[arg_discuss] [players] Communities and resources

[Adrian Hon]

On 8 Apr 2006, at 16:38, Jonathan Waite wrote:

> I think as a representative of the site, we would ask the people  
> involved on this board the same questions Wendy asked:  Would you  
> let someone from ARGN have a sneak peek at your next project?  If  
> so, at what point?  Our writers are comfortable (and professional)  
> enough to know that all information shared by the ARGN staff about  
> a particular game is kept in-house and not released to the public,  
> even if those writers are playing the game, or planning to.  I have  
> talked to other people involved in this industry about this very  
> same thing (Adrian Hon comes to mind) but would love to know how  
> other creators of these games feel about sharing information with  
> ARGN.  So, in short, we welcome any open, two-way communication any  
> of you want to set up with any of our team.

As I mentioned in my other reply, the idea of previews is not one  
that I totally agree with yet, because while they make for very  
interesting features (which is why magazines do them) they don't tell  
you an awful lot about what the game will end up being like, or  
importantly, whether it'll be any good. But maybe there's a way of  
changing that.

I do think that there needs to be good communication between sites  
like ARGN and developers, but at the same time, there needs to be a  
boundary. Any magazine that covers an industry is trusted to be  
impartial and have editorial independence. Even if there isn't any  
money or perks changing hands, it's very possible to upset that  
boundary. Bear in mind I say that even when I feel that ARGN's  
coverage of Perplex City has been very good; right now, everyone in  
the ARG community is very close to each other, and that can have both  
good and bad outcomes.

Adrian

--
Adrian Hon - mssv.net
Executive Producer and Director of Play, Mind Candy
mindcandydesign.com - newmars.com - ibiblio.org/astrobiology