The Online Gaming Site Bible

I. Introduction

II. Before You Start

III. Let’s and Go!

IV. A Word on Writing

V. News

VI. Previews

VII. Reviews

VIII. Editorials

IX. Contacting Companies

X. Electronics Entertainment Expo

XI. Reader Relations

XII. Publicity and Advertising

XIII. Conclusion

XIV. Credits

I. Introduction

Before I get started, I think it would be pertinent to explain why I’m assembling this guide. Most of the information you’ll find within comes from my own personal experience. I jumped onto the online gaming scene in late 1998, and by early ’99 I figured it would be cool to get a bit more involved. So, I created The Nformant...from scratch. I absolutely refused to hire a staff; this was to be my project, my sole responsibility, and the rewards were to be mine alone. The site grew in popularity, albeit very slowly, and along the way I gained a wealth of knowledge about journalism and business. Since I left the Nformant to work with the Planet, I’ve learned even more about the industry, and how one should properly cover it. Along my wonderful path towards who-knows-what, I’ve tried my best to help other people accomplish their dream of starting –and maintaining- a gaming website. I’ve seen through these people’s eyes, and through my own memories, how incredibly difficult it can be to bring attention, respect, and above all, quality, to your own site. And so I got the idea for this guide. Here is all I know about writing, webmastering, proofreading, publicizing, and much more. No more trade secrets, no pulled punches. I can’t guarantee that this information will make your site a success, or make you a great staffer at an established website, but it sure can’t hurt.

II. Before You Start

First, are you planning to create your own site, or just work for an existing one? If you only want to join the staff of an established site, you can probably skip to Section IV: A Word on Writing. If you want to start from scratch, this is absolutely the most important section for you. Two big questions await you in the planning stages. First, why do you want to start a site? If your answer is anything like, “Just...because it sounds cool!” then you might as well not start. Running a serious gaming site is HARD, and the early days can be the toughest. If you’re only interested in putting up something silly, or you just want to devote a page or two to your favorite game, then this guide is not for you. Good reasons to start a new gaming site: You want to get more involved in the industry. You want to get some great experience in journalism or running a small business. You want to gain respect and credibility on the Internet. You want to go to E3 or Spaceworld, or get free games from publishers (hey, if you make it to that point, you deserve that stuff). Or maybe you’re just sickened by most of the current sites, and think you can do better. It’s a distinct possibility. Whatever the case may be, make sure you don’t jump headlong into such a large venture for short-term reasons. Success takes time, and you need long-term goals for long-term motivation. The second big question for you: how will your site be special? If you plan on throwing up just another generalized gaming site with news and reviews and nothing unique and new, then I sure as hell don’t have time to go there, and neither will your potential readership. There is certainly room to come up with extra unique features once the site is established, but I’m talking about the very foundation upon which your site is built. Look at the very best and most successful gaming sites: Nintendorks, RareNet, FGN Online, Planet GameCube, Nshooters, Nintendojo. They all have unique features or premises...not just gimmicks, but original concepts built into the very fabric of the site. How you distinguish your site is entirely up to you...if I gave you ideas to use, they wouldn’t be original anymore. ;-) Just use your creativity and think about what things YOU look for in a site when you visit. Then put those things in your site, and do whatever it takes to make them unique and special. If you can accomplish that, congratulations; you’re one giant step ahead of 99% of the new gaming sites out there. Last but not least, you need to decide on a staff. Will you be running this site all by yourself? It can be a LOT of work, but you’ll also have total control, and you won’t have to depend on other people to update or worry about trying to get them to not be lazy. Staffs can be incredible though, when the right mixture of minds comes together. When choosing staff members, you’ll want to make sure you know them already to some degree. Also look for people with good writing skills, motivation to work and do stuff over long periods of time (not just once a month), useful skills that fill in gaps in what you can do yourself, and above all, a willingness to learn and grow and improve as time goes on. I’d much rather have a mediocre writer who takes suggestions very well and has the potential to become a great writer than a pretty good one who doesn’t like being given directions and tips from someone more experienced. If you can’t improve, your site won’t either.

III. Let’s and Go!

So, now you’ve got some good ideas for your site, and you’re ready to start building it. The first major choice is hosting. Most new gaming sites start out on free hosting services, such as Geocities, Fortune City, Homestead, etc. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, free hosting is great to start off with for many reasons. These services eliminate most of your financial risk, have some sort of customer support, and usually even have utilities that make creating your site easier. If you’re a bit more web savvy and have some money to spend, consider paid hosting. Paid services are more constrictive in some ways...they tend to put limits on bandwidth, number of uploads, etc. However, they’re also much more flexible in terms of the technologies you can use, and their packages tend to offer much more webspace than free services can. The choice is up to you. Once you’ve decided on hosting, you should probably get a placeholder page up as soon as possible...something that announces your site and tells people to check back soon for the fully functional version. Then start designing your main page. The look and layout of this page are critical; this stuff is the very first thing your visitors will see, and if it looks cluttered, disorganized, unprofessional, or just plain tacky, they probably aren’t going to be motivated to actually read your content on the other pages. Most sites employ some sort of menu with links to the various sections on the main page. I highly recommend that you do not link to a section that doesn’t exist yet! Broken links are a bane to any website, and you sure don’t want to make them intentionally. Listing recent updates is a good idea; I’ve had experience with a separate “Updates” page, and it doesn’t work very well. Polls are another popular element of main pages. Finally, I recommend a direct email link to the webmaster (that being you in most cases) and the rest of the staff members, if there is a staff. Reader feedback is especially important in your site’s formative days, and it should be very simple and obvious for readers how to contact you with their thoughts. On the topic of splash pages: use your own discretion. If you’re afraid visitors will be annoyed by having to click just to see the main page, then you probably shouldn’t use one. On the other hand, splash pages can useful for introducing visitors with your site’s name and perhaps a Flash animation or nice piece of art that you made.

IV. A Word on Writing

Your skill as a writer is essential to the success of your site. If you’re worried that you need to work on your writing, there are many things you can do. Make sure you pay attention in English class...that stuff relates directly to your site. Read bigger, established sites and see how they do things. It’s not necessary that you have utterly perfect grammar and spelling, but the more errors you have in the site’s content, the less professional and serious you look. If you have a staff, make sure that everyone proofreads everyone else’s stuff before or very soon after the content goes live. Working alone? Just ask a friend to look over your stuff for you. It’s best to catch mistakes before the readers do! The #1 most misspelled word at gaming sites is “definitely”. People like to stick an ‘a’ in there for some reason. The biggest grammar problem is sentence fragments, by far. Writing is a much different beast than speaking, and “sentences” that you and I might very well use in everyday dialogue are simply incorrect when typed up into text. When proofreading for fragments, find the main subject of the sentence and then see if that subject is doing something or being something. If not, it should be. ;-D Excellent grammar and spelling are some of the biggest barriers keeping small sites from being big sites.

V. News

Reporting news is an interesting duty for small, young sites. Obviously, most or all of your news is going to come from other websites...that’s just the way it goes. Every now and then you’ll find something in a magazine, but those are usually too out of date to have usable news. So, how do you report news from other places and make it worth reading? It’s mainly an issue of being observant and intelligent about the industry. If all you do is copy and paste the news from, say IGN, then nobody is going to care enough to read your news instead of (or in addition to) theirs. However, if you analyze their report, bring in some extra information from elsewhere, and make a new observation about what the news could mean to the industry and to gamers...hey, that’s not bad. While your news may not be original or exclusive, it IS more relevant and understandable, and people might actually be interested in reading it. I very highly recommend this tactic, because it could be a long time before you have the resources to get exclusive info at all, especially on a regular basis. If it all sounds boring to you or too much work, you might consider just not covering news. There are some great websites that concentrate only on editorials, or only reviews. If you do decide to cover news, there are a few guidelines to follow. First, don’t try to report every single news item that you find. Some of them just aren’t that interesting or important. If you bog down your page with incessant junk news, readers won’t be willing to search for the actual good stuff. Second, how often you update news is up to you, but it should be at least two or three times a week. If your news isn’t new, it ain’t really news. Finally, always always ALWAYS give credit to your source. Even better, try to track down where the info originated to begin with...this will not only let you credit the people who broke the story, but it can also help you evaluate just how dependable the news item is. The last thing I’ll look at on this issue is news placement. Do you want news stories to be listed on your main page, or do you want a separate page with just news? I’ve never found one to be particularly more popular with readers than the other...some folks like to have news right there to begin with, and some don’t like it cluttering up the main page and getting mixed in with all your other updates. The choice is yours.

VI. Previews

Previews can be one of the most difficult types of writing to master. As a preview writer, you’re expected to take a few scant details and assemble them in such a way as to present a well-rounded and realistic view of what the final game will be like. Until you’re ready to get exclusive info directly from publishers and developers, or go to gaming events where you get to see and play games months before they’re released, most of your preview info is probably going to come from the news and from other previews. But that’s okay. The truth is that even major sites like IGN base most of their previews on information that anyone can obtain pretty easily. They key is to arranging and presenting the info in an interesting, entertaining, and accurate manner. Let’s say, for instance, that a new Zelda game has been announced, and you have a single screenshot. How can you write a whole preview off those two pieces of data? Well for starters...have you ever played a Zelda game before? Of course; you’ve probably played all of them. So your previous experience with the series gives you an idea of what to expect with the new game. Factor in the developer’s past games and accomplishments and the system that it’s appearing on, and you can probably extract all kinds of things to say about this basically unknown game. One thing to remember with previews is that your readers shouldn’t think everything you say is fact. If you’re speculating on something, even something that seems for sure likely (like multiplayer in a racing game, for instance), make sure it’s clear that you are speculating and not relaying confirmed facts. If you work hard at a preview and come up with some really innovative conclusions and a fresh way to present your information, the rewards are great. There is no greater feeling than reading an old preview after the game has been released, only to find that most of your predictions were right on the money. Later on, when you have the resources to play early versions of games (at E3 or a Walmart demo station, for instance), you can add a whole new dimension to your previews with impressions. The key to impressions is being very observant; you want to soak up not only all the elements of the game you’re playing, but also the feeling you get from playing it, the emotions the game evokes, etc. When done correctly, hands-on impressions are an invaluable addition to a good preview.

VII. Reviews

Reviews always have been and always will be controversial. Not because some sites get much different results from playing a game...that’s bound to happen anyway. The biggest controversy is HOW a review should be written. Should you include the type of info found in a manual, or stick to what you liked and didn’t like? Should you divide your reviews into categories like graphics, sound, and gameplay, or should you try to mix it all together (since that stuff is mixed all together in the game)? Should you try to use scores for your reviews? If so, how will your scoring system work...how will you maintain some consistency? These are all very difficult problems, and it’s basically up to you to answer them. A great review system should reflect and support the writer’s style while also giving an honest, accurate account of the game it’s about. Not as easy as it looks, trust me. The Internet in particular is filled to the brim with bad game reviews...poorly written, three-sentence-long mini-rants about the main character’s wardrobe and other such crap. Not every review needs the same elements covered...for instance, some games don’t have multiplayer modes at all, and some may have such mediocre music that there’s not really anything to say about that. Most reviews should cover at least some or most of these areas: gameplay (duh!), graphics, sound, replay, control, multiplayer, originality, and a purchasing/rental recommendation (or lack thereof). You might also want to include a short list of things you really loved, even tiny details that just brought a smile to your face, and also the things that annoyed you or just really brought the game down in quality. If you’re new to writing reviews, get a friend to read one and tell you what he thinks. Better yet, ask your friend to summarize your review back to you in his own words...if what he says isn’t pretty close to how you really feel about the game, something’s wrong.

VIII. Editorials

Ahh, you gotta love writing and reading editorials. These babies can be one of your best opportunities to present your personality and style to the readers...and invetiably, some will love you for it, and some will hate you for it. Because editorials involve assessing a subject and making a judgement, recommendation, etc., you can pretty much expect to piss a few people off, no matter what you say. Make sure you don’t take the criticism too seriously, but if people are questioning your reasoning methods or the facts you based your argument on, that is definitely something to look at. The first step in writing an editorial is to choose a topic. Recent news is always a popular source, but good editorials can be about almost anything. The one recommendation I’ll make in choosing a topic: go for something unusual, something innovative. Sure, you can write up your opinion on why you think Nintendo will win the next-gen war, but unless you bring out a radical new idea within that subject, your editorial is going to be exactly like a hundred others. The best editorials are on things that no one (or hardly anyone) else has talked about. Maybe something that people take for granted, and you want to analyze. Or you can challenge a commonly held belief or assumption. Just go for a topic that you don’t see very often...your editorials will stand out much more that way. Then you should research the topic, unless you consider yourself an expert on it (which won’t be the case nine times out of ten). Assemble information from various places, figure out what the general consensus seems to be, and then make your judgement. Don’t base an entire editorial on emotion alone. Your argument should be based on sound reasoning...if it’s not, you’re going to get a lot of hell from the readers, and rightly so. The point of most editorials is to prove a point, to present your opinion and justify it through examples and logic. They can be a lot of fun to write and a great addition to your site, but be sure that you write them responsibly. Don’t make wild claims just to grab attention, and be aware that the more unorthodox your assertion, the tighter your argument will have to be to look credible to the average reader.

IX. Contacting Companies

Before your eyes light up with images of press events and free games, I have to make a disclaimer on this topic. You can’t enjoy most of the benefits of publisher and developer relations until your site is pretty big...as in a domain name, a moderately large and faithful readership, a big assortment of previews and reviews, and a lot of hits. Except for the occasional small developer that takes a liking to your small site, you’re going to need size, popularity, and credibility before companies start sending you free stuff and inviting you to come play their games in development. If you’re just looking for information, press releases, etc., you can get that stuff at almost any stage in your site’s growth. For overseas companies, email will usually be your best method of contact. Otherwise, you’re much more likely to get what you want by calling a company on the phone. Most publishers will gladly answer questions about their upcoming games and put you on their email list for press releases. Developers vary; some will refer all questions to their publishers. The best ones for info are those who have games without a publisher...those people want to get as much info as possible about their game out in the world, and they would LOVE to talk to you about it. I’m not going to provide email addresses and phone numbers...most of them can be found easily enough on company websites and company databases like the ones at IGN. Don’t be worried about being nervous the first time you call a company; that happens to everyone. Just plan ahead: know what you want and what you’re going to ask. If you’re calling a general company phone number and get the operator, ask for the public relations person. When that person picks up, introduce yourself, your company (website), and explain why you’re calling. Be honest and courteous with these people. They are paid to be nice to you and help you out, and you have nothing to fear from them. Write down the PR person’s name, email address, and direct phone number if you can get that info. Before long, you can have your site’s name in the minds of all sorts of companies, and you’ll be getting the same press releases that the major sites get a lot of their information from. You can do it!

X. Electronics Entertainment Expo

E3: The ultimate gaming mecca, no matter which platform(s) your site focuses on. If you don’t know what the Electronic Entertainment Expo is, you shouldn’t even consider creating a gaming site. E3 is without a doubt the biggest gaming event of the year, and eventually you’ll want to go yourself. First thing’s first: if you aren’t going to be 18 years old when the show starts, I can’t help you. Yes, it IS possible to get in underage, but just barely. The E3 people get more and more strict on the age limit every year, and believe it or not, there are actually good reasons for that age limit. The last thing they need is thousands of middle-schoolers (or younger) trying to migrate out to Los Angeles every year...that’s a disaster waiting to happen. Plus, most games shown at E3 haven’t been rated yet by the ESRB, and I for one don’t want to be carded just to get up close to games like Conker’s Bad Fur Day. Add to that the scantily-clad booth babes, freebie giveaways ranging from risqué magazines to custom-made condoms, and public contests for the best dirty joke, to name a few...E3 simply is not a place for kids. If you ARE 18 years old and want to go to the show, it’s actually not as hard as you’d think. The E3 people like to put up a front of exclusivity so that the show doesn’t become overcrowded. There is one type of pass for “Exhibits Only” (meaning, you get to play all the games but not attend the workshops...big loss) that is actually 100% FREE. The real costs of E3 lie in plane tickets to L.A., the generally expensive hotel rates, and paying for food during the trip. Within the United States, the average cost is probably about $1,000, plus or minus about $300 depending on your location, which hotel you choose, and how long you stay. That’s a ton of money to go play videogames and meet people in the industry, but if you eat drink and breathe this stuff, it’ll be the time of your life and worth every single penny. If you’re serious about going, you’ll need to become familiar with the E3 website: http://www.e3expo.com There you can look over the list of exhibitors, get deals on travel expenses, and most importantly, download an application for admittance. Under the current rules, you can only get the free pass by mailing or faxing in the application; the internet and phone methods are for paying customers only. Fill out the app carefully and thoroughly, and make sure you put your website’s address somewhere on there. Remember, you want to look as professional as possible for the E3 people...I’m honestly not sure how strictly they evaluate websites for admittance, if at all, but it can’t help to appear like a pro. Send that sucker in, and if you’re accepted, you should get a confirmation email within a couple weeks. Your badge will arrive in the mail sometime in April, and you’ll want to take very good care of that thing until the show in May. As soon as you’re confirmed (start this process as early as possible...January or February is best), get ready to order plane tickets and get hotel reservations. Again, the E3 website can help you out with planning the travel accommodations. If you’re confirmed for the show and have your travel stuff in order...congratulations! You’re in for the time of your life. There are definitely some things you should know going into the show. Be ready for interviews. Even if you don’t get any set up prior to the show, you’ll end up getting some just on the spot. See that developer guy standing over there by his game? What’s keeping you from going over there and asking him a few questions? Nothing, of course, and you definitely should. Developers at E3 usually LOVE to talk about their games...they haven’t been able to say a word for months and months, and they’re about to burst. You’ll have to quickly learn to come up with interview questions on the spot, but that shouldn’t be too hard at all if you’ve already played their game at the show. Just have pen, paper, and a micro-cassette recorder on hand at all times. A camera (preferably digital) is recommended too...there is a ton of crazy stuff to see at E3, and you’ll want to keep a record of it AND let your site’s readers get an idea of what the show is like. The last thing is the games, of course. There are hundreds and hundreds of games at E3, and there’s no way you’ll have time to play all of them. Go in with a basic strategy and you should be fine. Just be observant, collect the best impressions you can, pick up any free press materials that are hanging around, and you’ll have tons of great info for your readers. Plus, you’ll have a LOT of fun!

XI. Reader Relations

Readers are the lifeblood of any website. As the webmaster and/or editor-in-chief, it is your job to balance what you want for the site with what the readers want for the site...not always an easy task. Find ways to involve the readers in what you do, to make the site more interactive, to increase feedback so that you know if what you’re doing is effective or not. Most people love the idea that they can influence something that they love so much, and if you can let those readers know that their input and participation really do count and really do matter to you, they’ll be fans for life. When you get emails, answer them promptly. Try to set up a message board, chat room, or something similar where you can interact directly with the readers. They’ll appreciate the opportunity; you’ll appreciate their interest. Even if your site grows to such a size that it’s hard for you to personally answer emails or stay in touch with very many readers directly, you can still maintain that link through mailbags, Q&A sections, polls, etc. It’s important that your readers never get the feeling that their opinions no longer matter to you. That’s when they’ll go elsewhere, and if a few get frustrated and leave, you can bet they’ll take others with them. Above all, treat your readers with respect and courtesy. They understand and appreciate how much work you put into the site, believe me, but if you ignore them or actually insult them, all bets are off. Reader interaction is, in my opinion, the #1 most underestimated website element, even in major professional sites.

XII. Publicity / Advertising

This can be a really tough area for those new to website scene. What you’ll quickly find is that running a gaming site is an odd mix between journalism and business, and you have to master some basic skills in both if you plan on any success. The biggest part of the business aspect is advertising. If people don’t know about your site, they can’t get to it, right? Search engines should be your first priority. Find an HTML tutorial and learn how to insert META tags into your site. These tags help identify your site when people search. Also, the site’s title (the phrase that shows up at the top of the browser window) should include something about what you cover, because page titles are one of the most important elements to a search engine. You’ll at least need META tags for keywords and the site’s description. After those are put in, go to all the best search engines...Altavista, Google, Infoseek, etc. On the main page of each one, there should be a link that says “Add URL” or “Add A Site”. Click that and you’ll get instructions on how to add your site to the index. Most of the time, the process takes less than a minute. Then you have Yahoo...which is not actually a search engine but rather a large database of websites. Applying to Yahoo is complicated and slow, because real people will actually see the information about your site, visit it, and decide whether or not to add it to the directory. To start the process, go to http://dir.yahoo.com/Recreation/Games/Video_Games/ and continue navigating through the various categories until you get in one that pretty accurately describes your site’s content and focus. Then go to the bottom of that page and click on “Suggest A Site”. Yahoo will guide you through the rest of the process, and when you’re finished, you can probably expect to wait at least two weeks to get any kind of confirmation. If they decide not to add your site, you won’t get a notice at all. So, if it’s been a couple weeks and you haven’t heard anything, apply again. Your submission is likely to go through a different person this time, and you may have better chances. Being listed at Yahoo has an almost immediate effect on your traffic, and it’s definitely worth the trouble. So that’s search engines and directories covered. Banner exchanges and link-trading are also great ways to get the word out about your new site. It’s always a good idea to have a banner for your site. It should probably reflect your site’s design and color scheme and have a slogan or some other words that describe what your site is about. The banner should be 468 pixels wide and 68 pixels tall...those are the standard dimensions, anyway. Banner exchange programs are everywhere, but http://www.bcentral.com has one of the best and oldest, LinkExchange. You’ll have to show other people’s banners on your site, but in return, they’ll show your banner on their sites. See how nicely that works? Trading links with other sites is also a good tactic. Most other small, new sites would probably love to add you to their links page...as long as you return the favor, and your site doesn’t suck too much. What you end up with is a sort of community among a lot of sites that trade links amongst each other; unfortunately, a pretty small percentage of gamers read sites that small, and even less are interested in finding other small sites on the link pages. If you can figure out ways (other than hacking!) to get your site recognized and linked to on a big site, now there’s a way to get some real hits! I’ll let you figure out how to do that kind of thing though...it’s different every time, and requires that you have exceptional content compared to the size of your venture. Maybe you can come up with other ways to advertise your site...originality certainly helps. Word of mouth is of course some of the best publicity, but it’s also mostly out of your hands. Just know that if your site is really awesome, people will want to tell other people about it...so work hard on that content!

XIII. Conclusion

Well, that’s about all I have to say about that. There are of course mountains of details I had to leave out, but this is a pretty good summary of my 2+ years of running and working at gaming websites. Some people have very different philosophies about reviews, editorials, reader relations, and all sorts of other stuff, but if this guide really pisses them off, they can write their own. I hope you’ve found this thing useful and informative, and if you’re really going to start your own site, I wish you the best of luck! It’s hard work like I never could have imagined going into it, but the rewards are bountiful for the faithful few.

XIV. Credits

Although I did write this guide myself, I’d like to thank everyone who contributed indirectly. Thanks to Matt, Peer, Brandon, Carl, Eric, Billy, Max, Justin, and Don for showing me, through their own work, what to do and what not to do. Thanks to Evan, James, Dave, Michael, and Ramzi for inspiring me to write this thing for everyone else who just wants some advice. Thanks to everyone I’ve ever worked alongside –including some people already mentioned— for putting up with my hardheadedness and zany philosophies on how these things should be run. Finally, thanks to you, for reading my rambles and rants on this subject so dear to me. Remember, if you have no dreams, they’ll never come true.

Jonathan Metts - Previews Editor