A Course for Concern?

[Andy]

To view the article that these comments correspond to, please visit http://thisismyjoystick.com/editorial/a ... or-concern

[Trent]

Firstly I think online advertising is a load of bollocks and I cannot believe anyone makes any money from it. I've NEVER clicked an add for anything but free MMOs which I've 99% of the time not signed up to.

Secondly, nice piece there dude. I was suspicious of this course the moment I became aware of it. I think it's the perfect way for hacks who couldn't write a fucking postcard if they tried to rock around saying 'I'm a games journalist, I've got a blog check me out here's my card'. This in turn with oversaturate OUR market with jobsworth twats who have no idea how to write and think that brown-nosing PR people and scrounging review copies constitutes journalism, with the review only the end result. Fuckers. I hope no-one goes on it.

Oh and this is one of the reasons I don't call myself a journalist; these days its more about who you know and how many proverbial hand jobs you're prepared to give out at networking events than the actual quality of writing. Just my view.

[JamesIreland]

Your absolutely right about the whole, what you know who you know element. There is a seedy underlayer which is hidden in clear view about the way some present themselves in this industry.

[Trent]

Your absolutely right about the whole, what you know who you know element. There is a seedy underlayer which is hidden in clear view about the way some present themselves in this industry.

To be honest the entire media industry is like that. You can be the best filmmaker in the history of mankind but if you don't know anyone you'll never get any notice. Very few people break through using things like Youtube. Most of the time it's years of kissing arse before you get a crack at the big job. Shame I don't like the taste of arse; maybe I'd actually have a media job by now lol.

[tgt_rich]

Hi James,

Thanks for the piece on the training courses we're running. There are obviously a lot of things that we agree on - and some we don't. You're certainly welcome to your opinion about both the content of the courses and the motivations behind them.

However your basic premise that we're using the courses to tout for sites (and I'm not sure where the '15-16 websites' number comes from: we have more that 60 Partner sites that we're working with) just isn't right, nor is the implication that we're trying to be the Google Ads of games (I'm pretty sure Google Ads is the Google Ads of games).

While one of things we do is aid our Partners to get advertising money, everything we do - including that - comes from fulfilling our mission to champion independent games sites and journalism.

Advertising revenue fits into that because it's the most straightforward way to make money from your site. We make no apology for trying to help sites make some money for their hard work as part of what we do. Apart from anything else I hope they might end up in a position where they can pay for good quality games journalism.

Which is what the course is about. We will be sharing our experience and knowledge with people starting out or currently working for nothing to improve the words they write and highlight the correct practices if they want to be able to write for paying sites. I have many year's experience (and training courses) under my belt and have personally trained scores of new starters at Future Publishing, added to which the course will be lead by a senior lecturer in journalism and, as you mention, we will also have the Guardian's Keith Stuart on hand and other guests.

Finally if you or any of your writers or readers would like to attend the course for that £49.99 price tag then you're more than welcome - just contact us through http://corporate.thegamestribe.com. While a day's course won't make you the finished article we believe that we can put you on the right track.

All the best,

Rich

[Andy]

Hi Rich, thanks for getting in contact with us to present your side of things, and taking the time to sign up.

I think that this article came out far more positive than I thought it would have, from when we were originally discussing the idea as an editorial.

We were looking at the fact that EA were backing the scheme, and asked the question as to whether it was partly Publishers looking to have more of an influence on the next generation of Game's Journalists, in a market that's all about the Metacritic score.

Whether that's far from the truth or not, it's a side of the coin we felt might have been worth putting forward. In the end, such is the way with our site and the freedom we offer our writers, James went a different route, and came forward with a different, compelling view, which I think asked a valid question. If something seems too good to be true, it usually is.

No one is denying any site's right to make money, least not yours (you don't do this for free, obviously). I think, in the end, he was quite respectful in regards to the three of you, what you can offer people, the site itself and your pedigree in the industry.

With that, it was nice to e-meet you, and hope you continue to drop by.