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[ShadowLag]

I was thinking of suggesting that GAF become an official review site a month or so ago due to the complete and utter lack of sanity across the entire industry right now. I never mentioned it though, partly because I figured the amount of work to get it done right would be too high, and also that I just plain forgot

Interesting to see a similar idea being brought up today, though! I don't know the status and skillset of GAF's developers, but if this idea is within scope, I say definitely do it.

 

[Deerock71]

I wrote for my HS slop-paper. Chalk me up as an old-hat Gen-Xer editorialst.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

Can I be the first one to stealth submit an AI written editorial piece? It will be titled GotGAF?

Jokes aside I really like the idea of GAF/mods/evil curating quality member content, it would be nice for the mods to spot members/posts and structure said content into editorial style layouts and cross reference right in threads/member posts etc. It could really enhance the forums and provide a way for more insightful or articulate content to rise above etc.

As for podcasts and the like, I just don't go for it. They're too long and too distracting if working etc. Generally the written word is favourable for me e.g. I could down a 1 hour podcast of audio/spoken content in minutes instead of an hour.

Leave "scored" reviews out of it. Go for more elements of first hand member experiences. I'd also like to see either tagged/structured content or many sides of a multi-faceted die brought into "one' editorial. Start one way, view the others etc. Perhaps there is some room for something akin to "verified" e.g. member proved they own a game and have played it for more than 10 hours.

Another aspect for mods/GAF processes I'd like to see is reorganisation of popular/hot topics. I know this is a tall order and stupid in terms of trying to do it within a live thread but I'd love to see sorting within editorial/thread content e.g. I want to see the best jokes from the last 20 pages, I want to read the most unbiased posts etc. Daunting in terms of the framework and staff power to curate all that but it certainly would elevate GAF and what we spend our time reading or enjoying. It's likely bloody good for search engines too.

 

[Toons]

Its not a terrible idea I guess but seems a bit reactionary. I'd rather something like this happened organically. As of now we'd just get a billion hogwarts legacy articles, and I have heard more than my share of discourse around that game.

 

[UltimaKilo]

Isn't that just gaming-age.com

Please tell me that this is the beginning of the reunification?! It would be as big as when Justinian retook much of the Roman Empire! BELIEVE AGAIN!

 

[njean777]

It really depends. As long as it doesn’t turn into right wing/ left wing bs that isn’t intelligent and nuanced then: no. It’s cool to have different perspectives as long as it isn’t condemning and can have level headed conversations.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

For me, I wouldnt partake in anything live like podcasts, videos or anything like that.

But let's say there was a topics list everyone saw coming out, if I saw a topic I liked to write about, I'd write some posts. I dont play games so much anymore, but anything related to 80s or 90s stuff I might be able to chime in if I see a topic. For me, it would be more about just personal experiences and fun. Not in depth research like a techie or game worker. So I'd just contribute blogger style posts after dinner.

I'm not sure if this would be part of an editorial content site being aimed at.

If the site is more about in depth gaming topics with technical know how, I'd be out as I dont know that kind of stuff, nor do I have any interest in doing industry related podcasts or interviews etc...

(Edit. When I say out, I mean I wouldnt be interested in helping conduct stuff. But I'd be a reader).

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

If the site is more about in depth gaming topics with technical know how, I'd be out as I dont know that kind of stuff, nor do I have any interest in doing industry related podcasts or interviews etc...

I'd kill for more devs putting pen to paper about actual tech details and opinions in an editorial fashion. We've seen some devs/indies at GAF have some amazingly insightful posts, more of that please.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I'd kill for more devs putting pen to paper about actual tech details and opinions in an editorial fashion. We've seen some devs/indies at GAF have some amazingly insightful posts, more of that please.

I would too.

I'd like to hear more of the business side of it too. Selling and marketing traditional stuff like soap and shampoo is surely different than video games. How layers of contract workers vs FT are done through 4 years making a game, even stuff like how does all the visuals and game design get done and approved vs. storyboards and shit like that. I can tell people how traditional stuff can get pushed through the process of sales and finance and approving shit, but hearing clear lengthy articles how game companies big and small do it would be great to hear.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

I would too.

I'd like to hear more of the business side of it too. Selling and marketing traditional stuff like soap and shampoo is surely different than video games. How layers of contract workers vs FT are done through 4 years making a game, even stuff like how does all the visuals and game design get done and approved vs. storyboards and shit like that. I can tell people how traditional stuff can get pushed through the process of sales and finance and approving shit, but hearing clear lengthy articles how game companies big and small do it would be great to hear.

Super interesting to compare indie vs A or AAA etc too.

 

[Roufianos]

Absolutely. Anything to stop giving clicks to the likes of Kotaku. Your Boi is also an editor so hit me up if you need assistance.

 

[Rentahamster]

 

[aries_71]

Maybe. As a long time reader of this forum I‘m a bit skeptical on how balanced it would end up being.

 

[EliteClarity]

Yeah, I'd read it, as long as there was an element of "Outside Interference" being minimised. Nothing ruins a site worse then a mess of a comments section open to all. It would need, IMO, to be a snapshot of this forum. Well Moderated, sensible(ish) and open to discussion without the toxicity.

 

[Thebonehead]

I always liked

Lately it seems as though we're lacking sane and reasonable voices in this industry who are not polemics or activists on either side of the fence but still have an interesting perspective worth hearing. I think there is intrinsic value in well-written essays and articles on a platform that is not at all interested in clickbait, outrage-bait, or shilling.

At a few points in our site's history we've had an editorial section where we occasionally posted thoughtful features, interviews, and podcasts. It received a good amount of attention the last time we had it around, many moons ago, but the forum became so enormous in comparison that it didn't make that much sense to focus on anymore. These days, though, most people post on GAF from mobile and there isn't as much room for slower-paced longer format reading. Maybe it's time to circle back around and create a dedicated space for that content to shine.

An editorial site would be a place for reflecting on current events, conducting interviews and posting features, highlighting underrepresented indie games, technical breakdowns from devs, and whatever else seems worthwhile. Could maybe start up a podcast, time permitting, at least for long format interviews when opportunities arise to do those. The focus of the site would be gaming, gaming industry, and gaming culture, but from the perspective of mature, level-headed adults (with humor allowed!). I'd be EIC and would write some of it myself as well as accepting high quality submissions from the community and other guests.

Any interest? Thoughts?

I've always liked the anonymous real life accounts of professionals such as :

• The Secret Barrister ( https://thesecretbarrister.com ) - A look behind the legal profession
• City Boy ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geraint_Anderson ) - A humorous look at the excesses of investment banking in the City of London

I would find it interesting to read an anonymous devs account that details what it is like to work in that environment. How they feel about reviewers / metacritic / fans etc? Confessions of a game-dev etc.

So my answer is.. It depends on the content really. I'd find a real deep dive technical discourse about rendering pipelines fascinating. So those things you can't find elsewhere.

 

[RoboFu]

Maybe. As a long time reader of this forum I‘m a bit skeptical on how balanced it would end up being.

is it Metroid Dread? Then it's not that great is it... 3/5

 

[Humdinger]

Evilore said:

An editorial site would be a place for reflecting on current events, conducting interviews and posting features, highlighting underrepresented indie games, technical breakdowns from devs, and whatever else seems worthwhile. Could maybe start up a podcast, time permitting, at least for long format interviews when opportunities arise to do those.

I'd be interested in articles that drew attention to quality games that might otherwise fly under the radar, whether indie or AA. The blockbusters get all the attention.

I'd also be interested in thoughtful game reviews.

I wouldn't listen to a podcast about gaming. I just don't have the time.

"Reflecting on current events"? Well, it depends. I wouldn't be interested in anything that got political (although I understand that is not the intent, it can still slide that way over time).

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I always liked

I've always liked the anonymous real life accounts of professionals such as :

• The Secret Barrister ( https://thesecretbarrister.com ) - A look behind the legal profession
• City Boy ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geraint_Anderson ) - A humorous look at the excesses of investment banking in the City of London

I would find it interesting to read an anonymous devs account that details what it is like to work in that environment. How they feel about reviewers / metacritic / fans etc? Confessions of a game-dev etc.

So my answer is.. It depends on the content really. I'd find a real deep dive technical discourse about rendering pipelines fascinating. So those things you can't find elsewhere.

Anything to do with real life experiences would be awesome.

Game making seems like a pain in the ass coordinated effort to make a game. I'd like to hear real stories of make or break situations where things fell apart or someone fucked up deleting files o messing up builds etc.... Also, stories how things looked like shit, but in the final 6 months everyone rocked and it the game ended up awesome.

You'll sometimes hear that opinion about "everything comes together the final year". Well, as players and not workers, we dont really see or know what that involves and why or what things execute good (or bad) in the final leg of the cycle.

 

[Rentahamster]

Whatever you do, I think you should be ready to have to take on the burden and responsibility of editorial control in order to ensure that you keep high standards. I would prefer to see quality over quantity, myself. There's endless non-thoughtful and non-useful trash out there already, and I'm not that interested in seeing more of it.

I am in the "maybe" camp for now, with the caveat that if you do it, it should be done right. The rub though, is what exactly is "right"? You'll get a lot of answers depending on whom you ask. My advice is to approach it from a market perspective - what are the current videogames editorials lacking and what is the niche that you can fill? What is the essence of gaming journalism of yesteryear that so many of our peers lament are lost? Are they really lost? Was it ever there in the first place? Or are we just confused? The "problem" of gaming journalism is one that is not easily solved because of how many variables at play there are. Other sites have tried and failed. Penny Arcade Reports comes to mind.

What do I currently not like about the state of games journalism? Personally, I don't like how unfocused it is. They have to cover so much stuff in so little time that nothing is really covered in depth to the extent that I would like. I would much rather listen to the people who have spent 100+ hours on a game rather than the ones who played for 5 hours to make it in time for the release embargo. I don't like that the people whose opinions I'm supposed to hold in high regard generally suck ass at actually playing games. If I want to know how a game is, I'll look to streamers who play it daily. I'll look to Youtubers who make guides. I'll look to Redditors and other forum goers who min/max the shit out the game and would put the QA team to shame.

Do you want to do review aggregations from users? It's possible, but you'd need to maintain minimum standards of quality control and some kind of format to make them easily comparable to each other for reference. If not done in a way that addresses what people want, it's no different from a shitty smaller version of Steam reviews. One thing that would interest me would be for users to submit their system specs and a standard benchmark for a game so that PC gamers can get an idea of how things run on different setups.

If you ask a lot of people what they don't like about modern games journalism, you might get an answer that they don't like how political it is. Fair enough, but I think going down that path could lead to certain traps. I've observed that a non-zero amount of people actually don't really want "zero politics". They just want to hear politics that align with their currently held conceptions, which they view as oh so conveniently politically neutral. Some people want an "anti-woke" option to "counterbalance" the "wokeness" prevalent in current games journalism, but that is a silly endeavor which I don't think is market viable. There are already other outlets for that, and it's not like they're doing gangbusters. I'm reminded of a quote from Eric Weinstein where he said something to the effect of, if you base your whole identity off of being the "anti-whatever", you are still just as much beholden and shackled to it as before. I think your current stance of keeping GAF non-political has been a good middle ground for all this, and I think that sort of curation should be mirrored in any editorial pursuits for this site.

TLDR: I'm tired of listening to people who fucking suck at the game they're trying to sell me on.

At a few points in our site's history we've had an editorial section where we occasionally posted thoughtful features, interviews, and podcasts. It received a good amount of attention the last time we had it around, many moons ago, but the forum became so enormous in comparison that it didn't make that much sense to focus on anymore.

I am reminded of Jonnyram's tag about not posting on GAF for free lol

 

[SpiceRacz]

Not sure how strong people's interest in retro stuff is these days, but I'd be willing to contribute shorter reviews for older games. Probably worth reaching out to Daniel Thomas MacInnes . He posts great stuff, mostly related to Sega Saturn. He's one of the better writers on the site.

 

[marquimvfs]

Hell yea! Call me if you ever want to do a Brazilian Portuguese version, EviLore

 

[Ar¢tos]

I volunteer to review coffee. Oh, and sex toys!

 

[Elysion]

I like the idea. Regarding podcasts, a possible format could be a monthly or weekly podcast that goes over the best/most noteworthy threads on the forum.

There used to be a monthly ASoIaF podcast I listened to that was like that; it was run by posters and mods on the ASoIaF Reddit sub-forum, and they summarized the biggest and most important topics of the previous month, giving their own opinions and expanding on the topic in question. They separated the topics into categories like ‚biggest thread of the month‘, ‚funniest thread of the month’, or ‚most insightful post of the month‘.

l think something like this, that works as a companion/extension to the things the forum has talked about, would be more interesting and unique than just another generic gaming podcast. It would be a way to distill the most relevant discussions of the week/month into an audio (video?) format for people who don’t have the time to read forums every day, or don’t like them in general. Categories like ‚biggest thread of the month‘ or ‚funniest thread of the month‘ could also be stickied on the top of the forum itself, so that the best and most interesting topics are always available on the first page. Though there would probably need to be some kind of way for people to vote on which threads or posts they thought were the best or the funniest, unless there‘s some kind of editorial committee that votes on these things.

 

[Daniel Thomas MacInnes]

How much would it pay? Wait, hello? Why did you run out of the room?

Seriously, I’d be happy to participate in any NeoGAF website. But isn’t that how this website began in the first place?

 

[In Cold Blood]

Game reviews would be great.
Also, why the fuck has a Gafcast never happened?

 

[qwertz12345]

I said this months ago...

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/gaf-to-me-is-the-best-gaming-forum.1636264/page-5#post-266213332

Aside from Resetera... There's also forums like https://www.joyfreak.com/ that have gained traction in recent years.

Which makes one realize... If every forum out there is running on what is essentially the same architecture (ie Xenforo), then how can a certain forum (ie Neogaf) differentiate itself from other forums?

Because by and large... The users aren't really all that different.

My main hangout is Reddit... Not for the gaming discussion. But for everything that isn't gaming.

As some people here have said, I don't think Neogaf will ever be "great" again. Not if it carries on like a conventional forum. But it might be able to up it's numbers if it tries something different. Something that attracts users in a way which the other forums aren't able to attract.

My idea would be "exclusive articles and content".

Incorporate a section that acts like all the big name gaming sites. Where you see exclusive articles. That have been written by some of the industry greats. Stuff like that would get Neogaf name-checked more often. And also allow it to bolster its reputation.

But that requires money.

 

[Roman Empire]

Gaming discussion and journalism renascence are most needed these days. I'm up for it.

 

[BabyfaceRe]

I am 100% down for this. I always end up on Gaf for the "real gaming news" anyway.

Would happily contribute in any way I can! (Have writing experience and many opinions lol)

 

[AJUMP23]

When I was a member of the IGN boards we tried this and it lasted about 10 seconds because there was no incentive for people to write good content and reviews. I did a review of a SW game but I don’t know if it ever got published. People had ideas and excitement they just lacked follow through.

It can be done but it requires a lot of diligence.

I would make a great editor or mod as well.

 

[qwertz12345]

When I was a member of the IGN boards we tried this and it lasted about 10 seconds because there was no incentive for people to write good content and reviews.

Thing is... This entire forum hosts good content and reviews... There's just no effort expended in sorting the wheat from the chaff.

 

[Paasei]

I think this could be really nice. I for one would love to hear why some people are overly passionate about certain games or genres, just to name something from the top of my head. With, as you said, some humor and staying objective.

There’s plenty more I could come up with and would even sign up for to contribute. Although I’m not at all a developer or something remotely related to the industry other than just playing and loving games.

 

[AJUMP23]

Thing is... This entire forum hosts good content and reviews... There's just no effort expended in sorting the wheat from the chaff.

We have great content here. Some of it is curation of others content. Like the retro game thread. I think I could produce/host a good podcast. I would enjoy that.

Have a meet the GAFer segment.

 

[Kataploom]

Podcasts? That would give me some great content to listen to while at work, also could put NeoGAF in the mainstream again, I'd happily share with my buddies outside of the site

 

[Skelterz]

Lately it seems as though we're lacking sane and reasonable voices in this industry who are not polemics or activists on either side of the fence but still have an interesting perspective worth hearing. I think there is intrinsic value in well-written essays and articles on a platform that is not at all interested in clickbait, outrage-bait, or shilling.

At a few points in our site's history we've had an editorial section where we occasionally posted thoughtful features, interviews, and podcasts. It received a good amount of attention the last time we had it around, many moons ago, but the forum became so enormous in comparison that it didn't make that much sense to focus on anymore. These days, though, most people post on GAF from mobile and there isn't as much room for slower-paced longer format reading. Maybe it's time to circle back around and create a dedicated space for that content to shine.

An editorial site would be a place for reflecting on current events, conducting interviews and posting features, highlighting underrepresented indie games, technical breakdowns from devs, and whatever else seems worthwhile. Could maybe start up a podcast, time permitting, at least for long format interviews when opportunities arise to do those. The focus of the site would be gaming, gaming industry, and gaming culture, but from the perspective of mature, level-headed adults (with humor allowed!). I'd be EIC and would write some of it myself as well as accepting high quality submissions from the community and other guests.

Any interest? Thoughts?

I’d be very interest in the podcast side of things personally and would love to contribute to that.

 

[NickFire]

Thought about this a bit. One idea that I think would be really cool, would be some sort of aggregated user reviews of people from this forum. But limited to people who achieve a specific trophy or achievement, or some other metric to make sure that anyone being counted actually played the game sufficiently to give it a fair review. Might be a logistical nightmare determining where to draw the line and how to verify though.

 

[TGO]

So what are we talking about here?
news, previews, reviews, retro-spective piece and opinion pieces to start off with?
I wouldn't mind a actual place where the journalism is to the quality it was years ago, you know actual journalism that's a joy to read.
This could be good if the quality of the content shines.

 

[AREYOUOKAY?]

I’ll be honest I thought this one website called “Games are Fun” was somehow related to this place. Got all my daily gaming news from them years ago but they basically stopped after awhile and I think it doesn’t even exist anymore which is a shame because it was quick and to the point. It seems like 2010 or 2011 was when it went away?

GamesAreFun.com

web.archive.org

 

[Daniel Thomas MacInnes]

I’d be very interest in the podcast side of things personally and would love to contribute to that.

A NeoGAF podcast might be the best idea. I’d gladly join that.