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Game journalism-age: being in-between jobs is not fun :(

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Suburban Cowboy said:
why dont you start writing for your schools newspaper. Will prepare you for a journalism major in college.

edit- Shit, forgot about the home schooled thing. Your parents suck = /

home schooled? wtf
 

Gerald

Member
JSnake said:
The thing with Siliconera is that my editor has a track record for not responding to emails. He's a nice guy and all, but he still hasn't replied to one of my friend's resignation letters from forever ago. :lol

Thanks for your other advice though. :)

Revealing this kind of information in a public forum is a very good way to not get hired by anyone ever again.
 

voltron

Member
Rez>You said:
I can't help but feel sorry for the OP.

But on the flipside, if he can't stay afloat on GAF then the real world is going to eat him alive.

Segata Sanshiro has some really good points. Read them. Remember them. Use them.

lol GAF is scarier than the real world.
 

GrayFoxPL

Member
That OP step mom game company is a goldmine.

:lol

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Age Range

Ages 14 and up

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Age Range

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Age Range

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Developer
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Zenith

Banned
Dear GAF, I am writing my VC reviews and have not played PSIII. Tell me why it sucks so I'm not just telling my readers it sucks, but why it sucks.

You're fired.

Also you're not old enough to play M-rated games, so that's a whole slew of titles the editor can't have you review. ffs, a job is something where you spend 8 hours minimum slogging away. yours is just a hobby with perks.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
voltron said:
lol GAF is scarier than the real world.
Hmm... I'll give you the KZ2 threads, any thread relating to Sony and NPD threads, but that's it.
 

deepbrown

Member
McBacon said:
I took out that line due to the solid advice of not being a jackass to potential employers. :p

The pay was ok, but it wouldn't be enough to support a flat. I can't imagine thats the same pay that everyone at the company gets, or they'll all be living with their parents.

Journalism.co.uk? Sounds great. I'll be riiight on it.
May I ask you to be more specific? What was the salary? Where was it based? Was it home or inhouse? I'm intrigued what people think is a good journalism salary in the UK.
 

shuri

Banned
After this thread, I honestly can only suggest you to make up a whole new internet identity if you ever want to be taken seriously.
 

EMBee99

all that he wants is another baby
Why don't some of you folks looking to be gaming journalists band together on here and start your own website/blog?
 

Bo130

Member
EMBee99 said:
Why don't some of you folks looking to be gaming journalists band together on here and start your own website/blog?

I thought the same exact thing. Would actually want to contribute if I had the time.
 

Gomu Gomu

Member
EmCeeGramr said:
Here's what all your prospective editor-in-chiefs are going to see when they search your info.

-16yo who lives with parents
-Homeschooled
-Asked someone to write a review for you
-Asked GAF about how to be a journalist back in April
-You're a walking health hazard, making in-person dealings dangerous

This doesn't look good son. I'd say open your own website/blog and write whatever you want over there. Since you love writing, and won't mind doing it without getting payed.
 

Burai

shitonmychest57
The other option is to look outside of games. Write about other things that interest you. You're cutting off a massive amount of potential income if you stick to games when that particular space is shrinking pretty rapidly.

I'm not saying to give up on games, just don't pigeonhole yourself into a place which you can't escape.
 

shuri

Banned
I just realised that the OP was not even born when Street Fighter 2 was released.

edit: he was just 8 years old when the ps2 came out :lol
 

D4Danger

Unconfirmed Member
shuri said:
I just realised that the OP was not even born when Street Fighter 2 was released.

edit: he was just 8 years old when the ps2 came out :lol

He was 13 when the 360 launched :O

He was 16 when he made this thread :O
 

industrian

will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Bpatrol said:
16 year olds are game journalists. This is the reason I will never take it seriously.

It all makes sense now.

Arthrus said:
Just a journalist? When I was 16, I had two full-time jobs!

When I was 16 I worked in McDonalds for 30 hours a week, had a daily paper route first thing in the morning, and was at high school every day. It built character.

GameGamer said:
To OP:

DO NOT waste you life doing "game journalism".

Work on better projects and you won't regret it.

My suggestion to the OP is to become a serious journalist. Hell you can do it right now kiddo. Get on the first plane to Egypt, get as close to the Gaza border as you can and start writing about what you see and about the people beside you. That way you get a proper story and you can learn to stop being a momma's boy at the same time.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
platypotamus said:
Fuck, what were you guys all doing at 16? The kid's actually making an effort to pursue what he wants to do with his life, which is a lot more than I can say. I didn't become a game journalist until 18, and that was purely through a stroke of luck after I entered college. Thread needs more advice posts like Gazunta's.

People aren't raising the age issue because they're poo-pooing a young games journalist, they're raising the issue because the topic title and the way the OP is phrased suggests that the topic starter needs a job (you know, to feed mouths and make car payments) when in reality the topic starter WANTS a job...

... and if you just want to write about games and money isn't important, I'd recommend starting a wordpress blog and slowly accumulating content there.
 
Zenith said:
:lol so now any employer can find out you came blood but didn't want to go to the doctor because your conservative parents told you jacking off was immoral, and punishable by taking your computer away (which doesn't exactly help with "reliability").

edit: holy shit, you take viagra? now every editor's going to stick you right next to their office.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=9646972&postcount=501
JSnake said:
I take thirty-some meds.

maybe he just really needs health insurance benefits
 

McBacon

SHOOTY McRAD DICK
GameGamer said:
To OP:


DO NOT waste you life doing "game journalism".



Work on better projects and you won't regret it.

What do you do that is so impressive/interesting/important.
 

bryehn

Member
GrayFoxPL said:
That OP step mom game company is a goldmine.

:lol

You're an asshole. Well maybe not, but ignorant nonetheless.

Games for Change is an excellent organization. I run a site focused on serious games and game accessibility and have referenced them a number of times. They help out a lot of smaller organizations, have an annual conference and are pretty much at the forefront of serious gaming.
 

M.J. Doja

Banned
bryehn said:
You're an asshole. Well maybe not, but ignorant nonetheless.

Games for Change is an excellent organization. I run a site focused on serious games and game accessibility and have referenced them a number of times. They help out a lot of smaller organizations, have an annual conference and are pretty much at the forefront of serious gaming.

got many jealous/wannabe/loser assholes in this thread.. but there's some advice too.

one good point.. do NOT associate your online journalism (real name) with your GAF name (JSnake) and post crap like you do in the OT. i cant imagine how people get off chatting with strangers about OT GAF stuff anyway.

I doubt anybody is gonna read "John Travolta" (nice name lol) in 4 years and be like OH SHIT THATS JSNAKE FRUM GAF LEMME READ HIS POST HISTORY!
 

JSnake

Member
M.J. Doja said:
got many jealous/wannabe/loser assholes in this thread.. but there's some advice too.

one good point.. do NOT associate your online journalism (real name) with your GAF name (JSnake) and post crap like you do in the OT. i cant imagine how people get off chatting with strangers about OT GAF stuff anyway.

I doubt anybody is gonna read "John Travolta" (nice name lol) in 4 years and be like OH SHIT THATS JSNAKE FRUM GAF LEMME READ HIS POST HISTORY!

My last name isn't Travolta.
 
Hmmm, well you're still young JSnake. Stick with it, even if you can't get paid right now and in a couple of years you'll have a sizable portfolio of work behind you and a lot of experience. The economy should be a more receptive place by then too. I wish I had been as pro-active at your age but I didn't do as much writing back then. This year I intend to focus more time on it.
 

oneHeero

Member
JSnake said:
I'd appreciate it if you didn't make fun of my medical status. There's nothing funny about it. :/

then again thisisneogafdude.gif
More like thisistheinternetdontletoutyourpersonalinformationifyoudontwantittocomebackonyou.gif
 

Mr.City

Member
Working in the gaming press is an idea that I toy around with sometimes. However, I would advise reading and writing as much as possible. There is plenty of shitty writing in the games biz, so don't let yourself contribute even more to that. Also, I can't exactly think of any places that would take a 16-year-old writer.

Please tell that you are going to college. Every college has a student newspaper. Seek it out right away. The six months that I've spent at my college newspaper taught me so much.
 

diffusionx

Member
In between jobs = getting laid off, desperately searching for a new job because you need to eat, and the bills keep coming in the mail. Rent needs to be paid and gas needs to go in the car... for interviews. It's pretty much the scariest, intense scenario most working folks ever face. Doubly so if there are kids involved.

JSnake's situation = a whole load of bullshit.
 

JSnake

Member
oneHeero said:
More like thisistheinternetdontletoutyourpersonalinformationifyoudontwantittocomebackonyou.gif

I usually don't unless I'm backed into a corner in which it's necessary.

edit: if that's what the phrase really means, then I apologize. I didn't realize that it's normally used to refer to such a scenario.
 

ElyrionX

Member
JSnake said:
I'd appreciate it if you didn't make fun of my medical status. There's nothing funny about it. :/

then again thisisneogafdude.gif

Dude, seriously, if you know what's best for yourself (assuming that what you've stated in this thread is true thus far), you really should be shutting up and getting the hell out of this thread and letting it die on its own.
 

skulpt

Member
Jsnake. Here's what you do. Start up a blog on blogger for free. Start writing quality content. Not quantity, but quality. Do subjects like "10 games that let us down in 2008". Do reviews of games. Cover a variety of subjects. Then post these articles to sites like N4G.com, Neogaf here (asking what people think or along those lines) and so on. Also link to the articles you've written elsewhere on your blog.

-Use the blog as a showcase of what you can write and the quality.
-Publicize those articles/reviews on video game related news sites and forums.
-Refer potential employers to your blog

It's free, gets you writing and puts all of your work in one easy to find place.
 

McBacon

SHOOTY McRAD DICK
Do what skulpt said. I think in an era where everyone has blogs and what not, you'll be at a disadvantage when it comes to showing off your work and your ability to keep doing something regularly.
 
EMBee99 said:
Why don't some of you folks looking to be gaming journalists band together on here and start your own website/blog?
The problem for some people, particularly myself and McBacon, is we've done that bit, and are established to a degree within the industry after 4 years on our site, but uhm, making the leap from there is the difficult bit.
 

Beardz

Member
When I was a kid, I used to "design" things with my Atari 400 and Basic; all my notebooks where full of my drawings, my dad's books where full or my cartoons -you know, when you draw a secuence of images, one on each page-. I loved Mario Paint, then I knew Corel Photopaint, Photoshop, I skipped some classes because I was learning html by myself.

More than 10 years later I'm in charge of all online contents of a comunications company, animation, 3D, audio, video, you get the idea.

The point is, do the things you love, without expecting anything, just to them because you love them. If you do this, then you will be pretty good doing it, and there is not a better thing on the world than doing the things you love, and getting paid for it.

--

If you start a blog, write for yourself.
 
I think you've copped enough shit in this thread, Jsnake. You seem really bright and polite and with-it for a 16 year old. I was playing Axelay and chasing girls, not thinking about my writing, at your age. (Axelay is a game on the Super Nintendo). I think homeschooling is the devil and you're the first kid I've seen who is gone through it who hasn't tried to burn down his/her house. (Maybe you have, just don't post a thread about it.)

One piece of advice I would have for you from a part-time writer, sometime writing teacher is if you are not a voracious and broad reader, become one. Nothing makes a brilliant writer that does not stem from the art of reading. Not a single damn thing, even practice, can be a substitute. Don't limit yourself to game writing. Who are the best critics of film? Of theatre? Of pop culture? If you don't have an opinion, form one over the next few years. If you want to be into this professionally, let that be the responsibility you take on. Build from the craft out, not from the job inward. Games really need calm heads and steady hands who know their history. We really need it, all of us. Thats a responsibility, not an opportunity to be exploited. Speak to the history you share with us, and don't worry about reviews. Machines can do reviews.
 
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