159: A Site To Call My Own

Sean Sands

Optimistic Cynic
Sep 14, 2006
292
0
0
A Site To Call My Own

"Despite our persistent obscurity, we have managed to accomplish our primary goal of GamersWithJobs.com, which is simply to perpetrate an excuse for refusing to grow up and stop playing these silly games. 'Look,' we say to our uncommonly patient wives, 'we have literally tens of people who want to know what we think!'

"This is, of course a lie."

Read Full Article
 

Eagle Est1986

That One Guy
Nov 21, 2007
1,976
0
0
Wow, what a very interesting article.
A few bits that I can relate to as well.
Also a very cunning way attract some more traffic, even if some of them turn out to be trolls, I know I'll be visiting your site in the near future. ;-) (Not as a troll though)
 

Ryan Sumo

New member
Jul 14, 2008
19
0
0
Actually, a dollar an hour is below minimum wage in many third world countries, and certainly not something you could retire comfortably on. :)
 

sammyfreak

New member
Dec 5, 2007
1,221
0
0
Whenever I do pop by GWJ I tend to find something terribly interesting, but hey, I might make it a habbit to do so more often.

And since when has TIME printed anything about games?
 

Quintin Stone

New member
Aug 11, 2006
33
0
0
When we launched with that vision of being the site we had always wanted to visit, what we pictured was a community.
And instead, you ended up with people like me. You poor saps.
 

wordsmythe

New member
Jul 22, 2008
13
0
0
GWJ is jerks! They're not exactly flawless on typos, either. I'm pretty sure it's a malicious plot to cause me intellective injury.
 

Thais

New member
Jun 12, 2008
149
0
0
Sean Sands said:
We just took the "Field of Dreams" approach, built our own website and waited until people walked out of the Iowa corn.
Stop acting like all we grow is crazies, hicks and corn!


(We grow soybeans and pigs, too.)

Aside from that little agricultural..."misstatement", great article. I did wonder about that Slashdot thing, but figured it was just an oversight, it's happened before with smaller stories (when one of our homegrown crazies shot his wife and kids after getting caught embezzeling earlier this year) and I never gave it a second thought, but maybe Slashdot does "steal" credit for some of that stuff...
 

Logan Frederick

New member
Aug 19, 2006
1,963
0
0
I've been a GWJ follower for years now and the site has produced some of the greatest freelance gaming writers on Earth. It's a hell of a supportive community.
 

lousyshot55

New member
Feb 21, 2008
101
0
0
I do love hearing how one site helps to launch careers expecially in gaming. Sites like GWJ and the Escapist help breath a fresh perspective about the game industry.
 

Adam LaMosca

New member
Aug 7, 2006
153
0
0
Sands and Andrich, and the rest of the GWJ staff and community, have accomplished something truly remarkable at GWJ. When I stumbled across the site nearly four years ago, I wasn't looking for an incredible online community. I was looking for a place to write about games. Luckily, I found both.
 

wordsmythe

New member
Jul 22, 2008
13
0
0
Thais said:
Sean Sands said:
We just took the "Field of Dreams" approach, built our own website and waited until people walked out of the Iowa corn.
Stop acting like all we grow is crazies, hicks and corn!


(We grow soybeans and pigs, too.)
And, apparently, you grow Shoeless Joe Jacksons.
 

L.B. Jeffries

New member
Nov 29, 2007
2,175
0
0
Great read, I just lurk but I love the site. Anything to change the image of gamers to something a bit more adult is fine by me.

I don't really know how you folks do it. It gets so much easier if you just stop checking the web hits, stop trying to get paid, and just do it for free.

Then again, Mephistopheles will probably be collecting from my ass any day now...
 

bunkymag

New member
Jun 11, 2008
19
0
0
"Gamerswithjobs, or GWJ as it is more affectionately known"

.. "Gamerswithjobs" = 4 syllables
.. GWJ = 5 syllables

Maybe verbally, but in a written article? Oww.. ^^
 

FunkyJ

New member
Jul 26, 2006
85
0
0
Nice read!

I've been involved in an independent gaming website (www.xboxworld.com.au if you must know :) for a while now and whilst just a writer, I can really relate to this in terms of our little corner of the web.
 

purple_haze

New member
Dec 25, 2007
16
0
0
Actually, if it weren't for GWJ I wouldn't be reading the escapist, so I have to thank GWJ for that. I also have to thank GWJ for having a wicked podcast, great front page articles and a great community, though I haven't been as active over there as I should.
 

WanderingTaoist

New member
Jul 16, 2006
17
0
0
Just popping in to say thanks for the GWJ, it became my online home some two years ago and I still can't praise it enough.
 

wordsmythe

New member
Jul 22, 2008
13
0
0
bunkymag said:
"Gamerswithjobs, or GWJ as it is more affectionately known"

.. "Gamerswithjobs" = 4 syllables
.. GWJ = 5 syllables

Maybe verbally, but in a written article? Oww.. ^^
Actually, GWJ is pronounced "goodge," or, alternatively, "guhdj." One syllable. :)

purple_haze said:
Actually, if it weren't for GWJ I wouldn't be reading the escapist, so I have to thank GWJ for that. I also have to thank GWJ for having a wicked podcast, great front page articles and a great community, though I haven't been as active over there as I should.
You forgot to mention their awesome Resident Grammar Snob.
 

Selifator

New member
Jul 14, 2008
21
0
0
I had never heard of GWJ but I think this article is interesting enough to make the site worth a look.
 

Playbahnosh

New member
Dec 12, 2007
606
0
0
Yeah, being a game journalist sucks. All the free games you have to play for money, gosh... it's horrible. Every blockbuster game hit delivered to your doorstep free of charge, even before launch day, getting free PCs and consoles to play on, even other trinkets, t-shirts from the PR departments. Aww, how agonizingly awful life... :'(

Yeah, that was sarcastic. Duh! I myself am a game journalist too. I'm writing for a Hungarian gaming magazine you've probably never heard of, and as such, I can relate to some of your problems. With years of writing behind my back, I know it's hard to lose yourself in a game without those journalist reflexes kicking in, weighing pros and cons, looking for bugs, analyzing the gameplay, seeking for plotholes in the story...etc. But one thin is certain: playing games is awesome, and playing games as work is even more awesome. Having your very own site is just the cherry on top. I know there is work to be done with sites like that, and many times the gain is less than the pain, but it's still yours.

Maybe you forgot, that VERY few people can actually enjoy the work they are doing. We, game journalists are in these few, playing games for a living is everyone's dream. I have my daytime job besides writing about games, and I know it's hard to sit down with a game to review it after 8 hours in the grinder, but you got to be grateful for the fact, that you are actually doing it for yourself, and the people reading your articles. So please stop whining about how awful it is to be a game journalist with your own site, that is hypocrisy.