Many Polygon staffers were laid off after Vox Media sold the publication to Valnet, but two former guidebook writers are launching their own guidebook site: Big Friendly Guide, which can be found at bigfriendly.guide. Ryan Gilliam and Jeffrey Parkin founded and co-own the site.
The guides give Gilliam “the feeling that I’m helping someone enjoy something that’s very important to me, and I know it’s important to them,” he tells The Verge. “And so when I lost the ability to do that in my normal 9-to-5 job, I wanted to continue that.”
“I don’t want to sound immodest or boastful, but what Ryan and I are really good at is helping people play video games,” Parkin says. He adds that their work on the guides helps people enjoy games – and helps with things like getting a giant horse in Zelda.
Most of the Big Friendly Guide content will be available for free, and the guides themselves will not be paid for. But Gilliam and Parkin will also open a Patreon for the site so people can support its work, which will also give people access to Discord. There will be a weekly podcast, free for everyone, and a monthly podcast for subscribers only, where Gilliam and Parkin will discuss their plans for coverage.
To begin with, the site will feature advertising. “For now, at least, we’ll be running ads to keep the lights on,” the site’s “About Us” page says.) But the focus is on building a community that trusts Gilliam and Parkin’s work and pays to support it. In addition to working on guides for the games they are interested in, Gilliam and Parkin want the community to make suggestions for guides they might consider and respond to.
The release of the Big Friendly Guide is just the latest innovation from the Polygon staff: former editor-in-chief Chris Plant launched the Post Games podcast, and former curation editor Pete Wolf launched the PV Guide newsletter. The new publications follow the emergence of other indie games publications such as Aftermath and Game File.
Gilliam and Parkin have modest expectations for Big Friendly Guide. “We’re not looking to create a brand and sell it or anything,” Parkin says. “I don’t think any of us want to get particularly rich. We want to keep doing this. This is what we are striving for.”
