Aram Zucker-Scharff

Saving the world.

“So no, Jennifer Lawrence doesn’t need to “own it.” She already owns her photographs. And that gives her every right to prosecute whoever stole them.”

– Jennifer Lawrence Shouldn’t Laugh Off Her Nude Photo Hack.

In the Wake of an Ugly, Sexist Gaming Scandal, Some Ground Rules for Young Male Gamers:

There are a lot of jerks on the Internet. I know you aren’t one of them. I write to give you some credit, some advice, and some hope. I write to you about the ongoing gaming scandal that’s inflamed the Internet concerning game designer Zoe Quinn and gaming journalism. To…

Payola: I Sleep Beneath the Golden Hill | Sufficiently Human:

An excellent look at why what is happening in gaming journalism is relevant to the entire field of journalism:

“Because the pieces themselves are worth peanuts, I was expected to produce like 10 of them a day. That may not sound like a lot, but believe me, you start to feel like you’re on an assembly line they way these articles are cobbled together. And because your labour is valued based on what you’re producing and not what it takes to produce it, you quickly start to feel overworked and brutally underpaid (I was making about $200/mo). On the other hand, the system is kind of set up to seduce writers shouldering for visibility into jobs like this, producing an enthusiast press that is willing to work more or less for exposure. As a writer working in this system, you’re basically a low-level functionary with no leverage to seek information beyond what a publisher wants on record. Being able to gain access to these companies is fundamental for games press to exist, so editorial isn’t really in a position to demand very much most of the time. As such, you end up with a press that mostly operates like cheap PR.”