Editor's note: Toby keeps scoring prized interviews with some of the more interesting people in the community-management sector. This time, we've got former video-game journalist Dan Amrich of Activision answering questions about cartoony games vs. realistic games, South Park 64, and lifetime MMO subscriptions. -Jason
Growing up, whenever I got my hands on a magazine, only a few journalists were around I enjoyed reading. This interview features former video-game journalist Dan Amrich, now the social-media guy at Activision. While he may be a community manager, for those of us who love to read and write in the gaming industry, he's much more. He answered six random questions, and I hope to repeat this randomness sometime down the road.
Toby Davis: What are your thoughts on cartoonish-looking games, such as Sly Cooper, versus more visually realistic games, such as Modern Warfare 2?
Dan Amrich: Gaming, like visual art or books, is an open world where absolutely anything is possible. I see no reason to restrict anybody’s creative vision. I love it when a game can replicate a realistic environment – one I wouldn’t be able to explore in any other way – but I have just as much fun with complete fantasy worlds. BioShock is a great example of a realistic, fantasy environment – so they can even sit side by side. I love hearing people say “That spaceship game has such realistic handling!” What, just like the spaceship in your garage?
I think the important thing is not to assume that a cartoony game is “for kids.” Sophisticated gameplay mechanics and interesting stuff happens in cartoony games. Remember how “realistic” EverQuest looked when it came out? WOW featured a stylized, more “cartoony” world – and that clearly did not dissuade people from digging in deep.
TD: Do you think South Park 64 should make a comeback and why?
DA: Wow, these are random questions. It was of its time. Better to put resources into a new South Park game that takes advantage of what games are doing today.
TD: As a long-time video-game journalist now working on the other side at Activision, have you noticed any differences when playing or talking about games?
DA: I was always known for playing devil’s advocate on the OXM podcast – whatever the popular sentiment seemed to be about a topic or a company, I would often pipe up with, “Well, have you considered this other point of view?” And I’m still doing that.
I do have more insight as to why Activision does what it does, so that makes me even more rational when I approach something that everybody else is livid about. I still enjoy games like a consumer, no matter who makes them – I still buy games, though I can often score Activision games for free, and like everybody else, I came away from E3 with a wish list of games I intend to buy. And I don’t like every game Activision publishes. But I was always aware of the effort that went into making games, and now I get to see some of that effort up close and personal. So I still love playing games, and I can still approach them objectively. I don’t think that’s going to change.
TD: What is your favorite genre and game in that genre that you enjoy as a guilty pleasure?
DA: Car combat. Just about any game that puts a rocket launcher on a car’s hood, I’ll play. Twisted Metal, Vigilante 8, Scrap Metal – hell, I even played Rogue Trip. Interstate 76 was a major, major thing for me when that came out in 1997. That was a game that took me someplace I’d never been but always wanted to be. I don’t know if I have a guilty pleasure in that genre because I have no shame about loving it! I am excited to see TM coming back – when that was teased a year or so ago, that’s when I decided to buy a PS3. And right now, Blur is scratching the itch.
TD: You've played World of Warcraft. I wish companies would switch from monthly fees to lifetime subscriptions. How do you feel about monthly fees versus lifetime subscriptions, such as Star Trek Online uses?
DA: Lifetime subs are a tough proposition for a few reasons. For one, where do you determine lifetime? The gamer’s lifetime, or the game’s? If technology evolves and, say, Star Trek Online wants to completely overhaul its graphic engine in a few years’ time, does that make it “the same game” as before and should the lifetime sub cover that, or does the studio need the constant flow of monthly income to fund that overhaul? I love the idea in theory — and I have some lifetime subs, for things like TiVo and social organizations — but I think we haven’t seen it happen much because it’s not practical for the folks making the game. Certainly, it’d be cool for gamers, but I don’t know if it’s feasible for something the size of, say, WOW.
TD: Have you ever set a goal that you really wanted to accomplish, and can you share what it was — or is?
DA: Early in my career I set goals on a regular basis – small, achievable ones, but ones I didn’t know how to achieve all the same. I started out reviewing music, and my goal for a long time was to get
published in one of the guitar magazines I regularly read, and still do read.
After I got a few smaller articles under my belt during college, I approached Guitar World and – bam – got hired. So I needed a new goal, and as I started to write about games and tech, I wanted to write for Wired. I got lucky, pitched a small article that got published in 1995, and that opened even bigger doors. I literally got freelance work from a major metropolitan magazine because the editor said, “Well, if you’ve written for Wired, that’s good enough for us.”
So the next goal was to write a book – and some years later when I was at GamePro, I got the chance to write PlayStation 2 for Dummies, now available in bargain bins everywhere. That was a great learning experience, but now I want to write a “real” book, something that is really a statement from me and not part of a series. I am working on that, slowly, as we speak. But I’m very grateful that I was able to achieve a lot of my goals, even though I kept setting the bar higher for myself.
As for goals that I have never achieved, one of my old goals, before I actually started writing for a living, was to write for Saturday Night Live. I don’t think I’m funny enough to be able to write that way, under tight deadlines. And one day I’d like to write enough original songs to fill a CD and just give it away.
You can follow Dan Amrich on Twitter as @OneOfSwords to find out the latest Activision information, or on his website, OneOfSwords.