There is place for a taste maker, trusted curator, artisanal reviewer. And the people that do that are successful still. But it's a fundamentally different structure than these old sites
Basically the niche that youtube reviewers fill now. People who put their own personality into their content as much as they do the games. You're following them for their opinions and entertaining presentation as much as the gaming content. You may not always agree with their opinions, but even in that you learn enough about their tastes over time that you have an idea whether you would like the games or not.
Correct, and it wouldn't be difficult to build a stable of a couple people with overlapping taste that diverges in specific, known ways to have a variety of content, including point and counterpoint stuff.
There you go, you have a gaming site again.
Hell there's webcomics with more active forums than most gaming sites. Its not hard to have a niche community exist if you aren't actively trying to murder it in the cradle.
Basically the niche that youtube reviewers fill now. People who put their own personality into their content as much as they do the games. You're following them for their opinions and entertaining presentation as much as the gaming content. You may not always agree with their opinions, but even in that you learn enough about their tastes over time that you have an idea whether you would like the games or not.
Correct, and it wouldn't be difficult to build a stable of a couple people with overlapping taste that diverges in specific, known ways to have a variety of content, including point and counterpoint stuff.
There you go, you have a gaming site again.
Hell there's webcomics with more active forums than most gaming sites. Its not hard to have a niche community exist if you aren't actively trying to murder it in the cradle.