About

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 all 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 tissue development and 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 Final Fantasy VI.

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.

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 games 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!

Follow The Impact Factor
Soundcloud
Twitter
Twitch
YouTube

Format of the blog

Mondays
(+) TIF Plays: I compile all my gameplay videos from the past week and post them in one convenient place.

Tuesdays
(+) Review: Game reviews. Reviews infuse my personal experience with a game with the bigger picture of how this title fits into the greater context of games. My scoring scale goes 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, but 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, PSVITA, 3DS, iOS and non-GPU/CPU intensive PC games.

(+) Article: A longer form discussion of video game topics. The format is an abstract (summary) at top, and the body to follow.

(+) Perspectives: When I find a topic that requires special attention, a quick response, or is of a more personal level.  Perspectives is my place to share my candid thoughts with you all.

(+) Parallels: A special article in which I draw comparisons between gaming and Ph.D. level biomedical science research.

Fridays
(+) Podcast: The Impact Factor, a podcast! The Impact Factor is what happens when two scientists, and two best friends, get together to talk about video games. The Impact Factor is where I bring my perspectives as a biomedical scientist and combine them with, and sometimes against, Fliss's social scientist world view to talk the news, games, and editorial pieces with the biggest impact. You can find our podcast on our SoundCloud or our YouTube.

(+) News & Views: Similar to the section in academic journals, with my own video game twist. I will seek out and compile a list of the editorial pieces and news that have left the biggest impact on me that week.

And that's it! I hope you all stay with me for my passion project, my exciting experiment that is The Impact Factor.