“In
a world where everyone is a publisher, no one is an editor.
And
that is the danger that we face today.”
– Scott
Pelley
A game designer I greatly admire recently lamented
the lack of quality game reviews. With the explosion of roleplaying
game publishers thanks to the internet and Open Game License (OGL)
one might naturally expect a concurrent explosion of online punditry
would include blogs, podcasts, forums, and other outlets with
intelligent opinions of game product. But their quality and critical
approach has always varied so greatly...and toward the
less-than-satisfying end. So where does one go for intelligent,
carefully considered reviews of game product across the seemingly
infinite and ever-changing expanse of the internet? Rather than trust
the old outlets with some vestiges of authority today’s consumer
must become an internet-savvy editor of their own review sources,
finding, evaluating, and choosing those they personally find most
useful from among the seemingly infinite internet landscape.
The internet has moved our society from more
insular, intimate communities toward larger, more inclusive
communities of casual acquaintances and strangers. While this
broadened the scope of information available to us, it has also
exponentially increased the volume of content and hence diluted the
quality of content we see. Where once we trusted game magazine
editors, local hobby store employees, and our gaming buddies to
curate our game experience (including reviews), we must now ingest
and evaluate a vast flood of game and review content from innumerable
sources. The ease of the internet encourages everyone with an opinion
to post it (unfortunately a practice not limited to gaming), even
enabling consumers to casually and often anonymously rate products
with little inkling as to their critical concerns.
Certainly reviews in the past had their issues,
but it seemed easier to navigate given the more limited content to
peruse; today the sheer flood of material, despite offering “more
options” on the surface, threatens to overwhelm those seeking
quality game reviews.
The Way
It Was....
Where did we find game reviews back in the Golden
Age of Roleplaying (the early 1980s) and the years before the
internet?
Magazines: Periodicals provided my primary
source for game reviews before the internet. The long-lamented Dragon
Magazine provided me with plenty of intelligence about new games
that might interest me; over the years I read other magazines for
reviews, but few managed to cover the scope of Dragon. For
years it not only provided game reviews but brief evaluations of
fantasy and science fiction novels. Although one might raise concerns
about corporate bias, most reviews covered a host of other
publisher’s product. The advertisements in magazines could also
pique one’s interest about upcoming games, showcasing their amazing
artwork and tempting us with the potential for future game sessions.
Hobby Stores: Hanging out at
the local hobby store (or book store, or game store, which seemed
rare back in the early days) one could not only peruse the latest
releases and judge for ourselves, but we could ask
sometimes-knowledgeable staff for opinions or talk with fellow gamers
we met there. Here we might also read magazine reviews without having
to purchase the periodicals themselves; on one of my earliest
purchases (the Dungeons & Dragons Expert boxed set) the
clerk tossed in an outdated copy of Adventure Gaming magazine,
which contained a comprehensive look at Chaosium’s Thieves’
World box, which quickly rose to the top of my gaming with list.
Friends: Game table chatter with buddies
often veered toward product...what folks heard about, what they
wanted, what they’d bought and were showing off. Their
recommendations mattered because these players shared the same tastes
in gaming. Their interest in a particular game indicated a potential
new pursuit to bring to the table, one with seemingly guaranteed
players.
Conventions: In my youth I rarely attended
conventions. GenCon was too far an too expensive, an the only local
convention. PointCon, at the West Point Military Academy, focused
more on wargames. Still, over the years conventions have offered me a
chance to check out new games first-hand, often beyond simply
perusing the rules through chats with designers and occasional demo
games. While these weren’t reviews or recommendations from other
consumers, they gave me a firsthand look at potential purchases.
Were these always reliable, satisfying, and useful
reviews? Of course not. But they served us well in their own way,
offered us a reasonable number of resources to evaluate and make
educated decisions on whether particular products were right for us.
Like a good reviewer, a cautious consumer knows what they like
content-wise and can discern a reviewer’s biases and critical
failings. In most cases those offering reviews were accountable to
others or face-to-face to the consumer. Those writing for magazines
answered to an editor, who represented a publisher. Store clerks,
gaming friends, and even those hawking games at conventions had an
in-person relationship with potential consumers who could easily
return if the review proved incorrect. This accountability – to
whatever degree – imbued reviews with some semblance of authority
or trust...something often lacking in the Internet Age’s easy
anonymity and lack of accountability.
The Here
and Now....
The internet enabled an explosion of creative
minds who could publish whatever they wanted, all without the
infrastructure of a traditional analog publishing house...including
editors who could evaluate, revise, and even reject work that seemed
unacceptable. Some view editors as “gate-keepers” who limited
one’s freedom to produce whatever they wanted of whatever varied
subject and quality. One naturally assumes the great material would
float to the top of the internet deluge while the dreck settled to
the murky layers below. Editors used to help with that job...now it’s
determined by internet mobs sending things “viral,” clustering
around products and producers like rabid cultists, fueling the
ever-ephemeral immediacy of the internet before something else bursts
into the public consciousness and knocks much of what came before
into forgotten oblivion.
The deluge of content also let loose a similar
torrent of commentary about that content. With little accountability
to an editor or publisher and beholden only and directly to their
media consumers, reviewers share their opinions across a multitude of
platforms. Just like the roleplaying game publishing scene,
traditional avenues for reviews have faded in the face of an
onslaught of content – forums, websites, blogs, videos, podcasts –
all offering widely varying formats, depth, coverage, and quality in
their reviews. Instead of relying on trusted publishers, each
consumer’s responsible for finding and evaluating internet
“influencers” offering reviews. Individual gamers must now serve
as their own curators of the review experience...and indeed of their
overall experience on the internet.
One might think I’m rather angry with the
internet – I’ll admit at time various aspects of it frustrate me
– but I believe it’s enabled more positive changes than negative
ones in the adventure gaming community. Even in the move from
established review publishers to the onslaught of online reviewers I
find something positive: where once we trusted someone else’s
opinion and choice of review subject (and their authority in
publishing it) we must now cultivate our own critical eye while
scanning the vast, turbulent ocean of content. We ourselves must each
be our own “editor” in the absence of competent editors holding
reviewers to quality standards of criticism.
Where Do
I Find My Reviews?
I rely on my “Internet Radar,” a combination
of websites I monitor, some social media platforms, a forum or two,
and particular resources catering to my interests. Not all of these
provide reviews – many simply inform me of new products – but
they’re enough to make a quick decision whether a new game piques
my interest and deserves greater consideration for purchase. After
the demise of Google Plus someone recommended consolidating my
website browsing through an aggregator for my web browser, primarily
filled with bookmarks from my gaming links. It’s proven a great
time-saver and gets me the latest updates in a timely, easily
digestible format. I also rely on the occasional personal
recommendation, though these remain rare in these times of limited
online engagement in the post-Google Plus era.
When examining my sources for reviews, several
sites come to mind:
BoardGameGeek: Along with its roleplaying
game sister site
RPGGeek BGG provides a treasure trove of useful
information about games, including images of components, reviews, and
files for rules, alternate rules, quick reference sheets, and other
resources. I can’t bring myself to sift through the aggregated news
and announcements, but if I know what I’m looking for I can easily
find it with the search function. Most reviews skew toward the
comprehensive, higher-quality end of the spectrum; many include
actual play reports to enhance comprehensive commentary on rules and
gameplay.
Note: I primarily check BGG over RPGGeek given how
few roleplaying game products I purchase these days.
Tabletop Gaming News: Perhaps my most
useful source for new product information, TGN offers material
submitted from numerous gaming companies about new releases,
including links to the company website. It covers the full range of
board games, roleplaying games, an miniature wargames (hitting most
of my gaming interests). Granted, this is more a line into my
“Internet Radar” but it serves as starting point hearing about
and evaluating new products. Most posts appearing in my aggregator I
gloss over since product doesn’t fit any of my genres of interest,
but some tempt me enough to read and pursue.
Game Nite Magazine:
TGN always announces new issues of this online PDF magazine devoted
primarily to board and card games. In-depth reviews last several
pages each, provide excellent photography of components, and offer
succinct recommendations at the end.
Amazon: Assuming Amazon offers a gaming
product I’m considering I check it for a preview (if available),
more details on the content and author, and, of course, reviews.
Despite the notoriety of online reviews of any platform I find I
glean the most useful information from Amazon reviews. I usually
start with the worst ones, discounting any dismissing a product
because it wasn’t what the buyer expected or it arrived damaged and
couldn’t be replaced easily. Beyond that I look for clues that
reveal critical positive and negative points, compared to my own
expectations and gaming style.
Left by the Wayside: I have numerous
websites I used to visit seeking product reviews that, alas, no
longer satisfy me (if they’re around at all). I mourn the passing
of two in particular. I still occasionally check the reviews at
RPGNet, but their trickling pace of release and limited scope (rarely
covering games that interest me) pales in comparison with review
materials other online venues offer. The Dreams of Mythic Fantasy
website compiled news of Old School Renaissance (OSR) resources every
week; alas, James A. Smith, Jr., who worked so hard collecting,
organizing, and presenting all that information, passed away on April
10, 2019. Other sites offer relatively comprehensive and sometimes
overtly biased roundups of OSR content, but James was both
comprehensive and objective. I will miss his contribution to my
gaming radar and his services to OSR gamers. I’m afraid I have
little time or patience for video and podcast reviews. I might turn
to video reviews I find if I’m seriously on the fence about a
product, but my love of print runs deep, being better able to scan
and digest it.