10 Game Journalism Industry Questions - Junglist

10 Questions from Cav - Friday, 02 July 2010 @ 11:54am

Fullname: Jeremy Ray Nickname: Junglist Gender: Bit of both Age: 26 Current Company: none Current Position: Reverse Cowgirl Gaming systems owned: Only a 360 (which is broken). I borrowed everything else from my unfortunate friends.

1.What is your job role where you work and can you explain what it entails?

I have no job! Anyone hiring? I've spent the last few months doing a bit of freelance writing while I work on upping my video content IQ. On the writing side of things, this has meant doing write-ups of events, eSports-related features, and reviews. On the video content side of things, it's been a lot of playing games, writing reviews, recording the game footage, hitting up the studio, and all the post-production stuff as well. I can review and present in my sleep, but getting the production values up is my main concern right now, so I've had some good help with the studio/editing bits.
That and, of course, talking to people who hopefully wanna slap their watermark on my ugly mug. When that happens, I'll do my best to be loud about it. :)

2.What other media have you been directly involved with previously?

Not much other than Good Game. I failed English, so it's a crime I'm allowed to write for a living. But I did a few game reviews for a site when I was 16, while working for Wireplay technical support. Fortunately no one has found out my porn name yet, so my secret life in black market DVDs remains secret.

3.How did you get your start in the industry?

I kind of fell into it. I spent about 9 months managing and playing in a Counter-Strike: Source clan named Fingerbang. We rose to the #1 spot on both Aussie ladders at the time, which was noticed by someone in my (separate) Age of Mythology clan, who also worked at the ABC. By stroke of luck, she was asked by management if she had any ideas for a show. So we spitballed ideas, came up with a proposal and eventually made a pilot for a ridiculously small amount of money, most of which went towards my rent.

I initially intended to be a researcher, thinking they'd never allow an American accent on the ABC, but due to a low budget and limited staff I had to jump in front of camera. I was terrible, haha, but I devoted myself to the role - especially the critiquing aspect - and learned a lot very quickly. I think the garage nature appealed to many gamers who had seen overseas "supermodel" gaming shows with no clue. It became what you now know as Good Game.

See? Yug and Jung will do anything for sponsorship!

4.What has been the most positive experience of working in the games industry so far?

Definitely the people, on all sides of the equation. The Aussie industry is choccers with fun personalities, and easily the best part of the job is interviewing developers, who are usually very generous. Most developers I speak to are still enthusiastic after their long dev cycle, and eager to share ideas. There's an exploratory element to working in this industry at this time. Everyone is still figuring out the true power & potential of games.

5. What has been the most negative experience of working in the games industry so far?

Haha, do you really have to ask?

6. What advice can you give to other people looking to get into a position such as yours?

Hmm. This is tough, because I'm a terrible role model. My HSC was awful, I dropped out of uni, and I spent 9 months playing Counter-Strike in my underpants. I guess the most important thing is to first figure out what you want. After that, learn as much as you can about it and align yourself with good people. There's no one way to learn. The theory of a uni course has its place, but I rate learning on the job higher. Some internships are worth your time, some aren't. Sometimes I'll ring someone up and offer to buy them a beer so I can pick their brain. Find people who you respect, who'll hold you to a high standard, and learn what you can from them.

7. How do you see Print Media as a market when compared to the Online world?

I still enjoy flicking through a mag. Obviously it can't compete with the timely nature of a website, but sometimes websites are too obsessed with speedy regurgitation. I guess the difference is, mags are forced into the reflective angle whereas a website has a choice. Even though the mag disc is pointless to us with broadband, there are areas of Aus with poor internet who might cherish it. I like what mags like Killscreen are trying to do. If they meet their goal, a stack of Killscreens could be a meaningful collection, and quite a time capsule. I only read a few mags locally, but I think there's a danger of their budgets coming in the way of securing that reflective, meaningful brand of journalism that should be their main lifeline. Too often it's a small number (sometimes 1) of people spread way too thin.

These guys needs to learn to spell! It's J-U-N.......

8. Got any good stories you want to share?

My cat's breath smells like cat food.

9. What are your favourite games and why?

Ocarina of Time, for being the greatest game ever made. Half-Life 2, for the art of engineering an experience, and cleverly making a player want to go a certain way, when in reality it's the only way. Shadow of the Colossus and Ico for giving me more meaningful experiences than I've had with any movie, and holding the torch for games that aim to bring emotion out in a player. FIFA for re-igniting my passion for football. Age of Mythology and Counter-Strike: Source for providing shameless, abusive online competitive communities that I loved being a part of. And just to show I don't hate MMOs, I'll chuck in Age of Conan. Even though it sucked ass, it had great ideas and I was reading Robert E. Howard at the time, so had a heck of a time exploring his universe in game form. But it did kind of suck ass.

10. If you could meet any gaming character in real life, who would it be and why?

I'm gunna take the high road for my gender and NOT say Aphrodite from God of War, even though I'd show her a quick-time event she'll never forget.

Let's instead say Kaim from Lost Odyssey, just so I could tell him to cut that embarrassing strand of hair that's eternally across his face. The guy's immortal, and he can't find time for a haircut? How much of the physics dept was devoted to that? Nothing has annoyed me more in the last few years of gaming. Maybe it just reminds me of people that toss their hair back every twenty seconds. Find a more permanent solution guys, or I'll staple it.

Okay, Kratos... where is she?