#NerdsUnite: Confessions of a videogame journalist (Love where you work)
<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy John. We started talking on the twitter not too long ago, and then he reached out and asked if he could write for us regarding his journey through the nerdy realm. I was all DUDDEEE!! That's so raaaddd!! And now, here we are. Like right now, in real time, this is happening. Pretty cool huh? HIT IT JOHN!!! </editorsnote>
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's John Sollitto
Occasionally, and by occasionally I mean like once every full moon of the third month, I get asked about my time at G4. When that happens I get one of those fuzzy-framed-nostalgia-filled flashbacks. Working at G4 as one of the Legendary Unpaid X-Play Interns was both magical and eye-opening. A lot of what I learned there has translated to my work at the Game Creators Vault.
Let me begin with my initial interview. I got all purtied up, wore a nice shirt, combed my hair, the basics when you go for a job interview. The guy who interviewed me was WAY cool, really laid back and he made me feel really at ease. We talked a little about my writing for IGN and for City of Heroes, what I wanted to get into, and what kind of games I played.
Time passes and I get a call that saying I got the position and basically started right away. My first day? Play a bunch of videogames and record my time playing them, then go help Michael Leffler (the comedy producer of G4 also known as Drunk Link of any of the other hilarious characters on the show) film one of the Golden Mullet sketches. Seriously, first day I was playing videogames and doing a G4 sketch. It was a dream come true.The offices of G4 are pretty amazing too. I mean it’s a bunch of cubicles, but still each one has some crazy videogame paraphernalia or comics all over the place, games systems everywhere, G4 TV programming playing at people’s desks, costumes strewn about. It was glorious madness. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so at home in a place than I did at G4.
Funny thing about G4, they share a floor with the Style Network since they’re both owned by NBC Universal. So occasionally you’d get someone leading clients or talent through the halls and you’d hear “And this is G4, you can tell by all the toys and dolls on their cubes,” to which my friends would emphatically mutter under their breath “They’re action figures!!!!”
So amidst shenanigans of all sorts and fun times playing videogames I actually got to see how their programming was set up and how their shows got put together. They get their games like a month in advance so they can film all the appropriate footage for the review ahead of time, then the footage is logged down in the editing bays. That footage is paired up with the voice over of one of the hosts and the text they say is written up by one of the reviewers. There’s at least five or six reviewers doing stuff for X-Play so they can do multiple games at a time and work on different packages for the show so there’s always programming.
For the Vault, since we can’t get games ahead of time, we try to buy them the day they come out and then cap the footage at my place or Anders’s place. Then we try and shoot a multitude of videos on a weekend where Michael (or from this point on Megatron, since I call him that) will take them to his place and edit them. It takes one to two weeks for Megatron to edit a video cause we’re all students and I understand that he’s got stuff on his mind. Plus Megatron is the man and people ask him to help them with projects all the time so I let him slide cause he’s boss.
Now, the ONLY thing I did NOT like doing at G4 transcribing interviews. Seriously, that was the only thing I didn’t enjoy about my job and I did it maybe twice. I just don’t like it because I want to know what they’re saying and not have to take notes on it. Kind of like watching an educational movie in school, you just want to watch it not do the worksheet.
I got to go into the editing bays and see how the packages were put together, how the scripts were written, I got to even write some mock scripts of my own. Heck, they let me write an article myself that got published on the website in the Feed section! It was AWESOME. I didn’t just make friends in X-Play, I made friends with the Attack of the Show team as well as the website crew.
The thing I took away from G4 was to enjoy your environment. I mean seriously, I can’t explain how STOKED I was to go to work EVERYDAY. I didn’t want to go back to my apartment. They had to tell me to go home because I wouldn’t leave. I played videogames for work, I hung out and talked about comics at lunch, and I got to wear a raccoon costume and get beat up by Morgan Webb. (click here to watch the video)
Honestly, if you love the environment you’re in, you’ll get work done. It won’t feel like work at all. Time just seemed to pass without me even realizing it. I’ve tried really hard to make the guys at the Vault feel that way. I want them to love working on the site and with me. I want them to enjoy it as much as I do. Whoever you work with or whatever you do, make sure you do it in a place that you enjoy being in and are doing something you love there. Just make sure it’s not the toilet cause that’s kind of weird.
#nerdsunite
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