So You Want To Be A Game Journalist? 28
simoniker writes "Over at Game Career Guide, they're looking at how to become a video game journalist, and exactly what that 'infamous' job entails. An extract: 'An [apparently simple] task roster belies the complexity of the role of games journalist. For example, playing a game with an eye towards reviewing it differs from playing it purely for fun and, if it happens to be a terrible game (which you will see more than your fair share of in time), it may not be such an enjoyable experience. Dealing with PR people ... can be tiresome to degrees depending on the nature of the PR person (some are more tiresome than others, let's just say).'"
zonk? (Score:1, Funny)
To Me Filty Assistants! (Score:2, Funny)
No mention so far of the politics.. (Score:5, Interesting)
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Had it occurred to you that this might be because when a game turns out to be crap, the magazine doesn't bother to highlight it on their cover?
Just a thought.
Little Fish (Score:5, Informative)
There is an ongoing "wage deflation" in writing as most web editors and some print editors look online for writers.
The general poor quality of nearly-free writing does dampen that somewhat, but there are enough good writers working in their spare time, while engaging in trustafarianism, or otherwise not needing a lot of money, that it's creating a bit of an "outsourcing" effect, both with regard to pay and social reaction.
There are still good paying jobs in this and other writing fields, but I'm seeing a trend toward people who are good at sourcing cheap content rather than in-house experts. As usual, we'll see how it all turns out.
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The grandparent is a bit mistaken in their use of this term, but basically a "trustafarian" is a young person who pretends to live a bohemian, liberal lifestyle -- usually characterized by living in low-income neighborhoods, wearing second-hand clothes, and basically making a show of their 'rejection' of materialism -- all the while being supported by their parents. Take the first bit as the "rastafarian", and the second part as the "trust fund".
In men, this lasts unti
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I'm sure, if you went to a non-ivy-league college (and possibly one of those) you knew at least one - I sure did.
I rank this.. (Score:1, Funny)
Sure, in theory it's a great way to earn your wages.
However, at the end of the day, what would you do to relax and 'get away from it all'? Balance your checkbook?
I'll just stick to what I know best, "Would you like fries with that?".
Missing the obvious (Score:2)
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not too much anymore (Score:2)
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The formula you use is actually a checklist of features from Ocarina of Time, and then you apply the ad revenue co-efficient.
Coming from a former game journalist... (Score:5, Insightful)
Beyond that, it will totally ruin your experience of playing video games. It's not about playing the game, but evaluating it, capturing screenshots and videos, and even playing really awful games to completion. You will play many, many games you never had any interest in and that bore you to tears. The choice games (read: any game you've ever heard of) go to the senior guys who have proven they can write good PR fluff.
Oh, and you have a deadline to meet, and if you don't give their games a favorable review, the PR people for that game company will mysteriously stop returning your e-mails and phone calls, so you can forget about getting eval copies of their games for the next 6 months.
Suddenly, playing a video game starts to seem like, well, work. And you'll not want to do what you do for 7 hours a day every day once you get off work.
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GameSpy (Score:3, Insightful)
Former games journalist here... (Score:5, Interesting)
1: Are you willing to work long hours for almost no money?
2: Can you actually play games well enough to get screenshots of levels beyond the training stages?
3: Can you write? (This requirement may be optional.)
Those were pretty much the order of requirements. Games journalism (in print, certainly) is one field where actual writing ability rates far below being able to churn out tolerable copy to the required word count for the deadline.
I worked on games magazines for the better part of the 1990s, and the sheer throughput of wannabe 'games journalists' I saw in that time was quite amazing. Dozens and dozens of people. What's scary is that quite a few of those who didn't vanish entirely are there even now, some in their 40s, still playing videogames for a living on shit money for bosses who treat them with contempt. They are literal lifers, with no way out because that's all they know how to do.
There's the very occasional escapee who's made a journalistic career away from games, but anyone who thinks that becoming a videogames journalist is their stepping stone to bigger and better things is deluded. If you want to become an actual journalist, you'd be better off starting as the scut monkey on the tattiest local newspaper than as the editor of the best-selling videogames magazine in the country. You'd learn more useful career progression tips in a month than in five years of PR lunches and checkdisks.
No. (Score:2)
Rule #1 (Score:3, Funny)
6.0 is the absolute lowest score, reserved for only the absolutely intolerable piles of crap. Regular "bad" games get at least a 7.
Are there sources for salaries? (Score:2)
If you're a game journalist already, what do you make as you advance? What does, say, a 5+ year vet make?
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