On video game websites ► Ludology Now!

Writing about video games in the year of their Lord 2026 is both incredibly easy and incredibly difficult. Best and worst of times, and all that jazz, and other platitudes. You could be getting paid $20/an article, or $250, or nothing. You can do it for the love of the game (or for the love of games) and, if you are so inclined, you could do it because you have no valid thoughts of your own, only inherent criticisms that spill forth from you like a spoiled three year old who cries at the concept of a single evening without ice cream.

Will they read it? Depends. Used to depend on Google, now it depends on AI algorithms, random chance, how popular you yourself are. How many of your friends care about what you make? How many of them are online? How many of those people you see every day, those people you grew up with and share utilities and governments and cities with, how many of them read it? A disappointingly small few, for many, to be sure.

SEO is dead, but the shareholders are happy

And what value does it add, at the end of the day when the boots are hung and the trees are felled? A voice in the sea of a thousand screaming heads, a whisper during a concert recital. It can feel like sweeping back the sea, sometimes, and sometimes that’s true. Still, there is a part of me that is disinclined to dwell in despair and disconcertitude, for to be a sane lighthouse in the sea of lies is still an attempt to bring the ships of others safely home.

We, those of us who care, who want people to have good experiences and interact with good art and think good thoughts about things they deserve to have the time to think about, to challenge themselves, to entertain themselves, those of us who want people to participate in the full range of human emotion and play, we desperately want to tell you about those experiences which spoke to us. I want to tell you about Blue Prince and Despelote and Before Your Eyes and Return of the Obra Dinn and, yes, even Enter The Matrix and Mortal Kombat Mythologies. The full range of humanity exists in video games, and it’s only growing.

Don’t let them treat you like an idiot

To that end, I ask that you think critically about how you spend your time. I ask that you consider seeking out another opinion, if you find yourself at odds with the ones you see the most often. I ask that you question why someone feels the need to phrase their reviews as “honest”, as if they are the ONLY person brave enough to tell the truth. I ask that you consider perhaps there is no grand agenda, no cabal of evil-doers behind the scenes in the media, apart from the obviously evil corporations and idiotic management.

I have been writing professionally since 2008, in one form or another. I have worked for newspapers, television stations, websites, legacy media, independent media, new media, all of it. I have written for zines and underground punk magazines and I have been featured on Yahoo News and, no matter where I was or what I was writing, the thing that was valued above all else was the truth. In news, that’s the truth of the events. In features and reviews, that’s the truth of my feelings and experience. In all my years, in all my jobs, that’s how nearly everyone I ever met felt. None of them would compromise a piece of work for any reason, because above all a writer must protect their own credibility, and respect themselves.

There have never been more options

I ask that you seek out independent media that speaks to you, that has a voice you enjoy, that inspires you to play or make or do something unique and new and exciting. I hope, for at least a few of you, Bonus Action and Ludology Now! have been or continue to be that place. I bring only myself and my thoughts to these columns, and occasionally another developer or creator (thanks, Ross Scott and Chris Jarvis and Dave Gilbert and others), and I expect you to bring yourselves too. I want you to engage, to think, to consider. Otherwise, what are we doing here?

Finally, I would like to share with you a wonderful compilation by Chris Plante of Post Games. It’s titled “An Incomplete Catalogue of Games Media in 2026” and, while unfortunately it currently only focuses on primarily English-speaking publications, it is incredibly expansive and worth diving into. Find something new. Find something fun. Find someone you love and support them. The people who are doing this are indeed people, and there are many ways to discover them.