Beyond the Hype - An In-Depth Look at the Video Game Industry

"Welcome to the Girl's entertainment network."

well I know when I'm not wanted...

Awesome, I'm sending this to all my parents freinds who talk to me about gaming and how they can know what to do with their kids.

That was an extremely impressive site. Where in the world do guys find the girls like you!? Ah..... I see..... band camp......
I will be back one day, after an extensive tour of America's band camps.

Nice work!

LOL...you are welcome ViralHunter! We don't kick out guys!

@Cowzilla: If you do send out the link to them, let me know what they think! I am really interested to know if it will sway any opinions!

@SteelSquirrel: Bandcamp is where its at!!! I think the ones in Wisconsin are best...

Great work!

nice read, good job :)

Wisconsin it is! Fine cheese and geeky ladies FTW!

I have one issue with your web design. Lose the video game characters on the bottom left of each page. If this is intended to be a serious piece, I would lose the cutesy artwork. It distracts the visitor from your text.

Menu - Items - Equip - DynamicSheep - Flamethrower - Yes
(reads article)
Menu - Items - Unequip - DynamicSheep - Flamethrower - Yes
Menu - Items - Give - Kudos - VirtualGirl - Yes

wow! impressive work as usual.

Good read.

Awesome write-up, VirtualGirl! You've done yourself proud. :)

Great job yet again, VirtualGirl! Beyond the Hype is a highly informative site that is also well laid-out, and I’m sure it’ll serve the public well. I just have a few minor corrections to the Introduction (small stuff):

Paragraph 2, sentence 4: it should say “disdain” instead of “distain”, and there shouldn’t be a “the” before “Saw or Hostel”

Paragraph 2, sentence 6: “first amendment” should be capitalized

Paragraph 4, sentence 2: I’d rephrase “about the industry as well as the current political climate as pertains to video games and common misconceptions about this form of entertainment” to something like “about the industry and the current political climate as they pertain to video games, as well as common misconceptions about this form of entertainment”.

Paragraph 6, sentence 4: if you’re talking about the introduction, it should say “foreword” instead of “forward”

Otherwise, though, that was a great read.

I really like where you're taking this project. Its has a positive message, and a mature nod towards everything people see in the media, or in a magazine.

It doesn't feel like an essay, nor is it a pitched novel. But a solid direct message to anyone, or everyone who may have touched a controller, or its their first.

Let alone "entertainment" covers a myriad of levels. And games in particular cover a huge range of ideas, and defacto ideals into what those who believe they should be viewed as.

I have to say, this is something anyone, gamer or non-gamer alike should look through; with a fine toothed comb.

Well done Meagan, well done.

Thanks guys! I am really glad you like it!

@Br0nxb0mBr: I NEED TO HAVE YOU PROOFREAD MY STUFF!! LOL. I had both my parents and my hubby read through every word before I put it online, and none of us caught those errors! You have a sharp eye!

I really hate to come across as some creepy ass hole on the interwebs, but you husband is one lucky bastard.

Don't worry! you have to do more than that to come across creepy!

What I hope everyone does (and what I plan to do) is to inform parents of this site who don't exactly understand video games, and are susceptible to people like Jack Thompson's crap. Seriously, great job virtualgirl. I hope your site flourishes, despite it being a project. Well I hope you get an A+, or whatever crazy grading system they use in minnesota.

VG, that is an excellent website. It's nice to have a place to send people that want to blame things on video games. WEll done.

Once again megan you astonish me with your projects and articles!

Kudos!

@Virtualgirl: Thanks! Yeah, it’s strange...I hated English as a subject in school, but I’m nuts about its proper use — spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. Again, though, none of those mistakes were serious, so don’t think that you, your parents, or your husband aren’t good at proofreading. I miss errors occasionally as well — when you’re dealing with a wall of text (and even when you aren’t), the words tend to blur into each other, and you just start skimming. I only caught those four minor mistakes because I wasn’t purposefully proofreading; I was interested in what your site had to offer, and I wanted to read the entire introduction. When I read normally, I’ll usually catch more errors than if I’m trying to proof something. Regardless, please feel free to send me stuff to proofread if you like (see my profile for my email address); I’m only taking the bare minimum of credits this semester, so I’ll have a lot of free time on my hands.

Don't watch that FOX NEWS report on Sex in Mass Effect, unless you wanna throw something at your computer, GRRRRR!!!

I love the site; it's a great idea! Can I make a little design suggestion though? You know the way to get to the next page of a multi-page section you have to click on the numbers at the bottom of the page? If you don't have the page enlarged to full size, you don't see these numbers so, on a page with a small amount of text, there's no way to tell what you're meant to click on to proceed. Just put a little continue prompt at the bottom of each text section, along with the number system for swift navigation of multiple pages and I think that'll solve it.

Really is a cracking site design. I'm very impressed, as always.