How to improve Matt Chat?

[Shaewaroz]

UPDATE 5.1.2016!

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I have been an enthusiastic supporter of Matt Chat for a couple of years already, but I can't help but feel that the show could reach an even higher degree of excellency with a couple of changes/improvements. I would also really like to hear what other people here think about the show and how they would like to see it changed.

Personally I think interviews are the meat of Matt Chat - Matt's interviews are probably the most thorough and interesting game developer interviews available anywhere. We need more interviews like this. Since Matt has already made some name for himself and is in many way in position of privilege, he should concentrate on arranging interviews with as many game developers as he can instead of wasting his time making game reviews.

Speaking of game reviews, honestly I don't think they belong in Matt Chat. Matt's game reviews are rather bland - they merely consist of his gameplay footage and very general statements about the game's strengths and weaknesses. They feature only brief insights about the game's development history - nothing you wouldn't find in a Wikipedia article. There are really no shortage of insightful game reviewers on Youtube and I feel that Matt's reviews don't really add anything significant to the discussion. Matt is a funny guy and listening to his commentary is fun, but I still think he would do more significant work as an interviewer. I would also love to see him arrange panel discussions about game development and maybe even debates about pressing gaming related issues (the state and future of PC gaming for instance).

Another things that bugs me a bit about Matt Chat is the overwhelming focus on RPGs. Since Matt is a self-proclaimed videogame historian, I think he should try to diversify his content and focus more on other game genres as well. Granted, he has had some pioneers of computer strategy games and fps' on his show already, but I wouldn't mind focusing even more toward balancing the coverage between different game genres.

I might be in the minority on this, but I never found the beer reviews to be an essential part of Matt Chat. I don't mind them and making a beer review doesn't really take any time to prepare or edit, but having the beer review at the end of every video makes Matt look a little less professional - if anyone even cares whether he looks professional or not. But as I said, it's a matter of taste and I don't really mind them.

Well maybe that's enough to get the discussion going.

Does Matt Chat need improving or is it perfect the way it is?

 

[J_C]

Well, I also like the interviews more, but he does very few game reviews now, maybe one every month, so meh...I can bear with it. And I don't think these are really reviews, more of a sneakpeek or a short lets play. Actually I really enjoyed the latest one about Wasteland 2.

I don't think the beer segment makes it less professional, although I don't watch that part. But because it is in the end, I don't think it hurts anybody. And he has fans who like them.

I don't think one can really improve it. Sure he could have interviews with more developers, or more famous people, but that mostly depends on the interviewee. If they don't want to give an interview, he can't do anything about it.

Regarding the focus on RPGs, well Matt always stated that RPGs are the closest to his heart, although he likes other genres too.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Matt needs to learn how to ask follow-up questions.

You're absolutely right that interviews are the only reason anyone watches his show (they're super-interesting to anyone with a passion for this hobby). I want to be clear and say that I'm not advocating for Matt to start asking Brenda Romero about whether or not Cleve can really lift 250000kg, but I don't think it's unreasonable for him to challenge, say, Lord British on the various factually inaccurate claims he's made on his show.

It seems like Matt (possibly accurately) assumes that people will stop coming on his show if there's the slightest chance that the interview won't be a total puff-piece, which is... disconcerting.


I don't think anyone gives a shit about the beer. If Matt wants to drink beer? OK!

 

[Shaewaroz]

Matt needs to learn how to ask follow-up questions.

This is actually a really good point.

 

[Turisas]

Needs more sex appeal. Some dancing girls in the background and maybe he should drink the beer from an ample bosom.

 

[Destroid]

Matt needs to learn how to ask follow-up questions.

You're absolutely right that interviews are the only reason anyone watches his show (they're super-interesting to anyone with a passion for this hobby). I want to be clear and say that I'm not advocating for Matt to start asking Brenda Romero about whether or not Cleve can really lift 250000kg, but I don't think it's unreasonable for him to challenge, say, Lord British on the various factually inaccurate claims he's made on his show.

It seems like Matt (possibly accurately) assumes that people will stop coming on his show if there's the slightest chance that the interview won't be a total puff-piece, which is... disconcerting.


I don't think anyone gives a shit about the beer. If Matt wants to drink beer? OK!

I'm fine with him just getting the devs on the show and letting them speak their mind with regard to older projects and events. I see some value in being more challenging when discussing recent affairs.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

He should cut his hair and shave... No... that would be .

What he should do is let his beard grow even more...

 

[ghostdog]

I don't think Matt can improve that much. He is a likeable guy with a passion for old-school gaming and cRPGs and has done some great interviews with developers. I don't think he is insightful, witty, or funny enough to make gaming-rant videos or in-depth reviews that would be very interesting, or entertaining. He should continue doing mostly interviews, because he is good at it and it's an important offering to gaming history and gaming enthusiasts.

 

[Crooked Bee]

I agree that Matt should stick to interviews, those are really valuable to all of us interested in the genre's history. However, as <3sRichardSimmons noted, Matt lacks the ability to ask good follow-up questions and generally follow up on the points the interviewee is making. It'd be good if he improved on that.

He should also research stuff like the mechanics/systems/innovashuns of the games he's doing the interview about better - his questions are often not in-depth or well-formulated enough.

 

[toro]

He should convert to Islam.

 

[taxalot]

He should convert to Islam.

That would solve the beer segment issue.

 

[Gord]

His interviews are clearly the meat of his show. While his reviews are nice as a type of sneak-peek into a game and good for letting the audience know about the existence of them, they are somewhat bare-bones.
Therefore, if he would like to improve his show, he should improve the interviews a bit. Follow-ups have been mentioned already, but this is really something he might want to work on. He could also involve his viewers a bit more, e.g. by asking them a couple of weeks in advance about questions they'd like him to ask (but maybe he's already doing that, I think there are questions he mentions are coming from his viewers sometimes?).

The beer section he should keep, imho. It's anyway at the end, so if someone isn't interested in it, he can just stop at that point without missing much. The beers are not available in most parts of the world (hey, how about some international beers once in a while), but I don't really mind.

 

[Destroid]

His interviews are clearly the meat of his show. While his reviews are nice as a type of sneak-peek into a game and good for letting the audience know about the existence of them, they are somewhat bare-bones.
Therefore, if he would like to improve his show, he should improve the interviews a bit. Follow-ups have been mentioned already, but this is really something he might want to work on. He could also involve his viewers a bit more, e.g. by asking them a couple of weeks in advance about questions they'd like him to ask (but maybe he's already doing that, I think there are questions he mentions are coming from his viewers sometimes?).

The beer section he should keep, imho. It's anyway at the end, so if someone isn't interested in it, he can just stop at that point without missing much. The beers are not available in most parts of the world (hey, how about some international beers once in a while), but I don't really mind.

Yeah he asks on twitter, and presumably on his facebook and the like, but there often is little notice to submit questions, I've seen as short as a day or two.

 

[tuluse]

Matt should ask more direct questions instead just bringing up a topic and expecting the interviewee to say interesting things.

 

[Cadmus]

Well as the others have already said, I found his reviews utterly boring, bland and basically unwatchable in contrast with other online reviewers so he shouldn't waste much time on them. I only watch him rarely when there's an interesting person being interviewed and I think he is really softballing the interviews and I often find myself wondering why he doesn't ask this or that or follow up on something interesting.

His problem is that he is bland and a boring guy to be listening to and I don't mean no disrespect because I quite like him but I think that's a fact. His strength is his privilege position where he can get some names on his show so he should make the most of it and make the interviews stronger and more interesting.

EDIT: after thinking about it more, it all depends on what he wants. If he's expecting a good income, I think he's fucked. If he wants to improve the quality of the show for the sake of it just being good, there's stuff we can say here that would help but his limit is his personality. If he just likes doing what he's doing, leave him alone.

 

[Shaewaroz]

I'd like to remind the viewers that people actually pay him 500$ per video no matter the content. He can upload a video of making fart noises and make 500$.

I think the Patreon supporters have a say on the quality and direction of his channels content. I, for one, don't feel that his hasty gameplay videos are worth my money. I pay for the interviews.

Unfortunately there is no option on Patreon to only pay for the interviews.

 

[Infinitron]

Matt should ask more direct questions instead just bringing up a topic and expecting the interviewee to say interesting things.

I actually think Matt has been trying harder to do that in recent interviews. He's just not good enough at it.

For an example of a direct, "agenda-driven" interview, see our interview with Warren Spector, which was basically focused on attacking the question of "Why did you stop making top-down/isometric RPGs, Warren?" from as many angles as possible.

There are risks and trade-offs to this approach, however. You need to be able to phrase your questions in a nuanced, generalized way, or else the interviewee might catch on to what you're trying to do and possibly shut you out ("Wait a minute, this guy isn't interested in me at all, he just has an axe to grind.")

Also, there's always the worry that the interviewee might not remember the details of what you're asking about, which makes it feel safer to ask more general questions in the style of "So, what do you remember from the development of game X?", instead of something more targeted which you might not get an answer to. See our question about Serpent Isle's plot and setting in that Warren Spector interview, for example. Major blowout.

In addition to the interviewee, there's also the question of your readers/listeners. If you're trying to attract a wider audience, you might want to avoid asking overly specific questions, because a lot of your viewership won't have any idea what you're talking about and why you care so much about needling on some obscure gripe from 20+ years ago.

But I don't think Matt should be holding off for that reason - in fact, I'd argue that most of his viewership tunes in to his interviews precisely because of the chance they might finally be able to settle some nerdy gripe from decades ago ("Why did Ultima 8 suck?", "Why did Sir-Tech go bankrupt?", etc).

 

[J_C]

Matt noticed the thread.

Matt Chat
23 mins · Edited ·

Just saw this survey up at RPG Codex. These guys tend to be pretty inflammatory, so it might not be safe for work. At any rate, it looks like their main gripe is that my reviews "suck" and they want to see more focus on interviews, which also apparently "suck." Yay!!! . Extremism and kidding aside, do you think they make valid points? I should point out that the reviews of modern releases tend to get many more views than anything else, including retrospectives of classics and even big-name interviews.

As for being more aggressive or agenda-driven in the interviews, that's just not my thing. I'm not there to interrogate folks or badger them about things they don't want to discuss. Just not my style or personality.

Thanks, Larry, for bringing this to my attention. I'm flattered they they've put so much thought into the show!

 

[tuluse]

When I said direct questions, I don't mean being aggressive or grinding some kind of axe. I just mean actual questions about specific things. They can still be softballs (or mediumballs).

 

[Quigs]

Mattchat
vs
John Hodgman

I gotta hand it to the Hodge.

 

[Cadmus]

When I said direct questions, I don't mean being aggressive or grinding some kind of axe. I just mean actual questions about specific things. They can still be softballs (or mediumballs).

yeah exactly. You could say he should be asking "more specific questions".

Don't get mad, Matt. We mean you well!

btw I don't know why would anyone watch those reviews...for the footage? cuz that's available everywhere, especially the new releases. I watched the start of the wasteland 2 review and bleh it was just friggin boring

 

[Infinitron]

When I said direct questions, I don't mean being aggressive or grinding some kind of axe. I just mean actual questions about specific things. They can still be softballs (or mediumballs).

Neither did I! It's just - you're interviewing some industry graybeard about something nobody has asked him about in a decade. Why waste that opportunity with weaksauce career summaries that I can read about on the Digital Antiquarian?

Matt should be coming to these interviews with big lists of historical mysteries that need to be solved. Every interview should be like the Feargus one, a stream of insights and revelations. (Credit where it's due - that interview's quality was partly due to Matt improving as an interviewer, though also because Feargus is a bro who knows what we wanted to hear)

 

[Sacred82]

Matt turning into a Codex tranny getting bogged down in minutiae of actual design decisions wouldn't be an improvement IMO. At any rate it would be a different show and should be made by someone else.

 

[Gord]

Just saw this survey up at RPG Codex. These guys tend to be pretty inflammatory, so it might not be safe for work. At any rate, it looks like their main gripe is that my reviews "suck" and they want to see more focus on interviews, which also apparently "suck."

Now, Matt, we don't think you, or your interviews suck. Well, some probably do, but most of us mean you well.


And whatever you do, keep the beer reviews.

 

[rpgcodexusername]

I'd like to remind the viewers that people actually pay him 500$ per video no matter the content. He can upload a video of making fart noises and make 500$.

I think the Patreon supporters have a say on the quality and direction of his channels content. I, for one, don't feel that his hasty gameplay videos are worth my money. I pay for the interviews.

Unfortunately there is no option on Patreon to only pay for the interviews.

Split up an interview into 4 parts, PROFIT!

(I cant criticise as I'd do exactly the same thing)