My Interview At Imagine Publishing - Part 2

Sitting beneath the murderous drill of a metal clad monster isn’t the ideal way to wait for an interview. The image is somehow a little too apt for comfort.

I’m waiting in Imagine Publishing’s reception area, sitting on a huge black leather sofa flanked by life sized models of Bioshock’s Big Daddy and Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft. The wall to my left is covered with every one of Imagine’s most recent publications. I’m reminded of the magazine aisle in WH Smith. Staff Writers pass by, giving me the occasional cursory glance, checking out the potential new boy. Silent images from a Final Fantasy game are looping on the large plasma screen to my right. I pick up a magazine from the coffee table in front of me - Retro Gamer - and read the in-depth retrospective on the original SNES Mario Kart. There’s an interesting point about power sliding that I don’t quite finish. Ryan Butt, the Editor of Powerstation, and Jennifer Cobb, HR Manager, have come to take me to the interview room.

I suddenly feel over-dressed. Everyone I pass in the corridor has a distinctly bohemian air about them, dressed as they all are in t-shirts, shorts and flip-flops. I’m wearing full-on interview attire: shiny black shoes, trousers, shirt, tie and jumper. I mention this to Jennifer. She says it's fine.

Interview room. Ryan begins the questioning. Why do I want to become a Games Journalist? Because I love playing games, talking about games, reading about games and writing about games. Am I obsessed with games? Yes. But in a good way. What’s my favourite game? Ocarina of Time. And the worst? Golden Balls. Ryan raises an eyebrow. I’m not surprised he’s not heard of it. No self respecting gamer would go near such a wretched puddle of anal slurry. Why is Golden Balls so bad? Non existent production values, horrific character models, a one-button-only nightmare, the fact that it still costs £30. First console I owned? The Acorn Electron. A smile of recognition from Ryan. He had one too, back in the day. Who do I keep a close eye on in the Industry? Shigeru Miyamoto. He’s a trend setter, not a trend follower. What magazines do I read? All of them.

After a few more questions, I’m given 30 minutes in which to complete the written test. I have to pick any game of my choosing and write about what I’d include in a walkthrough and why. For example:

1) A guide to all the weapons.
Because it’ll help the reader kill all the baddies quicker.

2) A list of all the treasure locations.
Because completists crave a 100% game record.

Ryan And Jennifer leave the room. I choose Resident Evil 5 and begin to scribble. I’m suddenly acutely aware that it’s been a while since I’ve used an actual pen and paper. I’m distracted by this line of thought and lament the death of letter writing. Not a good idea when you’ve only got 30 minutes to knock out a walkthrough.

My 30 minutes is up. I hand my paper – covered in ugly black corrections and plenty of crossed out words – back to the Ryan.

Interview over.

I’m told I’ll be called back on Friday. Fingers crossed.

My Interview At Imagine Publishing - Part 1

I’ve applied for the position of Staff Writer at Powerstation. It’s a tips and cheats magazine published by Imagine Publishing. Amazingly, I’ve been given an interview. I’m nervous, anxious and bloody excited.
 
The privileged, elusive, misunderstood title of ‘Games Journalist’ is a heart achingly tough one to achieve. Working on an actual print publication is nigh on impossible, what with dwindling readerships, the monolithic weight of the internet, and the current economic state of the nation. The window of opportunity to write for a magazine is getting smaller all the time. Like I said, I’m nervous, anxious and bloody excited. I’m also feeling a little exposed and vulnerable. If I don’t get the job I’m going to look like a right tit. I’ve been told to allow 2 hours for the interview as there’ll be a written test.

So, how to prepare? Ask people in the know:

It might be different now, but i had to write a short news story. Later they gave me an hour or so in which to play and review/preview a game. Its a bit scary being timed so you just have to manage it as best you can. Play the game for 20-30 mins so you have enough time to write. Probably a good idea to take a notepad so you can note down some stuff about the game as you play it to use.
Javid Sangra - Ex Staff Writer at Powerstation

At my NGamer interview I had to write a 250 word review of a game I had enjoyed playing recently. I can't remember exactly how long they gave me but I think it was something like half an hour - 45 minutes in a room on my own with one of their computers which did have internet access. That was the first thing they got me to do then Mark and a lady from Human Resources sat down and asked me lots of question.

I think the only one I wasn't really prepared for was "who's your favourite writer?" On reflection I think I should have said something like Robert Rankin, Terry Pratchett, Stephen King or something but in the heat of the moment I assumed they meant video game journalist writer and I don't really take that much notice of the name at the end of magazine articles. The actual talking bit of the interview was again around half an hour to 45 minutes I think.

I believe before the day of the interview I had to do a few bits of homework as well and on top of that I gave them some other stuff that I had written recently as samples of my work. I had to wait around quite a bit (although I was a few minutes early) so it might be worth taking a DS / PSP to play on while you wait if you think you can act that casual. Just makes it look like you don't care about anything but gaming.
Simon Downs - CVG Forum Moderator.

I’d start thinking about what makes a really good tips guide. Clarity, usefulness, how it can make your game experience go further and so on.
Nick Ellis – Editor of NGamer

Advice? Just make sure you've got some decent dirt on the editor...
The Ram Raider – Anonymous Games Jounalist

I can't imagine they'll hand you a blank piece of paper and say GO! But just in case they do, I would be prepared with a few strong topics you care about, maybe something you've written about in the past. I'm sure what they want to see is that you can write well on short notice, so my guess is they'll give you a prompt.
In that case, a good rule of thumb is if it's something like an essay question, summarize your answer mentally in a single statement so that you can be sure what you write in response follows a clear throughline from beginning to end and you can support it well throughout your article.
Leigh Alexander - Sexy Vidoegame Land

Find something else that pays better! No, seriously, if you love it and are passionate about it, then do it. Learn your craft, get your stuff out there on the ‘net and improve the quality of games journalism – because there’s an awful lot of rubbish out there. I think as time goes on and circulations shrink, there’s less and less opportunity to actually work on game magazines, though. Which is a shame – but if you’re passionate, and you’re good, and it’s what you want to do, then talent will out.
Jes Bickham - Videogame Journalist

First paragraph needs to hit like an express train, as you need to give people a reason to read on. Make it lean, efficient and readable – you don’t have much space to play with, so it needs the facts and ABSOLUTELY ZERO WAFFLE.
Tim Weaver - Editor of Xbox World 360