Help Wanted

BENEFITS

There are a number of benefits writing for VGF.com will provide.  Among them are:

• We receive many reviewable games to cover on our site.  Naturally, these are shared with our writers.  Once a game has been reviewed, your free to do with it as you wish.  Keep it, sell it on eBay, whack someone over the head with it...doesn't matter to us.

• VGF.com has a large readership.  Exposure leads to increased opportunities, as well as a good addition to your résumé.

• Writing for VGF.com provides good experience in the field of journalism.

• You get to share your opinions about what you love - video games.  No forum can offer the ability to tell so many people how it is.

• Bragging rights.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

The requirements vary depending on the position you will be seeking, but the most obvious requirement is that you need to have good writing skills no matter which position you're interested in. Other requirements include:

• It will be a necessity that you play video games on a regular basis and have opinions on them.

• Having a knowledge of what's going on in the video game industry is definitely a plus, but if you're just interested in playing games and writing reviews that's fine as well. 

• There really is no age requirement, but most likely we'll be interested in people who are at least 15, probably older, but we'll take that on a case by case basis. Unfortunately, anyone younger than that normally doesn't have the writing skills to make it on the site because they are still sharpening up their writing techniques.

• If you're currently writing for/working on other video game sites, it will be necessary that you work solely for VGF.

RULES

VGF doesn't have too many rules, but there are a couple that are strictly enforced. 

• Plagiarism is definitely not permitted. Anyone caught submitting work that someone else wrote will face severe consequences. Because of the legal aspects involved in plagiarized work, people who submit trial reviews to us that we know are plagiarized will not be accepted. If you decide to plagiarize something while you're on the staff and someone brings it to our attention, the most likely course of action will be elimination from the staff. This may seem harsh, but it's something we must do because we take plagiarism very seriously. If you submit something, make sure it's something you wrote yourself from scratch, and not something that you copied or paraphrased from another writer.

• Be careful of the vulgarity. Swearing is not a problem when it's controlled, but when something is riddled with vulgarity, it tends to lose its meaning and effectiveness, no matter how eloquently written it is.

OPEN POSITIONS

Webmaster: NGF currently has one open webmaster position.  Requirements for this position include a strong background in web development, primarily including HTML and SSI.  Knowledge of CGI and Javascript is also a plus.  Coding can be done by hand in Notepad, or using an editor like Dreamweaver or FrontPage.  This person will be expected to perform the following duties:

• Post submitted news, previews, reviews, and editorials in a timely manner in the established format.

• Fix broken links and perform other maintenance functions when necessary.

• Coordinate with the editor/PR person on staff submissions, distribution of review product, timing of new content, etc.

• Send links of newly posted content to the VGF.com webmaster for posting on the main site.

The criteria for judging webmaster job performance is subjective, based primarily on how often the site is updated and the quality of the work.  The webmaster will also be allowed to receive and review product sent to us by publishers, although to a lesser extent since those are allocated to writers first.

News: NGF currently has one open news position.  The person filling this position will be expected to gather, edit, and submit news to the editor in a timely manner.  This person will be given access to several different news sources, as well as forwarded press releases to cover.  Realistically this person can expect to edit and submit news to the webmaster at least 4-5 times a week.  News copied or paraphrased from other sites will not be allowed.

This person will also be allowed to receive and review product sent to us by publishers, albeit on a limited basis similar to the Webmaster position.  This person may also review and preview other games if they wish, as long as news submission continues at a frequent pace.

Writers: NGF (Nintendo Gamers First) currently has NO open writer positions.  These positions involve writing reviews, previews, features, etc.  You will be able to write for any VGF site (NGF, PSGF, or XGF), but your primary responsibility will be to NGF.  You will be expected to submit a minimum of three (3) writings per month.  This really isn't a lot, and we easily have the loosest writing minimum of all major online video game sites.  Failing to meet this in one month is ok, but it will result in termination on a repeated basis.

Also, it's imperative that you own a GameCube and/or Game Boy Advance.  Obviously you'll need these systems to review it's games.

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If you apply for the open Webmaster position, it will be necessary for us to see prior examples of your work.  You can just include a link in the application, or attach the HTML files.  Anyone applying for the open news position will be required to write a sample news article (real or fictitious) and submit it.

If you apply for an open writer position, it will be necessary for you to submit a sample review of a GBA or GCN game in our format or an editorial related to Nintendo. Any application sent without a sample review WILL BE IGNORED.  This MAY NOT be one that has been posted on other websites, because if you are accepted as a reviewer it will be used as your first submission to VGF.

Please also include a little bit of background information on yourself (name, age, systems owned, other information you feel is important).  Once ample time has been given for review of applications, the best will be notified and can begin work for VGF immediately. 

Your application can be sent here.  Yeah, just click on me.