I’m getting around to this aspect of the process far later than I really wanted to. Like last year, we are opening submissions for our annual This Year In Videogame Blogging feature. We’ve had good success in the past and while I’m still trying to make this better, one of the things that went oh so right last year was asking for submissions from you, the readers.
Like last year, we are crowdsourcing posts in addition to our own due diligence. The rules and type of thing we are looking for in recommendations for the yearly round up are pretty much the same. The only real rules are the post or other form of gaming criticism must have a 2012 post date. That’s from January 1st to whenever you end up sending in your suggestion. And it must be of a very good quality to be considered one of the best or representative of the year. To help, here are so criteria to help understand what we are looking for.
1. Any piece of writing that just sticks out in your mind. Something that weeks, even months after it’s published stays with you and the culture as a whole just because they’re that influential or important. Pieces that get cited to this day. Examples from previous years include.
- The New Games Journalism by Kieron Gillen ‘05
- Ludonarrative Dissonance by Clint Hocking ‘07
- Taxonomy of Gamers by Mitch Krapta ‘08
- Permanent Death by Ben Abraham ‘09
- Video games can never be art by Roger Ebert ‘10
- The Pratfall of Penny Arcade – A Timeline (aka Debacle Timeline) by Unknown ‘11
2. Any pieces that are an excellent example of a larger trends within the conversation from critical community surrounding the big games of the year. Last year the big, most talked-about games with extensive conversations around them were L.A. Noire, Portal 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Bastion and Skyrim. This year we want example pieces highlighting the discussion that took place around the games of 2012.
3. Any example pieces from the important bloggers/sites that stood out this year. These are the pieces that highlight or are representative of the critics’ writing and work throughout the year. You can nominate your own work.
4. Any pieces of excellence pertaining to gaming culture that highlights a conversation from this year. Large compilation pieces are preferred or pieces that otherwise capture the scope and variety of the conversation.
5. Any pieces that, while they may not fall under the previous criteria, are simply a exceptional piece of beautiful writing.
These are just rough guidelines to what we are looking for. Please send all links to our email. Please no @ messages or DMs on Twitter or messages on Facebook. Take your time in looking through and send us any pieces that were your favorites this year. The deadline is Midnight, December 28th, Eastern Standard Time. I know it’s cutting it rather close and I apologize for that.
You can send as many emails with as many links as you want so if you forget something you can send another email with it included. Please include one or two lines about why you think the piece should be included. Nothing too long- we still have to go through everything. I must stress this point. Last year we received a few full essays explaining their selections.
Thank you for your time and hope you have a happy December. And of course, be sure to tune in on December 30th for the results of 2012’s This Year in Videogame Blogging!