iTZKooPA recaps one of VGXPO 2009’s biggest talks.
The panel, as envisioned by the company behind the show, was originally supposed to be just that, a panel discussion. Due to circumstances with the planning and execution of VGXPO 2009 only a single industry insider ended up sitting down. That man was Bill Kunkel. Kunkel isn’t a super star of the industry, but he has participated in some landmark changes during his long tenure with video games, including co-founding Electronic Gaming Monthly, having a hand in the development of numerous hit titles (Bart’s Nightmare & Batman Returns), and his beloved book, Confessions of The Game Doctor.
Due to the aforementioned circumstances Kunkel ended up delivering a soliloquy. He recanted the progress of violent video games from the start until the creation of the ESRB years later. After rattling off numerous violent and/or sexual games of the yesteryear, Shark Attack and Custer’s Last Stand, both for Atari 2600, and their impact, he focused on the title that made the ESRB a reality, Mortal Kombat. It’s at this point that Kunkel’s expertise of the old industry began to slip, forcing him to relate to the stale arguments of bad parenting. His later where by no means bad, they weren’t fresh. They didn’t contain the same flare and passion that his statements of the Mortal Kombat and Doom era did.
Coming from a man who’s in the middle of making the third Postal game, a title that’s sure to be rated ‘M,’ hearing him mix-up rating categories was a bit jarring. The ESRB doesn’t contain an ‘R’ rating, and movies don’t have an NA category. A minor detail, but considering the topic…Although Kunkel discussions may have deteriorated as it came to a close, the opinionated veteran had plenty of other thoughts of the video game industry that he shared with us during the Q&A session.
He, like many other developers, believes that Metacritic, and meta-ranking sites like it, are hurting the industry. These “arbitrary” score conglomerates enable publishers to put an immense amount of pressure on developers. For example, if a particular title doesn’t reach a certain score (usually 90%), then an incredible amount of money can be lost. Kunkel argued that games, movies, comics, any form of entertainment, shouldn’t be given a score at all. Instead video games should be viewed as one views a piece of art, worthy or not. He admits that due to the nature of human beings and their reading habits, that world is nothing more then a pipe dream.
When asked what he believes the fate of the print industry is the co-founder of Electronic Games Magazine and final Editor in Chief for Tips and Tricks related the industry’s workers to elevator operators. It doesn’t matter how fantastic those operators were at placing an elevator exactly level with the floor, once there was an easier way to distribute people, it replaced all of them. Kunkel stated “If EGM can’t make it, no one can.” According to him, it’s only a matter of time before Game Informer, PC Gamer and the gamer supported Kill Screen magazine become online-only publications.
Throughout the talk Kunkel took potshots at a far ranging set of topics that impact the industry. The ESRB’s rating practices, parents, publishers and developers creating homogeneous titles, nothing was left unturned. But he left the audience with one cohesive message.
If we want things to change, we have to demand the change. We have to fight for a more accurate ratings system. We have to demand more diverse titles. We have to reward innovation, art and dedication. We have to stand up and make ourselves heard before we can be in a gamer utopia.
I think that was a very fair analysis of my “soliloquy” and appreciate the fact that you even placed the situation of finding myself delivering a monologue in context. Just a few points:
1) I co-founded (with Arnie Katz) Electronic Games magazine in 1981, several years before EGM arrived on the scene. The confusion is understandable, however, as Steve Harris published a reboot of EG in the 90s where I was executive editor. Also, I wrote under my own name and as The Game Doctor for EGM for a year or so around the same time period.
2) The porno VCS game was “Custer’s Revenge.”
3) I totally had a brain fart on the ESRB ratings and was thinking of “AO” rather that “NA” — apparently a REALLY tough rating of “Not Available.”
4) I did so many panels but I did try to offer full disclosure with regard to my membership in the Running With Scissors family (plus it should have been in the program). If I failed to do so on this panel it is totally my bad.
5) Loved your wrap-up graph and again, appreciate that you not only enjoyed some of what I had to say — when I’m booked on a panel people usually want potshots, comedy and stories from the Jurassic — but I appreciate your compassion in realizing that it can be tough all alone on those panels. Plus, you called my book (coming soon to the Kindle and other digital formats with two new chapters) “beloved”… that’s the first time anyone has described it thus, but man, thanks.
I agree with Bill Kunkel! Well done iTZKooPA. Looking forward to more on the spot correspondence…