Exclusive Leigh Alexander Interview

Leigh Alexander is the gorgeous game journo behind the hugely popular Sexy Videogameland. She is also the news director at Gamasutra and writes a monthly column for Kotaku. To help celebrate Digital Gigolo’s 1st birthday, Leigh has kindly agreed to answer some cringe-inducing questions. Those of you with a sensitive gag-reflex may wish to leave the room.

Sorry, but I need to know - will you marry me?
Maybe. What kinda diamond are we talking about here? : )

Your blog – SVGL – is that rarest of things…widely read. I read it because your posts have a cleansing effect, ridding me of countless sluggish ideas and crystallising them into something precise and succinct. I guess what I’m trying to say is… you write what I think. Do you think your ability to tap into the average gamer’s psyche is what makes you so popular?
Whoa, those are hefty compliments – thank you. I think maybe my blog does okay because it acts as an informal adjunct to the professional work I do at Gamasutra or at Kotaku and whatnot – those sites have wide audiences and that means more people come wandering in to see what else I’m up to.

But ‘tapping into the average gamer’s psyche’ has always been a goal for me with SVGL. I started writing simply because I had some thoughts I suspected I wasn’t alone in having, and wasn’t able to find any articles that illustrated those things. If SVGL is widely read, that makes me happy because it simply means I’m not alone.

Does it help that you’re pretty?
How can you tell from just a couple pictures?

Honestly, while of course everyone likes compliments, attention to the way I look always makes me pretty uncomfortable in the context of my work. I’ve always liked having bio photos of the writers I read to put a face to the name, especially when they write in a personal style like I do. That’s the reason I decided to put my own face out there, but I’d really hate if people’s opinions on my looks had anything to do with my work.

I hear from time to time people say things like, I put up pretty pictures to get people to read my work or something. That makes me kind of sick. I often think of taking my photo down, but then it’d be like I’m letting those who are in the wrong get to me.

Your Twitter Bio says you’re an ‘embarrassing partier’. I once walked right in to a friend’s pond, killing one of his koi carp. Beat that.
Ooh, the poor koi carp. But I’m pretty embarrassing when I’m in my cups – you heard that Giant Bomb podcast, didn’t you? When I drink enough, I often suddenly recall social drama that’s bothering me and cry at rooftop parties. I was once so loud in a hotel that some poor English guests ended up threatening to kill me while I hid behind a door.

Those Darlins , a three-gal band from Murfreesboro who sing songs about eating entire chickens while drunk and getting wild, came here to Brooklyn and actually bestowed on me a plastic crown because I was making such an impressive ruckus at their show. In general, I’m likely to disclose unglamorous personal secrets to total strangers when I’m having a good time.

Why do you have a picture of a graffiti ridden alleyway as the background to your Twitter account?

I take a lot of pictures like that . I’m sort of fascinated by urban decay, especially in such a heavily populated city like New York. In Brooklyn where I live, all of these little hidden corners and bathrooms and alleys and show spots and what have you are printed all over by the zillions of people passing through. Every little scrawl on a bathroom wall in a show space is someone’s memory of that night, and that they can all accumulate in layers and layers like that over the years is neat.


What’s been the post that’s received the biggest reader response on your blog?
Not sure. Anything about racism, gender issues or sex always gets tons of attention because it’s controversial. People still hit up the semi-satirical Metal Gear Solid Drinking Game, too.


You don’t shy away from the issue of sex in games. In fact, one of the chief reasons you created SVGL was to ‘sex up’ the poorly perceived pastime of gaming. So then. Let’s talk about sex. Personally, if I had to pound some pixels, I’d go for Chun Li. Thighs like tree trunks. Your turn…
We-ell. I don’t know if ‘pound some pixels’ is my idea of sexy talk, heh. But if we are having a delicately discreet ‘who wouldja’ kind of convo? Big Boss. Albert Wesker. Vega. Alucard. It’s much harder to decide among game ladies, I find, but I’ve always thought Edea from FF8 was one of the most beautiful game characters ever constructed. Chun-Li is okay, but I always felt Cammy owned her in the sexy department.

To be a bit sincere and boring for a second, when I talk about sexing up the perception of games, I mean I’d like for others to see it as a hot, hip thing to do – we have plenty of sexuality in video games right now that just cheapens it, so I want to make sure I’m being interpreted correctly here : )

Who is the sexiest male videogame journo?
Oh dear. Our world is smaller than you’d think, so I’d rather not say.

And female?
Ditto for above, so let’s just say I AM.

When is the last time you were shocked by something?
I am very excitable, so it happens a lot. I’m assuming you mean game-related, and not like, while I’m watching reality TV. Man, I was shocked that Zenimax bought id! That was pretty shocking, yeah?

Is there a difference between American Games Journalism and English Games Journalism?
Oh, totally. I hate editing English writers because they have all kinds of odd little grammar conventions that I dislike – you know, a tendency to use the passive case, which on our shores we avoid on all costs; there’s often a bit of dryness in the writing, too.

The worst, though, is that the English are aware that they come across as dry to American audiences, so sometimes they try to compensate by doing this very florid, subjective, experiential kind of writing – where, for example, an article about an arcade game will begin with the poignant postmodern story of this guy eating breakfast and wandering the streets of Japan. They all really want to be Kieron Gillen (this is all his fault).

Which is better?
I want to say the Americans are, but then I realize we’ve got a whole lot of drivel, too. I appreciate certain English sensibilities after all, so – wait, no, who am I kidding? U.S.A! U.S.A!! U.S.A!!!

Do you read any English gaming mags?
I don’t read any gaming mags, period.

What Amercian mags do you read?
Crap like Redbook, Cosmopolitan – you know, distracting junk filled with pictures of skinny women and ads for beauty products that make me feel hopelessly inadequate. Most of my reading is done online, but honestly because of my work I have a super-limited appetite for other people’s games writing. I cover my bases with Kotaku and keep up with most of the blogs in my blogroll on SVGL.

Favourite Radiohead Album?
OK Computer. Karma Police is still my favorite among Radiohead songs.

Prolific. That’s how I’d describe your output. You’re the news director at Gamasutra, you write a monthly column for Kotaku, and you participate in drunken podcasts. You also regularly update your blog and Twitter account. How do find the time to play games?
Ha ha, honestly? Much of the time, I don’t. Because I don’t write reviews for anyone right now, I never HAVE to play anything. Of course, I do, because if I don’t play, how can I cover the business and understand my audience? But I try – I really, really try – not to stress out too much and feel obligated to play every single thing.

I’m a fulltime employed adult in her twenties, and there’s an entirely new swath of consumers who are in the same boat – you know, less time for games and things. A lot of people who read my work tell me that they just can’t keep up with the “standard” sort of games coverage, because the experience and time allotment of your average games reviewer is SO much different than theirs.

In a way, then, if I really just play what I find interesting, or play what I think interests my audience, or play a game in order to pursue a certain line of thinking and then leave it alone, it makes me better able to address the needs of an adult audience. I have the same squeeze on time management as they do, so as much as it’s important for me to try many new things and “keep up on” everything, I think it’s equally useful for me to have an experience that’s somewhat like that of my readership.

Where do you play most of your games?
Living room, console. I play DS on the subway a fair bit, too.

What’s the best book on gaming that you’ve read?
I’ve honestly never finished a book on gaming – like I said, there’s only so much of my non-work time that I want to spend in the world of video games. I think it’s important to be really diverse. But I keep meaning to finish Jim Rossignol’s This Gaming Life. I think that one’s cool.

And finally, what was the best advice you were given about games journalism?
Probably the best advice about game journalism would be applicable to all kinds of journalism, which is as it should be, I think.

My father spent most of his career in journalism, too, and he told me that pros don’t get writer’s block. It’s true. You just have to write every day, and be competent enough to turn it out whether you’re “feeling it” or not. Many writers get into the trap of really overpersonalizing their work. Not that personalization isn’t important -- why are you writing if you don’t have something to say that means something to you?

But you also have to be able to step back from it a little bit – this is not your life story or your personal conversation. I think that’s what’s allowed me to be prolific – to think of it as a craft more than personal expression.