Anatomy Of A Controversy

According to a recent Edge story, Silicon Knights' Denis Dyack is "controversial." Okay, Dyack does get a lot of media time, and I think there is a bit of a cynical eye on him that's watching for let's-call-it "Molyneux Syndrome" -- eager gamers and media waiting to see whether Too Human measures up to the promises Dyack has made about it (and prepared to pounce, as is their wont, if it does not).

But controversial? I mean, this is not the Wilson-Romero juggernaut, Jack Thompson, or even Tomonobu Itagaki. In fact, I had to think today to recall what Dyack's Silicon Knights has even made, really. I wasn't a Legacy of Kain fan, I didn't play Eternal Darkness -- so really, to me, the only notable is that Twin Snakes MGS remake for GameCube. And I've never met anyone else who's liked it as much as I do, alas.

I mean, we're not talking about Will Wright, here. Spore being an epic failure would be controversial; Too Human would not. And I scoured around to see if I could find a time in which Dyack ever said anything extremely stunning or offensive as opposed to just being opinionated -- nope, no luck.

My suspicion is that Denis Dyack is "controversial" because the media publishes every word he says; the only thing Dyack's done to earn the odd rep is to talk to us. Left alone, the NeoGAF debacle would eventually have died down on its own.

Because the games press is starved, I think, for people who will talk to us. I mean, "control the message" is the public relations philosophy in any industry, but my impression is that, leery of a volatile, savvy and passionate internet audience, "controlling the message" becomes more challenging -- and more essential -- to games companies than in other industries.

Not to mention that there may be merit to the frequent accusation that the games press in particular is comprised at least in some part of amateur writers who are game enthusiasts, as opposed to formally-educated journalists, which may have ill-equipped some of us to handle the issue deftly before it became the norm.

But whatever the reason, it's enormously difficult for us to access the kind of people who are able to answer the questions readers would like answers to, or comment on the issues we'd like to hear their opinions on. Rarely are we ever able to directly contact them without going through several layers of gatekeepers, our interviews are often supervised even by phone, and generally the discussion is steered toward a predetermined topical list. My complaint is not unique, I know, and it's largely a situation to which I must become accustomed in order to get my job done.

One of the things that often frustrates me is I speak to representatives and executives far, far more often than I ever speak to anyone who makes games. And when I do, sometimes I ask them things, and I hear the freeze in their throat, I see the discomfort in their eyes (soon reflected in mine, it's awkward) when they haven't been pre-groomed well enough to give me a stock reply. I know I've hit on something they can't answer. I want to know, and they want to tell me, but we can't. Maybe it's something that'd probably cause a comment thread freakout somewhere, explode onto Digg -- you know, become a controversy, whether justly or not.

But Denis Dyack, opining candidly about whatever's on his mind? We just don't get that very often. And we know you don't read it very often, either, and so we print it.

And in many cases, the audience responds more virulently to some assertions than the statements warrant -- which leads to more audience interest (or traffic, if you prefer), hence more coverage of the same individual, and then proliferation of that coverage as the sites compete with each other. Before you know it, you've a "controversy" on your hands without even knowing why.

The industry blames the media for becoming sensational, and the media blames the industry for being tightlipped, and our audience blames us both, and we blame 'em right back.

Quick, who's the boss of Realtime Studios? Who made Pandemonium on the Dreamcast? Hell, name Sonic the Hedgehog's character designer. Hard? Might be, unless you're a fan, because those names aren't in the headlines often (though their work is). But now, you know who Denis Dyack is, see? You're going to pay attention to Too Human, right?

I'm not at all suggesting that Dyack is outspoken just to get attention for his game; though I've never met him, my assumption is he's just gregarious (somewhat unusual in our industry, another reason for him to be singled out). But if he was, you could say he's doing more effective PR on his own (PR efficacy is generally measured in terms of headlines) than many competing studios do with their armies of handlers.

Here's a win-win -- companies all agree to a public relations détente, and they just let their staff talk. They can fight it out for headlines with their personalities, they could drunk dial the press. Hey, a girl can dream, right?