Jim Sterling Says Spike's VGAs Don't Need To Change, Gamers Do

Whenever the Spike TV VGAs gets mentioned in a news article of any sorts on any gaming site it's usually either to ridicule the asinine television awards show or to help notify gamers about a big budget game being announced or previewed at the show. The one thing that you won't find on any respectable gaming blog or website is an author or knowledgeable gamer praising Spike for the televised feces known as the Video Game Awards.

Anyways, well known gaming journalist and Destructoid native, Jim Sterling, is no stranger to controversy or speaking his mind about the gaming industry, and he makes a statement about the VGAs that at first might make you furious but after a while it just might make you realize that he has a point about Spike's VGAs.

In an editorial over at GameFront, Sterling writes about the VGAs in a manner we're all familiar with: pointing out the bad, the horrible, the disgusting and the idiocy of the whole event. He obviously makes it known that the awards show is all about popularity and quantity over quality *cough*Modern Warfare 3 for best shooter of the year*cough*. But one other thing that he makes apparent is that the awards show -- despite claims from blind hopefuls that it might get better each year -- has never been about gaming culture nor will it ever be. It's about casual, beer drinking, Dude-Bro teenagers and man-children who aren't core gamers but play whatever their friends are playing because they can and subsequently, watch the VGAs because...well, they can. Sterling, in response, believes that gamers need to stop looking for Spike to provide a decent show and should just look elsewhere instead of complaining, nerd-raging or blowing a top about the show in hopes that gets better.

I've only seen pictures, snippets and brief trailers of the VGAs...I've never sat through (and at this rate probably never will sit through) any of Spike TV's annual Video Game Award shows. But one thing I do happen find myself doing each and every year is reading feedback, articles and news about the show. A torrent of well thought-out complaints and journalists practically begging Spike (or some other more reputable source) for a better televised awards show.

I think Sterling does have a point in saying that maybe gamers should give it up; maybe complaining about Spike making a better awards show to cater to the millions and millions of core gamers (potentially earning them millions of views) is a misty concept that will never come to concrete fruition in the minds of those who produce the show. The closest the VGAs come to representing core gaming are all the trailers and announcements that pour out of it and hardly anything else. Hoping for more almost seems futile.

However, it does make you question...would changing our mindset on the VGAs actually help? I mean, treating it like a horrible abomination or a dirty mole on the face of gaming culture that we should all just ignore each and every year doesn't seem like it would help much. Constantly complaining why celebrities such as Charlie Sheen, Will.I.Am, Neil Patrick Harris and other non-gaming industry related personalities keep taking up screen time or why Jersey Shore cast members are even in attendance at the VGAs has to have some effect...right?

Suggesting the gaming community change its views on the way the Spike TV VGAs are handled isn't that bad of an idea. In some ways I imagine a few video game bloggers will spare themselves the increased possibility of forming an ulcer or lessening the risk of having a heart attack while nerd-raging once the show's closing credits appear on screen.

In the end, though, gamers are the ones who still get to choose whether they want to watch a show that's called the Video Game Awards even when celebrating gaming seems to be one of the lesser aspects of the show. And in the end, gamers also have to choose whether venting about Spike's show post-VGAs is even worth it anymore.