Writers Claim Their Site Only Canadian Gaming News Outlet. Hilarity, Then Introspection, Ensues.
By Shaun Hatton - August 16th, 2009
On Friday, while I was catching up with Paul Hunter, head honcho of NextGen Player, he mentioned overhearing a bunch of people the previous night boasting about having the only Canadian gaming news site: HUDisplay.ca. He passed along the link to their site, which I immediately had to check out. After all, it’s not every day we hear about another new Canadian gaming news site, let alone one whose owners believe it to be the only one of its kind.
Sure enough, the “about” page of their site was full of hastily-written nonsense such as:
This certainly must be a joke. After all, I laughed. More laughs were had at their expense on Twitter, with comments by writers from Tales of a Scorched Earth, Aboot Play, Sun Media, GameShark, UGTV, and 4 Color Rebellion. Aboot Play addressed the news with a short article in which Ryan Couldrey wrote:
For what my opinion is worth (oooooodles), it probably would’ve been a good idea for the HUDisplay team to get in touch with [Toronto Thumbs] and [NextGen Player] about contributing to their already well-established sites with dedicated fan followings, rather than try to start something up that isn’t offering anything different.
NextGen Player followed with a somewhat more diplomatic approach:
While I’m not going to fling any mud here, I do want to say that Aboot Play is absolutely right about there being a number of great Canadian video game websites.
All comments that spawned from this addressed the absurdity of the HUDisplay team’s claims. After all, it’s hard not to appreciate that they consider themselves “a crackpot team of investigative journalists” when they didn’t bother to check to see if any other Canadian gaming news sites existed before stating their claim. And yes, that is the word “crackpot” up there.
I feel no guilt about bringing the site to the attention of my Twitter followers. In fact, it made people notice HUDisplay exists, and that’s what the site needed. Maybe they’ll be a little more careful with what they write now that they know there are people reading.
In response to Hunter’s article, HUDisplay’s Stephenson Price offered a long, apologetic comment which included, “I think ideally we’d like to crush IGN and their FOX-backed bullshit, but that’s a long-term goal … Don’t think of us as some newbie competitor, think of us as a resource to help bring together the entire Canadian Gaming Network.”
The idea that a gaming blog – yes, HUDisplay is a still a blog despite its ambitious goal of one day becoming a gaming news network– is going to crush the life out of a gaming news institution like IGN (however poor many conceive it to be) is somewhat laughable. Yet, stranger things have happened. If IGN is destroyed at some point, I’m going to place my bet on its downfall being an internal corporate one.
But let us not forget that by virtue of being Canadian we already suffer from the Canadian condition, which is the feeling of inadequacy brought on by the very existence of our American counterparts. We are David to the United States’ Goliath. Why else do we drop names of Canadians who are famous IN THE UNITED STATES when we talk about how much great talent has come from Canada, regardless of what profession we’re dealing with? Why else would we put little maple leaves on logos to distinguish our heritage?
I’ve had conversations with Jamie Love (editor, consultant, and writer for both Toronto Thumbs and 4 Color Rebellion) about this when discussing the direction of Toronto Thumbs. “Sure I’m a Canadian gamer,” he said. “But I don’t go to E3 and say, ‘oh hi I’m a Canadian gamer.’”
And there’s no need to. As far as Love and I are concerned, we are gamers who like telling people about our experiences and opinions on games. We are patriotic about the games we love, regardless of their country of origin. Yes, we also happen to be Canadian, as is this site. Hell, I named it after the city I spend most of my time in. In retrospect, Toronto Thumbs is a goofy name for a site. But then again, I didn’t start it for anyone else but myself. The fact that it’s gathered a following is awesome, and I truly appreciate all the comments (both good and bad) that you’ve all provided over the years. I also treasure the friendships I’ve made because of this site.
I started it because I had written game reviews for Chart Magazine for years and had built up a list of industry contacts before Chart decided it was going to go back to its roots as a music-only publication. I found PR people still emailing me about game news and figured that I’d continue covering videogames. I started Toronto Thumbs while in the meantime sending out resumes to established gaming news sites. A few weeks after this site launched, the team at 4 Color Rebellion, my favourite videogame site, contacted me and wanted me to start writing for them as well. To be honest, there was a time where I didn’t feel like doing this. In fact, sometimes I still feel that way.
We all have to start somewhere. I started writing about videogames after being a music journalist for a few years, and although I had written multiple-page articles on musicians, my initial foray into gaming coverage consisted of many mindless 50-word reviews of games. Fifty words isn’t nearly enough to say what you want about anything, let alone convey the experience of playing a game. It was essentially “Game good, blah, blah, blah,” or, on the rare occasion, “Game bad, blah, blah, blah.” Rating out of five. Review done. Next game.
I’ve come a long way since then. As ambitious a goal it is to build a Canadian gaming news network, I believe it’s just as ambitious “to make people think, laugh, and feel.” The Toronto Thumbs staff is more concerned with this than covering every single bit of news that finds its way into our inboxes. This is part of why we don’t cut and copy press releases. We determine what is newsworthy, we write about whatever we want to, and we often put a lot of thought into it. Understandably this puts us into a niche – after all, mediocrity rules the masses – but this is something we are more than okay with. We strive to be good, not popular.
Right now, HUDisplay isn’t what its creators want it to be. But they’ve got a strong vision, ambition, and time. It’s not going to kill IGN any time soon. Heck, should Toronto Thumbs eventually succumb to fate, it probably won’t be because of them – it’ll probably be because I die.
In some strange way, however, HUDisplay has brought a network of Canadian gaming news sites together – just not the way they originally intended.
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17 responses so far:Subscribe to the Toronto Thumbs RSS feed to be notified when new articles are published.
to be fair, I’m an asshole.
I never said you were not!
Haha HUD Display got owned, but to be fair it’s not that easy to find or know that there are Canadian gaming sites.
The first Canadian gaming site I found out about was http://www.vgmfusion.com/, and that’s only because I was looking on itunes for more gaming podcasts lol.
Then I think I learned about http://www.nextgenplayer.com/ through some post on GoNintendo (which I do not visit anymore), which subsequently led me to Toronto Thumbs, and now all the other sites that were mentioned in this article.
That’s over a span of 7 years. When I came back from Europe.
It’s good to take the high road in situations like this. I was surprised that they made such a claim, but what can you do?
If they want to compete with the US sites they are doing a good job by just ignoring the actual news. ;)
Anyway, I think we all need to stick together. There is a lot to say, and while I love Toronto Thumbs (and writing for it), I certainly enjoy reading good writing written by other writers.
Er…
What?
the only reason I’m here is because this is the only Canadian game site I could find. though to be quite honest once I found one I stopped looking.
here’s something to consider. Purely hypothetical I don’t mean to impugn the integrity of the site in question though their research obviously sucks.
Person starts site in Canada.
Person claims site is only one of it’s kind in Canada.
All similar Canadian based sites refute claim.
site gets bump in onlooker traffic.
That’s what I think. Either they’re really stupid or they’re really smart. The content on their site indicates they’re not geniuses but a collection of jackasses who think they’re great even in light of them being called out.
They don’t like being called Neophytes but have still made rookie mistakes that they’re not even really owning up to an apologizing for now and are instead offering clarification about what they really meant.
If you have to clarify what you meant after the fact, it means you didn’t do a good enough job getting your thoughts across the first time. If they meant what they say they mean now, they should have said so *then*.
This, assuming they are now saying what they really meant. The truth is they messed up and thought they had the only site of its kind, they were wrong, and they don’t want to admit it. I don’t need to go to that site or hear about them ever again.
Thanks Shaun, that was a great read.
I’m surprised they call themselves “a crackpot team of investigative journalists” but it makes sense when you think about it. Well, minus the “investigative” part because it’s very clear they guys didn’t do their homework before launching the site.
Make no mistake, no matter what they claim they didn’t know that any of our sites existed. I was there at the IGDA event and heard the claims of being the “only” Canadian news site in the country. I think they truly believed this until I spoke at length with one of their writers after the event.
The way you concluded this article was actually kind of touching. I didn’t realize how close our community was until this “hilarity”, as you say, ensued.
Thanks Shaun.
We strive to be good, not popular.
A respectable philosophy and one I readily agree with as you know.
However, that’s no road to take if you want readership. All that usually needs is bold, often unsupported claims about being the “best” or “first”, or perhaps knocking down an established site or outlet in an effort to claim the mantle for yourself. I’ve seen it too many times before. One of the previous posters brought up the most important point: regardless of whether we agree with HUDisplay, they still got everyone’s attention.
Even though I’ve been operating my site since 2003 I didn’t feel slighted about the other sites that were mentioned in the discussion. I am not a news destination, and don’t ever want to be. I was more offended by how this ridiculous and unobtainable goal continues to be the aspiration of any video game-related website.
All this discussion of “high road” and “community” and “networking” means nothing if no one is going to improve the situation in this already saturated newsbite and screenshot obsessed culture. Rather than competing for “breaking news”, we should be writing about the video games. There isn’t enough of that. Most gaming websites want to do it all to keep the hits coming so they don’t lose their constantly fluctuating readership. This has nothing to do with the Country of Origin. It has everything to do with what we’ve grown to tolerate in the video game media establishment.
If you really want to make a difference, don’t worry about The Now. This industry suffers too much from that attitude already. Focus on the craft. The results won’t be felt for years, but at least you’ll feel like you’ve contributed something of value in the frustrating Search for Video Game Criticism. Or you can simply be replaced by some other person that’s more than happy to accept the press releases at face value and shovel out patchwork reviews like they were going out of style (and in case you haven’t noticed, they aren’t). But hey! Free games, right?
I appreciate all the comments this article has received, but I have to hand it to Gatmog here for his insightful take on things. It is tough to keep a site going, especially in the face of the constant bombardment of “news” from just about every angle.
A lot of sites keep going by reporting every minute detail, but the sites and writers I enjoy are the ones that offer unique perspectives on things. This is what initially attracted me to Jamie’s writing, and what makes Gatmog’s site so enjoyable, too.
Considering that so many sites are run by people content to cut and paste press releases and write about anything as if it’s newsworthy or even remotely interesting, it doesn’t take a lot of brainpower to figure out that a good way to stand out is to put effort into your work. Some articles take more effort than others, and there’s a great deal of fluff on this very site just because it’s stuff I found humorous/interesting. But the anchors here, and the articles I enjoy writing, are the ones that take multiple drafts and several days to create. That said, I have a fairly laid-back attitude when it comes to things like page ratings. I’m just happy that I get to write, and happy that people, however many or few, read my work.
But I do think a lot of people get into writing about games because of the allure of “free games” as Gatmog has mentioned. Many only care about getting the free game, and not about writing about the game. So they pump out reviews without thinking about them - reviews not unlike the 50-word useless ones Chart wanted from me.
Anyhow, thanks again for your comments. If anything this whole thing should serve as a reminder that we should all strive to do better work and let everything else fall into place. I’m in no hurry to join a news network, and in fact I don’t think I’ll ever do such a thing. But “the future is in the future,” as Electric Six says. Who knows what it might hold.
Thanks for your insight Shaun.
I used to think the Canadian market was under-represented when it came to gaming news coverage. Then I got involved and found there are lots of Canadian sources for gaming news, both in the mainstream media and through smaller online outlets. G4 Tech TV’s Electric Playground comes to mind as the biggest Canadian source dedicated to gaming. But there are writers throughout Canwest that cover regularly, as well as the Globe and Mail, CTV and the Toronto Star. Then there are the dedicated website, such as this great site that cover gaming from a Canadian angle.
Thanks for the comment, David. I remember you used to write here at some point… we were much younger in those days.
Since writing and publishing this article, I’ve still been thinking about the state of games writing overall. If you think about this in relation to the field of journalism overall - where there is a definite shift in the production and consumption of news - it’s kind of silly to think that there will be ONE place where people get all their news. Why go to just one place when you can get all kinds of information from multiple sources, and multiple viewpoints?
Still - I hope those HUDisplay guys come around and do their own thing and do it well. Every voice matters.
This piece was written at just the right time, as I just got involved with a fledgling gaming site looking to add to the Canadian-based network of sites already established in the web sphere. I’m intrigued by the sentiment of ignoring the daily news flashes and concentrating instead on thoughtful, unique editorial pieces you guys mention. I do agree that most sites are happy to cut and paste PR emails and news bites, ignoring the value in writing well-thought out articles, but there is another side to this method of doing things.
Unless you have a fat savings account, living off mom & dad or spouse, or just don’t have a need for spending cash, you’re going to require a form of income. Creating a website that caters to a large community in an industry that relies on mass marketing, word of mouth, etc. and one that has the benefit of being fun to get involved in with all of its perks, is a truly enticing prospect, especially if you’re looking to make a few bucks off of it. One of the only ways to accomplish that is eye balls…lots of eye balls. Unless you have a staff of 5-10+ writers working 8 hours a day putting up thoughtful and unique pieces, your visitors will get bored fairly quickly and move on to other sites that have lots of ’stuff’ for them to spend time and mouse clicks on. I’ll call it the 10/90 theme… 10% unique content, 90% filler. If your 10% content is interesting enough to draw an audience to your site, then it’s the 90% that will keep them there, and eventually they’ll continue coming to your site, drawn in by that 10% hook, and kept in with time-consuming news bites and PR content, which they can read just about anywhere, but it’s at YOUR site you want them to get it at. Now you have the opportunity to present yourself to potential advertisers and media partners as a place people with like-minded interests go to catch up on daily news and be entertained by your personalized content. Again, the more eyeballs you get to your site on a consistent basis, the more valuable your piece of WWW property becomes.
If this is just a hobby, or a way to bulk up your writing portfolio, or you truly just want to write insightful journalistic content with no concern for generating revenue, then all the power to you. But I just can’t see how, especially in the short-mid term, it can be turned into a revenue-generating venture.
I would love to debate this further, so please let me know if you agree/disagree.
Zoltan, thanks for your comment. However I don’t see what could be debated. I don’t care about making money from this site. I write here because I want to and because I like to, not because I have to.
If people like the content of this site, even if it’s just one article, great. So if people want to come here, read one thing, and then bugger off, that’s fine. I have neither the time nor the inclination to whore this place out for a quick buck. I’d rather just spend the time writing about stuff I actually care about or doing something else entirely - something I find meaningful.
I’ve been working in interactive media for over a decade, so I’ve heard just about every kind of gimmick there is to generating revenue and having sustainability, etc. in an online manner, and this includes stuff that you have touched upon.
I appreciate your comment and in no way does my reply to it reflect my opinion of you, the person. The things you’ve mentioned are good guidelines for people to follow if they’re looking to generate some income from a website. I just don’t fall into that category as I am not motivated by the accumulation of wealth.
Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t referring to your site specifically, just commenting on the general discussion about how most sites just regurgitate the same news pieces from other sites and/or PR companies. I totally appreciate what you’re doing with this site and using it as an outlet for your craft, but for those who are trying to make a buck (quick or otherwise) from a website, it’s pretty hard to if you’re not covering a large chunk of the current topics ALONG with unique content.
The people that approached me to help them out with the site already have all the industry contacts, the free stuff is already flowing to their doors, so we’re not in it for that. They just want to take advantage of the network of companies they have established a relationship with, and take their site to the next level in terms of exposure and, eventually, revenue. Hard to do if you’re only producing a handful of articles a day…not impossible, I’ll admit that, but much harder.
For sure. It’s a situation where gaming is already somewhat of a niche, and we’re several sub-niches in (I could be making up words again - this happens). We’ve made some industry contacts over the years - I actually brought some over from the Chart days - but yeah obviously the bigger the site, the more PR people will want something to do with it. We’ve been rather fortunate to have a good amount of people behind us and I should probably thank them more often.
I can’t speak for everyone, but I do get the feeling that a lot of people start out writing about games because of the “free” stuff - but that stuff always comes with a commitment to cover the game/product, unless it’s unsolicited. Now depending on the coverage that free game/product gets, it’s either a worthwhile investment for the site or it isn’t. Getting a free game that retails for $70 is a good deal if you don’t bother to write about it. It’s also a good deal if you write a 50-word review (like in my Chart days). But when you’re spending hours on playing the game and writing about it, things make less economic sense, especially if you had no desire to play the game to begin with.
In episode 10 of our podcast, Adam touched on something when we asked him what his deal was, and why it was that he appeared to hate so many games. The meat of it was that he’s been gaming his whole life, so he knows the kinds of games he likes so he sticks with them. Then he mentioned that other forms of entertainment writing don’t have the same reviewer trying to cover everything - and we actually see this with games coverage. The ideal situation is that you have people writing about the stuff they want, and I suppose with a large enough staff you would be able to cover everything (though then that could give way to some hurt feelings, if a game is really sought-after and more than one person wants to review it, for instance).
So that’s actually part of a larger discussion (though not necessarily a debate) which I’ll be glad to have with you in person some time, maybe even at an industry event. I see where you’re going though - you’re thinking on a different scale altogether and the site you’re with (which from the looks of it is Console Creatures) is one I’ve already heard of and definitely has that potential for some exponential growth. I’ll definitely be following it now, so consider these eyeballs part of your audience.
Hey Shaun, I just got an e-mail from Porsche. Our new company cars are here.
;)