It’s become painfully obvious nowadays that the 'professional gaming journalism' industry (and whoooa buddy do I use that phrase in extreme jest) boils down to just a circus of activists pretending to be journalists.
Case in point: IGN's own T.J. Hafer, or Leana Hafer...? or... Len (@TilFolkvang) - I can't keep up with all these names... Anyways - Len has now openly admitted that he’ll dock review points from any game that refers to a body of water as "the Gulf of America."
In a series of now-infamous tweets, Len on X makes his extreme bias and agenda ...glaringly clear:
"I'll take a whole point off the review score for any future map games that call it the Gulf of America."
"You think I'm joking? You think I want to do this forever? I can start some fires on the way out. Try and call the bluff."
"Nobody has ever let this amount of soft power go to their head before afaik."
Years ago, it'd had been rare to see someone outright admit they’re abusing their position to push their own personal views—yet now - here we are. It’s even more disturbing considering that Len is the very same journalist who shamelessly rewarded extra points to "Veilguard" for including trans representation and chest scars, proving that ideological pandering is more important than actual game quality to some of these so-called professionals. I covered that story previously here... and ... yeah. Yikes.
Of course, they've now put their X account in protected mode after this situation blew up.
Activists, Not Journalists
Len's behavior here is a prime example of why traditional gaming outlets like IGN are COMPLETELY losing any relevance while YouTubers and independent websites continue to rise as the true voices of the gaming community. Gamers don’t want to be lectured by activists masquerading as reviewers—they want honest, unbiased opinions about games. I genuinely can't understand why this is so hard for these outlets to get through their collective heads. Places like IGN have long since stopped prioritizing quality journalism in favor of hiring ideologues... It's gotta make you wonder: Why...
These lunatics are destroying our hobby from the inside. It’s no wonder IGN and other mainstream outlets are circling the drain, eating themselves alive with their own activism instead of hiring real ACTUAL journalists who care deeply about gaming and our beloved pastime. This is exactly why the YouTube gaming scene continues to dominate: authenticity and passion will always win out over corporate-backed propaganda.
Funded Agendas?
It wouldn’t surprise me if journalists like Len were funded by USAID or other politically driven organizations similar to what was recently discovered about the $8 MILLION dollars going to Poltico to assist in pushing an anti-gamer Gamergate narrative... but if that were the case, it’s time for the funding to be cut off permanently. We deserve better than activist-driven content masquerading as reviews.
Until IGN (and let's be honest - MANY of these other 'professional' outlets) makes real changes—starting with firing Len with extreme prejudice—they'll continue to NOT be taken seriously in the community. His words clearly mean nothing, and stands on activism instead of gaming quality.
The gaming community is at a crossroads, but the pendulum is swinging back hard towards a decent level of normalcy. We either let these activists burn the industry to the ground, or we continue pushing back to reclaim it.
Get these ideologues out of our hobby once and for all. Enough is enough.
~Smash
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And there goes this "jounalists" credibility and employability from this point on. Every single review they write going forward will be dismissed with extreme predjuce, with readers pointing back to this statement.
Not that we took them seriously to begin with but there not even hiding it anymore
This dude doesn’t know what bathroom to use, why would I care about his reviews?
It is the Gulf of America and this dude is a man. Speaking the truth is the first step. He is the perfect avatar for the game journo - corrupt, incompetent and mentally ill.