Have you heard today that my colleague N'Gai Croal is leaving Newsweek? He'll be moving on to pursue a role as an independent creative consultant to developers, hoping to bring them new perspectives on reaching audiences and helping games communicate better with players, informed by his game journalism work and his passion for social media.
I think this means HIS THRONE IS MINE NOW
I kid. This is actually super weird news for me, as it's not hard to see how influential N'Gai's work has been on me and other folks trying to find new ways to talk about games. He and I seem to "fight" every once in a while, but even though I've got a trigger finger over here, the debates we have had have ended up being some of my favorite moments in being part of this community.
His Level Up blog helped me think about options I had for approaching the subject of games as a writer before Sexy Videogameland existed, and before I'd ever really published much of anything. So it was pretty surreal to be interviewing him colleague to colleague and friend to friend for Gamasutra as he gets ready to tackle the next challenge.
One thing I didn't end up printing in the interview is that one of the things I credit most to him is helping delineate and cement the concept that there can exist game criticism as a discipline separate from traditional reviews, from pointed editorial and from news journalism -- writing that in part asks questions and shares experiences, something that's become a big part of the work I do.
So thanks, dude.
Also, here's N'Gai's official final post at Level Up.
8 comments:
To someone who's just starting to try and get a foot in the door of Games Journalism, he's definitely helped me look at things in different and far more interesting ways. Let's hope we get a few more years of SVGL before you get tempted away by the Siren Song of Game Development, though.
Not me, Sponge! I have no desire to work in development. All I have ever wanted to be is a writer.
Yeah, in all seriousness, now that N'Gai and Shawn Elliott are gone, you're pretty much wearing the Yellow Jersey of Game Criticism. No pressure!
Glad to hear you'll be staying in writing Leigh! Most of the people who've inspired me as a writer - Shawn Elliot, Jeff Green, and now N'Gai - have moved on to development. Nice to know you'll be sticking around :)
I really loved Level Up and read it as often as I could. I'm going to miss N'Gai and his thoughts... but the thought of what he'll do in the development realm is pretty exciting.
I hope he does well in his new position, but I'm scared to think of what someone who was a propagator of the ridiculous "RE5 is racist" phenomenon would do in a serious consultant's seat :-(
To be honest I had no idea who N'Gai was until I read this. That's what happens when you're an anime blogger first and a video game blogger second. This exodus of his seems pretty significant though, I plan to read his backlog of posts on games.
@The Poisoned Sponge: I personally have no desire to be a games developer unless I get better at organising myself, I'm thinking writing books and illustrating them is what I'm best at.
@SVGL: I know how something like N'Gai leaving when a person has inspired you so much feels. For example, my blog boss for "Yukan Blog!" before it disbanded was Blissmo, who stood by me as I grew up as a blogger, even standing by me throughout the fail @ reviewing My Neighbour Totoro and the whole controversy over who exactly invented the word Oztaku/what it actually means.
So I'm feeling for you because I know somebody just as special to me who quit their blogging job, if you can call Blissmo's blogging a "job" at all, since she did it for free. It grinds my Metal Gears when you get left behind by a person you care about, no matter what their reasons are.
Leigh, I remember how you looked up to N'Gai as you were finding your voice as a writer yourself.
I am glad that your writing is still comfortable for you, though you have changed and matured as a writer I look forward to where you will go next.
This is N'Gai's next. So I wish him the best as well. BTW did you get a hint who will get the Newsweek spot?
-Cecil
Cecil, thanks for the encouragement. And I don't know who will cover games for them next! N'Gai will be hard to replace, so my guess is the structure of how they do it will completely change.
They may find a way to fold it into some of the other tech culture coverage? We'll see.
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