the main thing i'd like is to find a place to go for game reviews or game thoughts or literally anything at all that has like
the basic fucking integrity to not play the games that Suck Complete Bullshit
we don't need to play exploitative mmos. we don't need to play the game with the AI writing. we don't need to play this shit we can find better games
Because most websites make money through advertising, there's an incentive to get the most eyeballs for the least amount of work.1 And the easiest way to get eyeballs is through outrage. Why do we keep seeing coverage of horrible titles like The Day Before when thousands of brilliant indie games languish in obscurity? Because very few people click on an article about a game they haven't already heard of and thus aren't going to click on the ads surrounding it. You can get almost guaranteed clicks writing about Stardew Valley for the millionth time, but it's very hard to get an editor to sign off on writing a deep introspective article about Peeping Dorm Manager, a super interesting (and slightly problematic) adult game that came out this month. People aren't going to click it, so it's a wasted effort.
And this isn't anyone's fault! People have busy lives, and they're doing other shit instead of worrying about what game to play. According to Steam's own statistics, the median active user plays four games a year. And two of those are probably Destiny! Quoteth my wife, the platonic ideal gamer: "I already have a game. It's called The Sims 4."
-
This is why new sites like Aftermath are an interesting alternative because they're funded through subscriptions instead, which gives different incentives.
