The Impact Factor
Welcome to The Impact Factor! TIF is a blog I
created to share my thoughts on video games. I’ve got a lot to share with you
guys in this introduction, from who I am, my perspective, and the format of the
site. Without further ado, I welcome you to The Impact Factor.
The Author
Hey all, my name is Alex. I am a third year
biomedical sciences Ph.D. student studying breast cancer. Why am I creating a
blog about video games, then? Science has been a huge part of my life for the
better part of a decade. I have worked in labs since high school and I love
working and thinking about science, which is why I decided to pursue a Ph.D.
Video games, on the other hand, have been a part of my life for over two
decades. The video game experiences I had growing up, and continue to have into
adulthood, have indelibly shaped who I am. When I needed them to, games offered
an escape. At other times, games served as the foundation upon which I first
flexed my analytic muscles: the same ones I use in my science career.
Understanding how and why game elements work, how the industry reacts to this
exploding medium, or how games affect the way I think are questions I
constantly ask myself. I figured it was about time to organize my thoughts and
post them to a blog.
Ultimately, I hope to bring my history of
gaming and my perspective as a research scientist and infuse them into the
discussion of games. Am I the most qualified person to talk about games?
Certainly not. But I aim to thoughtfully and analytically present to you
reviews of contemporary games and longer form discussions on current topics in
video games, bringing my unique experiences to bear wherever able. I hope you
all share the ride with me.
As an aside, some of my favorite games of all
time are Shadow of the Colossus, The Last of Us, Dark Souls, Spelunky, Portal,
and The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker.
Why “The Impact Factor”
The term “impact factor” comes from my
experiences doing research. Impact factor is a metric by which scientific
journals are measured. This quantitation is the sum several elements: how novel
the findings in the research articles are, the overall significance of the
articles, and perhaps most importantly, how often the articles within are cited
by other authors. Most of you have probably heard of some of the journals with
the highest impact factor: Nature, Cell, Science. In the video game world,
websites take the place of journals. From my experience, some of those sites
would be IGN, Gamespot, Polygon, or Giantbomb.
To clear something up right away: I don’t
intend to be like those sites. I’m one guy writing on a blogspot in the limited
free time a Ph.D. affords me. I titled this blog “The Impact Factor,” because I
plan to discuss the games that had the largest impact on me. The topics that
have had the largest impact on me. All with a nod to my science background. I
also hope to talk about the stories and game that I think have the biggest
impact on the industry as a whole. And, assuming anyone reads this, maybe I can
impact the way you think about a game, if even in just some small way. Who
knows!
Format of the blog
Each week here on TIF, I plan to provide you
guys content. I will have two main features:
(1) “Review”: Game reviews. I will usually be
covering the games I have played within the past month or so, and/or games that
have come out within the past couple of months. The reviews will take into
account my personal experience with the game infused with a bit of the bigger
picture “how this game fits into the greater world of games.” For now, my
review scale will go from 1-5.
1: The game fails on essentially every
level. Avoid it.
2: The
game has obvious faults that detract from the experience. May be worth it for
the most devoted enthusiasts of the genre or IP, otherwise not worth your time.
3: A
solid, average game. Some faults, but none with too great an impact. Does
things generally well, even some things great. Recommended for fans of the
genre or those with extra time.
4: A great
game. Few faults, if any, are present in the game. Does nearly everything you
want it to, and well. A highly recommended game for anyone.
5: An exceptional
experience in gaming. Brings something new, unexpected, or innovative. Game
elements work together seamlessly to create an experience not to be missed.
As a point of disclosure, my gaming facilities
are limited to a PS4, PS3, 3DS, iOS and non-GPU/CPU intensive PC games. For the
most part, I will be reviewing PS4 games as that is my primary platform.
(2) “Article”: A longer form discussion of
video game topics. The format will be an abstract (summary) at top, and the
body to follow.
Each Friday, I plan to have a “News and Views”
section. Similar to that section in an issue of Nature, I will seek out and compile
a list of articles/videos/podcasts from around the web that week that have left
the biggest impact on me.
In Conclusion
Finally, all the business is out of the way! I
am excited to share my thoughts here, and get TIF rolling. See you all soon
with some new content!
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