What is it with Game Journalism?

No, no, this isn’t a rant about journalists, I’m sorry to disappoint. Really, it shouldn’t be considering it is where I “got my start” so to speak. In fact, the very first thing I ever did related to the game industry was to work as a site manager for the WarCry Network when they were still focused on network sites. I ran their Vanguard site and later on I also picked up the EVE Online one as well. Eventually though, the WarCry Network changed format and mostly dropped the network sites for individual games. They focused on the main hub site while the network sites themselves became more like categories, showing news only about specific games. Over all, it became exactly like its sister site, The Escapist, which ended up being vastly more popular than WarCry (since it already was what WarCry started to become), although it is still around and kicking just fine with the MMO-focus.

I stuck with WarCry for a good while and became a news reporter for them. I covered something like 10 or 11 MMOs, and quite a few major ones at that. I also picked up a column that revolved around game design and online communities. Technically, it was similar to what I did on the Vanguard and EVE sites overall, save I didn’t have to worry about managing forums, drawing in new readers, holding contests, etc… etc… It was less responsibilities, but also a much, much broader scope. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, too. While I didn’t enjoy my stint as a game reviewer over at MMORPG.com very much – not because of the site, but simply because it drained the enjoyment out of playing games – it was still nice to get back into game media. That was even more true, given the fairly dull day-job that I had at the time.

I’ve found that game journalism has a strange sort of appeal to me, and before I joined on with Bigfoot Networks, I was actually considering trying to make a full career of it. While I love being a Community Manager, and I actually prefer it, I think game journalism will always have that draw in it. I really liked covering news for a wide variety of games. I also really liked attending conferences and tradeshows, and holding interviews with game studios and developers. It was a blast.

In a way, it is actually why I have such a hard time keeping the blog updated with new posts. What I find myself really wanting to post about is… well, game news, but I don’t really want this site to focus on that. There are plenty of great places to go if you just want to find out about what’s new in gaming already, after all.

… And no, there was really no point to this article. Thank you for wasting five minutes of your life here. Please do so again!