Thread by @gosokkyu

I haven't commented on the Tifa thing because god knows I don't need that shit in my mentions but between that and this comparatively minuscule incident, I wanna talk about the pervasive and particular issue of pro games outlets scavenging boards & SNS for JP games news (>)

using the Iwata book thing as an example: I didn't mention Iwata Asks, the biggest site citing me directly (tinycartridge) didn't mention Iwata Asks, but multiple sites ostensibly citing tinycart did—why? I'm guessing it's bc of this resetera thread resetera.com/threads/iwata-… (>)

in essence, multiple outlets look to have written stories on this news based on the chinese whispers of some anon who erroneously interpreted the translated summary of my summary of Nagata's tweet—like, think about how many layers of vetting should have been done here but weren't

I'm not excluding myself from the discussion, either—I'm flattered that a few ppl consider me a reputable source on certain topics but when it comes to JP-sourced info in particular, I daresay many of the ppl sharing my info couldn't verify its accuracy even if they wanted to (>)

...but what's the alternative for many of these outlets?

hire someone who can directly report on JP news or at least verify what's being published?

some do, but not as many as you might suspect, and it's usually a duty foisted onto somebody on top of their primary workload (>)

avoid reporting on certain news topics or engaging in certain discussions until the story is verified? pfft won't happen, ppl might occasionally have the foresight to try and frame themselves as passive reporters but if a topic is buzzing, most aren't going to let it pass by (>)

attempt a formal arrangement with JP news sites to ensure accurate & globally synchronised publishing of certain articles? it's been tried before to limited success; as u might suspect, the back&forth that comes with these deals tends to slow down what could be very quick work(>)

…and these are all just questions for outlets that desire to act ethically & sustainably; there are more than a few outlets out there, some rather popular, whose primary MO is waiting for certain ppl to talk on certain topics and then surreptitiously rewording their work (>)

going back to the Tifa story, that drama was abetted, if not directly instigated, by press outlets, and it took yet more volunteer translation from outside the press sphere to quash it... why do so many outlets rely on others to do the work they should be doing themselves? (>)

this isn't a new conversation—this is an issue that should & IMO could have been addressed to a far greater degree at least 10yrs ago but little has changed, save for the fact that there's less money to affect such a change than ever before & no clear path to financing it (>)

ultimately, the bigger JP outlets are starting to remedy this on their end by bringing in bilingual staff & presenting more overseas-facing content; that's something I applaud but with all due respect, think about how primitive the biggest JP games sites seemed 10 yrs ago... (>)

...and wonder, how did we ever find ourselves in a position where we're the ones playing catch-up?

I'll stop now, sorry y'all