I thought this was pretty funny and thought I'd mention it here. You all know Gamespy, their many websites, banner advertising revenue schemes, game finder software, paid file downloads etc.. they're a money making business.
Anyway, someone over at GameSpy thought of a fantastic idea. What if they could write some news blurb about "your door into the industry", and get people to write their reviews, for free!! Yes, you could sign up and spend your time writing game reviews and whatnot for them (of which Gamespy generate revenue from your work by banner ads etc), and you get... NOTHING! Sounds too good to be true, right?
Ok, I'm not telling you the total truth here, you don't actually get nothing. You, in fact, get *one* game for free.. for a months work.
Nice one. [:)]
Anyway, they've taken down the news item about it. I think it caused too much of a stink.. You can still see the header though. http://www.gamespy.com/articles/556/556259p1.html
I think they might've taken it down because of the poor quality of the reviews they recieved?
I'd imagine that they would've gotten mainly crappy reviews from early teens just trying to get a free game outta them.
Ahh well.. To my knowledge, Gamespy seem to be the most profitable game-like company out there that came out of the dot-com era. They had a solid product back then, a huge audience that only continued to grow, and a good business model. Though now I think they might be outgrowing their humble roots, it's only time when they'll be bought out by AOL now...
heh heh i can understand that to an extent, being a ex games journo myself.
I worked as a voulenteer and never received a penny (unless you count free entry to AGDC) but i was working for a more low key website that wasnt actually generating any money itself. The banners paid for the copies that the website received to review or to use for competitions.
It aint so bad and it might actually work for some wanna be journos.