AUBURN, Ala. — Games journalist and YouTube creator Quintin Smith spoke Tuesday at Pebble Hill about the responsibilities, risks and joys of cultivating creative communities, closing out Auburn University’s fall “Play in Conversation” series.
See recording here — https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Smith, known for his work with Rock, Paper, Shotgun, The Guardian, IGN and WIRED, as well as for co-founding the board-game review site Shut Up & Sit Down, reflected on a career that now spans traditional journalism, investigative video reporting for People Make Games, and his solo tabletop role-playing review channel, Quinns Quest. The event was hosted by Dr. Emily Friedman.
Friedman opened the conversation by asking Smith about “the communities that make you,” prompting him to describe his accidental journey into community-building. Smith said he never set out to nurture an audience but instead tried to cover overlooked games. What grew around that work required what he jokingly called “panicked gardening.”
Smith said the experience of Gamergate shaped how he approaches audience culture today, including how he moderates communities and the responsibility he feels to prevent the kind of harassment that once pushed him out of online spaces. At times, he said, that means “scything” back parts of a community to keep it healthy.
He also addressed the challenge of parasocial relationships between creators and fans, arguing that critics must be transparent about their beliefs to create the kind of audience they actually want. The dynamic becomes more complicated, he said, when he is friendly with designers whose games he may later critique. “I try not to think too hard about it,” he added, noting that critical honesty must still come first.
The discussion shifted to differences among gaming communities and how the critic’s role varies between video games, board games and tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs). Smith described video games as existing in a unique socioeconomic space, while board games operate through more linear, logical design processes. TTRPGs, by contrast, are “more emotional” and “artful,” which he said can make creators more sensitive to judgment.
Despite that tension, Smith argued that critique is “desperately important” in tabletop role-playing because of the time investment these games demand from players. He encouraged critics to try new things constantly and to evaluate games in the context of the artistic labor behind them. Many projects in the TTRPG space, he said, are “labors of love.”
Smith also raised ethical questions about reviewing small versus large games and spoke about wanting his work to end with people actually playing the games he covers. He criticized the cultural dominance of Dungeons & Dragons, saying it “absorbs all the light in the room and nothing else can grow,” and urged players to explore international and lesser-known role-playing traditions.
The conversation ended with a reflection on the labor of players and game masters and the narrative assumptions built into games.
Following the talk, Smith hosted an evening play session of Blood on the Clocktower, a social deduction game, for preregistered attendees.
The event was sponsored by the Office of the Provost, the Office of the Vice President for Research, the College of Liberal Arts and the Draughon Center. The “Play in Conversation” series will return in the spring.
