#journo

[madame-helen]

Game journos vs gamers

[cheetour]

The Void Within's dialogue is sloppy to the point of not being fully literate*.

It's been noticed that the rough sketches and the final artwork don't match up in quality, and seem to be declining as the plot goes on. The same is happening to the writing.

This is, I am sorry, a post about the latest major Neopets update. Not only that, it's about the GRAMMAR in the dialogue for that update. Riveting.

I SWEAR I AM NOT JUST A PEDANTIC ASSHOLE, I GENUINELY WANT USERS TO KNOW THERE'S AN ISSUE!

Most people who complain about "incorrect" grammar in games and comics are wrong. Homestuck, Night in the Woods, We Know the Devil, and Captain Underpants all have fine grammar, just stylized.

I really, really, really like The Void Within. I think it's a fantastic idea, and I am determined to enjoy it as much as possible.

I am a professional editor. Noticing this stuff is my job.

Now, PLEASE bear that in mind when I say:

tl;dr: Neopets is asking you to pay money to a product that does not meet the quality standards of a primary school English test for ages 10+.

*I don't mean to use "not literate" as a stand-in for "stupid and bad at writing." Literacy is very complicated, illiteracy is more common than you think, and there is no shame in being illiterate - you can be very intelligent and also have no written or digital literacy. I mean the literal "not able to use written language to its fullest extent".

It's clear whoever wrote the dialogue didn't have a perfect grasp of English punctuation. AND THAT'S FINE. Good writers don't always have good grammar, and you DON'T need fluent English to write good stories in English.

That's why writing, proofreading, and editing are all separate professions, and why a well-run creative project delegates those roles to separate people. They still matter.

People are more likely to notice grammar mistakes the more they read books. Correctly formatted English is how older, less online, and disabled people with visual or linguistic processing difficulties read. Text-to-speech doesn't work correctly on writing without correct punctuation. These are serious professional standards, and they exist for a reason. They're not worthless just because you don't understand them.

A good-quality publisher of books, comics, or video games wouldn't release dialogue like this to a paying audience. They would consider this standard unacceptable. They'd either use correct grammar, or stylized grammar. (Inconsistent grammar, with no logical or narrative rules, isn't a style. They're not choices if you don't know you're making them. They're mistakes.)

To an extent this is nitpicking, and most people wouldn't notice this stuff.

But Neopets is MAKING MONEY. They are SELLING PRODUCTS for this. They have MULTIPLE PHASES of NC Market sales for this plot.

As an educator, there is no way I could show this (perfectly kid-friendly) comic to a classroom of children - it would have no educational value. It's not written correctly or with any obvious care. If they paid attention to it too much, they'd get the wrong idea about the English language!

I think it's fair to say that if you're publishing an official Neopets story, and you want Neopets to be a kid-friendly, fan-driven, story-based brand with a target audience wider than "people who don't really care about whether stories are professionally written", the script should've been proofread.

To give you an idea of how many typos Chapter 3 has, here's one of the dialogue pages with the missing punctuation added; I also took 5 minutes to rewrite each line for coherency.

And THIS is a website showing you at what points in primary eduation we teach children to use commas correcty:

What is a comma?

The parents' guide to commas: how they are introduced and taught to primary school children.

Art is hard. Programming is hard. Hell, good writing is hard. It's HARD coming up with dialogue and a plot that people actually want to experience.

Grammar is boring and sometimes pointless. It's not difficult. It requires only basic literacy. Children learn how to use commas at ages seven and up.

If you don't care about the story you're telling enough to check that it would get a good grade on a child's school test, how can you possibly expect anyone to pay for it? You need specialist skills to code a website or create a high-quality digital graphic, but the only thing you need to get this right is... one literate adult who cares enough to try.

So where are they?

**There is no shame in being illiterate, but there is CERTAINLY shame in selling illiterate writing.

tl;dr: Neopets is asking you to pay money to a product that does not meet the quality standards of a primary school English test for ages 10+.

Finally, here are some browser petsites/RPGs who have never prompted me to write an 800 word critique:

Fallen London

Pixel Cat's End

Lioden

[bubbleejuhbae]

I really want to be a journalist someday but I am not confident with my skills anymore.

[enchantedlilme]

Calling student journalists!!

If you’re a young journalist who keeps being told you need more experience but no publisher will give you a chance, The Bigger Picture is the website for you!

As a trainee journalist myself, I have started my own pop culture publishing site to give a platform to a wide array of student and trainee journalists at all levels. 

The Bigger Picture focuses on the entertainment world of TV, film, book publishing, gaming and everything in between. 

So, if you’ve got a TV show you want to talk about, a character analysis, film review, or an interview that you want to publish, send us a message or email us at [email protected]

We’re open year round to article pitches so don’t be shy  

Do you have a tv show, film, or book you want to review or talk about? Send us a direct message with your article pitch and we'll publish it!!

[colourwitch]

kinda feel like playing ac tbh

[dixiecotton]

Repost from @lifestylelinked • Throwback to the video I took of the time we met Robert Pattinson in NYC one summer! He stopped to chat for ages before this video and then took time to sign stuff for fans including my teenage daughter who handed him an Edward Cullen pop vinyl figure lol. That smirk as he realises what it is 🤣 Super nice guy though. 👍🏻 . . . . . . . . . . . #robertpattinson #robertpattinsonfan #robertpattinsonedit #twilight #celeb #celebs #celebrity #celebstyle #celebfashion #batman #nyc #newyork #movie #movies #entertainmentnews #journo #journolife #journorequest #journalism #journalist #bloggerlifestyle #bloggergirl #instablogger #ukblogger #ukbloggers #ukblogs #lifestylebloggers #lifestyleblog #lblogger #lbloggers https://www.instagram.com/p/B_f_neIngP_/?igshid=16tssu77x2cxt

[hazycosmicchild]

So I can finally share this news with you all! Just before Christmas I did a review for a photography book for Autosport UK as a part of my Academy training. That review is now in the Autosport magazine that hits shelves today in the UK. If you'd have told baby hazy who absolutely adored Motorsport and dreamed of being a motorsports journo, that I would one day be published in a Motorsport magazine as a credited journo, she would have probably burst into tears on you. But this is proof. If you put in enough hard work, grit, and determination, dreams you have as a kid really can come true.

Does this mean I can officially call myself a Princess of Press?

[popthirdworld]

New comic for GOAT.