@BenKuchera

Ben Kuchera

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Do you ever feel like living in Ohio somehow limits your ability to write about games? I've heard so many times that if you want to work in the industry you have to live in NYC, San Francisco or the Pacific NW.

Sometimes, but the lower your cost of living the longer you can chase your dreams. I have no clue how writers who are just starting afford NYC or San Francisco. It's simply insane. When I was just starting out and broke being in Ohio was a giant advantage; my rent was about a third of what it would be in a big city.
I also like being away from the industry. I don't go drinking with developers, my friends don't work in games, and I think this distance gives me a little bit of perspective. That means I spend a lot of time in airports or on the phone, but it's worth it. It definitely makes a few things harder, but I'd argue that overall it was a bigger upside than it was a challenge.
I still love living in Ohio. I'm a writer who owns his home, a van, and I have a big family. That would be impossible in most large cities, or at least I wouldn't be nearly as comfortable as I am now.

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Are you ok with the In-App-Purchase Model / free to play for games? On the mobile/tablet side it can, at times, to hinder the experience for gaming enthusiasts who would rather fork a couple bucks over for an entire game. Is the slower growth of sales forcing this hand?

I'm not okay with it nor do I hate it. Some companies do it well, others don't. It's a tool in the bag, right? Just like everything else it could be done well or poorly. If you'd rather fork over a few bucks for the whole game, it's definitely harder to find things to buy in the mobile space, but it's possible. I think F2P is going to slow down a bit in the next few years, or at least people will stop seeing it as a magic bullet that will lead to huge profits. It doesn't fit every situation, and it can blow up in your face.
Look at things like the economy in Forza 5 or Crimson Dragon; they had to adjust the price of things because it just didn't work when people played it. There's definitely a learning process.

Why didn't anyone think DmC was good? :(

People are wrong about a lot of things. This is just one of them. DmC was great. :-)

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Xander C

Do you sometimes feel the term "indie" is becoming overused and maybe even a bit abused by the industry? As if there are people trying to standardize what it should mean, instead of letting it be what it is?

moustafachamli’s Profile Photomstfa
I don't know, I think people get a sense of what it means. I mean, Mojang is an indie developer, but they're huge, right? Do we consider Riot an indie?
Basically an indie is someone who doesn't have a traditional publisher, and it generally refers to smaller teams without a ton of resources. I think the term is abused from time to time, but I also think it's still useful and usually used with the correct context. Any form of standardization would probably be counter-productive. Just let it be a word that most people understand, and encompasses a wide array of games and companies.
It's like punk, once you try to nail it down it just loses everything. Let it be what it is, even if that changes, or is complicated, or tricky. It's more fun that way.
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Liked by: Austen Woods mstfa

One of the reasons I enjoy your articles is your candor and passion. Have you ever thought of doing a weekly podcast where you talk about this week in gaming or something to that effect? Or perhaps something similar to the Jimquisition? Perhaps a marvel team up with S. Prell?

That would be fun, but podcasts take a ton of time and talent to put together. I'd much rather spend that time writing, especially when so many people create podcasts that are already so good. I'd much rather be a guest on someone else's podcast. It's a lot less work. :-)

How much value do you put in the need to manage your personal brand/online presence via twitter, facebook etc?

All of the value? If you don't do it well it can sink your career. I've seen people literally self destruct on Twitter in the span of a tweet or two. It's very easy to make a mistake that makes you untouchable by sites that pay for writing. You need to read every tweet and think of the absolute worst way someone will take it, because someone will find an excuse to read each word and assume the worst. Any tweet can go viral and be quoted in any number of stories, whether you're a public person or not.
On the other hand, you have to have a strong personality to stand out and to get people to notice you and to pay attention to what you do. It's a tight rope walk, and I've fallen off the side a few times. Luckily most mistakes are easily fixed, or at least they blow over in a bit. But you can, and many do, lose their or social standing due to ill-considered manners on social media.

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Liked by: Ghais ★

Recently you called for the firing of an entire marketing department (EA, Battlefield). While I get the sentiment, I deplore this response. It reeks of the kind of classic bullying that you often rail against. Why was it OK for YOU to call for an entire group of employees to be fired?

It's not bullying to say that selling a broken game for $60 is deplorable, and the complete lack of communication about why that happened, and how it was being fixed was absolutely inexcusable. It was one of the most consumer hostile things to happen in gaming this year, and people barely talked about it. They definitely should have been out on their asses, and EA needed to offer a much better apology to all the players they dicked over.

What would you consider your best and/favourite systems over the years? And the one that could have been amazing but never got the support it needed?

The Super Nintendo is one of my favorite systems, and I still love the graphical style of those games. ActRaiser, Super Castlevania IV, just utterly classic stuff. On the classic side I'm a huge geek for the Vectrex, and I love finding those systems in the classic area of gaming events so I can sit down and play some games. I think the Dreamcast could have done much better than it did if EA had supported the console; it was definitely a system that was ahead of its time in many ways.

Ben. I started off doing freelance reviews for gaming back in 2000. I stopped around 2006 and now strictly do youtube reviews/etc with a sub count of over 6000. Any tips on getting into gaming journalism and how you could apply these skills/background to get into the industry in some shape or form?

You have to figure out what you offer that no one else is doing. This field is absolutely packed with talented people, so what are you doing that makes you stand out? What are you offering that people can't get anywhere else? You have to figure that out and push, push, push, push, push that advantage. If you are doing something that ten other people are doing, you're toast. You have to find a niche.

What is your very first step in your process of writing an opinion article? Are you at the point where your thoughts about games or issues are popping out more or less fully formed, or do you have to write a little bit to figure out what you think?

I usually find that my mind is pretty made up about the topic when I sit down and write, but you'd be surprised how much that can change when you have to really think about you have certain opinions, and explain them clearly to someone else. Opinion articles are very different than reviews or most other kind of articles, and you really explain your reasoning to yourself as you go. That's a journey, and sometimes you're surprised at where you end up.
The secret is to explore a bit on your first draft, lock down what you believe and why you believe it, and then tighten everything up on your second draft. Opinion articles are really easy to get wrong, so they require a little more care than other forms of writing, especially if you want people to take you seriously. You have to know what you're talking about.
There are a lot of opinion articles out there that started from incorrect assumptions about some aspect of games or how they're made, and those are bad news. It takes a long time to figure out all the things you don't know.

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Worst gaming/tech conference experience?

I was stuck in a demo one time with a journalist who, and to this day I barely believe this happened, took out a single unopened beer, and spent the next 20 minutes trying to pry it open with his teeth. It wasn't a twist-off cap, and he spent the whole time using his front teeth to try to pry the beer open to drink it. I was afraid his teeth were going to crack, and this made it impossible to pay attention to what was going on.
I have no clue what was going on, but this dude was desperate to get into that beer, and I wish I had brought a bottle opener or something for him. It was nightmarish.
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Why has Papers, Please been so comparatively forgotten for end of year awards? There's been a couple of nods, but it seems to have made a huge initial impact and faded away next to stuff like Gone Home.

I'm pretty sure I saw it on a few lists, and these things are so subjective anyway. The short answer is likely that 2013 was a pretty amazing year for games, so there are a few things that are bound to be left off eery now and again. Also, I still feel like best of lists are biased towards game that release near the end of the year. It's nothing nefarious, those are just the games freshest in our heads.
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I'm a new freelancer. Does it matter if the clips I add to my pitch are from my blog? Also, do you have any suggestions for clips, for example are features generally better received than reviews?

Tommy Roberts
It doesn't matter where they come from as long as the writing is good. Reviews are very common, and most editors will know a number of good reviewers, so it's hard to get noticed that way. The best clips are the ones where you tell a story no one else has told, or have information no one else. Original reporting is always best. You have to be better than the people they already know. It's not an easy thing.
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Liked by: Tommy Roberts

Hey Ben! Ben Prunty here. The dollar value of quality games journalism seems to have gone down, but with PAR, Polygon and others it appears that there's more quality stuff out there. Do you think this is sustainable?

God, I hope so. Kotaku has also been doing some really good stuff lately, and it seems like good writing about games has gotten easier to find. I think that being creative with monetization is going to help, and I'd like to see more outlets get comfortable with paying writers through Kickstarter, or offering subscriptions with added benefits. I keep reading that Vox Media is going to launch its own ad network, and that's so damned smart.
You can't just sit back and rely on basic ads anymore, that market is on the way out. The smart sites are going to survive, and I'm hoping those are the sites that are also going to pay for good writing.

How much do you work per day?

It depends on the day. In some ways I never really stop working, every game I play goes into the work, and I'm always online reading about games or trying to work up new stories. It sounds silly, but this really is more of a lifestyle than a traditional career.
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We have two developers. Second one got the press/cover/review for his indie game. First one didn't. Three things every indie should do in his email/I want coverage/review thing?

Have a unique angle to the game or the story behind its creation, and make it known in the subject line and the first few sentences of the e-mail. Have video of your game on Youtube, and link to it in the e-mail. Offer something the writer has never seen before, or be the best in your class. If you have a well known person to vouch for you, have them initiate contact with writers they're comfortable with. There's no easy answer, but this should help.

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