TNL Staff Q&A

[Mzo]

Not that I'm the best one to answer this, since I'm SERIOUSLY behind on contributions, but wtf. I'll answer what I know.

1. When writing a video game review, what is done to prepare for it? Is the game played all the way through to write a thurough review? Is an outline of the final review made before the actual review is written? Do you take notes while playing the game so you can include them in your review? Do you write the review on a piece of paper first and then transfer it to text on the computer?

I play through the entire game, always. That's not really a question when it comes to a review, as far as I'm concerned. I don't take notes. I tend to remember the great and the terrible, and that's what should be pointed out anyway. No, I start and finish on MS Word. I have really shit handwriting and my desk is always insanely cluttered anyway.

4. What FTP utility is used to upload the site's content?

It's usually sent as an email to Nick, and then he handles the rest. TNL 4.0 has a spiffy new system in place that'll make submissions a hell of a lot easier.

5. Define "editor"

No.

6. How many hours a day(on average) does a member of the staff spend on the site?

Not enough? Unless you're Nick or cka. Then too much.

7. Do you ever have arguments about the content? How do they usually end?

Yes. Alaskan Ear Pull contests.

8. Are the members of the staff payed salaries? If so, how much? And where does the income come from? Ads?

Knowing that we write for an obscure gaming site where nobody but jaded asses will ever read our contributions is reward enough in and of itself.

10. Is there a TNL office somewhere, or do you all work from home and just send the content to each other via e-mail?

What is this "work" you speak of?

[Rumpy]

Yes. Alaskan Ear Pull contests.

That's intense. You guys are some tough customers!

[Jeremy]

Not for TNL (obviously), but based on my experience:

1. When writing a video game review, what is done to prepare for it? Is the game played all the way through to write a thurough review? Is an outline of the final review made before the actual review is written? Do you take notes while playing the game so you can include them in your review? Do you write the review on a piece of paper first and then transfer it to text on the computer?

With review games, when time allows, it's played all the way through. With deadlines varying for them, this gets harder and harder to meet, especially with RPGs. If the deadline permits, I'll do an outline, if not, I'll just take mental notes and make sure to hit those points in the review. For the last one, I just type them up on the computer now, although I used to transfer them from paper into the computer.

2. When writing a video game preview, where do you get the information? Straight from the source? From other sites(GameSpot, IGN, etc...)? How much info is gathered on the game before the preview is written? How much time does it take for the preview to be posted online after it's been completed?

I haven't written a preview in forever, but the last one I did was done with information from the publisher and/or developer, along with a demo of the game. The last question is something that varies from site to site. With www.VGPub.com , I am able to get a preview up right after it's been typed. If it's a bigger, more thorough piece, it will usually require editing, in which case, it can't go up after it's been typed up, and will have to wait until it's been edited.

3. What image editor is used to make the site's images? Flash? Photoshop? Who makes the images?

Yet another thing that varies from site to site. Each staff member uses a different image editor, by and large the images are done with some version of Photoshop, although I stick to Irfanview and Paint for the majority of the stuff I've done. I've only had to use Photoshop Elements for a handful of images, thank God.

4. What FTP utility is used to upload the site's content?

A site-specific file manager.

5. Define "editor"

There are copy editors and editors in journalism, off the top of my head, an editor is the one who writes the content, and the copy editor is the one who fixes errors and cleans it up. In my experiences with gaming journalism, the term usually applies to the person who does both jobs, with "writer" just being used for folks who don't edit the copy.

6. How many hours a day(on average) does a member of the staff spend on the site?

This depends on the duties of the person, and the arrangement of that site. With VGPub, I spend anywhere from one hour a day just editing content and posting news to up to five or six actually writing content on top of that.

7. Do you ever have arguments about the content? How do they usually end?

We've been lucky enough to not have arguements about the content, there have been some slight exceptions, but by and large, this hasn't been a problem.

8. Are the members of the staff paid salaries? If so, how much? And where does the income come from? Ads?

No one on staff is paid, although a site owner may use the money generated from ads (if any) towards the site to upgrade existing features, or add entirely new ones.

9. How long did it take to learn the programming language? How many members of the staff actually know the language?

No idea, my last attempt into doing site programming ended when I tried to self teach myself PERL, and failed.

10. Is there a TNL office somewhere, or do you all work from home and just send the content to each other via e-mail?

Most fansites just have editors that work from home and communicate the work via e-mail, or some other electronic service.

I write full-time for www.vgpub.com and www.digitalbackspin.com currently, with some work being done for www.gamingring.com again, although I've allowed my work to be posted on quite a few sites, and still regularly contrbute to www.gamefaqs.com.

[Opaque]

This is the worst thread ever.

[Rumpy]

This is the worst thread ever.

Not quite. You closed that one earlier today.

[Opaque]

Even that one was better, if only because it had a noble purpose.

[James]

1. When writing a video game review, what is done to prepare for it? Is the game played all the way through to write a thurough review? Is an outline of the final review made before the actual review is written? Do you take notes while playing the game so you can include them in your review? Do you write the review on a piece of paper first and then transfer it to text on the computer?

Play the game, usually all the way through but in the case of certain insanely tough shooters then I might let it slide. Lots, at least.

No notes, but I might stop in the middle of writing to play a bit more or leaf through the instruction manual to jog my memory. And I write it using the generic windows text editor in .rtf format. When I'm done writing I get a drink or do something else for a short bit then re-read it, detypoing as I go, killing commas, and adding bits as necessary.

2. When writing a video game preview, where do you get the information? Straight from the source? From other sites(GameSpot, IGN, etc...)? How much info is gathered on the game before the preview is written? How much time does it take for the preview to be posted online after it's been completed?

If I can't play a demo I don't write about it, and all my previews have been from either stand-alone demos or OPSM/OXBM disks. Any extra needed info is snagged off the publisher's web site. After that, like everything I write, I zip it up and send it in, and then whoever's putting things up formats it and puts it online, usually Nick.

3. What image editor is used to make the site's images? Flash? Photoshop? Who makes the images?

My screengrabs are done using the cheap-o utility that came with my cheap-o tv-in card. I wire up the appropriate system, usually PS2, play the game, take screenshots, trash most of them, and use the rest as illustrative examples of things I'm talking about. I'll also put notes in the article saying which shots go where. This explanation makes it sound much more complicated than it really is.

6. How many hours a day(on average) does a member of the staff spend on the site?

The proper question for someone like me, with low output, is about hours per week. I'd say about 4-5, maybe.

7. Do you ever have arguments about the content? How do they usually end?

No arguments. About the only potential conflict would be if two people wanted to review the same game, but simple discussion can take care of that. Beyond that it's just a matter of writing something.

8. Are the members of the staff payed salaries? If so, how much? And where does the income come from? Ads?

I've never gotten a single thing from doing this, ever. E3 was lots of fun though, even if I did pay my own way there. I would have gone anyway and going as press was a nice bonus so it all worked out great.

10. Is there a TNL office somewhere, or do you all work from home and just send the content to each other via e-mail?

Not one single fan-based website in the world has an office. It's a bunch of guys who like games writing about them because they think they have something to say, and they do it because they can. All communication is via e-mail/AIM, and if we meet face to face it's usually at E3.

James

[LOL]

Jeremy and Rich are not TNL staff. No one asked you two.

They're also the worst writers ever. Both of you STFU.

[Fe 26]

Why are you so mean?

[Tommy Tallarico]

I got a little curious as to how TNL is functioned - who does what, who's boss over who, how are the articles written, etc... So here are a few questions for the TNL staff to answer when they've got the time.

1. When writing a video game review, what is done to prepare for it? Is the game played all the way through to write a thurough review? Is an outline of the final review made before the actual review is written? Do you take notes while playing the game so you can include them in your review? Do you write the review on a piece of paper first and then transfer it to text on the computer?

I just write as it comes and make very few changes. It shows. Omfgninjas and mzo just don't write anything ever, so we all have our own styles.

2. When writing a video game preview, where do you get the information? Straight from the source? From other sites(GameSpot, IGN, etc...)? How much info is gathered on the game before the preview is written? How much time does it take for the preview to be posted online after it's been completed?

We get our shit from press releases or preview code. It goes up whenever Nick's available.

3. What image editor is used to make the site's images? Flash? Photoshop? Who makes the images?

Publishers, like the whore's son said.

4. What FTP utility is used to upload the site's content?

Whatever Nick uses. I use FlashFXP.

5. Define "editor"

Writer.

6. How many hours a day(on average) does a member of the staff spend on the site?

Most are on all day, but we just post funnies on the forums rather than actually writing. I have work and school, so I spend as little as possible.

7. Do you ever have arguments about the content? How do they usually end?

Nick questioned me once and I broke up his marriage.

8. Are the members of the staff payed salaries? If so, how much? And where does the income come from? Ads?

LOL. I only write for TNL because I like Nick, even if I don't have time to write much 3/4 of the year. There is some ad income, but most of the site income comes from Nick working a normal, shitty job at a hotel.

9. How long did it take to learn the programming language? How many members of the staff actually know the language?

We are all fluent in C++. Except mzo. He's stupid.

10. Is there a TNL office somewhere, or do you all work from home and just send the content to each other via e-mail?

Omfgninjas and I live with Nick. The rest of them live somewhere else.

I know it's not like me to seriously answer a thread like this, but I couldn't sit back and watch people that don't even work for the site and the son of a whore speak for TNL.