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Someone told me once, that barriers are only there to separate you from the other people who don't want it as badly as you do. I'm sure you'll get recognized some day Steph.
To me is to keep writing. Get a note pad and a pencil near by and write down any thoughts that might come out. This is what I'm going to start doing. I used to write then down on paper first become typing it out on a computer, this helped a bit by expanding on what I already have and new ideas that might soon follow. Just keep going. Soon, you'll have something that will make you stand out from the rest. It may take a bit to get there.
If you keep at it and you're dedicated I'm sure you'll succeed. I personally have very little knowledge on the subject, but if I was going to write articles I would probably do what a few Journos already do and use topics people already have a strong opinion of to engage readers.
From what I gather journalism is all about being a good storyteller, to be able to draw people in and keep them gripped and reading till the end. Maybe these guys are a bit sensationalist and prone to being over controversial, at the end of the day it gets people reading.
Now livestreaming is another thing I haven't done, but I've been involved enough to know it takes a long time to build up a viewer base. If you aren't an official channel of a developer or e-sports related then you have to do it the hard way and build up viewers with regular casts, even if they aren't to a set scheduled time. To make it you need to be an entertaining host, you need to have a magnetic personality and you need to interact with your chatroom.
The most inspiring casters I have seen are Jon Carnage and Pico Mause, they built up the Destructoid Twitch channel in just over a year and ended up with a huge following, 50 million+ views and a network of contacts within the game industry and casting community. Both of them now work within the industry.
It's hard but everything worth it usually is, so good luck with your goal Steph.
From what I gather journalism is all about being a good storyteller, to be able to draw people in and keep them gripped and reading till the end. Maybe these guys are a bit sensationalist and prone to being over controversial, at the end of the day it gets people reading.
Now livestreaming is another thing I haven't done, but I've been involved enough to know it takes a long time to build up a viewer base. If you aren't an official channel of a developer or e-sports related then you have to do it the hard way and build up viewers with regular casts, even if they aren't to a set scheduled time. To make it you need to be an entertaining host, you need to have a magnetic personality and you need to interact with your chatroom.
The most inspiring casters I have seen are Jon Carnage and Pico Mause, they built up the Destructoid Twitch channel in just over a year and ended up with a huge following, 50 million+ views and a network of contacts within the game industry and casting community. Both of them now work within the industry.
It's hard but everything worth it usually is, so good luck with your goal Steph.
I have pretty similiar problems from time to time. The voice recorder on my phone has been a big help because it's given me random thoughts somewhere to keep them when I can record them really easy if no one is around, especially considering if I'm talking to myself about video games I'll look nuts at work.
Social media is a great way to get out there too, use your twitter/facebook and promote the hell outta your stuff. I've had friends who don't even have an interest in gaming every once in a while tell me they've read something I've written and it gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling to keep at it.
I wish I knew the answers but if the flame is still there keep at it. Throw your ideas all out there and when one sticks take it and run with it. Quality over quantity! Good luck!
Social media is a great way to get out there too, use your twitter/facebook and promote the hell outta your stuff. I've had friends who don't even have an interest in gaming every once in a while tell me they've read something I've written and it gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling to keep at it.
I wish I knew the answers but if the flame is still there keep at it. Throw your ideas all out there and when one sticks take it and run with it. Quality over quantity! Good luck!
I know exactly how you feel. I'm living on my own and want to get into the games industry. I had an opportunity for a PR job but the company went with a local candidate because it would have been too much of a hassle to relocate me to SF. With my day job taking up 10 hours of my time and my fiction writing career demanding hours as well, it's difficult to find time to game, write about games, keep up with gaming news, and still have something of a life. Oh and there's also that whole personal hygiene, laundry, cooking food thing to consider.
My advice to you would just be to keep writing, whenever and wherever you can. I keep a spiral notebook with me on my desk at work so I can scribble ideas if they come to me. I've had to learn to cut down on watching TV and other things like that. Playing games is important, but you gotta make sure that what you're playing leads to something like a blog post, an article, or something.
Good luck to you! You know how to string sentences together with skill so that already puts you at an advantage.
My advice to you would just be to keep writing, whenever and wherever you can. I keep a spiral notebook with me on my desk at work so I can scribble ideas if they come to me. I've had to learn to cut down on watching TV and other things like that. Playing games is important, but you gotta make sure that what you're playing leads to something like a blog post, an article, or something.
Good luck to you! You know how to string sentences together with skill so that already puts you at an advantage.
You need a hook, something that will get you noticed.
The games jurnalizm industry is saturated with hacks and shitheads, most of them aren't give up those jobs anytime soon, if you wanna get noticed you need something that will get you noticed, some unique thing only you can do and offer.
The games jurnalizm industry is saturated with hacks and shitheads, most of them aren't give up those jobs anytime soon, if you wanna get noticed you need something that will get you noticed, some unique thing only you can do and offer.
Jonathan Holmes does tons of stuff for destructoid, and he still has a day job. I should hope that you take the offer, and try your best on streamtoid, Jonathan Holmes has to put up with this kind of a frantic schedule, and still deal with all the comments of worms up his anus. Persevere Stephanie, the key to success is sticktoitiveness! Looking back on what I have wrote, it seems like I am telling you that if Jonathan can do it, you can too, but that's not it, I think you write good enough to succeed, what you need to do is keep on writing, get on streamtoid, choose a genre of game to dominate, and become the paragon of truth for that group of games. Jim sterling is popular because he reviews games, instead of writing what the publishers want to hear, Jonathan Holmes has that excitement that is so invigorating in this cynical world. take your personality and intensify it, then brand your thoughts on racing games, or fighting games, or RPG's. learn about the upcoming releases, play as many as you can, and own them on streamtoid, own them in your blogs, make SURE that if you go to another convention, you know in advance what games are coming out for your genre, and get in there! I believe in you Stephanie, You've got zaz, you've got pep... kid, YOU'VE GOT MOXIE! NOW GO OUT THERE AND MAKE ____ GAMES YOU"RE PRISON BITCH!
The same thing happens to me were ideas seem to thrive when I can't write. And I don't know how to avoid or fix it. What I do know is that you need time to dedicate to whatever you want to be successful in, and beating yourself up after a full workday usually wont yield much. I'm not telling you to quit your job but maybe you could find something thats doesn't require as much time. That way you would have more time for writing and really test yourself if you can pull it off. I mean with deadlines and hard competition having a full time job while still managing to ponder and write better than most is a Herculean task, don't forget that! I wish you good luck!
I didn't follow their advice, but Kauza and WalkYourPath gave me some great advice a few years ago at PAX East that more or less went like:
"Create for yourself, Create for others, but the most important thing is that you create stuff and put it out there."
Not everything you do is going to be good. Even the best in the business have their off days. From what I've seen and everyone I've known, there are two ways to break in. Either get really lucky and be thrust into a position where you have that immediate huge exposure and audience, or just keep doing it for better or for worse until you rise to the top.
An important lesson I took from my time as a CBlog recapper was to write because you want to put something... anything, out there. A bad reason to write is for views and comments. Far too many people try to put out an award winning piece every time and get so discouraged when only a few people read it, and even fewer bother to comment. If you write with that kind of mentality imo you're always going to be disappointed and have your motivation drained. Just look at the stuff established people put out. All of them put out some stuff that is clearly just something silly/dumb that's immediately forgotten, but the important thing is that they wanted to put it out and did, damn the consequences. And for better or for worse, people saw it, and their name got just that little bit more established.
I like your writing, and wish you'd put out more (just realized you had a personal blog, putting it in my feed :p). I also think it's totally awesome that you started the whole idea of Dtoid community streaming, and what that's turned into.
I totally understand how much of an ass motivation can be though. Real life has a way of just crushing it out of you sometimes. Even just playing games seems like a chore many nights for me, and I'll often wind up wasting time while thinking about the things I want to do rather than actually doing them. I hope you find your motivation again, good luck!
"Create for yourself, Create for others, but the most important thing is that you create stuff and put it out there."
Not everything you do is going to be good. Even the best in the business have their off days. From what I've seen and everyone I've known, there are two ways to break in. Either get really lucky and be thrust into a position where you have that immediate huge exposure and audience, or just keep doing it for better or for worse until you rise to the top.
An important lesson I took from my time as a CBlog recapper was to write because you want to put something... anything, out there. A bad reason to write is for views and comments. Far too many people try to put out an award winning piece every time and get so discouraged when only a few people read it, and even fewer bother to comment. If you write with that kind of mentality imo you're always going to be disappointed and have your motivation drained. Just look at the stuff established people put out. All of them put out some stuff that is clearly just something silly/dumb that's immediately forgotten, but the important thing is that they wanted to put it out and did, damn the consequences. And for better or for worse, people saw it, and their name got just that little bit more established.
I like your writing, and wish you'd put out more (just realized you had a personal blog, putting it in my feed :p). I also think it's totally awesome that you started the whole idea of Dtoid community streaming, and what that's turned into.
I totally understand how much of an ass motivation can be though. Real life has a way of just crushing it out of you sometimes. Even just playing games seems like a chore many nights for me, and I'll often wind up wasting time while thinking about the things I want to do rather than actually doing them. I hope you find your motivation again, good luck!
>What does it take to get noticed in the exhausted field of online gaming journalism?
I have no idea. I'm just fucking around here until I sober up enough to write a novel. Well, the first one anyway.
I have no idea. I'm just fucking around here until I sober up enough to write a novel. Well, the first one anyway.
Unfortunately sometimes it seems like it’s who you know is more important in the games industry, but hey, if you’re going to things like PAX that’s a start, maybe hand out some business cards next time.
Your writing is certainly good enough at least!
Your writing is certainly good enough at least!
... as others have said, just "do it"! I think it's important though to find some aspect of contribution (whether in written, video,or audio format) that you love to do. If you absolutely love to do it, it won't seem like work and you'll always manage to find the time for it. :)
I'm VERY guilty of this myself. I set goals for myself that are simply unattainable given the current state of my home life (read: BUSY AS FUCK) and then I feel ashamed when I don't manage to make any progress on them. It sucks, but know that you're not alone in this.
The only advice I can give you (which I've tried giving myself, multiple times, to no avail) is that you have to set aside time every day to work on whatever it is you want to accomplish. Even if it's just 15 minutes of putting pen to paper (so to speak), that's 15 minutes of working toward your goal... and that's something to be proud of.
Now you tell me to do the same and we'll all hold hands and be happy :)
The only advice I can give you (which I've tried giving myself, multiple times, to no avail) is that you have to set aside time every day to work on whatever it is you want to accomplish. Even if it's just 15 minutes of putting pen to paper (so to speak), that's 15 minutes of working toward your goal... and that's something to be proud of.
Now you tell me to do the same and we'll all hold hands and be happy :)
I guess you just need to write more, don't worry about being drowned out you're a good writer with time your presence will become stronger. You definitely have the talent, you just need to find the time to write more. You're work schedule seems to be very heavy so I guess you should develop really good time management skills to take advantage of the few time you do have. Since you don't have much time for gaming try playing portables when ever you're just waiting for something else. If you invest 15-30 minutes into a game every day it will take about a week or 2 to beat a game.
