Hey Fediverse -

I’ve been seeing a lot of discussion around the lack of game outlets that people like to follow nowadays. I used to follow a decent amount, but with how many of them have changed - Giant Bomb, PC Gamer, RockPaperShotgun, Game Informer - I also have been looking for a new outlet/community.

I’ve been working towards starting an outlet myself, and I’m wondering what folks would like to see out of one. My list:

  • Independent, or more so. Referral links make it hard to trust an outlet being unbiased if they have a financial incentive to promote things.
  • Discourse focused: Modern coverage, especially from influencers, is a lot of a singular person speaking. Giant Bomb especially had great dynamics between the various perspectives when covering a game.
  • Diverse Coverage: By this I mean, not just focused on AAA titles and the yearly release calendar. Covering mods, older titles, different communities (speedrunners, small multiplayer communities, etc.)

Other questions:

  • Would you be interested in supporting an outlet financially? Would you even if all content was available freely, eg. public media as opposed to “premium access.”
  • Do you have any preferred platforms? Would you be interested in an outlet that prioritizes the Fediverse over Twitch, Youtube, etc.?
  • Do you have a preference between written content, video, audio?
  • @mana
    English
    4•10 months ago

    I’d be interested in an outlet that:

    • Does not accept free copies/codes for game or early copies of the games. Access journalism is a plague.
    • Brings in guests to the show/podcast/whatever who are proficient and knowledgeable about the games being discussed. I don’t expect the hosts to be experts, but I’m tired of hearing layman’s takes on games that I’m interested in.

    Would you be interested in supporting an outlet financially? If it’s a good product, I’d support a Patreon or whatever.

    Do you have any preferred platforms? Would you be interested in an outlet that prioritizes the Fediverse over Twitch, Youtube, etc.? I think it would be best to post content cross-platform otherwise you risk having a dead community or, worse, a circlejerk community.

    Do you have a preference between written content, video, audio? I think video and written are a minimum nowadays with audio being a nice bonus.****

    • @[email protected]OPEnglish
      2•10 months ago

      I agree with you on keys/access. Part of why I think being beholden to the release calendar for content is such a problem. It was one thing when previews meant something, now that every publisher/developer promotes directly to their audience and being critical gets you on their bad side, there’s not a huge point to it.

      Guests are a good point! That’s been something I’ve wanted to focus on, similar to Giant Bomb at Nite and the Interview Dumptruck. Doing post-mortems with developers could be really interesting.

      I hear you on the dead community point as well. Kind of want to encourage discourse happening outside of the big platforms, but using the larger ones to help build an audience.