Games Aren't Numbers

A while ago I posted some guidelines on my reviewing techniques. Since then I've written a few more and have developed my guidelines more as well. Here's a list of a few rules I use for myself.

I read other reviews and articles before writing my own. While part of me thinks that my writing should ideally be only influenced by myself and my subject, I realize that by publishing my writing I'm putting it into an online community and have a duty towards them as well. The people who read my reviews on videolamer.com tend to be savvy and they read other sites and reviews as well. It makes sense then that my writings are put in that context. I don't want to waste anyone's time by saying the same thing that every other reviewer has already said.

My reviews don't tell other people if they will like the game or not, I try to convince them to accept my opinion of the game. My reviews are about my experience. But simply saying whether a game is good or not is easy, I try hard to make a case for my opinions. Reviews on a site like Amazon are supposed to help you to make purchases, they tell you what you can expect from a product. I don't believe I can justifiably write to that standard when I'm on a site completely focused on the articles themselves. This is why I don't worry about telling my readers what their opinion will be, I just focus on my own, hopefully reasonable, opinion. If I've made someone appreciate a game that they thought they hated then I think I've accomplished my goal, and vice versa.

It's easy for my writing to diverge into pseudo-intellectual pretentious ramblings, so I try to avoid that. A lot of bloggers such as myself can enjoy pretending we're be the smartest people on the planet. This actually just makes us look awfully stupid. I liberally trim a lot of fat off of my articles before publishing them. If I can say something in one word then there's no point in using ten words. If a one syllable word conveys the same meaning as a three syllable word then I'll use the former. Maybe I don't really need that paragraph that I wrote just so I could namedrop Descartes. Most games are at their heart dumb fun, so being pretentious can be completely unnecessary.

I want people who have no interest in the games I write about to enjoy reading my reviews. I even want people who don't play videogames to be able to enjoy reading my reviews. I consider everything I write to be its own work capable of standing on its own, but with a very strong influence from its subject matter.

These are just some general rules I keep in mind when I write. Obviously they don't apply to everyone and I even break them when I feel like it. But I think it's important to have a structure like this to produce good writing.