RTS Northern Ireland Futures and BBC Digital Cities came together at the end of March to host “Games and the media”, which featured a panel of young gamers discussing their jobs and offering tips on how to break into games journalism.
Jordan Middler, a staff writer at VGC (Video Games Chronicle), advised would-be journalists to do some research: “Get on Twitter, follow editors on sites… see what people are talking about.
“No editor at a games site is going to ask to see your degree – if you can write, you can write. You need to find small sites that are willing to… work with new writers.”
Stacey Henley, editor-in-chief at The Gamer, agreed: “Jordan and I are outnumbered by people who don’t have degrees… literally nobody cares…. Pitch everywhere you can, learn everything you can.”
Skills are transferable, argued Rachel Macpherson, who now works in PR for Neon Hive, a specialist games agency, having previously worked as a digital journalist. “If you want to work as a brand manager or in the business side of games, having skills in admin or operations is a great transferable skill,” she said.
Macpherson added: “Get to know people – go to events…. Chat to folk about the games you’re passionate about.”
The event was hosted by Odhrán Johnson, co-founder of Gaming Sandbox, which specialises in writing about indie games and developers.
