Anybody else miss when only Kurt wrote articles?

[Dais]

I rather miss having a consistent tone between articles, as well as the unique kind of quality control that ocurrs when you have a single author. While it's of course nice to have multiple points of view, and the increased rate of articles is definitely a good thing, sometimes it feels like the focus of the site has become a bit more fluid and subject to periods of critical analysis over casual (but informed) explanation.

That may not make a lot of sense to some (I'm not very pleased with the wording myself), but I think it at least hints at how I feel the place has changed since other contributors started pouring in. I don't think everyone has gotten a hold on the proper balance between showing us what is out there and telling us how it is.

Oh well, I guess this is still the march of progress...



(In the interest of disclosure, this post is only partly due to the fact that I'm bitter over missing the fun of the Quintet topic)

[steven]

dais said:

I rather miss having a consistent tone between articles, as well as the unique kind of quality control that ocurrs when you have a single author. While it's of course nice to have multiple points of view, and the increased rate of articles is definitely a good thing, sometimes it feels like the focus of the site has become a bit more fluid and subject to periods of critical analysis over casual (but informed) explanation.

I don't know what Kurt's schedule is like, but being a 1-man operation would function best if one is able to produce new material on a week in week out basis. By employing outside help, updates can come from many different directions at different times.

Now in contrast -- the reason I'm not accepting contributions for my site is, as you mentioned, I want my site to keep a consistent tone. And of course, while I'm busy with obligations, I still make the time to update my site weekly. Now if I were to get to the point in the future where I've either burnt out or infrequently update, I'd most likely then open the floor to anyone.

So, I guess it just depends on the attitude of the site owner. I doubt Kurt would want to void outside contributions... after all there are so many games on so many platforms out there. You made an interesting, thought-provoking post though, if anything

[zzz]

I purposely make mine different from the others that are on this site. I like to see as much variation as possible myself. I have a rather light hearted outlook on video games and I believe it is worth showing these games from perspectives that would not otherwise be shown on the internet. Especially if they are game that most of the people who come to this site are going to be familiar with.

And also, it seem that Discoalucard slighty rewords and reworks peoples writing. So it is all run through his "grinder" and all has a little of his style to it.

For the future, I would expect even less consistencey. If nothing else because I am trying to make each of my write up different from each other and from every other write up on this site. The two I am working on are like nothing else here, and I have a few ideas for the future that are rather "out there". Also, my style and ability to word things properly is still changing because I had never done anything like this before.

[kal]

Trust me, the Evil Zone article would have a lot poorer wording if Kurt hadn't edited his way through it, he doesn't just copy them up. Though it's true he keeps the authors opinions/tones (which caused a little argument recently) but it's better for the original author if it isn't edited too heavily.

Also, the problem with a single author is simply that they may not cover certain games/genres, I won't speak for Kurt but I'm sure there are games and genres he'd rather not have to write articles on and rather then have them neglected someone else can fill them in.

At the very least I'd see it as a neccesary evil, and I would rather see the site expand, while retaining quality control then see it stumble onwards slowly.

[solleks]

kal said:

At the very least I'd see it as a necessary evil, and I would rather see the site expand, while retaining quality control then see it stumble onwards slowly.

I agree. Anyone who has the dedication to write an article usually puts enough effort into it to make it enjoyable. I've yet to read an article written on this site I thought was poorly done. And as more people have started to write articles the larger and more frequent the updates have become.

[Discoalucard]

I guess there's something to be said about keeping things consistent across the site. But even then, not all of my writings fits into a template - stuff like the Bubsy and Tokimeki Memorial articles were meant to be a bit more tongue-in-cheek than the others.

I like having a variety of voices though. Sotenga's articles on Strider and Rygar are a lot different than I would've done them, but his writing has a lot more personality than mine usually does, so it adds some flavor to the site. And David's reviews of Breath of Fire and the Quintet stuff is a bit more critical than I would've written, but it's still a perfectly valid way to review things in my eyes.

It does come down to a matter of time. Before I had more contributions, I tended to complete an article once every few weeks. Now I have roughly triple that, which gives the site a lot more substance. There are plenty of games I'd love to see covered on the site...but I don't like them personally, so it'd benefit from having someone else write. Similarly, a lot of articles I write as I'm exploring the games for the first time. Sometimes they benefit from people who have more expertise with a given series than I do, like the Fire Emblem article.

[Deleted]

admin said:

I like having a variety of voices though. Sotenga's articles on Strider and Rygar are a lot different than I would've done them, but his writing has a lot more personality than mine usually does, so it adds some flavor to the site.

Tee hee. Aw, shucks. ;D

You remind me that I still have to get cracking on the Rez article, but between friggin' schoolwork and this one story I'm devising as part of a collaborative fiction universe of sorts, I haven't even friggin' started it yet. But I have played Rez recently, and I forgot how gorgeous it is. However, I never got around to unlocking some things in Beyond Mode... I'm hoping that won't affect the article too much.

Anyway, an article's an article. Regardless of who writes it, I think it's awesome to see what different people have to say about random games and add their own touches on it. I'm mostly in it to learn more about the games, but it's always enjoyable to see what different people have to say about different titles.

[Gilder]

sotenga said:

Anyway, an article's an article. Regardless of who writes it, I think it's awesome to see what different people have to say about random games and add their own touches on it. I'm mostly in it to learn more about the games, but it's always enjoyable to see what different people have to say about different titles.

I agree with you there. When I first stumbled upon the site (in actually looking up information on Final Fight), I certainly hadn't been familiar with most of the games mentioned on the site and it certainly intrigued me. That's what drew me into the site. And if more people expand upon it with their knowledge of video game titles that are either obscure or overlooked, then the more the merrier.

And to touch back before, ALL my articles had touch ups by Kurt. In fact for the Punch-Out!! article, he's the one who wrote up the Frank Bruno's game. So his little touches are present with out many noticing.

[ninjarygar]

I like the articles having a consistant tone of course, but you can't expect Kurt to do all of it. At least they all still need to be approved by him... that way things don't get too out of hand.

I consider the articles on this site to be the "definitave" article on that series. The site that Wikipedia uses as a source. Which is why I haven't helped with an article... because I'm not an expert on ANY subject