![](\"http:\/\/img72.imageshack.us\/img72\/5941\/protipdi0.jpg\")
<\/p>\nEvery so often, someone sends me a link to this image:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It’s an old scan from an old GamePro<\/em><\/a>, before my time there. The house rule at GamePro <\/em>has always been to caption each screenshot with a ProTip — actionable strategy advice, so the player gets a little something extra whenever they read the review. I always thought that was a good idea and enjoyed writing them, even though sometimes you had to balance “useful advice” with “dynamic\/interesting\/important screenshot.” In this case, Major Mike<\/a> wanted to show a screen of the end boss, and realized there was no strategy, so he did this caption as a joke. He showed it to me, proudly, because he was happy that he had gotten something so obviously silly into the magazine.<\/p>\n Apparently, gamers have gotten dumber, because nobody seems to realize it was a joke. Now people send it around to each other, hold it up as evidence of how stupid GamePro <\/em>is.<\/p>\n No, look at how stupid the audience <\/em>is. Seriously. If the game magazine-reading audience really takes everything at exact face value, where there can be no winking aside, no subtext, no jokes…that leaves us all in a very sorry state.<\/p>\n Then and now, gaming is simply not that serious, guys. Here’s hoping you will be able to download a sense of humor from Marketplace soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every so often, someone sends me a link to this image: It’s an old scan from an old GamePro, before my time there. The house rule at GamePro has always been to caption each screenshot with a ProTip — actionable … Continue reading