Love Gaming, Get Paid - Become a Strategy-Guide Writer

Have you ever wondered just how you can break into the elusive video games field? You’re not a developer or a graphic artist so that’s not an option. Plus you have a family to support, so working as a game tester for just above minimum wage, hardly sounds like an option. But hey, you know what you do well? You blog. So, maybe you considered writing for one of the hundred or so ephemeral video game magazines that seem to go belly up in the time span it takes you to write your first article. So how about giving a stab at becoming a strategy-guide writer?

Well, according to Strategy-Guide Writer David Hodgson at Prima Games it’s virtually impossible to break into the field. In a recent ‘Electronic Gaming Monthly‘ article by Evan Shamoon, Hodgson discusses the field of Strategy-Guide Writing. Here are a few highlights:

• A strategy writer is “a focused gamer with excellent writing ability who can plow through a game, resist the temptation to take shortcuts, and deliver a [guide to the game] within a time frame…without going crazy.”
• The pay ranges anywhere from $3,000 to $4,000 per guide if you’re new. But seasoned vets can rake in between $8,000 to $10,000 a guide.
• There’s no specific training required for the job, but don’t think you’ll be able to slide in with a mediocre command of the English language.
• You can work from home. Just remember to keep a three week supply of your favorite caffeinated beverage.
• Fewer than thirty people make a living in this small field. “You have to wait for a guide author to die or get burned out to get his job.”
• Expect to take hundreds to thousands of screen shots of a game. Hodgson uses “a military-spec video card that he claims is used by hospitals for surgery. It’s able to take up to 1080p resolution video with sound at up to 60 frames per second.”
• Time Management is key. Skip the social calls, play the game again and again if necessary.
• Have a debug console for pre-release games.

So maybe you’re thinking this field is not for you. Well, there’s only one way to find out. Dedicate you’re time to gaming and writing. You’ll never know unless you give it your all. Also, if you can slide by on a miniscule budget, become a game tester. Get a feel for what it’s like to game for several hours. Hodgson plays “games more thoroughly than anyone except game testers.” Let us know how it turns out.