Frequently Asked Questions

What the heck is this biz?

It’s my (Zoey Handley) video game blog. I once thought that I might want to build it up into a legitimate publication by having other people write for it, but I no longer want to run a business. So, it’s my blog.

Wasn’t this called the Game Complaint Department

Yes. I thought it was funny as a sort of self-deprecating joke about video game critics. Unfortunately, some have assumed I was being literal. At best, they thought this was actually a complaint department for various businesses. At worst, they thought I was determined to just be negative.

I got the advice from a few people that I need to build my brand. Even some of those people liked my old branding, but a negative title can things off on the wrong foot. I asked a few of the developers and PR people I talk to if getting an email from the Game Complaint Department would give them pause and even the ones who thought it was a great name said that it probably would. So, now it’s Maximum Utmost.

What does Maximum Utmost even mean?

The top of the toppermost, friend. The uppest of the up.

Your review scores are suspiciously low. Is this clickbait?

My scoring system just works a bit differently than most game sites. Here, anything above a 5 is a recommendation, and the higher you go, the more enthusiastically I recommend it. Anything below 5 is a recommendation to avoid. If the score is 5/10, it means I’m ambivalent. So, I’m sorry if a game you enjoyed got a 6/10, but that actually means that I enjoyed the game and think there’s a chance you will to. I just don’t think it’s the cat’s pajamas.

I understand this could cause problems on aggregate sites if I ever land on one, but you can’t argue that the full scale should be used and then get cold feet when comparisons are made.

Yeah, but everywhere else gave X game a 9/10

It’s just a personal opinion combined with the scoring system. I don’t weigh games off of metrics like art, narrative, or sound design, though that may tie into my opinion. I don’t use metrics at all. My only method for weighing a game is my feelings about the game, and there’s no accounting for taste.

Are publishers paying you for coverage?

Ha! No. Even in a professional capacity, I have never been offered money for coverage. Wait, that’s not true. It did happen once, but when I asked what the hell was up with that, they told me that YouTubers often ask for money, so they just offered upfront even though written publications usually don’t take it. Makes you wonder.

If someone provides me with a review or preview key, they’re usually looking for coverage on Destructoid. I’ve been given press kits in the past, but usually, these are small things and are sometimes given as thank yous rather than incentives. The PR for Chicory, for example, gave me watercolor paint pucks. I’ve been given free stuff for review, like 8BitDo sent me a keyboard and Retro-Bit has sent me some of their releases. I’ll always disclose if I was provided anything from the developer/publisher/PR firm in the disclaimer under the article. I try not to let it ever color my opinion, but it’s up to you to decide if it’s still trustworthy in those instances.

There are no ads here. How do you make money?

The short answer is I don’t. My primary source of income is writing for Destructoid, which I use to pay for the hosting here. I hate ads, so while I’ve considered adding a few to help keep the lights on, I haven’t taken the leap. If you want me to lose less money on the site or just want to see me write more here, consider contributing to my Ko-fi.

You’re lying. I just found some above the comments section.

Right, those ads are added by the Disqus plugin. They’re not part of the site. I don’t make any income from them. To get rid of them, I’d need to pay a subscription to Disqus. It’s 12$ a month to go ad-free, and, as I’ve stated, this site is not monetized, so I don’t really want to pay it. If they really bother you, you can use my Ko-fi account to send me $12 monthly, and I’ll pay it forward to Disqus.

In the meantime, you can feel free to use an adblocker. The downside is that they often hide traffic, so I don’t know someone visited. That’s mostly just an ego problem for me, but if I get the impression that I don’t have a readership, what would be the point of keeping the site up? Still, ads suck.

Why don’t you post new stuff as much as you used to?

I’ve still been trying. When I started the Game Complaint Department, I was mostly just dabbling with the idea of writing in games media. Somehow, that became a reality, and now I’m a staff writer at Destructoid. They let me write about all the stuff I would over here, but they pay me to do it. I try to update as much as I can, but it sometimes just comes in bursts when my workload is quieter.