Why Videogame Journalism Sucks criticizes journalists for being poor writers, unimaginative thinkers, and just flat out lazy, but that was the easy part. It's one thing to blow something up, but figuring out how to put it back together again is a whole other matter entirely, which is why I think it's necessary to discuss how this industry can improve. We'll never be able to escape criticism, but at the very least, we can change. Here are some ideas:

Become better writers

There are plenty of good writers in our industry, but even they are sometimes overshadowed by the bad ones. Run-on sentences, bad punctuation, and possibly drug-induced ramblings (it's got to be drugs) have soured our reputation, thus making us look as juvenile as some of the games that we cover.

Thankfully, we're not a lost cause, and the solution to the problem doesn't require massive firings. Some writers should be let go, no question, but before we drop the axe and cut short people's dreams, it's important to work with them to see whether or not they actually have the skills to do this job.

First, it's important to note that we don't necessarily have to become an SAT resource for high school students eager to learn new and bizarre words. That's not to say that all writers are beyond a vocabulary boost, but we need to keep in mind that most of us write for a very general and possibly casual audience that wants the gist on the latest games. With that being said, we shouldn't confuse them with articles that read like college text books. I'm all for throwing people a curveball every once in a while, especially since I find myself reusing some of the same exact words in each of my articles, but readers aren't coming to us to learn honors chemistry.

What many of us need to do is brush up on the basics. Grammar and punctuation need to be studied, and after we're able to craft good (even great) sentences, then we can explore how to string them together to produce articles that have an even flow.

In order to achieve this goal, we need to read a lot and practice writing, but there's also a need for coaching as well as good copy editing. EICs shouldn't shy away from informing a writer that what he or she's written isn't up to code, deadline or no. Receiving constructive criticism and having to rewrite are all parts of the process, and while I cannot comment on the goings-on at other websites, two things are quite obvious. Either many of these publications have hired atrocious editors, or the inmates are running the asylum. Quite frankly, I think both are true.

Educating oneself on the fundamentals of writing does not mean that creativity should be extinguished. I'm all for creative ideas, but like in any industry, there are good and bad ones. The trick is identifying the bad stuff well before it's sent to the public, which is something that certain editors simply fail to do.

Finally, while I'm all for working with writers to improve their skills, we all have to realize that this is still a sink or swim industry. Some professionals just aren't going to get it, and it's at that point when an editor has to ask him or herself if the "juice is worth the squeeze."

The bottom line is it's better to have ten good writers that require very little editing than ten awful ones. Restaurants don't want chefs that don't know how to cook, NBA basketball teams don't want players who can't play the game, and websites and magazines certainly don't want journalists that require an hour or more of hard editing each and every day. We should want to surround ourselves with the best people. Sadly, that means that some of our colleagues have got to go.

Embrace original content

Pop quiz! How many top fives and tens does it take to convince journalists to come up with something else?

Unfortunately, the answer has yet to be determined, because several months ago a small handful of websites consistently put out these types of articles and then everyone jumped on the proverbial bandwagon. It's getting so bad that I wouldn't be surprised if I saw someone post a story entitled "Top Five Games Journalism Sucks Articles." Once we latch onto something, we almost never let go.

I'm not saying that we should eliminate top fives and tens. When done right, they're the perfect example of popcorn journalism, articles that entertain the reader for short periods of time. However, we need to move onto something else instead of ripping off our competitors. Furthermore, we need to stop being lazy. I'm fully aware that many full-time journalists work very hard, sometimes late into the night. However, I also feel that some of them are just posting PR announcements, screens, and box art and calling it a day. No one's burning the proverbial midnight oil coming up with tons of imaginative ideas. We shouldn't lose sight of our primary objective, which is to report on the videogame industry (and people just love screens and box art), but we should also be working on new and refreshing pieces of content.

This also means that we've got to stop letting PR do most of the work. As I mentioned in my previous article, most PR folks are a valuable resource and many of them know their job well. Actually, they know their job too well. A contact that wishes to remain anonymous admitted that PR knows journalists are lazy and will oftentimes capitalize on it, churning out news knowing full well that reporters are just going to copy and paste the information on their websites instead of burying it beneath a more original and eye-grabbing top story.

Public relations people do not always have an easy job, especially if they represent unpopular clients. They struggle for recognition in the same ways as journalists do. But we shouldn't always ditch creativity in favor of putting up impressions of the same exact game. Call of Duty 3 was the latest dry top story to litter the Internet all last week. No offense to the developers behind Call of Duty 3, but while it looks like a fun game, as a reader, I wasn't happy seeing the same top story on five (or more) websites. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have reported on this title, but rather, we should have considered giving it less real estate in favor of something else.