A list of boardgames review writers

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/152997/top-ten-of-written-board-games-journalism

Rather than doing any real work this morning i put together this list on BGG. Whilst theres a high probability it will just sink into the ether of BGG i thought it was worth the effort to try and forward the agenda that written boardgames journalism is pretty scant. I listed a top 10 writers, most of which hail from this site. Essentially i want to try and generate some exposure to good writing from the crap on bgg (and some other sites that are notably lacking any entrees on the list). I did consider including some of the folks that have blogs here, but then decided just to limit it to anyone who wrote regular front page articles either here, or at other sites or blogs. I've written some brown nosing crap about each person on the list, but the real point is to throw down the towel and say if this is heading in the right direction why is there so much crap on this site.

Honestly I think the days of F:AT writing being superior to BGG writing ended with the advent of blogs on BGG, though the signal-to-noise ratio is as always better here than there. I'd easily put a few of the BGG bloggers over several of the choices on this list, one or two of which I think are utter shite. Rarevos's and Patrick Carroll's blogs are probably my favorite, though they're admittedly more about personal issues as they relate to board games than "board game journalism". Mezmorki's and Qwertymartin's blogs are also worth following. NateStraight just put up a damn fine blog spot, dissecting the ouevres of *every* major Euro designer and then some and figuring out what the common threads are. They all mostly like different games than me, but that doesn't stop my appreciation of their writing or ability to glean insight from it.

Also, it's not a board game of course, but Magic: the Gathering writing has been ahead of board game writing for years and years now. Like, the Magic writing from 5 years ago is better than the board game writing of today, and it covers an unbelievable breadth of subjects that would surprise someone who doesn't keep up.

Yeah, that's a LOT of good stuff on the BGG blogs. It's really hard to find some of it though. It's not helped by the fact that a lot of crap gets thumbed way high because the person used a lot of pictures or whatever.

Jesse Dean belongs on that list too.

San Il Defanso wrote: Yeah, that's a LOT of good stuff on the BGG blogs. It's really hard to find some of it though. It's not helped by the fact that a lot of crap gets thumbed way high because the person used a lot of pictures or whatever.

Jesse Dean belongs on that list too.

And for comedy, Phirax.

Your ideas intrigue me and I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter!

dragonstout wrote: Patrick Carroll

This guy drives me insane. I feel like I am peering into someone's life who spends a lot of time in his mind and doesn't actually do very much.

His writing in the wargame threads seems to indicate the same. He seems to have an opinion on all of them but to have played none of them.

S.

iguanaDitty wrote:

dragonstout wrote: Patrick Carroll

This guy drives me insane. I feel like I am peering into someone's life who spends a lot of time in his mind and doesn't actually do very much.

He is, as far as I know, a solo gamer. He doesn't live terribly far from the Mpls/StPaul metro area, and I think I even offered to let him try out one of my games that he was talking about wanting to play, but I don't think anyone around these parts has ever seen him in person.

San Il Defanso wrote: Yeah, that's a LOT of good stuff on the BGG blogs. It's really hard to find some of it though. It's not helped by the fact that a lot of crap gets thumbed way high because the person used a lot of pictures or whatever.

Jesse Dean belongs on that list too.

I have a hard time reading Dean's writing. I remember reading him saying that the games he plays he only plays with what he has deemed to be the optimal number of people, otherwise he'd rather play something else or step out of the game.

Kind of a raised eyebrow moment for me -- nearly polar opposite to how I approach most games -- which makes it hard for me to involve myself in what he writes.

Jesse Dean writes some really great reviews over there, no doubt; his Merchant of Venus review is the best writing on that game I've seen. I was thinking about his blog, which after a flurry of very good posts has been underwhelming, but now I remember that I really like his reviews. His tastes, like with many folk I follow, are not really like mine. I think his criteria for liking a game are pure and simple: he likes games that maximally challenge his analytical brain. To me that's a weird criteria to follow so slavishly, and as a result it seems like the best way to make a game Jesse Dean likes is to just throw in every damn tough decision, complexity, and subsystem you can and make it as hard as possible, he just eats that shit up. Doesn't seem to be a big appreciator of minimalism, elegance, or the psychological aspect of games, though he does love Yomi.

iguanaDitty wrote:

dragonstout wrote: Patrick Carroll

This guy drives me insane. I feel like I am peering into someone's life who spends a lot of time in his mind and doesn't actually do very much.

He is weird, for real, somewhat alien. But I love his blog. I'm barely at all interested in his comments on games as they pertain to the game, but what I am interested in is how he thinks about games and how he thinks about thinking about games, and how he tortures himself thinking about thinking about games I wouldn't expect him to be very social. At ALL.

Plus, I think he and I have a lot in common, he's just a bit more extreme; honestly that's probably the biggest reason why I love his blog. I've gotten more out of his writing than any other writer on board games, I think; just not necessarily about board games.

dragonstout wrote: I'd easily put a few of the BGG bloggers over several of the choices on this list, one or two of which I think are utter shite.

Awww, but I still love you anyway, Dragonstout.