Q: What is The Gamer's Quarter? A: The answer can be found in our mission statement (if you look hard enough): The Gamer's Quarter magazine is a collaborative project between dedicated gamers who do not just play games, but experience them. Rather than sitting in a lonely room plowing through a game just to attach a few numbers and witty quote for the box art, we play the games we want and write about how and why they attach themselves to our hearts and minds in a way that no other form of media is capable of. It is our intent to publish honest, provocative, and entertaining writing which reflects our belief that video games can be more than mere vehicles for entertainment, but also creative, meaningful works. -The Gamer's Quarter Staff Q: Why did you start The Gamer's Quarter? A: I think I'm going to have to let Shaper answer this one. Shaper? ShaperMC: Back on Oct. 10th 2004 I put out an all call for writers and assistance on a project that had been brewing in my head for a while. After watching the seeming decline of popular game website insert credit and reading dozens of articles about how poor the current state of video game magazines was I felt I had nothing left to lose by putting together a staff and seeing if we could do our part in making some sort of change. The project was essentially to create a quarterly publication that went more in-depth and was more thought provoking than what you would find in other video game magazines. I put together a mission statement shortly thereafter, and we, as a staff, have slowly refined it since. The mission statement posted in the previous question's response pretty well sums up what we are trying to do. I am constantly reminded by both the effort put forth by our staff and the staggering number of assistance inquries that I recieve that I am not the only person who has a desire to change the current state of the video game magazine, and it's these responses that assure me that what we're doing really is important. Q: How often is a new issue of the Gamer's Quarter released? A: Quarterly. Get it? Hahahaha. Seriously. Quarterly. Tentative plans are mid-March, mid-June 15th, mid-September, mid-December. Q: So are you guys like, New Games Journalism? A: New Games Journalism? I don't even know what that is. I asked the staff and this is what they came up with: ajutla: The gang war between "Old Games Journalism" and the new revolution in insightful games writing doesn't exist, as far as we are concerned. We just write about games. And we'd rather not write about them as though they were towels. Make of that what you will. ShaperMC: We're only NGJ because we don't have freebies.... Mister Toups: What is "New Games Journalism"? Do you remember the whole "emo" thing a few years ago? No one really knew what it was, everyone denied "being" it while accusing everyone else of "doing" it, and it vaguely had something to do with "feelings". It divided hipsters everywhere for reasons which no one can really articulate these days. This is because those reasons are pathetic and humiliating, at their core, and so no one wants to think about them. Anyway, "New Games Journalism" is the "emo" of the world of videogame writing. When you see it in reference to this particular publication or any other "non-traditional" writing about videogames, it's likely been carelessly applied. What does it actually mean? Hell, man. It apparently means anything you want it to mean. Your imagination is the limit! Did you dislike the ad copy on the back of your cereal box? That's because it's obviously NEW GAMES JOURNALISM, written by an elitist, pretentious lit major who thinks he knows more about games (and/or cereal) than you! Did you contract colon cancer recently? Maybe you've been consuming too much NEW GAMES JOURNALISM. WHAT IS LANGUAGE ANYWAY, I MEAN, WORDS ARE LIKE TOTALLY ARBITRARY. THE SIGNIFIED DIVIDED BY THE SIGNFIER SQUARED IS THE SQUARE ROOT OF NEGATIVE ONE, THUS PROVING, MATHEMATICALLY, THAT LANGUAGE IS IMAGINARY! dhex: 1) I remember the first time I asked a mother how it felt to lose a child. That's "New Games Journalism" in a nutshell. 2) "New Games Journalism" is another phrase for first-person prose about games. Swiftly sailing towards epithet, it alternates well with the word "gonzo" in demonstrating a lack of familiarity with journalism, New Journalism or our dearly departed Dr. Thompson. 3) As in, 'What, are you one of those "New Games Journalism" fags?' 4) "New Games Journalism" - because no one wants to write inverted pyramid style anymore. 5) "New Games Journalism" is the opposite of "Old Games Journalism." Oddly enough, both are also the opposite of "journalism." 6) If you don't know what a lede is, you probably write "New Games Journalism." 7) If you ever had a best friend who loved ice cream and Final Fantasy but moved away in seventh grade, you're "New Games Journalism." Eight) Fuck you. 9) If you enjoy taking freebies from game companies and writing glowing reviews of their licenses, you're "Old Games Journalism." If you enjoy taking freebies from companies and write glowing reviews of your feelings on your LiveJournal, you're "New Games Journalism." 10) We're going to start ripping off Truman Capote right after he gets popular again. All Staff: The Gamer's Quarter does not label itself "New Games Journalism." Our staff does not believe that the particular kind of writing that's unfortunately been termed "New Games Journalism" is what's missing from games journalism. We think simple variety is what's missing. There are more than two ways to write about video games, after all. I couldn't have said it better myself... Q: Can I get this thing in print? A: I certainly hope so. We're currently working out what needs to happen for this to happen. If the meantime, if you're aware of any inexpensive, but high quality print houses contact SuperWes. Q: What the crap? Some of these games are totally old. A: That's true in many cases. We feel that truly great games, like great movies or books, are timeless and continue to have things to show us today. In short, we don't play games purely for their technological advances. Q: Can I write for the Gamer's Quarter? A: Absolutely, but there are a few things to know ahead of time. 1. We don't get paid so you don't get paid. None of us make a dime on this thing, and Shaper is actually losing money on web hosting. 2. We don't care about your bulletted list of why a game roxxors or suxxors. We're looking for in depth commentary on what a game means to you. If your article brings nothing new or personal to the table it won't be joining us at our table. We may ask you to rework it before we will publish it. 3. Shaper gets the final say on what gets printed and not printed so he can (and has been known to) decide not to print something just because he doesn't like your shoes. Don't take it personally, or take it very, very personally. It's up to you. 4. Your stuff might get edited a bit. Quit yer bitchin'. Still want to write for The Gamer's Quarter? Drop Shaper a Line and let him know what you would like to do. Q: I spent a long time on an article for the 3rd issue and it got rejected because you guys said it didn't have a point. I thought that was what the Gamer's Quarter was all about? A: It is not that it did not have a point, it was that lacked focus or a theme. Context is King. A well set thesis or a grabbing starting point always helps in this situation. We don't know you, and neither does the reader, you have to take us there and tell us why it is significant. The point is just a result from this. Q: This thing rocks man! DIY all the way! F*** the man! You don't need no stinking advertisers! A: Actually, we're looking for advertisers. If your game company or game related website would like to put a slimy banner ad at the top of our website or an ad or two inside of our magazine please get in touch with SuperWes. Special discounts if you'd like to advertise both on the web and in the magazine. Also, that wasn't a question. Please end your questions in a question mark. Q: Dude, your website like, totally blows. A: First of all, that's not a question. Second of all, great! Make one for us for free and if we like it more we'll use yours instead. Q: Hey man, wanna swap links with my cruddy site? A: Yep! But only under these conditions: 1. It's game related. 2. You've got a standalone URL that doesn't begin with www.geocities.com/ or www.blogspot.com/. 3. Your site doesn't contain fanfiction. 4. Any other reason we can come up with that isn't listed. If you're still interested, get in touch with SuperWes or ShaperMC. Q: Damn, I totally want to read the mag, but the file's in .zip format and I don't have a zip drive. What do I do? A: Hold on a second... Hahahahahahahahahaha! Ok, I'm back. The file is compressed into .zip format, but that doesn't mean you need a zip drive, you actually need to get some sort of decompression software. If you're using Windows XP or Windows 2000, you should be able to decompress the zipped file by simply right clicking on it and selecting "Extract All..." If you don't have this option, we reccomend installing winzip, a popular shareware unzipping application and using it instead. You'll find the link below. If you're having trouble opening the .pdf file inside of the zip folder you probably need to insteall Adobe Reader version 5.0 or above. This can be downloaded by clicking the other link below. Q: Hey sucka! I've got a question that's not covered on this page. Who do I ask? A: Just hit the "Post Reply" button below and type it in. Who knows? Someone might not ignore it!