Well then I have a book for you.
The book is entitled Critical Path: How to review games for a living. And it was written by a man who spent almost 15 years working as a games journalist. Dan Amrich worked for various different video game publications. I had the chance to send him a few questions via email.
Spieg89:Tell me a little bit about your background in the games industry and what made you want to write this book?
Dan: I started reviewing games professionally in 1993, sort of as a side path from my music journalism career. That eventually blossomed in 15 years as both a freelancer and a staff member; I worked at GamePro for seven years in the late 90s and early 2000s, helped launch GamesRadar in the US in 2005, and transitioned to OXM for a three-year stint. Through all those jobs, I answered reader mail and was an admin in the web forums, and I kept seeing the same question from readers: "How do I get your job?" It seemed every reader wanted to be a writer; everybody thought it would be the coolest job in the world but had no idea how to actually, you know, get started on doing it as a career option. The answer to "how do I get your job" was not something I could easily answer in one email or even a series of them, so I decided to try to answer it completely in a book. I chipped away at the project in my free time over eight years, and revised it constantly as I learned new things or came into new situations that I thought would be worth discussion.
Spieg89: What are some of the key themes and ideas in the book?
Dan: I tried to cram the book with as much useful advice as I could, but one of the biggest points is realizing that it's not an easy job to get or even an easy job to execute even though the content is fun. There's a lot of hard work both in writing and getting noticed as a writer; you need more than just desire, you need discipline and drive. Other key things are how to improve your core writing skills, and then taking responsibility for what you write, because you will have to defend it to not only your editors, but your audience and the developers themselves. You will meet them face to face; they will remember your review. You need to be a professional about how you conduct yourself both on and off the page.
Spieg89: What are some of your projects outside of the games industry?
Dan: I taught myself to juggle in high school and quickly moved on to doing dangerous stuff for fun; fire is my specialty. But even when I juggle fire, I find it very relaxing. Also, I've been playing guitar and making music for years, and after a five-year stint singing in an 80s cover band, I am now making videogame parody songs with a friend under the name Palette-Swap Ninja; all our tracks are free downloads at paletteswapninja.com. Also, I'm a big Ghostbusters nerd so my wife and I built a full proton pack out of plywood some years ago; I am sometimes seen skulking around comic cons wearing that.
Spieg89: What are you doing now in the industry?
Dan: My current position is as Social Media Manager for Activision, which is really a fancy way of saying "blogger." I talk about Activision stuff on oneofswords.com, and chat with gamers on Twitter and Facebook. Basically, Activision saw what a good job Major Nelson was doing as the community guy for Xbox, and they said "Would you want to do that for us?" So after a few months of interviews and a lot of consideration, I joined Activision in January 2010 and they let me set up my own site. I decided to join up because they let me keep my editorial autonomy -- I am proud to say that nobody approves my tweets, blog posts, or podcast before I post. I am trusted to just sort of do my thing and get the information I would get if I were still a member of the media.
Alright so are you interested? Cause I am!
Dan's book is available on Amazon, Kindle, iBooks, Nook, Google's ebooks store, and directly from Dan's website: http://criticalpathbook.com/buy-it/
For more information please go to http://criticalpathbook.com/
Dan has also said he will be at PAX East next week wondering around on behalf of Activision and to help promote his book.
That is all. Carry On!
-Spieg89
