This is going to be an independent video games blog for the individually-minded and intelligent gamer. Free to read, no bullshit, no politics – just games.
We will not have any contact with the PR departments of publishing houses, or the PR companies they employ. We eschew PR relations in favour of letting the games speak for themselves. All games will be bought by staff, because attempting to measure their worth in the market becomes meaningless if they’re provided for free, not to mention that puts us in a position of dependency vis-a-vis the PR departments we want to avoid.
All authors will remain anonymous for several reasons: First, in order to minimize outside influence. Secondly: Because this blog is staffed voluntarily by several veterans of game development and journalism who have long experienced having their opinions, worldviews and personalities stifled by the reigning atmosphere of leftist-liberal politics permeating parts of the games industry, and almost all of the games press. This includes speaking up about the unhealthy relations between developers, publishers and journalists. As recent events, such as the industry blackballing of writers and developers speaking out in defense of the customer advocacy principle behind #Gamergate has shown, anonymity has become a necessary tool to avoid potential personal and professional repercussions for having differing opinions. From an editorial point of view, this also gives us the unique advantage of allowing us to pursue a policy of a unified editorial style and tone, akin to how respectable publications like The Economist operate.
Games will be reviewed ethically and objectively, but with review sub-categories dedicated to dissecting the ideological content of those games which try to politicize what we know to be a pure entertainment product: It is in the consumer’s interest to know if they are being unwittingly proselytized. We will of course never review any game that we have been actively involved with in any capacity, or where personal relationships represent a conflict of interest.
Our commitments are to ethics, our readers, and video games. Video games are a cross-generational, beautiful and uniquely interactive art form and should be treated as such. A caveat: Because this blog is operated anonymously and is not our day job, the frequency of new content will most likely be uneven. We feel that it is best to be up-front about this. However, it also means that we will not in any capacity depend on this site for our livelihoods, giving us that much more freedom to say and do as we please. Whether or not you want to give us your support and readership remains up to you.
This post will be mirrored in our About section.
– Editor in Chief
Ethical Video Games Blog 