Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Gamers With Jobs And The Big Huge Interview

In January 2003, I saw a new gaming website called Gamers With Jobs. What really struck me is that, even as a brand new site, GWJ had style. It had a very cool, retro look that was instantly appealing, and I remember being very impressed.

From the day they started the site, Sean Sands ("Elysium") and Shawn Andrich ("Certis") demonstrated that they were both excellent writers and had a remarkable instinct for making the right decisions when it came to growing the site. Plus they were both nice guys, and their personalities came through clearly in their writing.

I was lucky enough to have lunch with the GWJ crew at the last two "real" E3's (2005 and 2006), and they were just as easy-going and funny in person as they were via e-mail. By then, GWJ had developed a unique community. Unlike almost all other gaming communities, GWJ members remained civil, and their forums never descended into the chaos that often happens in other gaming communities.

Today, that's just as true as it was in 2003, or 2005, or last year. Gamers With Jobs is a uniquely cool place to visit, and it's my favorite gaming website.

Plus, and I don't think this is mentioned nearly often enough, GWJ has established itself as an incredible pipeline for outstanding writers (Russ Pitts, Lara Crigger, Julian Murdoch, and a host of others).

While I was on vacation, the GWJ podcast included an interview with John Carmack Yes, THAT John Carmack, and thanks to the exellent preparation by Julian Murdoch, it's one of the best interviews Carmack has ever given. It's a free-ranging discussion on intellectual property and patent issues and how they relate to gaming, and it's terrific.

It couldn't happen to a bunch of nicer guys (wait, I'm not sure that came out right, but you know what I mean), and you can listen to the interview here, which starts at 1:07 into the podcast.

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