, but it certainly brings more to video games journalism than simply making reference to how many years it was between a title and its predecessor. 

 

The problem with Rogers’ self-indulgence is that it appears to have rubbed off on his fans in such a way that it’s unbearable.  The people who contribute nothing to the industry expect their loitering message boards of message boards where they replicate Rogers’ pomp on the mere virtue that they read his work.  “I’m a fan of Tim Rogers’ work; ergo I am more qualified to critique video games.” 

 

Yet how does one become qualified to review video games in the first place?  These very people miss the point that what makes Rogers’ work wonderful is that he doesn’t try and waste time quantifying the graphics or the sound; thus his fans become the definition of irony.  It is, perhaps, then not Rogers I can’t stand, but what he inspires. 

 

Rogers is unbearable – his Kotaku comments verify that for anyone masochistic enough to hunt them out – but at least he is true to himself and is consistent.  It might rub me up the wrong way when he waxes lyrical about his exposure to Japanese culture, but at least that’s Rogers – and I can hardly fault a man for being himself.  So what if he seems like the kind of man who Googles his own name?

 

Of course, maybe I’m just bitter towards Rogers because he has a presence in the video game industry.  He’s in Japan (and most importantly, I’m not), he has writing titles attached to such top publications as Games™, and he’s had in-depth conversations with developers I can only dream of meeting.  Meanwhile, I’m 25, stuck in New Zealand, an eternal student, wondering where it all went so horribly pear shaped.  I’m jealous, yes – and I’m ashamed to say that it even tempts me to resort to ad hominem attacks about how he looks like a complete douche.

 

Ultimately, I may never know how I feel about Rogers.  I respect his work, even if I don’t agree with it, and I admire his honesty.  However, I just can’t help that feel that he has inspired horrible in the video game industry.  Indirectly, he is responsible for every amateur critic that spews venom without realising that dedication to video games is not something to aspire to (yet).

 

Rogers, I guess, for me, represents a corypheus for every antagonistic netizen that aspires to more on the internet behind the guise of a pseudonym and an avatar.  Perhaps it makes me a hypocrite, but at the same time I am not screaming on message boards about how a market leader with more money than sense should be catering to my tastes… mainly because no one has done that for years anyway and I’m used to being an outcast.

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