Video games are part of our culture now. Almost everyone has heard of or played a video game, with the big contenders being Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. Video games can even include such games Bejeweled or Farmville or anything on Kongregate. With such a vast variety of games, the community is changing and so too have the face of games.
There is more to games than just playing them though. Go to a forum and search for the video games topic and there will be debates beyond belief, and not just about which system is better. People talk about overall themes in games, plot, continuity and real-world topics such as who is the better innovator in the industry or who the current boogeyman in the community is (it used to be Jack Thompson).
Of course, others have tried to fill this gap in various ways. There are many notable video series about games including Zero Punctuation, Extra Punctuation, Game Overthinker, and Extra Credits. Now all of these are well in good in their own ways, but at least three of these divide community, mostly because all of them are opinion heavy. Extra Credits maintains a neutrality that the others don’t, but are more interested in the industry itself, and both the Punctuations and the Game Overthinker have been attacked for their opinions of things.
You’ll notice that none of these are really blogs though (Extra Punction being the closest) and I find it difficult to name any video game blogs off the top of my head. These series, for how good they all are, are not what I’m after. In my blog, not only would I like to explore some of the industry as they do, but I want to focus more on the intricacies of the games themselves. This will not be a review blog, but go in depth into some of the problems games propose that boggle the community-Is there a straightforward Zelda continuity, does the hero ever end up with the princess, do game franchises with multiple endings have a canon, is this symbolic, etc. Video games are more than an industry and more than just bad or good. And I want to explore that deeper.
Hi Brittany. Video games have had such a tremendous impact on our culture over the past few decades and, although various blogs and books have begun to explore this, I think much more remains to be studied. I think that your project would benefit from focusing on something specific in order to set it apart from the myriad other blogs.
Definitely familiarize yourself with the "historiography" of the video game blogs and some of the published literature as well. I think that the topic of a timeline in the Legend of Zelda series has already been thoroughly explored; many websites and blogs discuss it and a professor at Miami University, Sean Duncan, wrote a thesis about it. Try to break some new ground.
Perhaps take a historical approach, looking at change over time. Or focus on retro games- I'd definitely contribute to a blog about the original NES!
Thanks for the comment Jason. I keep using the Zelda problem as anyone familiar with video games will know this, so its more of a reaching out than an actual plan (though I do plan on going over it some point in the future because I agree with neither official continuity). The historiography of video games will be a part of this, sorry I didn't make that clear. I plan on focusing on franchises more- such as the Silent Hill series and its shifts or Metal Gear and its relation to Metal Gear Solid. Thanks for the advice!
I am thrilled that you are thinking about a blog as a project. I am also thrilled that you are staying on top of this assignment. I think focusing on games is a great idea.
As we get closer to writing our proposals I thought I would use your pitch as an example to get into some of the specifics that are going to take an idea to the stage of being a proposal. I am asking the questions here in the context of your project but I think these are really the core questions everyone should address in a proposal.
1) Audience: Who do you want to write for? Gamers? Non-Gamers? 20 somethings? 30 somethings?
2) What is out there and how are you different: You are already doing great here! In your case I would also mention a few more great games blogs. http://www.brainygamer.com/ is a great thoughtful games blog, http://www.playthepast.org/ is a blog I participate in that is all about games and history, http://grandtextauto.org/ is a nice games blog that gets to be a bit more of a lit crit feel, and then there are blogs like http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/ that have more of a review feel. So the question here is what are you doing that these sites aren't?
3) Scope: What are you going to make happen during this course? (Are you going to do 5 posts? 10 posts?) What is the character of those posts? (Are they 200 words 500 words 1000 words)
4) Work plan: What would the schedule look like. (5 weeks off posts one post a week? 3 weeks of posts
5) Evaluation: What will success look like? Do you want to get a specific amount of comments? Is the goal more about refining your own thinking?
Thanks for the link @tjowens..
I'm wondering how to create or start a video game blog or reviews. you links help a lot!
@Brittany Leigh Davis – thanks also for the great read. I will keep an eye on this..
With Zelda, I'd examine the idea that the first two games are the last, due to the definitive death of Ganon in the end of Zelda I, the failed attempt to bring him back to life in Zelda II, and the Link in Zelda II getting together with Zelda), and the apparent divergence due to the two timeframes in Ocarina of Time.
My view:
Old Link timeline from OOT: (Minish Cap?)-gap-OOT-gap-Wind Waker-Phantom Hourglass-Spirit Tracks
Young Link: (Minish Cap?)-gap-OOT-Majora's Mask-gap-(Twilight Princess?)-gap-Link to the Past-Link's Awakening-gap-Zelda I-Zelda II
With the Oracle games stuck SOMEWHERE in there. Good luck.
Very interesting thread of comment though I haven't started my very own video game blog this article gave me idea to start up my own video game blog. Have to subscribe on this post. Thanks.. Brittany Leigh Davis for this wonderful article.
I definitely Agree with the author. I think most of us love to play video games and the best idea is to create 1 yourself. Make a debatable video game column to know what people will say about it.