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Ask Massively: And the money will follow
A reader named Josh recently wrote to Massively to ask about the viability of a career in games journalism. He's not a kid with stars in his eyes; he's an adult who works for an elite tech company, and his dad is a published journalist himself. He once focused his MMO hobby into a livestreaming channel and blog but shut them down because of the time involved, and now he's considering whether a career shift to doing what he loves might be worthwhile. As a 30-year old with a family of three, I have a feeling that it would be very difficult to transition into the world of technology journalism. My impression is that it is an industry that does not really pay that much, and therein lies my quandary. My question for you at Massively is whether it is really possible to pursue the field of technology/gaming journalism and still support a family? And what traits are desirable in a technology journalist? Do editors look for people who have journalism degrees and existing experience, or is it a situation where you can step up to the plate and impress someone with your existing skill? How many of you that work for Massively actually support yourselves and your families based on your journalism, and what did it take to get to that point in your careers? Unfortunately, Josh's gut feeling is correct and terribly timely.
Massively is looking for San Francisco freelancers
If you follow Ask Massively, you're probably aware of Massively's ethics policy -- you know, the one that keeps us from accepting awesome "free" trips to check out awesome games from awesome developers in awesome cities where we do not happen to have staff. That's where freelancers come in. This round, we're looking for a freelancer in San Francisco, California, to attend events for us on occasion and write about the games previewed there. It won't be a full- or part-time staff position; you'd just be called on for these special events when they crop up. We'd like to think it'd be a nice way for a local to get some industry experience, have some fun, and make some pocket change. Here's the skinny on what we're looking for and how you can apply.
eBay UK launches Secretguru beta site, helps you find experts to get stuff done
Granted, the name sounds a bit questionable, but Secretguru wants to help you make your life a little better. Still in an early beta pilot testing stage, the site was launched by a wing of Ebay's UK staff in attempts to set professionals up with clients, from chefs to painters to vocal coaches to tour guides. The site has hand-picked a list of "gurus" that you can peruse and hire, and those interested in being named a guru can submit an application for consideration. As far as feedback on hired gurus is concerned, that still seems to be a matter of sending complaints directly to eBay itself. No word yet on plans to launch the site in other countries.
Rumor: The Last Guardian lead Fumito Ueda quits Sony, working as freelancer to complete game
Apparently, The Last Guardian creative lead and Team Ico head Fumito Ueda has quit Sony and is working on Team Ico's latest project as a freelancer. Eurogamer is reporting as much, saying that Ueda's departure from the team has accentuated the ever-growing delay of the project's launch. The Last Guardian was pushed out of a "holiday 2011" release window earlier this year, and the development team were said to be moving offices this past summer, getting up close and personal with SCE's main HQ. Requests to Sony for comment have gone unreturned as of publishing. Update: A Sony rep told Joystiq, "Sony doesn't comment on rumors or speculation."
Want to freelance for Massively? We want you! [Updated]
The thing about game journalism is that it can usually be done from anywhere in the world, but sometimes there are press events that call us out of our pajamas and into large crowds of gamers and developers. Here at Massively, we have staff working from all over the globe -- from Ireland to California to Alabama and many places in between. But that's not enough of a global presence to cover as much as we'd like, so we often miss out on studio tours and special events because we won't accept travel expenses paid from studios. So to help alleviate that problem, we're looking to assemble a team of writers to cover these press events, tours, and conferences from their own backyards. These freelancers wouldn't be regular part-time or full-time staff, but rather would only be called upon for special events local to them. Read on past the cut for complete details on what areas we're looking for and how to apply.
The Freelancer's iPhone: Productivity solutions for independent professionals
Last summer I started to fantasize about working for myself. I pictured a home office, afternoons with the kids and life as the boss. My employer maintained a similar fantasy, and a few months later they went out of business and left 120 of us high and dry. Synchronicity is cruel. Thanks for that, Carl Jung.I've learned that working solo is 1 part thrilling, 90 parts horrifying and 9 parts educational. Also, I've found the best setup for my iPhone to help me through my self-employed day. Here I'll describe the apps, settings and hardware that I've found most useful. Feel free to share your own.
EVE Online dev blog: new missions galore
EVE Online developer CCP Molock writes in his dev blog that CCP Games has big plans for PvE content in the game, especially for mission-runners. Eight devs are currently working full-time on mission and deadspace creation. In addition, there are a number of freelancers working on new mission text. The freelance opportunities were announced in EVE's EON magazine, so it seems they found the people they needed -- particularly in light of just how much PvE content is on the way. Molock describes the process of getting everything in order for The Empyrean Age and Factional Warfare as 'dizzying', particularly in light of the 160 new Factional Warfare missions that were part of the expansion's launch. Molock states that more content is to come in subsequent Empyrean Age releases, and explains what we can expect from EVE's PvE experience in the future.
Steinberg giving away video game freelancer secrets
People often ask us "How can I write for Joystiq?". It's pretty simple actually. Put yourself through months of grueling physical training, being sure to specialize in at least two IJLA-approved weapons or fighting styles. Then, travel to The Conquerdome, found in the exact geographical center of Arizona, on the second Tuesday after the summer solstice. Here's where it gets tricky. You must, then, kill one of us in, well, mortal combat. Brutal? Yes. But we kick ass in the annual blog softball tourney.If you want to go a bit more traditional though, you could do a lot worse than to read Scott Steinberg's "Video Game Freelancer's Bible". There are lots of practical tips here on how to get started, how to build a client base and how to keep the work coming. We do have to wonder about some of his feel-good maxims like "Always treat others with respect and dignity" though. Does he mean before or after you bury your bat'leth into your opponent's belly and claim their job as your own?
Video: Billable, keep track of your hours
Click To Play Mike Zornek, owner of Clickable Bliss shows us Billable, a handy app for tracking freelance gigs or other hourly projects. Billable will do more than tracking though, so watch the video to see a really neat app from another indie Mac developer.
Project Calculator
People seem to enjoy tracking the time they spend on various projects, so it's no surprise that a plethora of project-tracking apps are cropping up. We've mentioned dozens in the past, including iRatchet, iBiz, Billable and even On the Job, but now users have a new choice on the 'simple and streamlined' end of the spectrum with Project Calculator from blue banana software. Project Calculator features many of the fundamentals one would need for recording the time spent on projects, such as tracking multiple projects, manually editing projects and the time spent on them, exporting to various formats (CSV, PDF, HTML, etc.) for sharing with clients, wages/cost calculation, searching, filters and much more. A demo is available, while a licenses costs a mere $14.90.
iRatchet - invoicing and billing
The billing and invoicing shareware space sure is heating up lately, what with iBiz (my personal favorite), Billable and now iRatchet from Pretty Good Software. It has a nice array of features, including the typical Address Book, iCal and Spotlight integration, as well as mileage tracking, "robust" tax support, international formatting and - a pleasant surprise - .Mac and local backup support.A demo of this Universal Binary is of course available, while a license costs $45.[via Iconfactory Links]
iBiz updated, goes Universal
iBiz is a great time and billing management app for those who are self-employed or otherwise might have a need for keeping track of their projects, right down to the minute and dime. It integrates well with Address Book and iCal for all your contact and todo needs, which is great, for example, if a client would like to see a published calendar of the time you've spent on their project.iBiz also acts a bit like a file/project management dashboard, as you can associate files with a project in iBiz and automatically start timing you work when you open the file from within the app. Once a project is done, iBiz also offers a healthy array of invoice options, ready for print, PDF and/or email. Networking capabilities are also baked in, with an iBiz Server edition available, but I don't work in that environment so I don't have much to say on that end.It looks like we haven't mentioned iBiz on TUAW before, but I can personally vouch for it as a great app since I've been using it for a couple years now. This latest update brings it to version 2.5 with better iBank integration and bug fixes, and also adds Universal Binary goodness. A 10-day demo is available, while a single user license will run you a mere $29.99.
