University of Oxford has 2011 GOTY list in student paper

http://oxfordstudent.com/2012/01/21/best-games-of-2011/

So, I got a chance to do a list for my student paper. 7 games total - pretty similar to GB's GOTY list minus a few omissions. About a month late to the party but, then again, they're hardly a major publication and, judging by their archives, this isn't something they do all that often and I had to fight a fair amount to get them to even accept this. What do you guys think? Would be nice for this article to get some more hits - that would I won't have such an issue in convincing them to let me write about games on a more regular basis if it helps bring in traffic.

EDIT: Thanks for all your interest so far! Just wanted to clear things up and point out that this only went up online - if it gets enough hits, they'll likely let me publish stuff like this in print soon enough.

@dudeglove said:

@Vitor: Feel free to go way fucking overboard on the needless subclauses there. Additionally, having been an editor on a student newspaper, I can flat out tell you that I'd have that article cut down to about a 1/3rd of the size if it needed to be in print, because there's a colossal amount of fluff. Basically, you suck.

Thanks for the feedback, fuck you for the unnecessary insults.

Seems like a good list, didn't read the whole article though :(

@dudeglove: How much do you hate this poor guy because he goes to Oxford? A lot. The answer is a lot.

@amir90 said:

Seems like a good list, didn't read the whole article though :(

No problems! Thanks for clicking though! That helps a bunch too!

@Judakel said:

@dudeglove: How much do you hate this poor guy because he goes to Oxford? A lot. The answer is a lot.

To be honest, he's right about the embedded subclauses. It's something I do waaaaaaaay too much (I blame studying Japanese - embedded subclauses are f*cking everywhere in that stupid language). Weirdly though, it's only a recent bad habit. Although, as much as I appreciate him having taken the time out to read the whole thing, there was no need to be such a dick about it.

@dudeglove said:

@Vitor: Feel free to go way fucking overboard on the needless subclauses there. Additionally, having been an editor on a student newspaper, I can flat out tell you that I'd have that article cut down to about a 1/3rd of the size if it needed to be in print, because there's a colossal amount of fluff. Basically, you suck.

@Vitor: If this is your passion and you had to do a fair amount of work convincing them to include it, then good for you I guess. I'm assuming you're a sciences student though right?

@Moreau_MD: It took a little convincing but it was good to have an excuse to write about stuff like this. I guess you had some issues with the article also? Anything other than the somewhat over the top number of subclauses?

@Vitor said:

http://oxfordstudent.com/2012/01/21/best-games-of-2011/

So, I got a chance to do a list for my student paper. 7 games total - pretty similar to GB's GOTY list minus a few omissions. About a month late to the party but, then again, they're hardly a major publication and, judging by their archives, this isn't something they do all that often and I had to fight a fair amount to get them to even accept this. What do you guys think? Would be nice for this article to get some more hits - that would I won't have such an issue in convincing them to let me write about games on a more regular basis if it helps bring in traffic.

As a student at Oxford myself, seeing something worthwhile reading in the OxStu makes a welcome change! Keep fighting for this sort of stuff!

@dudeglove: What a fucking Dbag. Do you feel better about youself big man?

@Vitor said:

@amir90 said:

Seems like a good list, didn't read the whole article though :(

No problems! Thanks for clicking though! That helps a bunch too!

@Judakel said:

@dudeglove: How much do you hate this poor guy because he goes to Oxford? A lot. The answer is a lot.

To be honest, he's right about the embedded subclauses. It's something I do waaaaaaaay too much (I blame studying Japanese - embedded subclauses are f*cking everywhere in that stupid language). Weirdly though, it's only a recent bad habit. Although, as much as I appreciate him having taken the time out to read the whole thing, there was no need to be such a dick about it.

He also kinda has a point about it being long for print. That is a massive wall of text there. I don't think i've ever seen any single article even half that length in a actual paper. Not a horrible list though, lack of Skyrim is both strange and refreshing i guess.

I gave you a hit. Always good to see papers with gaming articles. I didn't read the whole thing, but your choices seem solid other than LA Noire. Wasn't a fan of that game. You should get an interview with Emma Watson about the Harry Potter games. I hear she goes to Oxford. You'd get an interesting take on EA trash, and you'd get to meet Emma Watson. Sounds like a win/win.

@Shirogane said:

@Vitor said:

@amir90 said:

Seems like a good list, didn't read the whole article though :(

No problems! Thanks for clicking though! That helps a bunch too!

@Judakel said:

@dudeglove: How much do you hate this poor guy because he goes to Oxford? A lot. The answer is a lot.

To be honest, he's right about the embedded subclauses. It's something I do waaaaaaaay too much (I blame studying Japanese - embedded subclauses are f*cking everywhere in that stupid language). Weirdly though, it's only a recent bad habit. Although, as much as I appreciate him having taken the time out to read the whole thing, there was no need to be such a dick about it.

He also kinda has a point about it being long for print. That is a massive wall of text there. I don't think i've ever seen any single article even half that length in a actual paper. Not a horrible list though, lack of Skyrim is both strange and refreshing i guess.

It's not a print article - only went up online! Hence the length, otherwise it would have been 700-1000 words (if I was lucky and they were short on material).

@dudeglove said:

@Judakel said:

@dudeglove: How much do you hate this poor guy because he goes to Oxford? A lot. The answer is a lot.

I hate myself more for having gone to the trouble of reading through it.

@Vitor said:

To be honest, he's right about the embedded subclauses.

The paragraphs are also ugly. Tell whoever posted it to hit the goddamn justify button in the text editor next time. It looks a scraggly mess.

You should have seen the first draft online - our web editor is borderline incompetent. The videos weren't embedded before and were just displayed as links, whilst the formatting for the text was completely broken. Had to email my editor to fix it. I agree with the paragraphs though, that's not what it looked like in my word file when I sent it over.

You're still a massive dick though.

@Vitor: I had largely the same issues with it as dudeglove did- though I'll be much less of a jerk about it. The sub-clauses thing you already have covered. My main problem was with how flowery and unnecessary some of the language seemed- you'd do well to focus on separating yourself from the article and simply getting to the heart of the matter instead. That would also keep it nice and short for the editors. All in all, I thought it was an alright read and I'm glad they chose to include it. Whether they continue to do so, for you, only time will tell I suppose.

Just for future reference, I wouldn't recommend advertising the fact that you go to Oxford on internet forums- the phrase 'flame war' doesn't quite cover it. I know half the point of this thread was to generate traffic for the article, but it would have had more of an impact if you left that little detail out of the heading and people just discovered it as an aside by clicking on the link itself. By placing it in the title and, again, reiterating it in the body of the thread, people may assume that what you're really trying to publicize is the fact that you got into Oxford and the article is just a tool. I'm guessing this isn't the case but that's why dudeglove, and others like him, react the way they do and will probably continue to do so.

What are you studying by the way?

@Moreau_MD said:

@Vitor: I had largely the same issues with it as dudeglove did- though I'll be much less of a jerk about it. The sub-clauses thing you already have covered. My main problem was with how flowery and unnecessary some of the language seemed- you'd do well to focus on separating yourself from the article and simply getting to the heart of the matter instead. That would also keep it nice and short for the editors. All in all, I thought it was an alright read and I'm glad they chose to include it. Whether they continue to do so, for you, only time will tell I suppose.

Just for future reference, I wouldn't recommend advertising the fact that you go to Oxford on internet forums- the phrase 'flame war' doesn't quite cover it. I know half the point of this thread was to generate traffic for the article, but it would have had more of an impact if you left that little detail out of the heading and people just discovered it as an aside by clicking on the link itself. By placing it in the title and, again, reiterating it in the body of the thread, people may assume that what you're really trying to publicize is the fact that you got into Oxford and the article is just a tool. I'm guessing this isn't the case but that's why dudeglove, and others like him, react the way they do and will probably continue to do so.

What are you studying by the way?

Yeah, I didn't want to mention that I wrote the article initially but, as my username and first name are the same, I had a feeling some internet detective would have picked up on it and called me out. Would rather have been honest about it and take the flak. I did mentioned it in the thread title to generate hits and I'll be more than happy to admit that.

I have a general issue with keeping things succinct, my tutors keep telling me that. I usually get top marks for my essays but that's usually due to content and structure, not writing style. I need to work on it. Could probably easily edit out the subclauses and edit down the word count for the GOTY article but I had 2 days in which to write it originally and, now its up, there's little I could change. Not that I blame the time limit for my style - that is what it is.

I'm doing Japanese, fifth and final year.

Don't understand the random hostility.

Getting gaming stuff in these kind of outlets is always nice, keep it up duder. :)

@dudeglove said:

@Vitor said:

You're still a massive dick though.

Welcome to the media.

That's an excuse, not a reason.

@GS_Dan said:

Don't understand the random hostility.

Getting gaming stuff in these kind of outlets is always nice, keep it up duder. :)

Thanks duder, appreciate it!

You got my hit.

Wait what

@dudeglove said:

@Vitor said:

You're still a massive dick though.

Welcome to the media.

You aren't the media mate. This site isn't the media. You're just some random dweeb on a lesser known internet forum who thought he'd have a go at someone out of jealousy.

@Bobstar said:

You got my hit.

Wait what

Eeeeew?

@Vitor: Fair enough, but isn't it interesting how people are only too happy to use Oxford as a brand name these days? Perhaps that's all it has become now...but still. I get the same feeling from it that I do from seeing some guy walk down the street wearing nothing but Armani...it just feels a bit vacuous and cheap. I don't think that's at all what you were trying to do, I'd just be a bit less overt in future so people won't make false assumptions.

@dudeglove said:

@Vitor said:

You're still a massive dick though.

Welcome to the media.

Thanks for the early morning amusement.

@dudeglove said:

@Vitor said:

You're still a massive dick though.

Welcome to the media.

Look out, a once school newspaper editor is gonna tell you how rough life can truly be.

@Bwast said:

@dudeglove said:

@Vitor said:

You're still a massive dick though.

Welcome to the media.

Look out, a once school newspaper editor is gonna tell you how rough life can truly be.

Nah, to be honest he's actually given me some pretty decent advice, via this thread and a PM. He just could have presented it a whole lot more politely.

Why are people hating on dudeglove? all his points are valid.

Oxford, Ohio eh? Nice try. ;)

Great article.

@Barrock said:

Oxford, Ohio eh? Nice try. ;)

Great article.

Dammit, you got me!

Thanks (and also F you for blowing my cover)!

@Nentisys said:

Why are people hating on dudeglove? all his points are valid.

If you find that his opinions are valid, I can totally understand that. It's your opinion. And I'm sure Vitor wouldn't mind if people pointed out flaws. But straight up saying he sucks is just uncalled for.

@Barrock said:

@Nentisys said:

Why are people hating on dudeglove? all his points are valid.

If you find that his opinions are valid, I can totally understand that. It's your opinion. And I'm sure Vitor wouldn't mind if people pointed out flaws. But straight up saying he sucks is just uncalled for.

Thanks. I agree with his points actually, my article definitely would have benefited from turning some of the many subclauses into separate sentences and I appreciate having stuff like that pointed out. Just maybe not so aggressively.

You need phrases, I can't read it all like this.

Also, make sure the text is lined up, not like you have it.

@Alexandruxx said:

You need phrases, I can't read it all like this.

Also, make sure the text is lined up, not like you have it.

I had no control over how they broke up the article. I do need to shorten my sentences though, thanks for the input!

Unfortunately@Legend said:

@Vitor I really miss Oxford. *sigh* I did my Master's Degree in Linguistics there. You should try to cover NeverDead which is developed by Rebellion Games, a developer based in Oxford. They've been making games since 1991. Maybe try to do an interview with them or something.

Masters in linguistics? Want to take my Japanese language final papers for me...?

I'd forgotten that they were nearby. I did an interview with ZoeMode back in the day but it got so little interest that I was a little disheartened. I should definitely try again though. Although, to be honest, I'd likely just want to quiz them over and over again about those end credits in Rogue Warrior...

Disclaimer: I do not intend to be hostile.

However, for a student newspaper your article is really really long. Even for a regular newspaper, that's way too much for an article that less than half of the readers will even care about. I'm sorry, but the "top video games" type things only really appeals to the type of people that visit Giantbomb on a daily basis, a number that isn't very large. Even in that group, most of us don't really want to read all that.

Why did you spend half the L.A. Noire section insulting the game? That just makes me wonder why you put it on the damn list in the first place.

@Nentisys said:

Why are people hating on dudeglove? all his points are valid.

With the "media" comment, dudeglove is now pretending to be Meryl Streep from The Devil Wears Prada. Which basically makes him a massive tool, regardless of how helpful his advice is.

@believer258 said:

Disclaimer: I do not intend to be hostile.

However, for a student newspaper your article is really really long. Even for a regular newspaper, that's way too much for an article that less than half of the readers will even care about. I'm sorry, but the "top video games" type things only really appeals to the type of people that visit Giantbomb on a daily basis, a number that isn't very large. Even in that group, most of us don't really want to read all that.

Don't worry, I posted it expecting criticism. Lay it on me.

And yeah, it's only online and not in print otherwise it would have been way shorter. I thought the videos would have helped break it up more but the way the parapgraphs have been formatted makes it long a lot longer than it is (although, having said that, it is pretty damned long I agree).

@Video_Game_King said:

Why did you spend half the L.A. Noire section insulting the game? That just makes me wonder why you put it on the damn list in the first place.

It's a game that I feel really passionately about. Conflicted even. I may have got carried away though, you're right. I guess the positives didn't shine through all the other stuff I said.

@Nentisys said:

Why are people hating on dudeglove? all his points are valid.

You need a capital A on that "all" you piece of shit motherfucking whore bitch! Kill yourself cause you suck! Don't get mad at me! My point is valid so that gives me a right to be a dick at you, because you don't deserve my respect cause you SUUUUUUUCK!

@MiniPato: Oh no, someone was rude to me on the internet.

Man, dudeglove is an ASSHOLE lol. I love it.

Thanks everyone who clicked on the link and checked out my list! It's helped loads and the hits so far are more than double all the other articles put up the same day! Looks like I'll get to write about games for the paper way more over the next few terms (and I'll be sure to take all your feedback into consideration)!

It reads like you are trying way too hard, but that could just be me...

@SuperSambo said:

It reads like you are trying way too hard, but that could just be me...

Writing style too flowery you mean? Or do I talk too much about story/ideas rather than actual game mechanics?

I see both as a possible problem in my writing but would appreciate your thoughts!