MMO journalism is in a sorry state these days. Faced with a lack of new information to report MMO news websites must resort to creating news to keep their readers coming back. For evidence, we only have to look at a recent article where popular MMO site Allakazam took the time to interview e-porn celebrity Mia Rose at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Strangely enough, despite the sycophantic interviewer all of the questions directed at her in the interview were about World of Warcraft and not her “career”. It’s fairly obvious that if Mia Rose were a 300 pound WoW gamer meter maid from Philadelphia and not an aspiring adult film star it’s very unlikely anyone would care about her opinion on the state of raiding in WoW.
Perhaps this is part of a trend these days as even mainstream media personalities like Bill O’Reilly routinely indulge in having a constant parade of bimbos as interview subjects on their TV news shows. Sex sells.
Still, I have to wonder what Mia Rose was doing at CES in the first place. Don’t you need industry credentials to gain admittance? I also have to wonder what Allakazam was doing there if this interview was the best they could come up with in the 3 days of the show. And for the record: Activision/Blizzard was not an exhibitor at the CES. But wait, the news team at Allakazam can’t be called slackers as they managed to conduct yet another hard-hitting interview at yet another trade show with some of the most intelligent people you’ll ever meet.
A Female Gamer’s Perspective
I would have missed this Pulitzer Prize piece of investigative journalism if it not were the intrepid efforts of one of the readers to this site named Rebecca who brought this to my attention. Although I wrestled with the fact doing an article about this interview would have the unintended effect of publicizing this woman even further, I felt that it was necessary to publish an alternative opinion. Rebecca’s a female MMO gamer who has some strong opinions on this story.
Here’s what she has to say about the interview:
This past week WoW insider promoted an Allakazham interview with e-porn star Mia Rose. For those of you that lived under the proverbial “e-rock” Mia starred in the e-porn serial Whorecraft which Blizzard objected to via their attorneys and which resulted in the title being changed to something less similar to Warcraft. You just can’t make this stuff up folks.
Since her “big debut” Mia has been banned from World of Warcraft for allegedly linking her porn site in the Trade channel. She told several news sites that she was banned for no reason and got plenty of sympathy and demands for her reinstatement. Apparently she has had her porn site shutdown by her ISP (she claims it was hacked but her provider says otherwise). She now spends her free time showing up to gamer events like Blizzcon and E3 doing goodness knows what for her fans.
I can’t say that I’m surprised Allakazham would waste digital memory on this interview. This once solid MMO news source seems to be in a state of steady decline. Still I’m more than a bit disappointed. How in the world can someone of these dubious credentials and questionable moral standards actually have a voice in our hobby? To the people at Allakazam’s I’d like to ask: what happened to reporting real gamer news, as opposed to this obviously salacious piece you just did with Mia? You do remember what real MMO news gathering is — the days before the venerable Kazham was sold off? Aren’t there enough other venues in this world that give attention to certain females who exist only to show off their attributes to legions of slobbering men?
Am I dwelling too much on what Mia does as opposed to what Mia is saying? Well lets examine it. We can completely forget the fact that Mia is an e-porn star in desperate need of “augmentation” and some time on a AB-Machine, lets forget that her opinion and $3.75 will buy you a venti café latte at Starbucks. Lets even put aside that she has been allegedly banned from WoW for promoting inappropriate activities to players and then has complained to the press that the very same evil hacker kids are somehow responsible.
Regardless, it’s still is truly despicable of Allakazham to use this WoW “D-list” celebrity as a platform to gain stred cred with hardcore gamers by decrying Blizzard’s new easy mode end game philosophy. Mia plays her part well and basically comes right out and tells us that the reason she doesn’t like the new raid content is because “…like anyone can do it.” At best it proves she belongs in that bratty contingent of raiders who can’t seem to enjoy the game unless other players are deprived of the content they’re experiencing. At worst was perhaps she was paying attention to what the creepy basement dwellers was telling her while she was “performing” at aforementioned gamer events.
Slut factor aside, players like Mia (male or female) are ridiculous and just plain bad for our hobby. First off, she played shadowbolt spam warlock and complained that “It was so hard to get into Black Temple!” and then goes on how Warlocks got nerfed because they “actually have to do….like stuff and junk”. Note to the Allakazahm staff: next time you want to conduct a serious interview on the problems of class balance and casual vs. hardcore within WoW please at least find someone qualified to discuss the subject.
As a long-time female MMO gamer, I have always pulled my own weight in groups and raids. Playing a hunter has taught me patience and to learn to live without epics. Allakazham does a great disservice to all of us but especially to the female gamer community by giving people like Mia a platform to spew their nonsense. She makes it incredibly hard for those females that want to be solid gamers free from the stereotypical notion of the temptress who will perform certain favors just to get ahead. Because of Mia’s questionable ethics and her shameless self-promotion, it is not unreasonable to speculate that she will be awarded good gear regardless of her skill. She can play the “Oh, I’m just a girl, I don’t even know how I got here, give me something pretty and I might cyber with you!” card throughout the entire expansion. I pity her guild, but no less than I pity what’s become of our trusted MMO news sources who will seemingly do anything to promote their agenda.
While I have never put much faith in attempts at MMO journalism when practiced by the likes of major gaming sites like Allakazam, Rebecca makes some good points that have not been heard amidst the publicity of the Mia Rose interview. I find her opinions a refreshing counterpoint to those gamers who cheer on the validation of MMO gaming by an actress in the adult film industry who just happens to play WoW too. The fact that the MMO journalists like those at Allakazam have no sense of propriety and are cheering on the blurring of the lines of gaming and the pornography industry is cause for concern. We need to call the interview for what it is: a shameless gimmick designed to increase readership among males.
I suspect the problem is the mass appeal of WoW and it’s subsequent acceptance into the psyche of popular culture. When this happens you always end up with attention starved people on the fringes trying to steal some of its spotlight. A bright light always attracts bugs. However mass appeal is a double edged sword. Not everyone who enjoys MMO’s like WoW has sunk to the lowest common denominator. There are actually people who play that are decent and have a moral compass. We love MMOs too. So please forgive us for not wanting to see MMO culture fall completely into the gutter.
The Men’s Magazine Paradigm
Allakazam’s didn’t invent what is going on. It’s been done before. Instead of interviewing someone with some actual insight like a video game designer or producer they have chosen to behave like a soft-core mens magazine when they run a story like this. Those kinds of magazines routinely find some hot young actress and conduct an “interview” with them which serves only as an excuse to feature a scantily clad lady in their magazine. The equation is simple: the magazine sells more copies and the actress gets free promotion. The interviewer in this case is doing the same.
Here’s a quote from Tamat who basically admits to this ploy as he introduces the video interview:
We had the opportunity to meet up with her at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) earlier in the month to get an idea as to just how big a gamer she really is. What we uncovered in the interview, might surprise you, excite you, and possibly even make you fall in love. If you thought Mia Rose was hot before, wait until you see her talk about World of Warcraft.
Is appealing to the prurient interests of some males what MMO journalism has been reduced to? Apparently so. But I should not be surprised, just open the pages of any issue of PC Gamer and you’ll rarely find an ad without a voluptuous scantily clad female on the cover of the latest video game. Using sex to sell video games and pretty much anything has become par for the course in Western culture. This marketing mindset is so pervasive that even the cappuccino stands here in the Seattle area have resorted to having their female baristas dress in bikini’s — just to attract more customers and sell more coffee.
Conclusion
Using sex as a marketing strategy has been going on for thousands of years. It’s just unfortunate that it’s now part of the the media culture and sadly MMO culture as well. This tabloid interview was definitely not Allakazam’s finest moment but I’m sure it got more hits for their website then any previous article. As a person who loves MMOs and has followed them for years, the continual dumbing-down of MMO culture has caused me to ponder almost daily my continual involvement in this hobby.
After forcing myself to watch the video, I was suddenly struck at how the implications of Andrew Keen’s book The Cult of the Amateur are coming to fruition in our brave new participatory Web 2.0 world. Here we have an amateur reporter interviewing an amateur adult film star with the result being one of the most mindless wastes of time ever committed to video. Sadly the people today who live on a steady diet of YouTube videos tolerate this kind of garbage and probably don’t know any better. Expect to see standards get lower and lower as the speeding MMO train keeps rolling down the track and goes even more mainstream.
-Wolfshead
This is why I get my WoW news from good folk like Big Red Kitty, Big Bear Butt and even Greedy Goblin. It’s also why I’ve not had a gaming subscription since the first year of Nintendo Power.
Then again, look at “mainstream” journalism. It’s not like the election coverage was even close to professional. As for the “debates”, well, let’s just say that if I want real information on politics, I have to hunt for it; it’s not anywhere on the boob tube.
I certainly agree that the mainstream media failed the public in the last election with it’s bias toward a certain candidate. Journalists are not reporting news — they are making and shaping the news. That’s contrary to the role that the special place the press has in the Constitution. But I don’t want to turn this into a political debate.
All forms of traditional media seem to be failing these days. Major TV networks are posting record losses and big newspapers are on the brink of financial insolvency. Andrew Keen talks about this in his book.
I’m sure that financial pressure is part of the reason we are seeing the advent of tabloid journalism today. TV is littered with shows like Inside Edition, Access Hollywood, etc. Print media is just as bad with all of the muckracking tabloids available for sale at the supermarket.
It’s just too bad that these kinds of shenanigans have infected the credibility of the gaming press. Every month another gaming magazine shuts down leaving the remaining ones scrambling to become more outrageous just to stay alive.
I think as far as blogs are concerned I would agree with you Tesh and disagree with Andrew Keen as to their relevancy. At least most gaming blogs don’t have a financial incentive to do what they do. They are doing a far better job of providing comprehensive analysis and commentary of the gaming world then the official sources who seem to be constantly in bed with gaming companies in order not to drive away their advertising revenue.
There is really a disturbing lack of MMO news nowadays. WoW makes up to 90% of the content of MMO-sites like the german http://www.buffed.de. Even “Olnigg” http://www.olnigg.de/olgindex.htm , a rather cynic MMO-veteran who commented on MMOs since Ultima Online, 1998, before the age of blogging, added less and less articles over the years, and stopped in September 2008 completely. He writes a column for an online gaming magazine for some time by now, but the reason is that there is not much to report about nowadays except WoW.
WoW is the evolution of the EverQuest/DIKUmud formula. But really new ideas are scarce nowadays, and MMOs that people had high hopes for turned out to be flawed or just did not kick as much arse as expected. Age of Conan and Warhammer come to mind.
I have not heard anything about Guild Wars 2 for over a year by now, Aion does not look like it would be the game for me.
As an addict MMO-gamer, I stopped playing MMOs. My friends started to play WoW again, but really, this game has become so streamlined and unexciting, I also never liked the basic mechanics, having started with Ultima Online as my first MMO love.
I smell a lack of innovation. The gaming press needs several next generation MMOs that shakes up the market.
Nobody bothers to report about the Chronicles of Spellborn, no wonder, it really sucks. But reading all day and night about WoW and then occasionally EVE as THE alternative for the more elitist player is getting old. 😉
Blogs are the most honest source of information nowadays. I know when I read Wolfshead, Muckbeast or Tesh’s page that I can read THEIR opinion on a specific matter. You guys do not have to churn out news for a living, after all. So you do not have to ask this or that strange person with big boobs or other crazy attributes about their opinion of raiding in WoW.
I think it is about time for experiments.
Will Fallout 3 revive the MMO? Or will it just re-use a certain games database and take Radroaches instead of Rats? 🙂
We need new games, new ideas, new concepts – the stagnation in the news just displays the current situation.
Till then, we can expect to read more news along the lines of pornstars about WoW or firemen saving a kitty in Kansas.
Please note, most blogs either talk about WoW or about “the future” of MMOs in general. At least IMO. Till the future happens, we can bore ourselves with news about the latest derivation of the stone old EQ/Dikumud formula in a WoW clone or WoW itself.
And now that MMOs are accessible for the masses, not necessarily a bad thing, we get tons of news for the masses and no longer the more specialized news for a small special group of MMO geeks.
Oh well.
Aye, sorry, I”m not trying to stir up politics, just using that as a recent and blatant example of media incompetence. Newspapers (hello, NYT stock crash) are especially vulnerable these days. You’re spot on when you say they “making and shaping the news”.
Thing is, I think that people are starved for real information. There’s got to be money in it somewhere. It’s baffling to me that the “mainstream” is so polluted, both from a purely ethical standpoint, and also from a purely business standpoint. People, well… *some* people really thirst for truth and information. It’s sad to me that the best avenue for such is puttering around on the web, considering things like the recent Wikipedia kerfluffle you did the writeup on. Interested parties have to develop thick filters, but at least the data is there to be found. In the mainstream media, it’s either distorted or completely avoided.
The “press” truly is out of whack.
Here’s the thing: if sensational journalism is the norm even among more “serious” publications like mainstream newspapers and television news programs, can we really expect an online MMO news site to be any different? The very fabric of journalism was dirtied, and it’s only getting dirtier. Perhaps that’s why there’s something to be said for many magazines and newspapers going under. Unfortunately, there aren’t many better ones sprouting up.
Then too, you have to laugh at the irony here somewhat. “Boobs sell” isn’t just a phrase used by the “press,” but the industry that this so-called press reports on, also. World of Warcraft (WoW), for example, heavily promoted itself with a female character, and the “sex sells” concept is quite visible in the game. Does the succubus need to spank herself? Was the female night-elf dance expected to illustrate anything other than sex? Are the proportions of female avatars in WoW really necessary across the board? Should more heavily-armoured gear really show more skin on female characters?
It’s hard to argue that interviewing a female porn star on her WoW habits/opinions is distasteful when the game itself is going after the same target audience that the interviewer is. That doesn’t mean every WoW gamer is part of that target audience, simply that they shouldn’t gawk when “more of the same” is thrown in their face, either by Blizzard, or by the press. Those that don’t have the mental limitations of pre-pubescent boys are free to ignore the female night elves dancing around almost nude on mailboxes, and are similarly free to ignore shitty interviews in apparently shitty online magazines, too.
You make a great point here. When I started thinking about how much “sex” was part of WoW both as part of it’s promotion and in-game content from it’s inception then I realized that the interview in question is part and parcel of the same kind of cultural imperative. You are of course right, most of us have learned to ignore the sexual references over the years within WoW. It’s just that this interview was so overtly ridiculous and pointless that it deserved some commentary.
… Hmm… As much as I love reading your blog. I must say you are 100% out of line with the things you said. No where, not once, not even briefly, was her “career” mentioned. Actually, nothing adult was.
She talked just like any other wow player I know.
you shouldn’t judge so harshly..
Let me be clear, although I don’t approve of her career choice I’ve got nothing against Mia Rose. Sure Rebecca did take some shots at her but she also brought up many important issues so you should direct your particular concerns toward her.
My problem is that the only reason Allakazam bothered to interview her was *because* of her notoriety regarding her occupation (aspiring porn actress) and her involvement in the Whorecraft project. The interviewer was smart not to include any questions regarding the porn industry but the fact remains he knew full well that the only reason people would watch it was because of her career.
Let’s be honest, this was not a “man on the street” interview trying to get a sampling of the average WoW player. It was cleverly orchestrated and staged.
It can still get worse. Coming soon to a gaming news site close to you:
– Aspiring Adult Entertainment Star who doesn’t play games but knows someone who does (and thinks raiding in WoW is too easy)
– Aspiring Adult Entertainment Star who doesn’t play games, doesn’t know any gamers but has an interesting opinion on the meaning of the word “joystick” (and thinks raiding in WoW is too easy)
– Adult Entertainment Producer considering naming next movie “To The Ground Baby” (and thinks raiding in WoW is too easy).
Journalism is dead, killed by infotainment and punditry. And it’s been so for a long time. I remember having these same thoughts in 2001 while watching CNN calling up their young reporter camping on the Levy’s lawn under heavy rain during the Condit scandal (her parents must be proud) every 15 minutes or so to hear her reply that there weren’t any new developments in the case yet. For all we know, the journalist is still there.
If you can bear it, just try to evaluate for one hour exactly how much time is spent by the major networks calling up and discussing the fact that they don’t have any news yet (and then start making crap up). It’s staggering.
News is something that shouldn’t be privately owned and operated for profit. It it one of the few “industries” that should operate arms length from the government but be non-profit, with a focus on facts and footnotes instead of purchase inducing headlines and sensationalism. Too many people read/watch the news and deem it as “fact”.
Some do a better job, such as the BBC, and I find reading the Economist (although self-labelled as capitalist) as refreshing for it’s non-overt viewpoints. A typical article lists the facts, present and historical, and leaves much of the opinion making to the reader.
I do watch CNN for quick updates – but I understand the source and know the “type” of viewpoint being presented to me. Sometimes I watch FOX news to see the “other” side, again is VERY clear where it is coming from so the overtness of the reporting style doesn’t bother me. They both let you know “things that have happened recently” at least, in mostly real time.
As per the direct interview with Mia, I am surprised you held Allakhazams in such high regard as a trusted source. I didn’t even know they reported MMO news, only that if I wanted to skip quest text I could find a dot on one of their maps to save me the search. (Which was then replaced by an in game mod to do it all for me).
Actually Chris…. Kazham was once a very trusted source; back in EQ’s heyday they had a very respected news gathering team. It was Kahazam that broke the story on the Gates of Discord fiasco and that was really the driving force for SOE’s face-to-face pow-wow with the top Raid guilds…which opened up a whole other can of worms about pet guilds, but I digress.
No Wolf and Rebecca has it right here; Khazam has done a Jan Michale Vincent like fall from respected to joke in the eyes of the gamer community, at least those of us that aren’t enthralled by some fifth class porn princess.
I’m still at a lose for words when it comes to the harsh things you people say about Mia. I’ve had some buddies that were guilded with her and said nothing but nice things. “nit just she had tits.” I mean grow up here.
Enthralled by some fifth class porn princess? do some reading, From what I have heard, read, and seen, shes pretty down to earth. Kayden Kross? Now that’s a diva. I never saw Mia act out of line to deserve ANY of the put downs she is getting.
Moxie,
You’re missing the point. This is not about Mia or her personality. It’s about a once respected gaming site interviewing a porn actress about WoW. It really doesn’t matter who she was or whether she’s a truly nice person. It matters that if she were working in a different industry, you’d never have seen her interviewed by the zam network.
@Todeswolf: Sorry if my comment was short. In my EQ days I didn’t use it and only became familiar with it during WoW quest days =) So I missed the glory of the good reporting which makes the fall from grace seem inconsequential =)
Gwaendar….
Who are you to say that? So, she may have a name is the adult feild.
but really? They never mentioned anything, she could have just been a hot girl giving her opinion on gaming.
I like seeing hot chicks who game… And she is a gamer.
I’ve seen the hot poser gamers.
So what your saying is.. because you don’t think her past was respectable, that she shouldn’t be interviewed for her gaming habits?
Well, I did read your site. “wondering if this sounds familiar” But, from this ONE post, you aren’t respectable in my books anymore. Far too much judging.
How does “the respected site” f*ck up at all? they drew more traffic to their site. AND! People still can’t seem to stop talking about it.
Mission complete I would say.
Look Moxie, I can understand your need to defend Mia as a person (who I haven’t attacked), but since you keep missing the point while doing so, there is unfortunately little room for discussion left.
For the last time, this is about a flailing mmo gaming network interviewing an adult film start about gaming for the sole reason that she’s an adult film star. In that debate, her identity is, in the end, irrelevant.
If that is reason enough for you to stop reading my blog over it, I regret that you were deceived by the nature of my writing so far. I have been ranting and railing about various things and even people for a long time already.
Well since I am the one that took shots at Mia, I guess I should be the one to answer Moxie’s concerns.
Somehow, a down to earth Porn Queen (or in this case Hand Maiden) is an Oxymoron. Mia is at the end of the day a publicity tramp. She will do anything in any position to get noticed. Further, she was banned and given a final warning for linking her site that contained some explicit pictures of herself in compromising positions on trade channel a channel I might add that is frequented by minors, some as young as eleven. Mia spent days according to several well-respected Guilds bragging about her career and if one was to push this Mia is guilty of committing a class II felony in most states. That isn’t very nice that isn’t down to earth that is an opportunist with a captive audience.
However in my original OP-ED I said lets ignore all of this, at the end of the day Kazham is using a lame marketing tactic to further it’s agenda of what WoW’s end game should be. I make no apologies for what I have said, my comments have been thoroughly researched and I stand behind them. You may disagree, but the validity is there.
Regards
Rebecca Martell-Martin
…. Your research is pretty incomplete. Mia never linked or “promoted” her website.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mia_Rose_(pornstar)
I also am a female gamer. And find your statements to be very one sided.
” She makes it incredibly hard for those females that want to be solid gamers free from the stereotypical notion of the temptress who will perform certain favors just to get ahead”
She does? Where do you get your info from Rebbecca?
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Mal%27Ganis&n=Miarose
Looks to me as if she has decent gear. Nothing overly special. What favors are you speaking of?
http://ambernight.org/2007/08/22/interview-with-mia-rose/
That is an interview done after Kotaku posted the “wanna be first with the story” even if it wasn’t the whole story.
You type a lot. A lot of bad opinions.
Moxie you are actually using Wikipedia as a legitimate source? Ummm there are so many problems with this I really don’t know where to start, perhaps you should go back and Read Wolfs recent article on Wiki. 🙂
As far as my research being incomplete, that is just untrue. I provided links to the editor of this site backing up my claims, as I’m sure you are aware there are legal ramifications for libel. Further; if you do indeed have empirical evidence that Mia didn’t link her porn site in Trade chat (aside from her “Oh it was those naughty hacker kids” protest on Kotaku…..) please provide it as I am doing an expanded article on this for Wired magazine and would like to include any diametric view points. I have on record several well-respected guild members that say she did, and when she was reported to Blizzard they provided proof before she was banned. Finally I do thank you for providing the Kokatu link as it shows how opportunistic she is bragging that a porn movie dedicated to plagiarizing a well-known IP should be admired because hey they started off with zero Budget. So I guess my opinions are basically just wrong in your opinion. 😉 It’s okay I’m sure Mia appreciates you defending her…ummm “Honor.”