Omni recently had the opportunity to conduct an email interview with Computer Gaming World editor Jeff Green. Ever wonder what trials and tribulations gaming journalists have to deal with on a daily basis? Or what about Jeff's caffeinated beverage of choice when burning the midnight oil during a round of Diablo II? We've got the answers to those questions and a whole bunch more. So kick back and relax with your caffeinated beverage of choice and enjoy the interview.

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Interview with Jeff Green

September 4, 2000

What long, sordid road did you travel to wind up at Computer Gaming World?

Very long and extremely sordid. So sordid that I’m gonna have to make something else up, or else I’ll end up in divorce court, and then jail.

Actually, it’s really kind of a boring story. Basically, like the rest of us, I’ve been playing games my entire life, as much as possible, while avoiding everything I was supposed to be doing. My best story about this is when I was a student at UC Berkeley, and actually played pinball instead of taking one of my final exams. I failed the class.

After barely graduating from Berkeley, I then got a job as a proofreader at a computer book publishing house. This is the kind of shit job you have to take if you are an English major in the Bay Area and don’t want to wait tables. From there, it was just a logical progression from one boring, high-tech journalism job to the next. Eventually, I wound up at MacWEEK magazine, as a reviews editor, where I got to work on exciting articles like "Choosing the Right Ethernet Adapter." All this time, I kept playing games and reading CGW obsessively, wondering who the lucky jerks were who actually got to have THAT job.

Then, in 1996, a good thing happened. MacWEEK was at that time owned by the same publishing conglomerate as CGW: Ziff Davis. This meant that we received an internal job-listings bulletin for all the publications. An opening came up at CGW, and I begged, cajoled, whined, and threatened Johnny Wilson to please take me on staff. I took a pay cut and a job title cut to do it. And it was totally worth it. Best job I’ve ever had, and probably ever will have.

Is it as fun to be a gaming editor as everyone fantasizes?

Yes. I hate to admit it, but yes. Of course we have to work, and of course some days it’s very stressful. But there are many days, and many hours, where it is exactly what you might imagine it to be. We are totally having fun, playing all the newest games, at work, while getting paid. It’s obnoxiously fun, and barely qualifies as real work.

What is the most difficult part of your job?

For me personally, it’s writing previews. I hate doing them. It’s very hard to not sound like you’re just doing PR for the games company, and it’s hard and often unfair to criticize games before they’re finished. So it’s kind of a no-win situation. And sometimes I wish we could skip an issue every once in awhile. The other thing I hate is having to politely sit through game demos of games that stink. We spend a lot of our time here getting visits from game companies peddling their wares, and it can get very depressing at times. You try to be nice, and polite, and listen to what they have to say, but inside you’re thinking: "man, give it up" and fantasizing about playing Unreal Tournament.

Do you take your work home with you?

All the time, every day. It’s actually hard for me to separate out the "work" and "play", because the sad fact is that I’d probably be gaming most nights anyway. But, there’s always a game I need to look at, for work. I’m never caught up. The problem with being a supposed "authority" on gaming is that you have to look at everything. And if you’re conscientious about it, you don’t want that to be a superficial look. So I spend many, many evenings just trying to slog through games (some good, some bad) just so I have an informed impression. And then other nights I just play something that I’m really into---like Icewind Dale and Diablo 2 right now—for fun.

How easy is it to balance family and work responsibilities? Who gets priority?

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Yikes. My wife would have a much different answer about that latter question than me.

But I always try to give my family priority---and I definitely will when I can see that someone there (I have a wife and one six-year-old daughter) needs me. As much as I love my job, there’s nothing more important to me than making sure my kid is happy and doing well. A job is one thing, but a happy kid--that is what success is all about.

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It seems that players have to upgrade their computers every few months to take advantages of the latest game features. Do you have to upgrade like the rest of us? Or is that all taken care of by Ziff Davis?

Taken care of by Ziff Davis?? Bwah-hah-hah-hah!!! Not a chance.

Actually, let me clarify. They do take care of us at the office. We get fairly regular upgrades on our machines at work. This used to not be the case. They used to not understand that we actually needed to play games for work. In fact, we didn’t even have a way to play on the Internet even a year ago. But constant complaining fixed all that.

At home, though, we’re on our own. We’re just like everyone else: we have to constantly upgrade, and pay our own money, to keep up. It’s a good thing though: it keeps us connected to reality.

How many hours a week do you play games?

God. At least 20. Never less than that. Depending on how much I’m playing at work, it might be much more than that.

Writing can be a difficult undertaking. Have you ever reached a point where you think, "Take this pen/pencil/keyboard and shove it! I’m going to the beach."?

Constantly. I’m one of those Writers Who Suffer. I bleed the words out. Sometimes it takes me hours to get one paragraph done, especially in my column, which I really, really try hard to make decent every month. I put a lot of pressure on myself and suffer constantly. I wish it came more easily to me.

How fair a reviewer do you think you are?

I think I’m pretty fair, for the most part. I try to never go into any review with an agenda, or an axe to grind. If I feel like I do, then I remove myself from the project. I always just try to think of myself as a gamer, and I try to imagine that I’ve just spent my $50 on this thing. I try to never be unduly harsh on a company that bugs me, or kiss the ass of a company I like. Every game needs to stand alone, on its own merit. The only review I really regret is of "Disciples—Sacred Lands". I was too harsh on it, from not playing it enough. I got a lot of grief for that and really learned my lesson.

There’s a lot of psychological mumbo-jumbo about "feelings" these days. Do you ever think a game designer will read a negative review of their game written by you and begin to weep uncontrollably? Or is this a goal?

Heh heh. Certainly not a goal. Well, okay, maybe sometimes it is. But yes I know that some game designers get VERY angry about our reviews, because I have a folder full of hostile hate mail to prove it. And it’s not like I don’t understand their point of view. Here they’ve spent years working every day on a project, only to get dissed by some smart-ass game reviewer who couldn’t do that job if his life depended on it.

Have you ever been offered money under the table to write a favorable review?

No. Never. Thank god. But if someone ever did, not only would I chew them out big time, but I’d probably write about it in the magazine. Or threaten to at least.

Do you ever have to put in for overtime? And if so, what’s your beverage of choice to maintain your edge?

Well, I’m on salary, so "overtime" doesn’t exist. I work as many hours as it takes to get it all done. If you count game playing, I am "working" way more than 40 hours a week. And it’s coffee all the way, baby. Many, many cups a day. I walk around wired all the time. When I’m not stoned, that is.

What has been the single most important development in the gaming world?

Oh lord. What is with these tough questions? I’m not sure I have the definitive answer for you. I’ll give you the first one that came to my head, though: the Internet. It’s affected everything. And not just the ability to play multiplayer (which is huge of course) but also the dissemination of information, and of mods, patches, etc. It’s changed the entire nature of the business, and created more of a community than we ever could have dreamed of a decade ago. It’s phenomenally cool and we should never take it for granted.

Why can’t every game be a five star game?

Because not every game is created to be a five-star game. Many many games are only created to make money, not to be good. I mean, of course, every game designer wants to make money. But the best ones also have other things on their mind: like quality.

What is your favorite game of all time? Why?

Another tough one. Depending on the day you asked me, I might say any one of the following: Warcraft II, Doom, the first Monkey Island, or Heroes of Might and Magic II. Is that a cop-out? I guess it is. Doom was the first game to absolutely blow me away. It just blew my mind how cool and scary that game was. I used to play at like 1 a.m., with my headphones on and lights out, and I would be scared to death. I never knew a game could do that, and not many have since then. Half-Life did. But Warcraft II is such a perfect game in so many ways, and it’s the game that turned me on to the joys of multiplayer. Basically, senator, I refuse to answer this question on the grounds it may incriminate me.

User mods have really made an impact on the gaming industry. I see this as a result of the glut of crummy games. People are dissatisfied. Do you think every game should come with a game editor?

Well, not every game deserves a game editor. And some probably don’t lend themselves well to one. And, maybe most importantly, I’d hate to see game designers getting lazy and compromising on creating a good experience THEMSELVES by just figuring that fans will create it for them. Nevertheless, I do agree with you in general. Some of the best gaming moments I’ve had all year have come from user-created Unreal Tournament levels. And of course games like Counter-Strike are utterly amazing.

You’re trapped in a locked room with a meter and a half of twine, a disassembled ball-point pen, a old 3Dfx card, a wooden stick 45 cm long, a stick of bubble gum, a stapler and Stevie "Killcreek" Case. How do you get out of the room?

If I’m trapped in a locked room with Stevie "Killcreek" Case, I don’t want to get out. I take all those other things in the room and put them to the side. Well maybe we keep the twine because that could be fun. And it’s not because of her body (well not that alone). It’s because she is a very smart and very nice person. She doesn’t deserve the grief that’s been handed to her.

Where do you see PC games in ten years?

We will all have microchips in our heads and will play games through our eyeballs. I won’t tell you where we’ll be inserting the DVDs, but it won’t be pretty. Or comfortable.

Will Microsoft eventually own everything?

Yes. And I’m not sure if it’s a bad thing. As much as I hate to say this, because I used to hate them and because when you compliment them it’s kind of like complimenting Darth Vadar: They are turning into quite the amazing game publisher, and are very focussed and committed to quality right now. You can thank Ed Fries for that---the head of their gaming division. He is a brilliant guy who really cares about the industry in general and the quality of their own games. It’s fashionable to diss Microsoft---I do it all the time myself---but the more disturbing truth about them right now is that they are very good at what they do, and have an amazing stable of developers now.

If you could change one thing in the gaming industry what would it be?

I’d pay me more.

Secondly, I’d encourage PC game designers to take more chances and be more creative. To stop copying everyone else. I’m a diehard supporter of PC games, but I tell you, sometimes I look at the creativity that takes place on the Dreamcast, and N64, and even the Gameboy, and am blown away with the creativity I see on those platforms. They’re willing to make games that look like nothing else. We don’t see that enough on the PC.

More game designers are becoming celebrities in their own right. Will gaming editors ever attain celebrity status? And would they be able to handle the groupies?

Gaming editors as celebrities? You’re a funny guy. And any groupie who wants to get in touch with me, feel free. As long as you’re female.

What’s E3 really like?

It’s generally boring and annoying and overcrowded and, for the gaming press, a big waste of time. Because almost nobody tells us anything new there anymore. We’ve seen all the important stuff before the show. Or else we see new stuff for 5 minutes and then talk about when we’re really going to see it after the show is over.

On the other hand, it is a great opportunity to drink a lot, catch up with friends in the industry, and in general act like an immature idiot and stay out super late for a few days without getting in trouble with my wife. I always have fun at E3, but it never has anything to do with the convention itself.

Do you like having the last page of CGW all to yourself?

It’s constantly amazing to me, to be honest. I always feel not worthy. I read the magazine for years before I ever worked here, and remember both the Rumor Guy and Martin Cirulis, both whom I liked a lot. So I always have these moments of: "wow, I can’t believe I actually get to do this." So I always try my best to prove my worthiness.

Every workplace has at least one jerk. Any jerks in your office?

Right now, we have an amazing staff. The best it’s been in all the years I’ve worked here, no offense to any of the guys who have since left, who were also good guys. What’s cool right now is just that there is a bit less factionalism, a bit less "these games are cool but those games suck" attitude. People here have a very open mind right now, which is the most important quality in a journalist. No jerks right now. Other than me.

Who or what has had the biggest influence on your life?

MAD magazine was my biggest influence as a boy. Woody Allen too. Especially his old books and essays for the New Yorker, which were absolutely hysterical. That’s what made me want to be a writer-- to try to make people laugh. I couldn’t think of anything that would be more satisfying to do with my life.

Give us your impressions of some of the game designers and programmers you’ve met over the years.

Here’s a couple. John Romero is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, and a true gaming geek. You can’t not like this guy when you talk to him. You’ll feel bad about everything you wrote or thought about him after you meet him, because he is so dang nice and genuine in his love of games.

Tom Hall is an insane, mad genius and one of the funniest guys on the planet. I am in awe of him.

All the people at Blizzard, Bioware, and Bungie: these are my people. Big geeks. Comics fans. The kind of people you’d want to share a spliff and talk about the X-Men movie with.

There’s so many more. Jon Van Canaghem, Jordan Mechner, Bruce Shelley: all very intelligent, humble, brilliant guys who get the job done without being rock stars about it.

In general, game designers and programmers tend to be just like you and me---only they work a lot harder.

Do you read other game-related magazines?

Oh I read them all. You name it, I read it. Both print and online. To not do so is to have your head in the sand, to shut yourself off to what makes you good or bad. I always like to see what other people are doing and how they do it. You can learn something from every magazine---even if it’s just what not to do.

Any embarrassing personal stories you’d rather not share, that you’d like to share with us?

I liked Myst.

Also, the last time I visited Bioware, I got so drunk that I vomited in my hotel bed and then woke up sometime later, in the middle of the night, on the bathroom floor.

How about embarrassing stories about other people?

Don’t get me started. I could get the whole CGW staff fired and arrested. Truly.

Have you ever been recognized in public? (And no, relatives don’t count)

Only at E3. People will come up to me and say, "hey, you’re that guy on the back page, right?" At which point I usually run.

Did you ever go to college or university, and what was your major?

See answer #1 above. UC Berkeley, English major. That was one intense time in my life. I learned a lot, and almost none of it came from my university studies. That’s because I never did any studying at the university.

What advice can you give to someone whose dream it is to write for a gaming magazine?

Write, write, write. Develop your own style, and don’t be afraid to do so. Speak honestly. There’s thousands of people who know games, so just knowing about them isn’t good enough. You have to give people a reason to want to listen to you. Being smart about games is one reason, but not necessarily the best one. You need to be a good writer, first. Also: come up with a backup career plan, too. Because there’s not many jobs out there, and the ones that are there don’t pay very well.

How do you spend your free time? Hobbies?

These days, a lot of my free time goes to my daughter. I’m currently teaching her how to ride a two-wheeler. And we’re reading all the time. Right now we’re on the 5^th Oz book together. I’m a total bookworm myself (favorite authors: James Ellroy, Don DeLillo, Roddy Doyle) and complete movie geek. I just bought a DVD player and big-ass SurroundSound system for my TV, and it may be the single greatest purchase of my life. And then I have an absolutely out of control comic book addiction, which is at least as bad as my gaming addiction. (Favorites: Usagi Yojimbo, Transmetropolitan, Top 10, Akiko, and Astro City.)

Canadian Triva Question: What calendar date is Canada Day celebrated?

What do you mean by "Canada"? Didn’t we nuke that place already? What are you talking aboot?

The Armchair Empire would like to thank Jeff Green for taking some time out of his hectic schedule to do this interview. Again, Omni was the inquisitor / question-conceiver for this interview.


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