Ok, so in gaming news there are two different types of press mentioned, enthusiast press and professional press ( I believe its another word, but it's lost on me).
What exactly is the identity of the two? I assume enthusiast press is things like blogs and personal coverage where the people who do the work arent being paid. Or is it just journalists who are part of the gaming scene and not like places like The NY times. Is enthusiast press an actual career or just a side hobby?
Any clarification is appreciated.
What is the difference between enthusiast and professional press?
Usually if you're "professional' you're paid or want to get paid.
Enthusiastic Press means your enthusiastic?
You can be an enthusiastic professional.
These articles may help you understand what the enthusiast press is:
http://kotaku.com/gaming/newsweek/game-publishers-hold-enthusiast-press-in-contempt-330081.php
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/04/30/dennis-dyack-says-nay-to-the-enthusiast-press-again/
A quote from:
http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/features/why-we-the-enthusiast-press-still-love-the-wii/?biz=1
"One of the clear down-sides of working in the enthusiast press is that after you play the first 200 games they all start to look and feel the same. This is one reason why the enthusiast press so often bombards developers and readers with pleas for gaming innovation. Frankly, sometimes we're bored with the same old thing.I am assuming that the enthusiast press is considered a job, getting paid, just like other journalists. I believe the difference is that the enthusiast press covers games much more thoroughly than the standard press, such as a NY Times article talking about the latest game.
Among the big console makers, no one has been as innovative from generation to generation as Nintendo. Sometimes this works (NES gamepad, DS and the N64 Controller) and sometimes it fails miserably (Virtual Boy, 64DD, and the unused GameCube microphone), but it's always something different for the enthusiast press to experience..."
Location.
Writing Ability.
Will.
That's the golden egg, right there. Emphasis on the third factor.... but without any one of those three - nowhere.
Take my word for it and go into another field. It pays better here on the other side. No shit.
I think you'll find about every college age (or younger) kid here will suggest a "harder" job, or will say they're aiming for one, but I think once you get into whatever profession you choose you'll find it not to be difficult at all, in the slightest, after 3 or so months, or 6. I don't know man... I work in an Engineering firm... and w
"Life lessons from Biff McBlumpkin right hurr!I think you'll find about every college age (or younger) kid here will suggest a "harder" job, or will say they're aiming for one, but I think once you get into whatever profession you choose you'll find it not to be difficult at all, in the slightest, after 3 or so months, or 6. I don't know man... I work in an Engineering firm... and what I do on a day to day basis is hardly at all what I fantasized about doing 10 years ago. What I do requires a technical precedent, but I really do think anyone could do what I do (probably because they can. even a chimp.)
"
My advice is to just bust your ass in college (something I didn't do right away,) pick a field you can prosper in (again, didn't happen for me,) and fucking bear down. Don't waste your money and time in college. Think about that.
Life doesn't play out to your fantasy. I can't speak for the guys that work at this site, but for me it hasn't.
Leave games as your hobby.
The bottom line is you should enjoy life now, because I think you'll find it's a fucking hassle later on. A job is a fucking hassle, you'd rather be doing something else. Anything you're paid to do will become a chore, keep that in mind. Enjoy life while it's fun, because that will not last.
"Thank you very much for the good advice. To tell you the truth my career path has been weird, I cant make up my mind because my interests vary way too much and Ive got until decemeber 1st to change my course applications so i picked the job that I originally wanted which was journalism, I really dont wanna work for a newspaper though, more like a magazine or a publisher. Event coverage etc.I think you'll find about every college age (or younger) kid here will suggest a "harder" job, or will say they're aiming for one, but I think once you get into whatever profession you choose you'll find it not to be difficult at all, in the slightest, after 3 or so months, or 6. I don't know man... I work in an Engineering firm... and what I do on a day to day basis is hardly at all what I fantasized about doing 10 years ago. What I do requires a technical precedent, but I really do think anyone could do what I do (probably because they can. even a chimp.)
"
My advice is to just bust your ass in college (something I didn't do right away,) pick a field you can prosper in (again, didn't happen for me,) and fucking bear down. Don't waste your money and time in college. Think about that.
Life doesn't play out to your fantasy. I can't speak for the guys that work at this site, but for me it hasn't.
Leave games as your hobby.
The bottom line is you should enjoy life now, because I think you'll find it's a fucking hassle later on. A job is a fucking hassle, you'd rather be doing something else. Anything you're paid to do will become a chore, keep that in mind. Enjoy life while it's fun, because that will not last.
Actually I would have been a cook but I dont think it'd be fun at ALL to do for a job. so yeah. Im in the middle of doing my final exams at the moment so I'll have to think about it more later on.
"Ok, so in gaming news there are two different types of press mentioned, enthusiast press and professional press ( I believe its another word, but it's lost on me).That's actually a good question, and one that would take a little explaining, as it covers some murky territory.
What exactly is the identity of the two? I assume enthusiast press is things like blogs and personal coverage where the people who do the work arent being paid. Or is it just journalists who are part of the gaming scene and not like places like The NY times. Is enthusiast press an actual career or just a side hobby?
Any clarification is appreciated."
I have my own site, which has grown from just myself, to a total of 13 people. Some of whom are very active, some who ad advice, and offer expertise in their field.
It's a BLOG, but many gamers see "Blogs" as terrible things and not really professional. Thing is, 80% of all professional sites are actually using or running of Blog Software and or running as blogs per-se'.
Many have said I'm NOT a professional simply because it is a blog, yet I "work" on it every day, some days for over 12 - 14 hours, and more. Stay up to ungodly hours in the morning to make sure articles are released to suit other time zones. Currently none of us get paid, But the aim is to eventually have it make money to support it and those who have put a great deal in it. So are those real professional or just enthusiasts . . ?
Both really. Some do contribute to actual printed media and get paid per article printed. Some get paid for contributions to other websites, and get paid per view of their articles or items.. So in that sense, they are professionals, yet the hold down "normal jobs" or attend school or Uni/College. The site averages around 42k unique views each month and growing each month without fail since it went live last July/August '07. So would that classify as a hobbyists site, or a professional site?
We attend media event and interview those in the game industry. I interviewed Cliff Belszinski last Wednesday at a Black Beta evening here in Sydney and had a nice casual chat with him afterwards. We interviewed the Creative Director and Producer of Far Cry 2 on Wednesday last week, as well as some of the team interviewed Producers of POP and End War at Ubisfots Offices here in Sydney, and were invited to a Retailers Only event by Ubiosft last night as a mark of respect for doing a good job with the interviews last Wedensday . . Are we proffessionals, or ethnusisats . . ?
We are seen by the publishers as professionals, we are seen by MS as professionals, who have also given us a xbox360 De-Bug unit, (with more to come later) so we can preview early code from developer/publishers . . . . So would that classify us as a professional group, or just hobbists and casual gamers . . . ?
We see ourselves as "Enthusistic gaming media" and are treated as such by the industry, but oddly enough, NOT by gamers - the ones we write the articles for and spend a great deal of time doing that. We are constantly told we do not know what we are talking about, we are not professionals and should shut up, and simply run a silly blog site. Hello, Joystiq, Desructoid etc are all blogs.
I think the difference is really, who is a hobbists writer and who is a proffesional writer for the media. One is a writer who does write and enjoys it, but has no real aspirations other than letting others kbow his or her opinions on various topic, has a blog or a blog-space and shares their views with other like minded people.
Then there are those who work at what they do, either for pay or aiming for pay, but with a level of dedicatiopn that is above the norm and want to be part of the greater news outlets and voice their views and opinions with gamers in general. Like to write interesting articles on gaming as their subject matter, and spend a great deal of time sourcing their work, interviewing people within the industry and aiming to make a living at some stage from it.
They would be Enthusisatic professional. An dthey are ones who would honour their NDA's which they MUST sign with people like MS, Sony, Nintendo, major publishers. Otherwise those people will not allow you to interview them or be privy to trade information. If you honour those NDA's (non disclosure aggreements) then you are also a "professional' and value your integrity.
However, there are those within the industry that do not honour those NDAs and work place agreements and actuall steal IP and information, just to get it out on the net so they can "be the first to get it up on the net" . .at any costs. Would youcall them "professionals" and aspire to be like them . . I certainly hope not.
You don't have to attend college to become a professional journalists, it helps, but some simply have a gift and love the work and seem to be able to draw information from others in a away that allows them to feel free enpough to disclose useful information (aka news), so that person can "report" it in a professional manner.
SO there are many sides to it, I think those within our team are professional writers, several get paid, I don't but spend ungodly hours working on the site, and do so at an age most would consider it very od to do so . .I'm 55 . . . and stil love playing games and discussing them. Plus I love helping opthers younger than myself move forward in areas they want to, in this case, gaming, specifically, writtingf about them.
Make some sort of sense . . ?
Sorry for the long write, but it was needed to show the sillyness of the situation really. The point is, do YOU think people in the industry like us are professionals, or simply hobbists . . . ?
"BiffMcBlumpkin said:I'm actually in college and have no idea what I want to do yet, but I have journalism, specifically gaming journalism, in mind. I do think anyone trying to enter that field should definitely have a back-up plan though. So many people want to be a game journalist, so I think it's a pretty difficult field to enter. Back-up plans are essential. I also agree that if you are a game journalist, games could start becoming something you force yourself to play, instead of playing them for fun. I think that's a risk of having such a job."My advice is to just bust your ass in college (something I didn't do right away,) pick a field you can prosper in (again, didn't happen for me,) and fucking bear down. Don't waste your money and time in college. Think about that.Thank you very much for the good advice. To tell you the truth my career path has been weird, I cant make up my mind because my interests vary way too much and Ive got until decemeber 1st to change my course applications so i picked the job that I originally wanted which was journalism, I really dont wanna work for a newspaper though, more like a magazine or a publisher. Event coverage etc.
Life doesn't play out to your fantasy. I can't speak for the guys that work at this site, but for me it hasn't.."
Actually I would have been a cook but I dont think it'd be fun at ALL to do for a job. so yeah. Im in the middle of doing my final exams at the moment so I'll have to think about it more later on."
Well I think taking up college will let me go into other types of journalism specifically if the need arises.
Thank you very much for all your great posts. Personally I do see most of these people as professionals but I see them labeled as enthusiast , maybe its because they like their job. :)
Did you say you were in Sydney?
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