Games journalism: reporting on board games through the ages
How has coverage of games changed over time? This was the topic of discussion at SPIEL 2023 between Maren Hofman from Spiegel, Andreas Becker from spielbox, Christoph Dick from Better Board Games and Joana Leyendecker from 1 Live.
In the past, newspapers and radio were the way to find out about the latest news. Today, a colourful bouquet of media complements reporting on and about board games. But where do all these channels come from, and what’s the difference between a podcast and radio, between YouTube and television, or between a blog and print? This was the topic of discussion at SPIEL 2023 between Maren Hofman, Andreas Becker, Christoph Dick and Joana Leyendecker. Manuel Fritsch moderated the discussion.
Andreas Becker: Becker has been editor-in-chief of “spielbox”, Europe’s largest subscription-based games magazine, since 2021. His motto: games journalism can be so much more than just reviews, reviews and more reviews.
Christoph Dick: Dick founded the YouTube channel “Better Board Games” in 2018. It has since become one of the most popular board game channels in Germany. By profession, Dick is a product manager and supports digital product development.
Joana Leyendecker: Leyendecker works as a freelance show producer and games reporter, primarily for 1LIVE. In her podcast “Unlocked”, she reports on analogue and digital games as well as the industry. She is also the head writer of the Twitch format WDR Heimwehpixel.
Maren Hoffmann: Hoffmann regularly reports on board games in Spiegel and spielbox as a journalist. Her goal is to make games understandable to a wide audience. Reflecting on what we do with games, what games do with us and how games are made has been an important focus of her journalistic work for decades.