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Fallout co-creator Tim Cain has had some pretty fascinating things to say about the world of influencers, and how it’s changing the way players form opinions about games.
It’s important to note that the industry veteran – who recently rejoined Obsidian, where he’s working on an unannounced project – was not necessarily being critical of YouTubers and streamers, and more reflecting his observations on the Internet at large.
But the crux of his point is thus: “Many gamers don’t look to influencers for reviews; they look to influencers to be told how to think about the games.”
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Cain emphasised that he believes many – not all – players “don’t form opinions from the online video, they're handed an opinion from the online channel they're watching”.
In other words, people aren’t looking for a perspective to help shape their own opinion – they’re looking for a perspective to parrot.
It’s something we’ve certainly noticed over the past few years, and it’s not just reserved to the world of video games either – it’s happening in politics, sport, film, music, and much more.
Expanding on his point about reviews, Cain explained:
“I’ve seen reviews go from, ‘This game has less combat and more puzzles and dialogues for you to interact with than this other game’ to ‘This game is stupid and slow-paced and made for casuals, I think you should skip it’.
That’s a huge difference in how games are presented, but more people are going for the latter. They’re like, ‘I don't have time. There's too many games. Just tell me whether I should buy it. Tell me if it's for me.’ So, they find someone they just like, and then that person’s opinion becomes their opinion.”
The veteran did acknowledge that there are plenty of positives to the current media landscape, as it allows players to find people whose views they align with, which can potentially lead them to new things. He admitted it’s a practice he personally engages with as well.
But he expressed concern about players being fed opinions, and admitted he’s personally seen people in the industry ponder how influencers are going to react to a particular game, which can ultimately influence their creative endeavours.
It’s a really interesting topic overall.
Personally, as a video game website, we hope people appreciate and resonate with our opinions – but we’ve never been ones to tell our readers how to think.
In fact, one core tenet of Push Square – and Hookshot Media at large – was to always “involve” the readers. Our philosophy has always been: share the facts, elaborate on our perspective, encourage the reader to engage.
Of course, we don’t always see eye-to-eye, but there’s a healthy back-and-forth on this website which makes the comments sections worth reading. You don’t see that very often.
We’d just encourage everyone to always make up their own minds.
It’s interesting to hear different opinions and perspectives, of course – there’s certainly nothing wrong with seeking out those influencers you resonate with – but use their views to draw your own conclusions.
As long as everyone’s always respectful of each other, it’s those different outlooks that make life interesting.