@BenKuchera

Ben Kuchera

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Do you ever feel the division in game press? Fans often determine an outlet as "evil" or "over exposed" to the point that some refuse to read it. Does that bother you?

Not really? I want people to read what they dig. Not every outlet is a good match for every reader. There are some really good sites out there whose tone or personality I don't personally care for. It doesn't make them bad, it just means they're not my bag.

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Xander C

Part of being a writer is shrugging off the negativity of people who disagree with you. You seem to do it very well, but do you ever struggle with it?

Sometimes, but honestly the helpful criticism is very different in tone than someone just trying to tear you down. I'm working on opening myself up to more respectful dialog, but if someone is aggressive, nasty or rude right off the bat I'd rather not engage.

Worse kind of fart?

The kind you don't plan for, and happen around company whose opinion you care about. Someone whose relationship with you is too formal to just fess up about what happened.

Do you ever feel you should give up your job to a minority?

I don't feel like I should put myself out of a job, but I do my best to support minority voices in the industry, whether it's supporting / signal-boosting Patreons or working with freelancers for the opinion section of Polygon.

If you could have a theater room and only 5 blu rays, what would they be. Anthology bundles can count as one.

All of West Wing. Firefly. Band of Brothers. From the Earth to the Moon. No Country for Old Men.

It seems like some people fighting for diversity do so in a snarky/hostile way. One one hand I think it's certainly understandable, and maybe that's what some people need to hear. On the other, I think education is always more valuable than shaming/ridicule, at least as a first option. Thoughts?

The response to stories about diversity almost always include death and rape threats, and sometimes real-life stalking. I don't think the problem is how it's being discussed on the part of people arguing for heroes that aren't all straight white men.

What trend in gaming are you most excited about that you neither asked for nor expected?

Oh gosh this is a good question. I never thought streaming games was very interesting, but now that I've tried it a bit through my PS4 I think it's a blast. I also watch streams from time to time on Twitch. It's nothing I would have said would be enjoyable, but I really dig it now that it's easy.

What do you think society will look back on as the strangest thing from our time that seems completely normal to us now? My guess is that people will be amazed that we ever actually bothered to raise and kill animals just for their meat because it will be so easy to recreate.

I think in 20 years we'll think it's insane that we used to drive cars manually, and how many people died in car accidents. I also think we're going to look back and think our drug policy was insane.

Do people sometimes take games and game coverage a little too seriously?

It depends on the topic. Sometimes I think people don't take things seriously enough. Other times I think they need to let go and have a bit of fun. There's room for all sorts of tones in this job.

It's crazy that studios pay an army of people to basically recreate an entire world from scratch for each game, in increasingly higher detail. Every chair, every sign, every texture on every can. That seems untenable.

Seems to be working out, though.

Why does it seem that game journalists always talk about voice acting in games? Not that this is a bad thing, or something that shouldn't be mentioned, but is there some yearly meeting to remind everyone to talk about voice acting a lot? Keep up the great work!

I think it's something you can't really fake, you know? As someone pointed out on Twitter, you need good writing, a good actor, good direction, and time. If any of those things falls through, the whole product suffers. I'd rather a game have no voice acting than poor voice acting, and it can ruin the whole experience.
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Do you think the proliferation of tools like Unity and Game Maker have over saturated the market with good games?

Yes. It's impossible to keep up.

How quickly did you order the DK2 after its release?

So quick. It's one of the most amazing pieces of hardware I've ever used. Bar none.

Any interest in writing fiction? Like a John Scalzi-esque career arc?

It's something I'll definitely do once the kids are a bit older and I have a little more free time. Right now I can barely keep up with work and the babies!

Thoughts on the amount of eSports coverage out there? To little? Too much? Room for growth?

I think there's room for more, but I don't read a ton of it. I definitely think it's a fascinating area to move into though.

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