I started as Games Reviewer at the Escapist Magazine in October 2015, releasing my first review of Sublevel Zero on the site. In the weeks that followed, I learned many of the fundamental building blocks of games journalism and online media under the supervision/instruction of EiC Josh Vanderwall and Editor Jon Bolding. My skills improved as I reviewed a catalog of various indie titles (Kingdom for example) and AAA releases (such as Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN–). My high ambitions pushed my own work limits beyond game reviewing, as I wanted to get more up close with the processes that go on in the entertainment industry. I segued my way to that by interviewing Dave McElfatrick and the Cyanide and Happiness team during the crowdfunding campaign for their Joking Hazard game. By the second half of March 2016 I was beginning my first gaming news reporting pieces. My most noteworthy piece on March 29th was talking about Overwatch‘s Tracer pose controversy, and the changes Blizzard Entertainment made after community feedback.
Unfortunately, Defy Media had a round of layoffs at the end of the month. I was picked up by Gameranx’s Editor-in-Chief Ian Miles Cheong and given a chance to continue my work at his site from then on.
Cheong threw me in the deep end of the swimming pool, essentially. By the middle of April 2016 I was flying out to North Carolina on the website’s behalf, previewing LawBreakers at Cliff Bleszinski’s studio in Raleigh. My willingness to travel for any future endeavors is of course an option. But when someone gets tossed in the deep waters of gaming journalism, the question is – did they drown? As seen by the highlights reel of my longer articles and investigations, I can say with confidence I flourished at the challenge. I kept my eyes on video game Kickstarter campaigns, helped readers discover quirky and original projects like tinyBuild’s Hello Neighbor title, and I even covered elaborate fan-made endeavors if they seemed worthy of the public’s attention. But alongside all of that I certainly was no stranger to covering current events (lawsuits/retirements), sharing company’s DLC roadmaps, and first looks at upcoming AAA titles.
It was somewhere in all the chaos of that job that I fell in love with writing video game related pieces. I reflect on my time at Gameranx with pride at a job well done.
I suffered a personal injury from a roof accident mid September 2016. I made an honest effort to eek out a few more weeks at Gameranx before I had to bow out at the end of October 2016. I came out of that gig 730 pieces stronger than I went in.