Why the big games blogs are insulting you
by Paul "nervous_testpilot" Taylor · 05/29/2006 (2:49 pm) · 15 comments
Apparently, there are no indie games.
That's right, none of your projects exist and what you're doing with your time right now is entirely impossible. So impossible, in fact, that no journalists can be bothered to find out it.
This Slate article, which is actually pretty balanced if a tad shallow, has been mentioned on sites like Joystiq and Kotaku with a much more negative spin.
I find it pretty insulting that people aren't willing to go out and look for indie projects to cover, but this must mean that we're doing something wrong with our marketing. We need the games media to be heralding a new dawn of indie gaming...we want hyperbole in the other direction!
I'm trying to start a backlash by speaking out in public about how offensively stupid this kind of coverage is. We need to start getting people to notice our games and fast.
If you see any more posts like that, go and comment on them - put these journalists right and start to drum up some interest in indie gaming - it will benefit the whole community. Read some of the intelligent writing that's out there such as Kieron Gillen's guide for indie marketers and put it to use.
The best marketing occurences we've had so far have come about through actually talking to people about the game - PR is really the way to go. Find a polite intelligent way to approach news sources and remember that you're doing them a favour - be succinct about why your game and company are interesting and it will pay off. You won't get it right every time, but you will find people starting to talk about your game, and that's what everyone needs.
That's right, none of your projects exist and what you're doing with your time right now is entirely impossible. So impossible, in fact, that no journalists can be bothered to find out it.
This Slate article, which is actually pretty balanced if a tad shallow, has been mentioned on sites like Joystiq and Kotaku with a much more negative spin.
I find it pretty insulting that people aren't willing to go out and look for indie projects to cover, but this must mean that we're doing something wrong with our marketing. We need the games media to be heralding a new dawn of indie gaming...we want hyperbole in the other direction!
I'm trying to start a backlash by speaking out in public about how offensively stupid this kind of coverage is. We need to start getting people to notice our games and fast.
If you see any more posts like that, go and comment on them - put these journalists right and start to drum up some interest in indie gaming - it will benefit the whole community. Read some of the intelligent writing that's out there such as Kieron Gillen's guide for indie marketers and put it to use.
The best marketing occurences we've had so far have come about through actually talking to people about the game - PR is really the way to go. Find a polite intelligent way to approach news sources and remember that you're doing them a favour - be succinct about why your game and company are interesting and it will pay off. You won't get it right every time, but you will find people starting to talk about your game, and that's what everyone needs.
About the author
#2
I guess they are not counting the 'casual' space in with the rest as it doesnt cost $5mil to develop a bubble popper and lots of small studios are doing well in this market, as well as large studios shifting a good part of thier dev to the casual game. The line about only large studios have access to the consoles shows the author is paying little attention where it counts and surfing just a few sites for info. These authors are simply listening to the big producers (who have an interest in saying indie studios can't do it), no questions asked and feeding each other the same crap.
The best 'backlash' you could do is develop a highly successful game and ignore talk like that along the way. It's fine with me if they want to spend thier time saying it's not possible, I've got games to make.
05/29/2006 (5:06 pm)
The article is just towing the same old line about the tech being too big and costly for small studios. Same sh*t for the last decade and before... Sounds like somebody was under a deadline and needed an article quick as I've read that same line over and over and over. I guess they are not counting the 'casual' space in with the rest as it doesnt cost $5mil to develop a bubble popper and lots of small studios are doing well in this market, as well as large studios shifting a good part of thier dev to the casual game. The line about only large studios have access to the consoles shows the author is paying little attention where it counts and surfing just a few sites for info. These authors are simply listening to the big producers (who have an interest in saying indie studios can't do it), no questions asked and feeding each other the same crap.
The best 'backlash' you could do is develop a highly successful game and ignore talk like that along the way. It's fine with me if they want to spend thier time saying it's not possible, I've got games to make.
#3
05/29/2006 (9:05 pm)
(Looks at Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa on the shelf at Wal-Mart.) Impossible. 
#4
05/29/2006 (9:07 pm)
I second that notion Jameson!
#5
We've all got "games to make", but we've got games to sell as well, and it's hard to sell something if the press won't talk about it.
05/30/2006 (3:56 am)
That's a noble sentiment, Jameson, but one of my core points is that it's difficult for indie games to make any kind of marketing impact on the mainstream media.We've all got "games to make", but we've got games to sell as well, and it's hard to sell something if the press won't talk about it.
#6
05/30/2006 (8:30 am)
Read the article... And I agree with what the guy is saying. The big publishers swallow indies whole and shit them out. There's no arguing this- it's been going on for a long time. And no, there's just about no indie presence in the mainstream. No idea what you're offended at, the guy who wrote the article is rooting for people like you and me.
#7
The Slate article isn't that bad, as I said in my blog post. However....
"No idea what you're offended at, the guy who wrote the article is rooting for people like you and me."
Obviously this needs clarification.
I'm mildly offended at the slightly facile approach the Slate article takes to the issue, but I'm more offended by way that particular approach is open to inflation by other blogs like Joystiq. I'm offended for the community, because I believe that a lot of us have tried to get coverage from the sites, have received no response or guidance for our trouble, and are then being told that we don't exist.
Yes, the headline, "There are no indie games" is hyperbolic. Yes, it is still offensive.
It's really easy for a journalist to say, "There's no indie games, and the reason is X" rather than to actually investigate the indie scene intelligently. What if there are lots of sub-categories of indie gaming, some of which are worthwhile and some of which aren't? Wouldn't that require a lot more research and journalistic integrity to delineate?
My main problem is with large outlets for games journalism using indie gaming as weak "feature" material without offering any true content or researching any interesting projects, then blocking or ignoring our PR approaches.
05/30/2006 (9:39 am)
Hi Ted,The Slate article isn't that bad, as I said in my blog post. However....
"No idea what you're offended at, the guy who wrote the article is rooting for people like you and me."
Obviously this needs clarification.
I'm mildly offended at the slightly facile approach the Slate article takes to the issue, but I'm more offended by way that particular approach is open to inflation by other blogs like Joystiq. I'm offended for the community, because I believe that a lot of us have tried to get coverage from the sites, have received no response or guidance for our trouble, and are then being told that we don't exist.
Yes, the headline, "There are no indie games" is hyperbolic. Yes, it is still offensive.
It's really easy for a journalist to say, "There's no indie games, and the reason is X" rather than to actually investigate the indie scene intelligently. What if there are lots of sub-categories of indie gaming, some of which are worthwhile and some of which aren't? Wouldn't that require a lot more research and journalistic integrity to delineate?
My main problem is with large outlets for games journalism using indie gaming as weak "feature" material without offering any true content or researching any interesting projects, then blocking or ignoring our PR approaches.
#8
05/30/2006 (10:17 am)
@Paul - you said "journalistic integrity". That answers your question. We live it a world where journalists of all ilk and affiliations are getting caught for making up stories. There is no integrity in journalism. 
#9
05/30/2006 (10:24 am)
This just seems to reinforce the idea that it would be great to have an online newsletter that highlights the different projects going on here. If it came with GG's blessing, perhaps with their official stamp of approval, and maybe hosted on this web site, it might help get people to see what's going on and what's possible, while at the same time showing off TGE/TGB etc.
#10
That's pretty cynical and only partially true - there's a lot of bullshit journalism especially in the games industry. Whenever I write something which appears in a magazine or online (as I do quite regularly) I put a lot of effort into ensuring that I have my facts straight, and I try to investigate at least slightly-new things to talk about.
Journalists are under a lot of time-pressure and also significant pressure to make everything WILDLY EXCITING when it's not. But there's good and bad journalism, and bad journalism can have a strong negative impact on people's projects.
Rubes,
That sounds like a good idea - it would be nice to see GarageGames do some more outward-looking PR and marketing for individual projects, perhaps using their influence to consolidate the PR efforts of developers under their wing.
05/30/2006 (10:31 am)
Alan,That's pretty cynical and only partially true - there's a lot of bullshit journalism especially in the games industry. Whenever I write something which appears in a magazine or online (as I do quite regularly) I put a lot of effort into ensuring that I have my facts straight, and I try to investigate at least slightly-new things to talk about.
Journalists are under a lot of time-pressure and also significant pressure to make everything WILDLY EXCITING when it's not. But there's good and bad journalism, and bad journalism can have a strong negative impact on people's projects.
Rubes,
That sounds like a good idea - it would be nice to see GarageGames do some more outward-looking PR and marketing for individual projects, perhaps using their influence to consolidate the PR efforts of developers under their wing.
#11
We do have the dev snapshots, which allows people to announce their project's advancement, as well as blogs (like Paul's here), which can be used both to chronicle your development as well as voice opinions on the goings on in the game industry and otherwise. You can't get too far ahead of yourselves with a project that you have newsletters anouncing all of them, especially in our little corner of the planet, where attrition rates among projects is hovering at about 99% and higher.
I do like the idea of GG helping to coordinate PR, but really only for late-stage development, rather than listing things that are currently developing (many of which never make it).
@Alan: Agreed, though I understand a lot of what Paul says as well, knowing a writer who calls me for tech explainations for articles (sometimes she only has about 3 hours to write something and turn it in).
@Paul:
I'm a New Yorker, you don't need to be offended for me ;) Seriously though, this is just the way it is, and taking it that personally will only hurt things. It's energy best spent on keeping the project on track and up to speed (God knows we all need that). I'm just saying that the best way to show them is to show them games, not that we didn't like what they wrote. Who cares what they write? Odds are, they're the same people that will praise your game when it's being developed and then pan it when it comes out, just like all the game press does to most games. They suck :)
05/30/2006 (11:32 am)
Quote:This just seems to reinforce the idea that it would be great to have an online newsletter that highlights the different projects going on here. If it came with GG's blessing, perhaps with their official stamp of approval, and maybe hosted on this web site
We do have the dev snapshots, which allows people to announce their project's advancement, as well as blogs (like Paul's here), which can be used both to chronicle your development as well as voice opinions on the goings on in the game industry and otherwise. You can't get too far ahead of yourselves with a project that you have newsletters anouncing all of them, especially in our little corner of the planet, where attrition rates among projects is hovering at about 99% and higher.
I do like the idea of GG helping to coordinate PR, but really only for late-stage development, rather than listing things that are currently developing (many of which never make it).
@Alan: Agreed, though I understand a lot of what Paul says as well, knowing a writer who calls me for tech explainations for articles (sometimes she only has about 3 hours to write something and turn it in).
@Paul:
Quote:I'm offended for the community, because I believe that a lot of us have tried to get coverage from the sites, have received no response or guidance for our trouble, and are then being told that we don't exist.
I'm a New Yorker, you don't need to be offended for me ;) Seriously though, this is just the way it is, and taking it that personally will only hurt things. It's energy best spent on keeping the project on track and up to speed (God knows we all need that). I'm just saying that the best way to show them is to show them games, not that we didn't like what they wrote. Who cares what they write? Odds are, they're the same people that will praise your game when it's being developed and then pan it when it comes out, just like all the game press does to most games. They suck :)
#12
"I do like the idea of GG helping to coordinate PR, but really only for late-stage development, rather than listing things that are currently developing (many of which never make it)."
I agree - a lot of projects won't make it, so might not be worth publicising simply as concepts.
"It's energy best spent on keeping the project on track and up to speed (God knows we all need that). I'm just saying that the best way to show them is to show them games, not that we didn't like what they wrote. Who cares what they write? Odds are, they're the same people that will praise your game when it's being developed and then pan it when it comes out, just like all the game press does to most games. They suck :)"
It's a good point, but it's not always as simple as "the best way to show them is to show them games". Simply showing someone a game can actually be a difficult process - it's exactly this that I'm trying to discuss. When a game *is* at a late dev stage and it's appropriate for there to be preview press, which is the situation we're in, it's incredibly frustrating that PR approaches are rebuffed and then followed up with features which say, "Where are all the indie games?" It's like offering someone ice-cream for dessert, them ignoring you and then having them say, "Why didn't you buy any ice-cream?"
Also - "It's energy best spent on keeping the project on track and up to speed (God knows we all need that)". When I'm expending my energy on marketing our game, this kind of culture in the media is bound to cause me frustration.
I don't care if certain sectors of the press pan or support Determinance when it comes out - but I do want them to talk about it because we believe it's worth talking about. I like taking things personally which cause me personal offence - both as a writer and a dev!
Also, I think it's good to bring this issue into the public eye - you can see from this thread that people have strong opinions on it. I think if we organise PR more effectively (God knows, I certainly need to do that!) and also stop letting people get away with this kind of nonsense, it'll help everyone out.
05/30/2006 (12:04 pm)
Hi Ted,"I do like the idea of GG helping to coordinate PR, but really only for late-stage development, rather than listing things that are currently developing (many of which never make it)."
I agree - a lot of projects won't make it, so might not be worth publicising simply as concepts.
"It's energy best spent on keeping the project on track and up to speed (God knows we all need that). I'm just saying that the best way to show them is to show them games, not that we didn't like what they wrote. Who cares what they write? Odds are, they're the same people that will praise your game when it's being developed and then pan it when it comes out, just like all the game press does to most games. They suck :)"
It's a good point, but it's not always as simple as "the best way to show them is to show them games". Simply showing someone a game can actually be a difficult process - it's exactly this that I'm trying to discuss. When a game *is* at a late dev stage and it's appropriate for there to be preview press, which is the situation we're in, it's incredibly frustrating that PR approaches are rebuffed and then followed up with features which say, "Where are all the indie games?" It's like offering someone ice-cream for dessert, them ignoring you and then having them say, "Why didn't you buy any ice-cream?"
Also - "It's energy best spent on keeping the project on track and up to speed (God knows we all need that)". When I'm expending my energy on marketing our game, this kind of culture in the media is bound to cause me frustration.
I don't care if certain sectors of the press pan or support Determinance when it comes out - but I do want them to talk about it because we believe it's worth talking about. I like taking things personally which cause me personal offence - both as a writer and a dev!
Also, I think it's good to bring this issue into the public eye - you can see from this thread that people have strong opinions on it. I think if we organise PR more effectively (God knows, I certainly need to do that!) and also stop letting people get away with this kind of nonsense, it'll help everyone out.
#13
I agree that the devshots and blogs are a good way of getting the word out, but it's doubtful that anyone outside this community would pick up on those. That's why I think a newsletter-type approach would work better. I think it would be even better if it came from GG, but they're already so swamped with More Important Things that I doubt it would even get on their radar.
It would probably take someone from the community to do that...
05/30/2006 (12:17 pm)
I agree...I don't think there is any need to highlight projects that aren't already in beta, and there are probably enough projects out there at that stage or beyond that a once-a-month newsletter highlighting one particular project would have enough material for a while.I agree that the devshots and blogs are a good way of getting the word out, but it's doubtful that anyone outside this community would pick up on those. That's why I think a newsletter-type approach would work better. I think it would be even better if it came from GG, but they're already so swamped with More Important Things that I doubt it would even get on their radar.
It would probably take someone from the community to do that...
#14
Were you at the last IGC? I remembered getting a handout from the press people that showed up entitled "How to use the game press" or something very close to that, and might address what you're talking about. If you want, I can email you a scan of it if you haven't seen it.
Also, maybe sending a beta copy of a game or going to the smaller sites to build up steam is a good tactic. My project got a blurb on BluesNews once, and I never even talked to them, just registered my game on a few of those lists they have, and gave an interview or two to a couple of small sites, and it bubbled up.
indiepr.com is taken, but indiegamespr.com is not... Maybe the solution to what you (and a lot of other people) want is a portal that pimps out late stage game projects. Pump out an "Indie Game PR" newsletter once a month to the editor email addresses to help them get coverage, and host interviews and whatnot. I'm thinking of a format that takes less effort than it sounds as I write it, but if it blows up, you'll need to have a couple of dedicated people on it anyway, so you can do advertising as well.
Or, at least that sounded like a good idea when I wrote it just now... ;)
05/30/2006 (12:56 pm)
Quote:When a game *is* at a late dev stage and it's appropriate for there to be preview press, which is the situation we're in, it's incredibly frustrating that PR approaches are rebuffed and then followed up with features which say, "Where are all the indie games?" It's like offering someone ice-cream for dessert, them ignoring you and then having them say, "Why didn't you buy any ice-cream?"
Were you at the last IGC? I remembered getting a handout from the press people that showed up entitled "How to use the game press" or something very close to that, and might address what you're talking about. If you want, I can email you a scan of it if you haven't seen it.
Also, maybe sending a beta copy of a game or going to the smaller sites to build up steam is a good tactic. My project got a blurb on BluesNews once, and I never even talked to them, just registered my game on a few of those lists they have, and gave an interview or two to a couple of small sites, and it bubbled up.
Quote:Also, I think it's good to bring this issue into the public eye - you can see from this thread that people have strong opinions on it. I think if we organise PR more effectively (God knows, I certainly need to do that!) and also stop letting people get away with this kind of nonsense, it'll help everyone out.
indiepr.com is taken, but indiegamespr.com is not... Maybe the solution to what you (and a lot of other people) want is a portal that pimps out late stage game projects. Pump out an "Indie Game PR" newsletter once a month to the editor email addresses to help them get coverage, and host interviews and whatnot. I'm thinking of a format that takes less effort than it sounds as I write it, but if it blows up, you'll need to have a couple of dedicated people on it anyway, so you can do advertising as well.
Or, at least that sounded like a good idea when I wrote it just now... ;)
#15
On the portal thing - it's a nice idea, but I think the problem here is that a lot of people have so much energy invested in their own projects that it'd be really difficult and time-consuming to start a new endeavour like that. If someone wanted to step up and do it, that'd be amazing.
I think indie devs could try attracting journalists to other indie projects they know about when they're being interviewed or when their projects are getting coverage - that might be a start.
05/30/2006 (1:08 pm)
I'd certainly like to see a copy of that handout - thanks for the offer. I'm a fan of Kieron Gillen's writing on the topic as linked in my original post.On the portal thing - it's a nice idea, but I think the problem here is that a lot of people have so much energy invested in their own projects that it'd be really difficult and time-consuming to start a new endeavour like that. If someone wanted to step up and do it, that'd be amazing.
I think indie devs could try attracting journalists to other indie projects they know about when they're being interviewed or when their projects are getting coverage - that might be a start.
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