Writers needed

fudgez

Hello guys,

I have posted in here before and was hesitant to repost, I sent a PM to AMP to see if it was OK but got no reply I apologize in advance if you see this as spamming and will take no offence to the thread being deleted/locked. I simply needed to restart the thread. somehow and this seemed the best way.

3 months ago I started a website which you can see here I started a thread as mentioned above looking for writers I got some great feedback and a couple of guys who were willing to help me on the site.

The original idea was to do gaming news/reviews which in my ignorance I thought would be a great idea, however it soon became clear that with such a small team and limited resources this was too much of a task. I debated with myself on how the site could proceed and find a definite mission and eventually came to a conclusion that I am hoping will excite some of you guys and perhaps get you excited to maybe be a part of this project.

I must stress at this point that the site is not monetized in anyway I do not advertise as of yet and in the near future have no intention of it. It is a hobby of mine and a means of having my writing published in a professional public environment. I came under a lot of stick in my last post for not "Incentivising" people who might of otherwise been interested in writing for the site. I am not in a position to pay or offer preview copies of games I apologize for this but as I said the site is not to make money. Down the line ( a long way down the line) such opportunities may arise but I am not dangling any carrots merely speculating.

The site currently has three writers including myself I am looking to raise this number to 6 with the idea that the site would have five posts a week.

I am looking for writers who love video games but not just the games I would like writers who love the worlds, characters, design and entire culture of video gaming with a view to publishing editorial style content based on current news or retro articles. The brief is broad and flexible and I welcome any suggestions you may bring to the table.

It is also probably worth mentioning that I have taken a lot of the feedback I received onboard since my last thread on this subject and am currently working closely with a web designer in Carlow to realize a very modern clean new design not based on wordpress but it shall be some months before this goes online.

If you are interested in helping out on the project in anyway you can think of I would love to hear from you I would also love to hear another round of feedback on the site in general. If you would like more info on the plans I have just ask. I look forward to hearing from you guys.

Grumpypants

Again best of luck with it

Genghiz Cohen

Would it be possible to submit an article from time to time without any major commitments?
We all work all day, I'm sure and finding the time to write a good article every week is fairly hard to do.

fudgez

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

Would it be possible to submit an article from time to time without any major commitments?
We all work all day, I'm sure and finding the time to write a good article every week is fairly hard to do.

Hi Genghiz, I would love to have occasional contributors. I work part-time and its hard enough to find time for the site so I understand what you are saying.

Nevyn

Are you looking for writer to work as you direct or are you looking for guest posters?
I think you may get a better reply and response if you explain your looking for contributors and guest posters rather then writers.

fudgez

I am primarily looking for writers but am open to guest writer submissions aswell

Bonavox

What are you offering in return? Asking people to write for nothing won't yield results if you can't back it up with other benefits. With my site, a primary focus is to make sure I can offer my writers some benefits.

fudgez

Bonavox wrote: »

What are you offering in return? Asking people to write for nothing won't yield results if you can't back it up with other benefits. With my site, a primary focus is to make sure I can offer my writers some benefits.

If you had read my original post you would know that I am unable to offer anything other then the sheer joy of writing and a space to get your stuff published.

*Deja Vú*

eddhorse

I think what you are going to have to do is get your team of three people to review already released games, if you cant offer anything are you looking to your reviewers to rent the games and have a variety of consoles?

As soon as your website gets upgraded you will need a launch pad to go from there, so an abundance of already reviewed games is a must. It still is a broad range of gaming to cover, id say specialize in a certain area or platform/console.

Casual gamers wont be any good to you, its trophy whores you want.

There is also a lot of competition as you know to make it in this area.
Bonavox has mentioned his site for instance.

I didn't see the other thread. Best of luck with it anyways.

Ed

Nevyn

fudgez wrote: »

If you had read my original post you would know that I am unable to offer anything other then the sheer joy of writing and a space to get your stuff published.

*Deja Vú*

Anyone can do that themselves with blogger or word press.

Bonavox

Thaedydal wrote: »

Anyone can do that themselves with blogger or word press.

Even more can do it with WP and the Arras theme.

But you need to offer things. Maybe perfect your grammar and offer to help improve a writer's standard? I try to do that with my editorial team, take on people who are aspiring journalists, offer them extensive constructive criticism, get some of their polished stuff posted on the site and give them the launch pad they need as well as a little preparation.

Just a thought, there's a lot more valuable and lasting things you can offer than money (but it requires a lot of effort on your part as well).

fudgez

Cheers for the criticisms

I am using wordpress with the classical gamer theme as a system till my site is designed which will probably be around February which was mentioned in OP.

We are very much a startup site, not to mention this is my first time ever hosting a site myself. I know the Arras theme is taboo in video game sites but it serves the purpose and you must keep in mind that generally people do not know/care that it is one of the most used themes on the web.

Its funny that when I posted in the website feedback forum on Boards I got only one reply yet when I post in a different forum looking primarily for writers I get nothing but feedback

Seriously guys I love that you are taking time out of your day to tell me that it sucks i am using the arras theme. I know it sucks but there is no other theme that offers the same functionality and I am currently having a site designed not to stress the point.

I dont want to sound unappreciative I really don't I love Boards and all the Boardsies this site has been invaluable to me throughout this project but I wish you would give me a break i'm very sensitive

Alas however the thread has served its purpose and I have had a few applications hopefully I wont have to come back again begging boardsies to work on my slave labour website. :P

Postscript: i'm sorry if I sounded whiny up there Thankyou all dearly I look forward to improving my site and learning throughout this experience.

Bonavox

fudgez wrote: »

Cheers for the criticisms

I am using wordpress with the classical gamer theme as a system till my site is designed which will probably be around February which was mentioned in OP.

We are very much a startup site, not to mention this is my first time ever hosting a site myself. I know the Arras theme is taboo in video game sites but it serves the purpose and you must keep in mind that generally people do not know/care that it is one of the most used themes on the web.

Its funny that when I posted in the website feedback forum on Boards I got only one reply yet when I post in a different forum looking primarily for writers I get nothing but feedback

Seriously guys I love that you are taking time out of your day to tell me that it sucks i am using the arras theme. I know it sucks but there is no other theme that offers the same functionality and I am currently having a site designed not to stress the point.

I dont want to sound unappreciative I really don't I love Boards and all the Boardsies this site has been invaluable to me throughout this project but I wish you would give me a break i'm very sensitive

Alas however the thread has served its purpose and I have had a few applications hopefully I wont have to come back again begging boardsies to work on my slave labour website. :P

Postscript: i'm sorry if I sounded whiny up there Thankyou all dearly I look forward to improving my site and learning throughout this experience.

TBH it's just my personal opinion, there's a reason why so many sites us it and it's because it's a cool theme. If it works for you, go with it.

denballs

i dont mean to offend but your site seems to offer as much as ......the extravision website........it just seems to me that nobody would ever want to go to your site when there is sites like gamefaqs around.........you need a niche........somthing original.........try posting game glitches/myths.......for example in gears of war 2 ....you can do things like glitch out of the map online when you are leader on guardian mode........this means you cannot be killed .....allowing your team to revive as many times as needed for them to kill the other team...........if you gave directions on things like this you would be big..........there are no legit websites ive seen offering professional feedback on things like this ............alot of youtube vids though........anyway goodluck with the site..........

fudgez

denballs wrote: »

i dont mean to offend but your site seems to offer as much as ......the extravision website........it just seems to me that nobody would ever want to go to your site when there is sites like gamefaqs around.........you need a niche........somthing original.........try posting game glitches/myths.......for example in gears of war 2 ....you can do things like glitch out of the map online when you are leader on guardian mode........this means you cannot be killed .....allowing your team to revive as many times as needed for them to kill the other team...........if you gave directions on things like this you would be big..........there are no legit websites ive seen offering professional feedback on things like this ............alot of youtube vids though........anyway goodluck with the site..........

Glitches destroy online gaming don't be silly I would never perpetuate that! the reason no professional sites offer it is because people who use those things are cheats!
did you get enough full-stops in?

denballs

fudgez wrote: »

Glitches destroy online gaming don't be silly I would never perpetuate that! the reason no professional sites offer it is because people who use those things are cheats!
did you get enough full-stops in?

but all you are offering is a site exactly the same as millions of others... {i say the same but we both know you can never hope to be as good as about half of them}....... you do need somthing unique..........

i assume you are going to have advertising on the site to get a bit of money off it........if you do what it seems you plan to you wont earn enough for an annual coffee,,,,,,,,,,and no i did not get enough ............... in..........my fingers are a bit numb........ill edit it 2morro and put more in

fudgez

denballs wrote: »

but all you are offering is a site exactly the same as millions of others... {i say the same but we both know you can never hope to be as good as about half of them}....... you do need somthing unique..........

i assume you are going to have advertising on the site to get a bit of money off it........if you do what it seems you plan to you wont earn enough for an annual coffee,,,,,,,,,,and no i did not get enough ............... in..........my fingers are a bit numb........ill edit it 2morro and put more in

You Sir are excellent I direct you to my original post, I know it is long but stay with it it will answer all of your above questions beautifully.

Dytalus

If you're looking for writers, then as you said you can't monetise or pay them. However, maybe you could offer a link to their website if they have one? Say if I wrote something for your site, at the end of it there would be a small blurb saying something like "Dytalus is an avid gamer with an unhealthy relationship with his PS3. He runs a site at ViolentSleep." and so on.

Let writers come up with their own blurb for their posts, and set a word limit...maybe about 50 words maximum. It's not a lot of incentive, but it's something which may draw people in.

fudgez

Dytalus wrote: »

If you're looking for writers, then as you said you can't monetise or pay them. However, maybe you could offer a link to their website if they have one? Say if I wrote something for your site, at the end of it there would be a small blurb saying something like "Dytalus is an avid gamer with an unhealthy relationship with his PS3. He runs a site at ViolentSleep." and so on.

Let writers come up with their own blurb for their posts, and set a word limit...maybe about 50 words maximum. It's not a lot of incentive, but it's something which may draw people in.

I actually was just talking in our meeting about this and will be adding that very shortly cheers

Nevyn

I 'write' about all sorts of games, board games, video pc/console, rpg pen and paper and larps, they are my hobbies and I share them with my kids, it's a house of gamers but
I see no incentive as to why I should put pieces/articles which I write on your site.

You want me to generate content for you, which you will get traffice to the site via google and other search engines, why should I, what woudl I get out of it that I don't already get with my blogs?

Cavehill Red

Misleading thread title is misleading.

OP wants serfs, not writers.

deathrider

I may be interested in this as a sort of guest, I occasionally write blogs about the ins and outs of gaming. Really try to get inside the mentality of it all. But I only really do it when something hits me hard enough to really stir some thought. If you're interested in checking them out, or maybe publishing them on your site, then PM me. Cheers.

denballs

firstly .......thank you for noteing my excellence.........i always promote such use of the word...........

secondly..........your linux nonesense website links not working http://thegreatlinuxswitch.wordpress.com/ ...... {if you dont know enough about linux to create your own linux based os you should not be writing about it.........im guessing your using mandriva or something............ubuntu probly......

Ok i think im being a little mean so ill get serious and actually help you get a good site............
just let members of the game website submit reviews......etc...and have mods check them..........if you add features which allow other members to like a review then the most liked review of that specific game would be the top review for it and others as optional secondary reads......

this way you get a crapload of reviews on a wide variety of games and can be assured that the best one is the main review for the game.........you dont have to give anyone anything cause it,ll be optional to write ......they,l do it cause they want to

I dont know if your web guy can do this on your budget.......i can and most serious web masters could np but your guys not from dublin so i dunno
But if you want to make the site really cool and have a strong membership with some incentive to read/write you could create a member level system.....you basically start members off at lv 1 and the more reviews they write the more xp they get.........they,d get say 10xp if there review is liked once and 1 xp per day there review is top of the list for a specific game with multiple reviews submitted for it.

Overheal

Site looks better than most, but what do you need writers for at this point?

You're thinking probably too broadly if you plan on trying to mimick the success of Kotaku or IGN or somewheres. Look at mmo-champion: the little blog that only ever blogged about One Game. Or Zero Punctuation, a guy who is amazingly popular but generates content only whenever the hell he feels like it.

So you want to start this review site but why try to find someone that will review Hello Kitty Island Adventure for the sake of having a review of Hello Kitty Island Adventure?

Quality > Quantity.

Even if you only published one review per week you could develop a sizable user base if that one review was thorough, well thought out, and properly spell-checked and proof-read. I don't watch The Daily Show because Jon Stewart overloads my brain with everything that happened that day, the guy picks 2 or 3 topics and runs with them. Runs the hell out of them.

Basically if you already have 3 writers that all have particular interests, let them focus on their interests and they'll end up writing interesting articles. Let IGN and Metacritic suffer 20 hours of Hello Kitty Island Adventure just so they can give it a review. Kotaku basically does just that, rarely a game review but when they happen they're a great read, especially their more recent multi-part series where they reviewed MMOs like Lego Universe and FFXIII.

fudgez

denballs wrote: »

firstly .......thank you for noteing my excellence.........i always promote such use of the word...........

secondly..........your linux nonesense website links not working http://thegreatlinuxswitch.wordpress.com/ ...... {if you dont know enough about linux to create your own linux based os you should not be writing about it.........im guessing your using mandriva or something............ubuntu probly......

Ok i think im being a little mean so ill get serious and actually help you get a good site............
just let members of the game website submit reviews......etc...and have mods check them..........if you add features which allow other members to like a review then the most liked review of that specific game would be the top review for it and others as optional secondary reads......

this way you get a crapload of reviews on a wide variety of games and can be assured that the best one is the main review for the game.........you dont have to give anyone anything cause it,ll be optional to write ......they,l do it cause they want to

I dont know if your web guy can do this on your budget.......i can and most serious web masters could np but your guys not from dublin so i dunno
But if you want to make the site really cool and have a strong membership with some incentive to read/write you could create a member level system.....you basically start members off at lv 1 and the more reviews they write the more xp they get.........they,d get say 10xp if there review is liked once and 1 xp per day there review is top of the list for a specific game with multiple reviews submitted for it.

Thanks :cool:

fudgez

Overheal wrote: »

Site looks better than most, but what do you need writers for at this point?

You're thinking probably too broadly if you plan on trying to mimick the success of Kotaku or IGN or somewheres. Look at mmo-champion: the little blog that only ever blogged about One Game. Or Zero Punctuation, a guy who is amazingly popular but generates content only whenever the hell he feels like it.

So you want to start this review site but why try to find someone that will review Hello Kitty Island Adventure for the sake of having a review of Hello Kitty Island Adventure?

Quality > Quantity.

Even if you only published one review per week you could develop a sizable user base if that one review was thorough, well thought out, and properly spell-checked and proof-read. I don't watch The Daily Show because Jon Stewart overloads my brain with everything that happened that day, the guy picks 2 or 3 topics and runs with them. Runs the hell out of them.

Basically if you already have 3 writers that all have particular interests, let them focus on their inte rests and they'll end up writing interesting articles. Let IGN and Metacritic suffer 20 hours of Hello Kitty Island Adventure just so they can give it a review. Kotaku basically does just that, rarely a game review but when they happen they're a great read, especially their more recet multi-part series where they reviewed MMOs like Lego Universe and FFXIII.

Cheers for the input man it was very constructive. I now have a small team of decent writers and hopefully shall be able to come back and show you guys that I have taken what you have said on board Quality over quantity is exactly what I am going for at the moment I do not want to review every game hoping instead that we can establish ourselves more as a very kind of personal site talking about games culture in general.

Cheers to everyone on here btw every comment is very much appreciated.

denballs

this might seem a bit off topic............but any idea when a new command and conquer will be coming out..........the last one sucked........{i only really like the red alert series though}.........they seem to be focusing on the current games online development and not a new game............i did a quick google for info but keep getting crap about new contest releases and stuff.....

landsleaving

They claim 4 was the end of the tiberium series. I assume they'll continue to use the name in some way though. Probably Red Alert 4, or some hideous spin off or other. It isn't likely to improve any time soon, no matter what they do, considering most of Westwood, the original devs, resigned after EA turned them into EALA.

denballs

landsleaving wrote: »

They claim 4 was the end of the tiberium series. I assume they'll continue to use the name in some way though. Probably Red Alert 4, or some hideous spin off or other. It isn't likely to improve any time soon, no matter what they do, considering most of Westwood, the original devs, resigned after EA turned them into EALA.

I think its more the fact that they,re trying to modernise it but are ending up changing it so much that its losing its basic structure which is the opposite of what they shoud be doing IMO ........they should be building on the basics of the originals..........the last red alert it seemed like they were on the verge of turning it into some weird sci-fi fps.

i do like the movie qualities and the imaginative new weaponry but if it doesnt feel like its C and C then i dont think they can call it improvement........its change.

landsleaving

I suppose they had to make it different to compete with newer rts games, but they really lack the fun of the originals alright, there's just something missing.