We are in the final week of the reader submissions period for Critical Distance’s end of year feature, the mega-roundup This Year In Video Game Blogging. This is a reminder to everybody to get your suggestions in for the feature – you are encouraged to recommend what you feel is your best, or most representative of your work or someone else’s.
We’ve written a little about our methodology behind the feature. The relevant point is that because the Internet is too large a place, we have to somehow limit what we consider. We mainly do this using the TWIVGB roundups. Whatever makes it into those roundups is what I automatically consider for entry.
It’s really important that our own list is augmented by suggestions from readers like you.
Video
We’re looking for written, audio, and visual work in all formats, but I’d like to address this particular call to all the video producers and critics.
Video submissions are extremely valuable, because of the difficult nature of YouTube regarding discoverabilty. We on staff often don’t find or know that a specific channel exists for months if not years into its lifespan. That means that a good chunk of that person’s work was never considered for the weekly roundups when it was first released. We need your help to fill in the gaps that might have been left by the TWIVGB collection in this common but unfortunate circumstances.
I do go through my YouTube Subscriptions for anything that might have gotten missed. However, that does not account for the channels I do not follow. A question you might be asking yourself is, do I follow you? The answer is, it doesn’t matter. Better err on the side of submitting your work and being sure it gets at least considered and not guessing. (Though if you insist on something closer to a real answer, the best I can do is: have I interviewed you on the Critical Distance podcast? If not, then there is a good chance I don’t follow you. There are some channels I do subscribe to and didn’t interview for whatever reason, but not many.)
I follow quite a few channels, but nowhere near enough to be considered anything close to comprehensive. I have, on a slip of paper, a list of 21 channels that I am going to check out in the new year because I don’t have time right now. Is there something among them worth considering for TYIVGB? Probably, but I won’t know it yet.
So, I’m calling on the video producers and critics to submit your best work and get your colleagues to do the same. Hell, do it for them if they don’t know what Critical Distance is. If nothing else, it will get you on my radar, so I can check your work out next year.
Huzzah!