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[Lime]

There's a lot of focus and discussion about all these toxic and hateful personalities in gaming media, so I thought we might as flip the issue and actually talk about all the many amazing people in gaming media and culture who do critical and inspirational work that helps illuminate what video games are, what they can be, and how they can become better. Writers, bloggers, Youtubers, streamers, conference organizers, activists, etc. Feel free to post your suggestions.

Here are some of my random picks and don't forget to support if you like their work:

Latoya Peterson's 5-part series on Girl Gamers for Fusion Magazine - a range of voices across the culture, industry, and academia are represented with some great tidbits and differing perspectives across players, developers, representation, history of women in games, etc. A must watch.

Kim Justice - makes some amazing in-depth historical perspectives on classic games, developers, and hardware.

Gita Jackson - writes for Kotaku with an emphasis on fashion in games, player-creativity, and a wide swath of interesting topics related to games.

Shareef Jackson - Gaming Looks Good. A close-textual analysis of diversity across gender and race in popular games. A great, well-paced, and warm style of presentation.

Heather Alexandra - writes for Kotaku - I'll just let Critical Distance describe her work when she was granted the CD award for 2017: "She has expressed her informed views on games in a wide variety of media forms, from blog posts to feature articles to videos and podcasts. Heather's skill, insight, and voice have contributed immensely to the field, and it's a delight to be able to honor her work here." (see also John Kowalski's post)

I Need Diverse Games & Fresh out of Tokens (podcast) - organization that signalboosts progressive developers, writers, voices, etc. and who do conference talks and consultancy. Headed by Tanya DePass who also has written some great articles on race, fantasy, history, and Blackness.

SpawnOnMe (podcast) - podcast with Cicero Holmes, Shareef Jackson, and Kahlief Adams doing weekly discussion of games and special guests from the industry to talk about games, development, personal interests. Great dynamic, entertaining and refreshing to listen to, and they also do charity streams here and there.

Not Your Mama's Gamer (and their podcast) - A collaborative of women across various professions who use their spare time to write weekly if not daily thoughts on an incredible wide range of topics within gaming with an emphasis on academic analysis. They also do a weekly podcast where they joke, chat, and analyze various phenomena within gaming. You might not get a more highly educated and academic group of people talking about games in mainstream form than this.

Justin Clark - writer & reviewer for Slant and formerly Gamespot and Paste Magazine. Clark usually does reviews and I personally am a big fan of his style of writing.

Waypoint - speaks for itself and it's well-known enough here on GAF. Austin Walker & co. doing fun and interesting things.

Simply Undrea - Great, positive, and entertaining Twitch and Youtube streamer. Advocate for AnyKeyOrg.

Errant Signal / Chris Franklin / Campster - Video long form analysis of recent games and the occassional topic throughout many years now. Great thoughts and reflections and food for thought.

Evan Narcisse from ios9 formerly of Kotaku fame - Mostly focuses on comics and TV shows these days with some stuff on games, but his writing and perspective is nevertheless absolutely essential.

Robert Yang - academic, design teacher, and developer of homo-erotic games. Entertaining to listen to in presentations, writes technical and design-focused articles on his blog. All of his games are banned on Twitch and Steam :O

Paolo Perdecini - activist game designer for MolleIndustria. Interesting smaller games addressing the many contemporary political issues we are facing.

Unconsoleable (podcast) - nice little podcast that deals with mobile games and the various topics surrounding them.

Please feel free to share whoever or whatever you think is appropriate or relevant.

 

[purseowner]

Great list and lovely idea for a thread.

Not so much a sociological nomination, but I love the well-thought-out and heartfelt thinkpiece vlogs from Arlo on Nintendo games and business moves.

 

[Dyle]

Just came across this guy's channel the other day and he does a really good job at analyzing music and animations from Pikmin and other Nintendo games. His production values are super good even though he only has 1.5K subs. The video he uploaded yesterday, What Makes Mario Music so Catchy? does an excellent job of breaking down the music theory behind Mario music, all with special made sound clips and great drawings. Cannot recommend this dude enough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x1kn0-HIO8

 

[Auctopus]

Game Array

I really feel like this channel is stuck until it gets a bit more support but it's really great, thoughtful and critical.

Highlights

The First Fifteen Minutes of Dark Souls 1 vs. Dark Souls 2

Let's Talk About Doors In Video Games

Mechanically Speaking: Jumping In 2D Video Games

 

[letmetrythisname]

Kim Justice is cool. I haven't seen her stuff in a couple years but her Sensi retrospective was great, especially considering how few games in that series came to the US.

That Kotaku review of Wildlands made me want to slam my face into a desk.

 

[Blackthorn]

Subbed, and adding Mattie Brice to the list.

 

[notaskwid]

Shoutout to Jason Schreier for keeping up the good fight.

 

[NormalFish]

I'm slowly working my way through these but any chance you could mark the primary medium of choice for each of these authors? Some of them are listed but it would scan easier if there was a little mark at the start or end of each line saying (Youtube, Twitch, Blog, Magazine, Podcast, etc.) so that folks who prefer one medium to another could more easily hone in on the stuff they're more likely to enjoy.

 

[iceblade997]

Just came across this guy's channel the other day and he does a really good job at analyzing music and animations from Pikmin and other Nintendo games. His production values are super good even though he only has 1.5K subs. The video he uploaded yesterday, What Makes Mario Music so Catchy? does an excellent job of breaking down the music theory behind Mario music, all with special made sound clips and great drawings. Cannot recommend this dude enough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x1kn0-HIO8

Thanks for linking this - great video.

 

[Bronx-Man]

Danny O'Dwyer and Matt Lees are some of the best at critical games analysis that I've seen.

 

[Chainsawkitten]

Robert Yang - academic, design teacher, and developer of homo-erotic games. Entertaining to listen to in presentations, writes technical and design-focused articles on his blog. All of his games are banned on Twitch and Steam :O

Twitch, yes, but you can get this on Steam right now.

 

[Dictator93]

Amazing idea for a thread!

Beyond a lot of the great journalism and essayist internet personalities listed here there are TONS and TONS of academics who write critical and progressive work on video games and their role in society.

I really recommend Rolf Nohr, Serjoscha Wiemer, Brenda Laurel, Jesper Juul, Alison Harvey, Daniel Martin Feige, and Kelly Bergstrom.

And three big names that inspired me would be Nick Dyer-Witheford, Greig de Peuter and Gonzalo Frasca.

Regarding people you can find on YT, MrBTongue is my personal favourite. His "Shandification of Fallout" is fantastic.

 

[sasliquid]

May I suggest COOL GHOSTS (Matt Lees and Quintin Smith). There games analysis is usually very good, light hearted, inclusive and open to criticism.

Good people, Matt got me into Iain M Banks as well

 

[Pepin]

Subbed to this thread, great stuff, and looking forward to seeing what else gets added in future.

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

Great list and lovely idea for a thread.

Not so much a sociological nomination, but I love the well-thought-out and heartfelt thinkpiece vlogs from Arlo on Nintendo games and business moves.

Gotta link that shiz yo!

Arlo

 

[Nomadic Sparks]

Subbed, and adding Mattie Brice to the list.

HOLLA BACK!

I follow her on twitter (at least I still think I do)

She's the best!

 

[sixteen-bit]

Cool thread, OP. I recognize some names but will definitely check out ones that are new to me.

 

[John Kowalski]

Heather Alexandra is hands down the best voice in video game criticism. Her youtube page has an inordinate quantity of high quality criticism, including one of my favorite works on SoTC.

 

[Garrett Hawke]

Harris Bomberguy - https://www.youtube.com/user/hbomberguy

He's a YouTuber but he is often a voice of reason amidst controversies like the No Man's Sky debacle, and the PewDiePie controversy.

He's a little abrasive in terms of tone, but not his words - they are careful and thoughtful and he brings an interesting perspective to his videos.

 

[Glass Shark]

Tevis Thompson immediately comes to mind. I don't always agree with his opinions (in fact, I rarely do), but he's insanely good at complex criticism and presenting challenging ideas in a compelling way – for instance, why Bioshock Infinite was the worst game of 2013. I always look forward to his end-of-year lists.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Innuendo Studios gets a solid rec from me. Probably most famous for the "This is Phil Fish" and Angry Jack videos.

 

[Head.spawn]

Latoya Peterson.

I went into that video with all kinds of mixed expectations after seeing 'Jackson'.

Excellent resource though, thanks OP.

 

[Lime]

Twitch, yes, but you can get this on Steam right now.

Wow, that's cool, I didn't even know it managed to get up there.

Latoya Peterson.

I went into that video with all kinds of mixed expectations after seeing 'Jackson'.

Excellent resource though, thanks OP.

I'm dumb, thanks for the correction.

 

[NandoGip]

Great thread ill check it out

 

[Bronx-Man]

Tevis Thompson immediately comes to mind. I don't always agree with his opinions (in fact, I rarely do), but he's insanely good at complex criticism and presenting challenging ideas in a compelling way – for instance, why Bioshock Infinite was the worst game of 2013. I always look forward to his end-of-year lists.

BioShock Infinite is an intensely boring first-person shooter. Its gunplay is loose, loud, full of bluster. Weapons and vigors are poorly differentiated and seem designed around lurid effects rather than compelling interplay. When I was offered the chance to buy upgrades my first time through, none of them interested me. So I waited. I saved all my scavenged silver eagles and waited for a reason to buy anything. And then the game was over. I’d never bought a thing.

I like this guy. I like this guy a lot.

 

[Neptonic]

The best game analysis guy on YouTube is still Mark Brown and Game Maker's Toolkit. He explains how devs make their games so good and once you see examples deconstructed, you start seeing them in all the games you play. Also his editing and effects he uses in his videos are super clean and look really appealing.
Some of my favorite videos:

Fallout New Vegas Quest Analysis

ICO, and Design by Subtraction

Depth, Mastery, and Vanquish

Super Mario 3D World's 4 Step Level Design

 

[Brodnax]

Just came across this guy's channel the other day and he does a really good job at analyzing music and animations from Pikmin and other Nintendo games. His production values are super good even though he only has 1.5K subs. The video he uploaded yesterday, What Makes Mario Music so Catchy? does an excellent job of breaking down the music theory behind Mario music, all with special made sound clips and great drawings. Cannot recommend this dude enough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x1kn0-HIO8

Thanks for posting this one, love how simple yet well crafted his videos are.

 

[RichiRamjag]

Don't know many of those people, but I'm glad you made a thread to celebrate positive people in the industry. I'll keep an eye out now.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Tevis Thompson immediately comes to mind. I don't always agree with his opinions (in fact, I rarely do), but he's insanely good at complex criticism and presenting challenging ideas in a compelling way – for instance, why Bioshock Infinite was the worst game of 2013. I always look forward to his end-of-year lists.

Oh, this seems interesting. Need to get myself a cuppa before I read this.

 

[Baron von Loathsome]

Innuendo Studios - Not much, but what's there is excellent. Perhaps best known for his "Why Are You So Angry" series on GamerGate.

 

[TheSkullPrince]

h.bomberguy
https://m.youtube.com/user/hbomberguy

you guys should check him out. Even his non-video game content is hilarious and insightful and he's always taking guys like thunderfoot and Sargon to task.

 

[Bowlie]

I really miss Evan at Kotaku. Great list, OP.

 

[Yabberwocky]

Fantastic idea, OP, have subscribed.

 

[daffy]

I really miss Evan at Kotaku. Great list, OP.

same. I miss the 1UP podcast

It used to all be so simple

 

[mooksoup]

Thanks for this. Bookmarked.

 

[Oersted]

I once made a thread about this, but I guess it won't hurt asking here again...

Can someone recommend critics/writers/YouTubers with non-gamer background? Such as historians analyzing where the Assasins Creed series got its inspirations from, someone who served and can tell how well or not well a game captures the experience of war, a martial artist take on fighting games etc etc

 

[Plum]

Matthewmatosis

Is my favorite long-form Youtube reviewer of videogames out there. He's not as focused on the "artsy" side of videogames, with more of a focus on mechanics, structure and gameplay instead. However, he's almost always agreeable and provides a lot of great insight into games that I would never have thought about before. He's done full-series reviews of MGS, Zelda and 3D Mario with a few smaller games sprinkled in between, though he's probably most known as "that guy people latch on to if they don't like Dark Souls 2." If you've got 6 hours to spare his Dark Souls commentary is amazing.

Noah Caldwell-Gervais

Is my second favorite in the category. His editing skills are poor and he often goes on quite significant tangents but outside of that he provides some incredibly great insight into a very wide range of franchises. His video on Call of Duty singleplayers is a must-watch imo, no other person out there has looked at the series in such a way and it's refreshing to see "CoD" get mixed in with other well-analysed series. Definitely give his stuff a watch.

RagnarRox

Is a bit different in that he almost exclusively focuses on horror video-games, though he does dabble in other areas as well. His "Monster of the Week" series is great as a learning experience as he goes in depth on the lore and real-life inspirations behind horror.

EDIT: Also like to add that I'm subscribing to the thread. Already got some good suggestions already and I love watching gaming analysis on Youtube...

Spoiler

probably more than playing them

 

[JonnyDBrit]

This is admittedly not exactly a niche suggestion, but Extra Credits. The core of their channel is dedicated to discussing how to think on and apply game theory for better experiences, and improving people's lives overall, though sometimes making a point to learn from the horrific mistakes of others. It's not perfect, as the bulk of the actual game theory in itself comes from James' particular perspective as the script writer - both in terms of his personal beliefs but also experience as a designer - but there's an earnestness and positivity to the channel in all that I can't help but love.

Here's their keynote address from Global Game Jam 2017:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xfxx27HbM4

 

[willooi]

He's no longer active, but I discovered Tord Johnson's - aka Mynameisnotlilly's - YouTube channel a while back and fell instantly in love.

https://www.youtube.com/user/mynameisnotlilly/playlists

He did these amazing Wasteland, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights and Fallout playthroughs whilst weaving together some fantastic sub-plots and magical characterisation centred around this one consistent main character of his, Lily.

Loved his imagination and storytelling ability, making you forget about how dated some of these titles are - particularly Wasteland - and really wish he was still around.

 

[boondock18]

Does anyone just write about whether a game is fun or not anymore? Where do I go for that?

 

[Baron von Loathsome]

Does anyone just write about whether a game is fun or not anymore? Where do I go for that?

Thank you for coming into a thread that you're not interested in to tell us you're not interested in it, it's a great use of our time.

 

[Lime]

Some amazing recommendations, I can't wait to go through them.

I once made a thread about this, but I guess it won't hurt asking here again...

Can someone recommend critics/writers/YouTubers with non-gamer background? Such as historians analyzing where the Assasins Creed series got its inspirations from, someone who served and can tell how well or not well a game captures the experience of war, a martial artist take on fighting games etc etc

Honestly, not regularly. I've seen it here and there, but I think the early videos of Conan playing games was an excellent take on how unquestioned gaming conventions can be (the RE6 video especially). I'd love to have non-ingrained people talk more about games, they always bring interesting insights.

But off the top of my head, it's rare to find people who comment or analyze games but who don't play games. Your best bet is History Respawned where they sometimes invite historians who don't play games to mostly just talk about the historical aspects of a particular game.

 

[Corpekata]

Yeah, Hbomberguy gets another vote from me. Amusing and tackles a variety of topics. Not exactly the fastest when it comes to specifically games related content though, with politics making a large chunk of his channel.

Does anyone just write about whether a game is fun or not anymore? Where do I go for that?

Like, IGN, Gamespot, and the other dozens of review sites that have been popular for a decade? The vast majority of gaming media is apolitical.

 

[Isambard]

This past week, I've been working through the essays of Miguel Penabella, Critical Distance's blogger of the year. In their write-up:

Blogger of the Year | Miguel Penabella

Miguel Penabella’s work is multidisciplinary, informed by discourses about art, cinema, and literature. As I have looked back over his work during 2016, it hit home how skilfully Penabella builds on particular themes across different pieces of writing, without making any single article less comprehensible on its own terms. It’s this delicate balance between seriality and singularity that makes blogging a difficult medium to work in at times, and Penabella appears to navigate it with ease.

 

[Mister_Bubbles]

All too brief at 7 episodes, but the A Life Well Wasted podcast remains a fantastic exploration of some interesting aspects of gaming.

 

[Marmaladefire]

Thanks for this. There is some good in this community and it needs a light shed on it right now.

 

[Matsukaze]

Subbed. Very interested in this.

 

[Loona]

These don't update often, but I prefer high quality and information density to high frequency anyway:

* The Art Eater blog has some pretty amazing articles, often on the cultural inspirations and implications of games, but doesn't necessarily restrict itself to gaming. No work of media to too high or low brow to get an article covering its less obvious or least-known aspects. It got started by expanding on a BBS post about the animation in the Darkstalkers games, and every once in a while posts something like a detailed analysis of all sorts of things referenced by a Dragon's crown trailer.

* MrBtongue on Youtube has some pretty insightful videos often analysing games, but doesn't restrict itself to that. apparently it got started with some Mass Effect videos that really took off, but a personal favorite of mine is his take on the use of magic in fiction.

 

[RichiRamjag]

Gotta link that shiz yo!

Arlo

Really dig Arlo. Liked everything I've seen from him thus far.

 

[PfantzyPantz]

Awesome thread, will check all these folk out