John Walker (journalist)

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John Walker
John Walker's face.jpg
Born
John Graham Walker

(1977-10-27) 27 October 1977 (age 45)
England
Occupation(s)Journalist, critic, cartoonist
Known for Rock Paper Shotgun , Kotaku

John Graham Walker (born 27 October 1977) is a British video game journalist, [1] cartoonist and TV critic.

Contents

Journalism

Walker has contributed to a range of print publications, including PC Gamer (credited from issues 75-228), Total Film, Linux Format, Cult TV, Edge , NGamer, Windows XP, PC Plus, Official Xbox Magazine, Xbox World, Gamesmaster, The Cat Magazine and PC Format .

Walker was a founding member and co-director of the PC gaming site Rock Paper Shotgun until its sale to Gamer Network in 2017. [2] He was also a games reviewer for Eurogamer and a former essayist for The Escapist . He is currently an author and editor for Kotaku [3] and runs the gaming website Buried Treasure.

Rum Doings

Walker is also one half of the Rum Doings podcast, the other being Nick Mailer of The Positive Internet Company, a podcast in which they pick a topic, then actively avoid talking about it.

Public domain controversy

In 2014 Walker ignited a controversy with an editorial in Rock Paper Shotgun about the problem of orphaned classic video games by his suggestion for shorter copyright terms to let them enter faster in the public domain after only 20 years. [4] [5] [6] For instance, game industry veterans George Broussard and Steve Gaynor responded. [7] [8]

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References

  1. ↑ Video game journalism — a response to the controversy
  2. ↑ Pearson, Dan (3 May 2017). "Gamer Network acquires Rock, Paper, Shotgun". Gamer Network . Retrieved 14 May 2021.
  3. ↑ "John Walker".
  4. ↑ Walker, John (29 January 2014). "GOG's Time Machine Sale Lets You CONTROL TIME ITSELF". Rock Paper Shotgun . Retrieved 30 January 2016. As someone who desperately pines for the PD model that drove creativity before the copyright industry malevolently took over the planet, it saddens my heart that a game two decades old isn't released into the world.
  5. ↑ Walker, John (3 February 2014). "Editorial: Why Games Should Enter The Public Domain". Rock Paper Shotgun . Retrieved 30 January 2016. games more than a couple of decades old aren't entering the public domain. Twenty years was a fairly arbitrary number, one that seems to make sense in the context of games' lives, but it could be twenty-five, thirty.
  6. ↑ Why Games Should Be In the Public Domain on slashdot.com
  7. ↑ George Broussard on twitter "@wickerwaka The whole thing, really. But especially that. Whoever allowed that to be printed should be fired."
  8. ↑ Copyright, trademark & money in a creative industry on gamasutra.com by Steve Gaynor "There is some argument going on about for how long a copyright holder should be able to charge exclusively for their own work, before it enters the public domain. John Walker argues that perhaps a good cutoff would be 20 years before an "idea" enters the public domain." (3 February 2014)


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