What GAME ARTICLES/REVIEWS are you WRITING?

I don't read a lot of board game reviews. If it is a game I want to know about, I will read one or two to see if the game is something I would like.

If I HAVE played something, sometimes I'll read a review so that I can gauge the reviewer's taste compared to mine. It's highly useful when I then read about an unknown game in the future. By doing that, for example, I know that there is not a reviewer out there who matches my taste more than Charlie.

Right. Charlie and hotseat are totally on point here. People often read reviews to find insights into the work that they may not have noticed. I usually write my stuff with the idea that people have already seen/played the media in question. If they want to know how the game plays, they can download the rulebook or watch any number of "how it's played" videos. I'm writing something because I have an opinion on it and I would hope that others already have their own and are just interested to see what a different take looks like, even if my take may be in line with what they're already thinking.

Had a friend recently tell me that he always reads my Liverpool posts but doesn't always agree with them. I told him: "Good, because if you always agree with me, you're not thinking." That's the same approach I want people to have when reading stuff that I write here. I'm not expecting to be the first news source for a game. I'm just giving my (hopefully learned, hopefully cogent) perspective on that game which hopefully differs from others', even if they largely agree with what I'm saying.

OTOH, have to say that I largely disagreed with MB's Twitter thread. There are no hard-and-fast rules for what makes a "good" review, IMO, other than basic structure, as Erik was referring to. In the end, it's all entertainment and, thus, all eye of the beholder, yo. I don't bash people for their taste in music/food/games/movies/whathaveyou. No reason to bash them for their taste in reviews, either. Might not work for me, but that's not my problem.

ubarose wrote:

repairmanjack wrote:
I haven't posted anything I've reviewed here, as I didn't want to just turn up and start unpacking my luggage. Is there an etiquette, or someone's permission I should get first?

(Although, having seen Barnes list on Twitter the other day, I'm aware of at least one sin in my writing - I do tend to put way too many words down. I've just reviewed Resident Evil 2, and it came in at 6000+ words. And they're not all puns.)

You can also submit your work to be published here. Here's the info if you are interested: How to Submit Content

Click the contact button on that page or DM me if you if you think it is something you are interested in doing and we can talk.

Thanks Ubarose. I will send you a message when I get a moment. I'm up to my eyes with work right now, so forgive me if it's a few days.

For now, here's a link to my most recent review - for a flicking game (think Pitch Car via mini-golf). It's also one my my shorter reviews, as I forgo the rules explanation - because a chimp could grasp how to play this in under two minutes.

Flick a Round and Find Out - a Deck of Fifty-One review

As you might know, customizable card games are one of my favourite genres. I played a lot of Netrunner and Legend of the Five Rings and I'm now moving to Flesh and Blood. This makes people wonder what do I think of Magic.

Today I wrote an article explaining why I no longer like it as much and why I ended up quitting:

Three reasons why I quit Magic: The Gathering

I really liked this article, Erik, thank you for sharing. In particular due to its economy, keeping a topic like this tight on words is a tough one.

Gary Sax wrote: I really liked this article, Erik, thank you for sharing. In particular due to its economy, keeping a topic like this tight on words is a tough one.

It really is. It was very easy to go off-tangent. One could get sidetracked into talking about the bussiness model, the gambling angle of boosters packs or the price of exact formats and miss the forest for the threes. Ultimately, just pointing out that cards can run you so much is enough to get the point across.

I also dialed down the details on the randomness and matchups. Anyone who hasn't played Magic will understand it well and Magic players know the actual examples first-hand so there's no need to go card by card.

I'm glad to hear you liked it! So far it's being very well received, which I didn't expect it to be.

Well written. The only thing I might have added was that Netrunner was designed by the same guy. Lessons learned make it a more interesting game.

In the middle of writing a six-parter on Chaos in the Old World.

Sagrilarus wrote: Well written. The only thing I might have added was that Netrunner was designed by the same guy. Lessons learned make it a more interesting game.

Ooh, I should have totally mentioned that!

As someone who has quit (and returned) to magic probably half a dozen times, I liked the article. Recently got back into playing online with Arena. It solves my main personal issue which is not enjoying organizing physical cards. I have a couple weak commander decks in cardboard, that I never play with these days.

I know you guys are very big fans of Battlestar Galactica so I immediately thought of you when I got my hands on Unfathomable. Today I published an article comparing the two. While I believe the latter is slighty better, there are reasons to think it's not a huge nor straightfoward upgrade.

Unfathomable vs Battlestar Galactica: Which one is better?

Oh boy, the no early jump in unfathomable is a big deal to me.

Gary Sax wrote: Oh boy, the no early jump in unfathomable is a big deal to me.

It is a shame because I have some great memories of it. I remember once, we were under heavy attack by the Cylons, at least 2 or 3 different attacks going at once. We needed to jump and with our last push we pleaded the next player, "Quick, just push the button". And he turned around, revelead his Cylon role and said "No".

Yes, it was an incredible truly ambiguous source of suspicion about whether someone is a Cylon if they jump early.

With population near zero, I’ve seen hidden Cylons jump early in hopes of zeroing out the dial on a bad die roll.