T w e n t y S i d e d

At the suggestion of others, I’ve watched a few episodes of Game Boss. I would say that the previous clip did indeed employ editing that bordered on deception. Now, I did caution that we were seeing the results of double-editing, but I should have checked to see how bad it was. Given that my major problem with reality shows is that they manufacture conflict through aggressive editing, I would say that the person who put together the earlier highlight reel is more guilty of that crime than IGN. Disgusting. And I am now a rube for passing it along.

Let’s be clear here: This does not excuse the awful things that were said in the show, but it does show that IGN wasn’t nearly as depraved or as cynical as the video led us to believe. This editorializing is a shame, since it pretty much sabotaged the important conversation that could have taken place here about the direction and content of this show.

I’m not going to sit down and watch all of the available episodes just so we can sort out the nature and the degree of the editorializing done by the YouTube poster. I no longer want to stand with either side of this exchange. A plague on both their houses, and a heaping helping of humiliation to me for swallowing the story as presented.

In the interest of fairness, here is a full episode of the show so you can judge for yourself. This doesn’t change my opinion of IGN or reality shows, but it does show that Game Boss is not anywhere near the circus of hate and stupidity that it appeared to be.

Even after watching this episode, I still get get that creepy I-need-a-shower vibe that I get from reality shows. Videogame development is interesting stuff, and you don’t need to construct a narrative of conflict through gossip-mongering and trash-talking. For someone wanting to look inside the sausage factory of game development, I highly recommend Season 2, Episode 12 of How it’s Made, which is available on Netflix. It gives a (fleeting) look behind the scenes of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.

For the people producing Game Boss: You’ve got a good concept. I’d suggest you leave out the “here is what team A’s members say about Bob when he isn’t around” crap. Let us see the technical and logistical challenges of making software under pressure. Knowledge itself is entertainment. You don’t need the interpersonal cock-fighting to make this good. You just need to let us go on the journey with these people.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.