Games Of Summer: Video Game Writer Trying To Cut Down On the Lingo

By Stephen Woodward
Special to the Herald Courier
Published: July 5, 2008

For most parents, video games are just too alien to understand. Unlike books and movies, parents can’t preview the material of a 10-to-20-hour video game their kids are begging them to buy. And with foreign terms like “first-person shooter” or “platformer” used to describe games, reviews might as well be written in a foreign language.
However, one of the most respected video game journalists, John Davidson, is trying to give parents a translation. After serving as editor and chief of two of the nation’s biggest gaming magazines, Official PlayStation Magazine and Electronic Gaming Monthly, Davidson became senior vice president and editorial director of the Ziff Davis Game Group, which included EGM and many other gaming properties.
Soon, however, Davidson realized things in his industry were changing – significantly.
“For a while, EGM was the only way people got games info,” said Davidson, regarding the insider lingo that dominates video game reviews sites. “[Parents] were intimidated by the enthusiast media. Even terms like ‘first-person shooter,’ parents have no clue about.”
Davidson left his prominent position at Ziff Davis to start his own company called What They Like, with friend and co-worker Ira Becker. Together, they created a Web site called WhatTheyPlay.com, a gaming resource dedicated to demystifying games and providing easy-to-understand descriptions of their content to parents.
“We want WhatTheyPlay.com to be a resource that explains things to parents really clearly, without using lingo,” Davidson said.
Davidson is talking from experience. As a father, he knew that some games would be inappropriate for his family to play together.
“We’d been looking at the market, and noticing the changes,” he said about the inspiration to start the company. “We’re also both dads, so we were thinking about it on a personal side.”
However, WhatTheyPlay.com doesn’t review games like most video game sites out there. Davidson’s philosophy for making content for the site is much different: give parents the responsibility.
“There is nothing out there that doesn’t inject judgment into game reviews,” Davidson said, “and nobody knows kids better than parents. So we’re allowing parents to make an informed decision. We don’t pass judgments on a game and say what is inappropriate; we just describe the content.
“Parents can make the judgment for themselves whether their kids can deal with the content. We covered ‘Grand Theft Auto IV’ without talking about all the sensationalism – we just described its content.”
The recent rise of casual gaming, a term that describes gamers who play only occasionally, was a major influence in starting the site, according to Davidson. The success of Nintendo’s unique Wii console played a major part in that market shift, he said, along with music focused games like “Guitar Hero” and “Rockband,” which utilize controllers in the shape of instruments.
“We were looking at Wii sales numbers and saw the market was growing. But also we saw the success of Guitar Hero and Rockband,” said Davidson. “Parents who were playing ‘Rockband’ with their kids didn’t think of it as a video game – they just called it ‘Rockband.’ If parents know more about these games, they can connect better with their kids.”
Of course, playing games for a living is harder than it looks. But this CEO, journalist and father said that he still has made time to play games this summer.
“I have two lives when it comes to games,” he said, referring to the fact he plays more mature games away from his kids.  “But let’s see, I’m playing ‘Mario Kart,’ ‘Boom Blox’ and ‘Wii Fit.’ I’m currently working through ‘GTA IV.’ I’m a big ‘Metal Gear Solid’ fan, so when it comes out ... I’ll be turning on my PS3 for the first time in a while.”
Davidson was pretty optimistic regarding many of summer’s game releases.
“Between June and September we will be seeing a lot of new releases,” he said. “Later this year, ‘Socom’ on PS3 looks pretty nice. I went to a Capcom event in Las Vegas last week and ‘Resident Evil 5’ looks fantastic. Capcom is also doing a ‘Neopets’ on the DS that looks really nice. A lot is happening right now, in terms of games for kids. Kids’ games used to be very spotty, but now developers are paying a lot more attention to kids stuff. And a lot of it is because of Nintendo.  It’s a very great summer!”
Beyond summer, Davidson sees the game industry changing quite dramatically – a change that will reflect the “family friendly” philosophy of WhatTheyPlay.com. Particularly, he predicts everyone will be influenced by Nintendo.
“There is going to be a lot of Wii-type things,” Davidson said, regarding the success of Nintendo’s console. “At E3 [an annual video game conference that showcases new games], we’re going to see Microsoft and Sony acknowledge more than the hardcore audience. As Nintendo has shown, there is an untapped audience, and that’s where all the growth is at. Microsoft has nailed the hardcore, but needs to make the Xbox 360 attractive to the casual gaming market.”
Davidson also sees the nature of the way players interact when playing games to change as well.
“I believe we’ll also see games get more social,” he said. “In the past year, we’ve seen game makers put an emphasis on playing games online, but Nintendo has recently put an emphasis on getting people to gather around a screen, together in one room. I believe we’ll see more of that.”
Ultimately, Davidson wants to see his company and future sites expand outside of video games.
“We want to look at taking this approach of demystifying games and bring that over to movies, toys and books,” Davidson said.
With WhatTheyPlay.com, or any other future site that might be coming, Davidson recognizes that kids are ultimately going to influence his company’s direction.
“There’s nothing worse than parents saying to kids ‘here are 10 things you might like,’ ” said Davidson. “With the site, we want to say, ‘here are 10 things your kids are going to ask you about.’ Parents need to know more about the game that their kids are going to ask about. What kids are excited about needs to be central.”

STEPHEN WOODWARD is a freelance writer and a regular contributor to Gamezone.com.