This question was kind of interesting about 8 years ago. After frantically slaving away on The Armchair Empire, writing almost as frantically, trying to find my "voice" and doing my best to model my own writing on the best of Computer Gaming World, GamePro, EGM, and whatever other gaming magazine I could get my hands on (including PC Accelerator).

This was in the days before podcasts or streaming videos so when this question of how to break into game journalism appeared it was typically in the Letters section or an editor would devote a column to it, likely in response to receiving the question so often. I would read these with great interest and make my own notes to success.

1) Develop writing sample portfolio

2) Write bullet-proof cover letter (i.e. no spelling mistakes and grammar so precise it could be used as part of a missile guidance system)

3) Mail portfolio and cover letter to every magazine you can think of

4) Get interview (be sure to wear pants)

5) Get job (pants now optional)

But this damn question still appears regularly, like an outbreak of herpes. And now that nearly every professional gaming outlet has a podcast, we all get to hear industry types make suggestions for breaking into game journalism. Invariably, the suggestions follow a rote series of steps.

1) Start a blog

2) Get some experience writing freelance for smaller gaming sites

3) Be persistent

4) Go to E3 or other industry event and get your face and name out there

5) Get job in video game journalism

I've started to look outside the gaming press. BioWare is looking for a writer and the application

requires a Neverwinter Nights module that is heavy on engrossing dialogue. ("Resume submissions not including an example dialogue will not be considered.")

I spent the better part of two weeks wrestling the toolset into submission. The short tale revolved around the search for a pig so horrible that even a group of trolls (lead by a red dragon) expressed terror over his appearance in the forest. I wrote lines and lines of dialogue, peppered the landscape with a myriad of obvious and not so obvious references to games and literature, (for example, examining a broken wagon wheel brings up, "Let's hope no one died of dysentery") and finished it with text that completely set the stage for continuation of the story. The process, as agonizing as parts of it were, was a lot of fun. Creating this very short quest -- easily playable in 15 minutes -- allowed me a very small peek at what I really want to do. Write stories, help create something, be part of a team to bat around ideas and plot lines with a group of people, and write, write, write then down a mouthful of pizza, and call it a night.

I want it so bad, I wouldn't even mind moving to Edmonton.

So, I suppose what I'm getting at here is that the answer to the original question is, "You won't, so don't bother."

Think of all those wannabe game journalists out there right now writing blogs, earnestly trying to out-do each other in a bid to secure a full-time gig in a very narrow field.  Maybe you're like me, 33-years old, married with 4 kids, a mortgage, and a full-time job that makes forcing (or earning) my way into the field about as realistic as being hit by lightning with the winning lottery ticket in my pocket while I sink a hole-in-one.

Every once in a while somebody else smelling of singed hair drags his body off the golf course to cash in his winnings, but how often does that happen?

For the last 10-years I've been working on Steps 1 through 4.

1. Start a blog.

I started an entire website with multiple categories. Video games, action figures, anime, and hardware -- we tried covering it all. It's been scaled back a little but with a volunteer staff of 10 people, I think we've done pretty well for ourselves.

2. Get some experience writing freelance for smaller gaming sites

See above.  We built the site from less than a hundred views a day to the million plus per month that it is today. I've written so many reviews and features that when I go back and read them I can hardly believe I wrote it because I don't remember playing that game or reviewing that action figure.

3. Be persistent

If 10 years isn't persistent, I don't know what is.

4. Go to E3 or other industry event and get your face and name out there

I've been to E3 many times, made a trek to PAX, taken part in too many phone conferences to remember, interviewed some really interesting people, chatted with other people in the business, and just about anything else you can think of to get my name out there. I even put together the GFW Radio Reunion at PAX, penning the intro, and finally shook Jeff Green's hand.

5. Get job in video game journalism

I recently stated on Twitter that I loathe "Breaking into the Gaming Industry" pieces. Twitter is my version of muttering to myself while I sit in a rocking chair on my porch so I didn't expect the single response I got. Garnett Lee (formerly of 1UP and lately of GameFly) emailed a single line of encouragement.

I'll be honest. It was pretty awesome to get an email like that, especially from someone of Mr. Lee's stature. And for a few days after, I was more optimistic about my chances than I have been in years. I was back at the tee, taking a few practice swings as dark clouds gathered above me.

That wore off rather quickly as I had to deal with my real life, rather than the one I fantasize about.

Maybe it'll be different for you. It's possible your writing will elevate you to "pro" status and put you at the top of the food chain where you can wax poetical about your rise to power with some amusing anecdotes about how to break into games journalism. It's also possible I'm just bitter about not being the one to make my living by writing and being creative -- instead of being snared at a job I'm so bored with that I drink coffee all day just to keep my eyes open.

Maybe you'll figure out the ephemeral mid-step between 4 and 5, but my advice to you would be to try for a year to get that games journalist dream job and if doors keep slamming in your face, stop. Get on with living your life and find some other way to follow your passion.

- Aaron Simmer

(February 12, 2010)