What Do You Want to Read in The Escapist?
- Thread starter Jordan Deam
- Start date
More insights into the people who make up the community. I know that sounds like press release speak, but hear me out. We all know there are gamers out there who have every piece of Halo memorabilia, people who can play Castlevania with their feet, and bar bands in the backwoods of Backwoods County who do folk metal covers of game songs, and not to be funny.
We get glimpses of these kinds of dedicated weirdos on the Escapist, but it often seems that the site as a whole is holding them at arms' length because its trying to make gaming look "classy" or something.
Which it can be. But let's be honest - we're gamers. Doing off-the-wall and serious at the same time is kinda our thing. We're ALL really dedicated weirdos, and while we may be giggling at the bold eccentrics, deep down I think many of us also idolize them. I'm not suggesting this place turn into G4's obnoxious Attack of the Show or something, but I'd like to see and hear more from fellow nutters, on other Escapist pages besides the forums.
We get glimpses of these kinds of dedicated weirdos on the Escapist, but it often seems that the site as a whole is holding them at arms' length because its trying to make gaming look "classy" or something.
Which it can be. But let's be honest - we're gamers. Doing off-the-wall and serious at the same time is kinda our thing. We're ALL really dedicated weirdos, and while we may be giggling at the bold eccentrics, deep down I think many of us also idolize them. I'm not suggesting this place turn into G4's obnoxious Attack of the Show or something, but I'd like to see and hear more from fellow nutters, on other Escapist pages besides the forums.
Gaming in 2020 - a look ahead. (This is admittedly somewhat of a repeat for you guys)
More sociologically-based examinations of games, gamers, and culture.
The food issue idea is really good. It's a broad enough topic that can cover many aspects, not just cooking games.
An issue devoted to the topic of game writers.
An inside look at studios (leaving this vague as to not limit the variety of topics).
More retro gaming features once in a while - a retrospective perhaps, or just someone's notable memories with a more obscure or older game. These would be nice reads.
More sociologically-based examinations of games, gamers, and culture.
The food issue idea is really good. It's a broad enough topic that can cover many aspects, not just cooking games.
An issue devoted to the topic of game writers.
An inside look at studios (leaving this vague as to not limit the variety of topics).
More retro gaming features once in a while - a retrospective perhaps, or just someone's notable memories with a more obscure or older game. These would be nice reads.
I'd like to see an issue on cancelled games. I read an older article here about a very ambitious project that was screwed over by its publishers (sorry, I forgot the name), Midway Newcastle has recently closed - leaving the potentially awesome Necessary Force swinging in the wind and, of course, there's Duke Nukem Forever. What happens to games after they die?
The Escapist is my favourite and only game journalism I read (paper and electronic) since so far I've felt the articles address me. My local paper game journalism is riddled with game reviews bordering on rabid frothing fanboy addressing his guild IRC channel. The magazine's in-house WoW column is more or less dedicated to mocking people who don't raid five nights a week.
So what I have liked about the Escapist have been the long articles dealing with games from interesting angles. Like the online sex goddess thing was absolutely fascinating. I think The Escapist should give as much coverage to indie games and games-as-art. I think the strength of the Escapist articles is that many people in your writing staff has a good grip on reality and can take a step back from games and gaming culture, and write (also) serious and critical things on gaming. You would think that this is a given in journalism, but sadly it is not.
Yes, you cover a lot of weird and funny gaming-related news as well. For me, when I go through the content, that's like seasoning where the real meat is in the articles. So it doesn't matter to me much what you write, as long as it is related to electronic games, and it's written well
So what I have liked about the Escapist have been the long articles dealing with games from interesting angles. Like the online sex goddess thing was absolutely fascinating. I think The Escapist should give as much coverage to indie games and games-as-art. I think the strength of the Escapist articles is that many people in your writing staff has a good grip on reality and can take a step back from games and gaming culture, and write (also) serious and critical things on gaming. You would think that this is a given in journalism, but sadly it is not.
Yes, you cover a lot of weird and funny gaming-related news as well. For me, when I go through the content, that's like seasoning where the real meat is in the articles. So it doesn't matter to me much what you write, as long as it is related to electronic games, and it's written well
I wanna read about the lack of games with a good sense of humor. I used to love Monkey Island and Crazy Taxi because they are just funny to play. Now it's all Gears and Halo...
I'd like to see a music section. I think there's a whole non-genre-specific music scene right now that's more or less for-nerds/by-nerds; I'm talking 8-bit People, MC Frontalot, The Protomen, etc. A lot of these groups deserve a lot more street-cred/word-of-mouth/nerd-scene recognition than they're currently getting.
I'd like to read an article about people who don't like to play games. And more importantly, why.
You know, why people still struggle to learn playing a real guitar or play mediocre tennis at their local club opposed to the (virtual) stardom and topclass games they could be playing on a computer.
Don't get me wrong, I want to read about games. But it might be nice to look at it from the opposite direction. Just to put everything in perspective.
You know, why people still struggle to learn playing a real guitar or play mediocre tennis at their local club opposed to the (virtual) stardom and topclass games they could be playing on a computer.
Don't get me wrong, I want to read about games. But it might be nice to look at it from the opposite direction. Just to put everything in perspective.
I'd love more fiction issues, I think there's only been 4 of them so far and so far they're my four favourite issues.
Also, Tom Endo wrote an article about him trying snowboarding based upon his gaming skills, I'd like some other related articles, either about gamers and sports or games either helping or hindering people with real world skills.
Also, Tom Endo wrote an article about him trying snowboarding based upon his gaming skills, I'd like some other related articles, either about gamers and sports or games either helping or hindering people with real world skills.
Personally, I come to the Escapist primarily for the deep examinations and insights into gaming culture and the gaming mindset. I've been particularly looking for something new about gaming psychology and sociology since The Daedalus Project [http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/] went on its indefinite hiatus. And I've always liked all that pretentious faff about games as art, and the weird indy games that try to prove it. One idea for a issue theme could be to go back to previous issues written years ago and see how things have changed for the industry - go to the articles that predicted the future and ponder why things didn't turn out that way, or revisit the relationships between developers and publishers to see how the opinions on either side have changed. Overall I'd love to see just more heavy reading - I can get the light easy-to-grasp ideas anywhere, but The Escapist has always felt like the more intellectual source.
Like so many others I stumbled over The Escapist because of Yahtzee's reviews. He was and is one of the main reasons not only to visit and read your website but also to participate (well, at least from time to time).
Since then TE has progressed very favourably! IMHO MovieBob is a great addition as well as Unskippable (though it's not my cup of tea every week to be honest). I even started reading/watching some of your other game reviews (they're pretty good and it's most certainly not personal but I have to read these kinds of reviews A LOT).
So, what should you do in the future? While many here come up with great (or pretty bad) suggestions I only have one very straight request: just keep up the good work, the quality of your contributions and contributors and please, please do not sell out to some bigass company!
Since this may sound like some serious brown nosing, I would like to point out that it may take almost as much to continue a decent output of high quality as to try lots of new stuff and fail on all fronts!
Oh, and btw you should do a poll how OLD the people are that post on your forums/read your site.
Regards,
The Zar.
(42 years old and counting.)
Since then TE has progressed very favourably! IMHO MovieBob is a great addition as well as Unskippable (though it's not my cup of tea every week to be honest). I even started reading/watching some of your other game reviews (they're pretty good and it's most certainly not personal but I have to read these kinds of reviews A LOT).
So, what should you do in the future? While many here come up with great (or pretty bad) suggestions I only have one very straight request: just keep up the good work, the quality of your contributions and contributors and please, please do not sell out to some bigass company!
Since this may sound like some serious brown nosing, I would like to point out that it may take almost as much to continue a decent output of high quality as to try lots of new stuff and fail on all fronts!
Oh, and btw you should do a poll how OLD the people are that post on your forums/read your site.
Regards,
The Zar.
(42 years old and counting.)
Maybe it's a bit of a crazy idea, but have you ever covered anything about philosophy in video games? It might sound a bit far-fetched, but "clever" games sometimes harbor a lot of philosophic topics. This goes from the obvious (Ayn Rand in Bioshock) to the something a little less obvious (how "moral choice systems" in games are related to various ethical philosophies, which is especially interesting as choices in games are getting more complex then Save the puppies or Kill everyone). I am sure it will generate some decent articles, which I would be delighted to read.
Something on the topic of "games as art" would be nice as well. I guess all the good people at the Escapist consider games to be a form of art, but beyond that, what can be said about it's unique features as a medium of aesthetical expression.
One of the features that is too often under-appreciated in games is humor. It would be fun to see an article about how gaming humor developed through time, or how much an emphasis it has in games today and how much it will have in the future.
But, those are just some ideas.
Something on the topic of "games as art" would be nice as well. I guess all the good people at the Escapist consider games to be a form of art, but beyond that, what can be said about it's unique features as a medium of aesthetical expression.
One of the features that is too often under-appreciated in games is humor. It would be fun to see an article about how gaming humor developed through time, or how much an emphasis it has in games today and how much it will have in the future.
But, those are just some ideas.
- Game shows vs. video games? I think that was already covered, but it's worth a shot.
- Sanity, and what role that has had in games. Usually horror, but other games have had strong psychological themes as well. Whether or not what the character is seeing is real...? Keep it out of the abstract lecture form, though. Just because I can wade through the jargon doesn't mean I like it.
- An issue on minimalism, and how that's become a hot new game mechanic, while secretly being a successful formula since the beginning of gaming. Maybe keep it out of Mario Bros. territory... actually this one seems deceptively difficult. Maybe even undoable.
- Sanity, and what role that has had in games. Usually horror, but other games have had strong psychological themes as well. Whether or not what the character is seeing is real...? Keep it out of the abstract lecture form, though. Just because I can wade through the jargon doesn't mean I like it.
- An issue on minimalism, and how that's become a hot new game mechanic, while secretly being a successful formula since the beginning of gaming. Maybe keep it out of Mario Bros. territory... actually this one seems deceptively difficult. Maybe even undoable.
Actually, Medic Heavy might be on to something. What about an issue on the supposedly 'evil' guys like Jack Thompson and Tim Langdell, as well as other fan favourites. Articles about how they are both more evil than we thought, and less evil than we thought, and why we latch on to such characters simply to hate them. We'd have to be very, very tactful though.