Interviews

How To Get Into Game Journalism: Xfire Chat

[Escapist] Russ Pitts: Question: Dr. Richard Kimble: I keep a review blog in my free time. If I were to get serious and write regularly and often, what would you reccommend I do in order to get more hits?
Answer: I think my advice to this is the same I'd offer anyone starting any business: find a vacuum in the market and fill it. Offer something no one else is offering. Stand out. In whatever way possible.

[Escapist] Russ Pitts: Question: Vossk: Do you look up to or admire anyone elses work?
Answer: Absolutely. Unfortunately, being a writer, I'm unable to muster the selflessness to mutter their names. But check out Rock, Paper, Shotgun for some stuff on PC gaming by some of my favorite writers.

[Slashdot] Michael: I look up to a ton of people's work: Allen Varney, Scott Sharkey, Simon Carless, Yahtzee Croshaw, John Davison, Jim Rossignol, Luke Smith (when he was doing it) ...

I also really like a lot of MMOG Bloggers: Van Hemlock, AFK Gamer, Brent from VirginWorlds, etc. (though they're not technically journalists, they're great writers.)

[Escapist] Russ Pitts: Question: Edguardo the Milk Bandit: Russ & Michael: 'New Games Journalism' has allowed a much different perspective for reviewing games than traditional games journalism, allowing the author to write as more of a travel journalist visiting the game's world than a writer reviewing a piece of software. Do you think there is a future in this style of games journalism? Have you written a piece of NGJ yourself? What do you feel are the pros and cons of NGJ?
Answer: I think NGJ is interesting, and will ultimately end up as one of many tools employed by game writers. I admire the balls of the folks who pioneered the effort, but I think we can and should go far beyond what NGJ signifies.

[Slashdot] Michael: I haven't written any NGJ stuff myself, but I do think there is a future for it. I think the NGJ ... dang, Russ just took my answer.

I'll add that anyone that can write a NGJ piece that is as good as this deserves to write that way.

[Slashdot] Michael: Question: burningmunk: What do you think about the mass media's spin on gaming as a children's field and not taking much of anything seriously?
Answer: Gaah politicians are idiots. It's like the monsters in the Simpsons. The less you pay attention to them, the less power they have. "Just don't look, Just don't look."

[Escapist] Russ Pitts: It sucks. I've been gaming my whole life, my significant other games, and we both still get dirty looks when we're gaming in public or wearing game Tees or whatever. I'm making a living at it but somehow it's not a serious pursuit? I don't get that.

It's unavoidable, considering the nature of the medium, but I don't get it. Although I suppose it's a fair trade considering the dirty looks I give people who do stupid stuff I don't agree with - like watching hockey.

[Slashdot] Michael: Hey! Hockey rules. :)

[Escapist] Russ Pitts: Question: space-meat.com | PorkLord: Most content for journalism seems to be delivered direct from publishers. Do you worry about their opinion on something like a bad review? Are publishers less generous to those who poorly review their titles? Or do they sill prefer their products name be delivered to your audience?
Answer: I think it's important for the consumer to be aware of where their information is coming from. Blogs like ThreeSpeech blur the line between journalism and PR, and I think that's a bad thing in general. But I'm glad the developers are so active in attempting to get their messages out. They should be. And it makes my job easier in a lot of ways. But I never take anyone's word for anything.

I've heard of publishers being rude to outlets that give bad reviews, but I don't think this is wide spread. I think they get more annoyed when you don't write anything at all.