PlayStation Universe’s Reviews Editor, Dane Smith, recently sat down with the people at Video Game Reviews HQ. They are a brand new site whose mission is to put the spotlight on those in the video game review sector, and help get the thanks they deserve for a job well done. You can check out their site here.
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PSU: How did you get the idea for the website? What was that spark, that moment where you decided, “Hey, we should put the spotlight on reviewers in the gaming industry”?
VGRHQ: As several of us have experience covering other entertainment venues, we had both the insider and outsider perspective. We wanted to make a game site but we knew it had to stand out, and in our travels, we had learned two things:
Firstly, for the most part, video game journalists are at the bottom of the totem pole in the world of journalism. Most professionals (many with whom we’ve worked in the past) see game reporters as little more than teens or young adults ‘playing’ at journalism. After all, it’s true that you don’t need any experience or a Journalism degree to start a website or blog and talk about video games. In fact, most veteran game journalists began by writing about the industry without any credentials. At the same time, it’s obvious that we’ve grown over time, and as critics are the most high-profile journalists in our industry today, we figured they should be honored as hard-working professionals.
Secondly, the majority of critics don’t get paid well, if they get paid at all. It’s a thankless job and we’ve all done it. We do it because we love the industry and we enjoy serving our fellow gamers. However, it just seemed unfair to us that while critics in other mediums get paid very well and even earn awards and accolades for their efforts – AND are seen as legitimate professionals – we game critics barely register in the eyes of the public.
And we say, considering how far the industry has come, that this needs to change.
PSU: Can you take us through the day-to-day operations of the site? How many people are in the offices reading through the thousands of reviews that come out weekly?
VGRHQ: You’d probably be surprised at how many of us there are. There aren’t half as many as people think, which is why we’re actively seeking contributing readers (yes, readers, not necessarily writers). The problem is that we really need people with a lot of experience under their belts, because it doesn’t make sense for amateurs to be passing judgment on the critics in question. Therefore, one month into the launch, there are only a handful of us shouldering the review reading load.
It’s fine for now, as we’re entering the standard summer drought but come fall…well, let’s just say we’ll be reading a LOT of reviews. We love what we’re doing, though, and we believe in it. Ultimately, we’d like our site to become sort of like the Academy for the Oscars. Our industry deserves such an organizing body, don’t you think?
One day down the road, we’d also like to have guest critics who select their favorite reviews. We’ll be inviting some of the industry’s top critics to do this, if they’re interested.
PSU: Why do you think reviewers get so much hate from people this generation? Is it because of a perceived drop in quality, or have things always been this way and the gamers of 1995 did not have social media to vent?
VGRHQ: We believe it’s a combination of those factors.
It’s absolutely true that back in the days of gaming magazines and before the Internet, we didn’t have a bunch of people ranting and raving behind that veil of anonymity. It’s easy to be all negative and hostile when the only repercussions are more words on a screen. That’s part of it, definitely.
As for the fall in quality, there are two parts to that: On the one hand, we’re finally starting to see seasoned, talented professionals at some of the larger sources. There are some really fantastic critics out there, and they’re so very diverse; GameSpot’s Kevin VanOrd is like the consummate pro with excellent insight, and The Escapist’s Jim Sterling and Classic Game Room’s Mark Bussler have their own singular style and charisma. On the other hand, as gaming has become more mainstream and more and more people are hitting the Internet to talk about the industry, we’re seeing more amateurs delivering reviews. Anybody can toss up a review, but not everyone can write a quality review (a fact many gamers unfortunately miss). Hence, there’s a VERY large gap in terms of quality out there.
The other problem is the perceived conspiracy theories, like critics being paid off by publishers and nonsense like that, which is great for forum activity, but doesn’t really help the reputation of the industry.
PSU: What is your opinion of Metacritic, and how there is a trend of people basing their beliefs about a game based solely around that aggregate score?
VGRHQ: That’s a very good question and one of the first we tackled at VGRHQ. We point you to the feature we produced.
Our co-founder spoke to Metacritic founder Marc Doyle right around the time VGRHQ launched, and they touched on the question of a game’s perceived quality being based entirely on an aggregate score. A lot of what we believe is in the article linked above, but let us just add this: For a group of people who supposedly can’t stand that a game’s quality is dictated by an average number, the members of that group (gamers) sure spend a ton of time talking about it.
Also, while we agree with the concept that a game’s score doesn’t tell you everything, we think it’s the consumer’s responsibility to actually read those reviews. Seeing a bunch of scores makes for a speedy scan of the possible quality of the product but it doesn’t give you all the details. That being said, if you do your research, you’re bound to find out what you want to know.
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PSU: What kind of qualities do you look for in the reviews you choose to spotlight? Let us be frank, a lot of reviews are subjective so how do you grade one subjective review over the other?
VGRHQ: Another good and very relevant question. That’s exactly why we’ve got Our Method.
It’s definitely true that subjectivity is part of the review process. It always will be, as all artistic forms of expression are open to interpretation. At the same time, there are certainly objective aspects of any game productions, and to properly analyze those elements requires knowledge and expertise. We always say that while any of us could write a review of the latest music album, it would never be as good – or as accurate – as the review you see in Rolling Stone. We just don’t have the same expertise and we accept that.
As for how we select our reviews, we’re looking for overall quality, innovative approaches (for instance, one of our first featured reviews was a Minecraft analysis written entirely in verse), and critics who aren’t afraid to have a voice. We at VGRHQ can only do so much; if critics in this industry want to be recognized, they have to realize that they’re essentially a brand themselves. This means you must establish your own voice, one that will identify you and keep readers coming back for more.
For now, we’re really trying to center on excellent writing and structure, just because we want to show the world that such traits actually do exist in video game reviews. We also love unique critics, such as Robert Kingett; we always root for them!
PSU: Being a website that will showcase reviewers for games they did from any system, do you have any fears of being called biased in case you have a run of spotlights for one particular company? Let us say 5 Nintendo reviews in a row as an example. Or do you think the average gamer is above all the fanboyism?
VGRHQ: Yeah, that’s going to come with the territory. It’s why we really try to bounce around and honor very different sources and reviews on different platforms. For example, in the past week, we chose to honor reviews written for Mario Kart 8 (Wii U), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (multi), MLB 14: The Show (PS4, PS3, Vita), and Borderlands 2 (Vita). We also did a feature on Sunset Overdrive (Xbox One). We want to cover all major releases for all platforms, with the possible exception of mobile gaming, as we believe (as many analysts do) that critic reviews aren’t anywhere near as important in that sphere.
As for whether the average gamer is above fanboyism, that’s hard to say. Guess it depends on your definition of "fanboy," but we’d like to think that most gamers out there are mature enough to like what they like, and that’s that. We will say this, though-
This is the main reason we’re all staying anonymous at VGRHQ. We talked about this for a while and the general consensus was that many people will see it as critics passing judgment on other critics. Then you’ve got the "who are YOU to make such claims" and all that. It’s also why we will never – repeat: never – publish anything about a bad review or a critic we think sucks. This is about honoring those who do a good job and nothing more.
PSU: What are you hoping this site accomplishes in the long run, like one year or five years down the road?
VGRHQ: As we hinted at above, we’d like VGRHQ to mirror governing bodies in other entertainment venues that reward the best and the brightest in those industries. It’s long past time that we implement something like this, especially when so many of our journalists are poorly paid and rarely recognized. We asked each other the following question before we started the site: "How often had we seen hateful feedback from the gamers we serve and in contrast, how often have we seen notes of sincere thanks? From our readers or the industry in general?"
The bottom line is that nobody was stepping forward to add legitimacy to the game critic/journalist profession and while it won’t happen overnight, we believe endeavors such as ours are positive for the industry we fell in love with decades ago.
PSU: Do you have any special message for the readers?
VGRHQ: One thing to remember is that we have a Staff Picks side and a Community Corner for a reason. We never wanted this site to be only about us picking critics and sources we deem appropriate; we always wanted the gaming community to have a say as well.
That’s why we want the community to grow and when it does, we’ll ask gamers who they think should be honored for their hard work. So, when we go to put up the Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare honored review at the end of the year, at the same time; we’d throw up a corresponding post asking gamers who THEY think wrote a stellar review. And if a certain source or critic gets enough votes, we’ll consider adding them to our Honored Sources list, and we’ll even tell that source that yeah, the gamers out there appreciate them.
One of these days, we will have our Roger Ebert of gaming. And when that happens, VGRHQ will be there…not taking a bow and claiming that we had anything to do with it, but merely expressing our appreciation, as we’ve vowed to do.