What Do You Think of Gamers With Jobs?

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It's a funny question, but an important one. Elysium and I spent a good deal of time this past evening talking about the site and where we want to go with it now that GWJ 2.0 is settled in and the server issues are (hopefully) behind us. Rather than leave it up to us, we figured a better idea would be to ask you guys how you feel about the site currently and what we might want to look at doing in the future.

What do you think of the front page content? Too much of one thing? Not enough of something else? Just right? What about features? Are there any you miss or have an interest in seeing? More reviews? Interviews? Previews?

I know "all of the above" is a tempting answer but keep in mind quality is important to us and we only have so much time in the day. We're not necessarily just looking for specific ideas, a general impression of what you think would be great too. So sound off, I look forward to hearing what you have to say!

More employee profiles!

Other than that, it's very nice. The front page content seems to come in spurts and dry spells, but stuff gets done when it gets done, I guess.

I think you might take ads or something, make yourself some cash. This is a business, after all...

Seriously, I put up with all kinds of ads on other web sites that I frequent, and I don't have half the good will towards them that I have towards GWJ.

Employee profiles, the radio programs (we need that every week dammit!), the old "Forum Roundup" by Elysium, and, yeah, sometimes it goes too long without new content. I don't want Blues News style updates, but one a day would be awesome.

Oh god don't do previews please. Unless it's like the E3 thing, but that's only once a year. I want to know about games when I can actually go out and buy them.

Also, site needs more Finger -> Butt.

Want: Employee Profiles, week in review, Air Swampy t-shirt, Slap and Tickles, maybe a video game swap rental type thing in the forums?

I can't think of anything bad really. Maybe the text entry boxes when you edit a post to scale.

Would getting a few more people involved in the podcast help? Whether from the production standpoint (writing segments, mixing/editing) or behind the mic, I'm sure we could have a bit more frequency in getting them out.

That's the one thing I'd like to see more of, though, and I'm definitely willing to help. I was thinking about throwing together a podcast of my own, but helping out with a GWJ one (in whatever capacity) would be a good way to go about it.

Pry Sway away from Real Life and resurrect Infinite Lives?

What do you think of the front page content? Too much of one thing? Not enough of something else? Just right? What about features? Are there any you miss or have an interest in seeing? More reviews? Interviews? Previews?

I think a little more front page content would be great. The employee profiles are cool (helps put a face on the guy killing you in BF2) but nothing beats the opinion pieces you guys write. Elysium's expose on EBGames was an excellent read and the E3 coverage was spot on. Also, the podcast is a great new edition that I can't get enough of. More reviews would be nice but maybe not for the big releases like Battlefield 2 or Civilization 4 but for the smaller games that slip past. I've discovered quite a few games (Ikaruga comes to mind) that I never would have looked at if it wasn't for the GWJ crew's recommendations.

I think you might take ads or something, make yourself some cash.

Please, no ads. Personally, I would gladly donate to anything I consider worthwhile; namely GWJ and the This Week in Tech podcast.

I want the GWJ company assassins to go hunt down the new BF2 patch and give it to us already.

Pry Sway away from Real Life and resurrect Infinite Lives?

I'll get the rope if you have a basement we could keep him in... or an attic

Oh yeah, no ads. I'd rather donate gold.

I liked the employee profiles, the weekly forum roundup, and I especially enjoyed the joint reviews.

Certis wrote:

I'll get the rope if you have a basement we could keep him in... or an attic ;)

I'm not sure he'd like moving from Can-a-da.

Ads:
Google ads MAYBE on the bottom OR side panel of the page but I think the donation drive (and 'tags' that result from donating) increases community cohesion and participation.

Front Page:
On the current page I've read about 6 of the articles and commented all together less than that number in those articles. This isn't a bad thing and I don't say it to be mean because everyone that contributes does more putting content out there while I'm just a critic, but I don't come for the front page. The discussion in the forums is the meat and potatoes of this site for me.

Employee Profiles:
Wow, I remember reading all of them but 24 is more than I thought were done. Out of those I think every one of them is still a consistent forum poster except Sway and Flux (Mr. Green and SpyNavy are maybe's but Green has been popping up again recently). Just remember when you see what we look like in Real Life that you asked for it!

The clothing gear is going to be SWEET.

Also I like that GWJ doesn't do an 'in-house' review of every game but that a reader could submit one if they wanted. The scarcity makes it all the more special or something.

I've got to go, I've got something in my eye.

Needs more cowbell.

Yes, I said it.

Gamers With Jobs is one of my most-visited web sites. The community is excellent. You have the only message board I'll ever catch myself contributing to. I wouldn't worry about front page content. We would all like to see more, but I'm not shocked or saddened to see extended time between articles. Maintaining this web site has to go somewhere between gaming and your day jobs, so we all understand. If there is any late-breaking news, someone will start a thread. More reviews would be nice, even retro ones. Not all of us have played every game out game, but hell we've tried. More Fletch on the front page is a good thing. Ranting on the front page in general pleases me. Previews are not so necessary, as someone said, unless it's E3.

I'm also ashamed to admit I've never checked out the GWJ Podcasts. I will though!

Edit: Love the upcoming GWJ Swag.

I'd like to emphasize the forums above everything else. Personally, I come here for the forums - the awesome random enlightening discussion, and the motley crew of characters that makes this site so cool.

Front page articles and employee profiles would always be cool. But I'd put the forums first.

There's nothin' like it but more of it.

I think the front page writing is top notch, it seems that everyone really enjoys the new content and looks forward to it. Dry times can be quite a challenge for us readers, but we make do, and are rewarded for our patience. I love GWJ Radio (note that we have missed a week already), as well as the news, reviews, the commentary, the recipes, the miscellaneous topics, my beloved Fletcher's humanity pies...mmm....tasty...bitter, yet sweet. I think we need a kinder, gentler Pigpen :wink:, and more employee profiles! Would be nice to have guests on GWJ Radio, but I can see how that would be technically challenging ...actually...your ways confuse me...so, I should say I can imagine that would be technically difficult...did I mention I'd like to be a guest on GWJ Radio? That's right, it's all about the Rabbit!

I liked the employee profiles, the weekly forum roundup, and I especially enjoyed the joint reviews.

I agree, those were some of my favourite features. Not saying that what has replaced them is inadequate but I miss those greatly.

The forums are the true strength of GWJ. As far as ads go I say stick with the donation drives and do it soon. I am finally able to donate damn it!

More contests where you give away random sh*t from your house. I can't even remember what the contest was or what the prize was, but I liked it.

I'd like drop down menus (say for the forums) so that I can immediately go to one forum rather than an intermediate screen. I'd also like to have a mobile/PDA/Sidekick address to read GWJ on my mobile device (currently, the formatting drives all text to the right margin so that the avatars can be displayed).

Oh, and for some reason, I am no longer getting emails re the threads to which I am subscribed. Other than that, everything is pretty darn good. I'd be ok with google ads, am willing to contribute modest gold, would also be willing to use affiliate links to particular game venders if it would benefit GWJ.

Oh, and at some point, a terms of use & privacy policy would be nice. I can possibly help with these....

Employee profiles -- yes! Swamp-air swag -- absolutely!

workable cIV multiplayer on Oct. 25. I think that's it.

Oh, I think Stan needs a love interest . . . perhaps Roo, Demo, Mex (argh!) or DuckiDeva could provide some guidance here . . . .

I'll throw my hat in the 'ad' pile, too. I'm of the opinion that ads are not a bad thing, intrinsically. It's when the ads are for stupid crap or/or stuff that has nothing to do with the site I am on. For instance, Penny Arcade is very discerning about what ads they put up on their site, and even make most of the actual ad images themselves, so there's the added bonus of a nice little laugh when you read them. That's fine, and I have no problem with a site doing that to help support itself. GWJ is a great site, and it seems rediculous to me that all the work and dedication that goes into it result in a NEGATIVE cash flow for the people who have to pay for bandwidth and hosting. Nobody gets rich off of 'net ads, but they can't hurt. Just keep them topical, keep them reasonably sized and placed, and I'm in favor of them.

I would like to point out that I think the same as Morro. As long as the adds aren't distracting or trying to sell me insurance I'm okay with them.

Edit: I'd also like to be able to see when I joined (maybe I can do this) and the amount of posts I've done and able to sort through the people here according to the amount of posts. I'm a bit of a stat whore though.

Echoing pretty much everyone else, I'd like to also add an extra vote for the weekly forum roundup. I loved that.

Aside from that, this is a good place. Probably a Good Place. I dunno what kind of voodoo you guys pulled to attract the folks that are here, but it worked. Now if you could bottle it, you wouldn't need ads!

Employee Profiles we need. Also more "Welcome Back Perverts!".

I'm happy with the front page. For me, there's enough front page content to keep me busy for longer than I should be during my average working day. I can keep busy with the current 3 or 4 front page items a week, as well as the forums. I think the mix of reviews, previews and random rambling is just right.

I'd like to see more perverts and employee profiles as well. And if we can coax Sway back, or find another budding comic artist to enslave, that'd be nice as well.

Edit: I'm also in the "no ads, I'll happily contribute" camp.

This is probably going to be contentious, but I'd like to see more gaming content on the front page. SOmetimes it seems as if comments about games are addendums to articles.

Maybe this is because the hierachy of information in articles doesn't seem right to me - or perhaps the old style GWJ (so many years ago...) when everything was obviously games related, has turned into something different.

I'm not expressing this very well. If I were trying to do so IRL I'd be gesticulating a lot and definitely using finger qoutes.

FWIW I know how hard it can be writing about games (as The Management can attest to).

The reason i first "fell in love" with gamers with jobs, was because i was tired of forums with kids who knew everything (or so they thought), and i found in GWJ a much more adult crowd, in which ppl actually had something interesting on their mind.
Not only that, but ppl here weren't affraid of having fun either. You were just my kind of people..

Kudos to that.. thats impressive.. very impressive..

In the last couple of months when i get back to the site, little or no updates on the front page makes me think that the page is dead, which it isn't. So, i'd like to see more action on the front page..

Besides that, play some games i can join huh?? well.. perhaps thats my own fault.. i could buy the games you play..

I would like to see the "Employee Profiles" resurrected as well. Other than that all I can say is keep up the great work guys! GWJ is my favourite site on the interweb due to the mature atmosphere and friendliness that Certis, Elysium, Pyro and all the other admins maintain with a high level of vigilance. No one can dual weild the locking stick and banning stick like Certis

I've visited this site on and off for over 1.5 yrs ++ and I think your doing a good job. If we could avoid the whole obnoxious, pernicious, in your face pop up flash advertisement thing, that would be cool they give me siezuurzzz zzzzers sss

I'd like to see some more reviews (he says as a review is posted on the front page). But I know it might be hard to find time to y'know actually play games.

But all in all it seems like GWJ has grown in a lot of ways with all the outstanding contributions from Fletch, Lobo, Sanj, et al. I really love the direction their contributions have taken the front page content. Sure, they aren't all about games, but it's fine. The podcast is entertaining -- I find myself enjoying it more than I expected. And I'll echo what others said about Employee Profiles. I love the serial articles (like Ely's about the Retail Game)...

I don't really have many criticisms...GWJ 2.0 is great, although the search is still screwy...I realize this is a volunteer effort.

I think you guys should give Pyro money ... and hookers!

If you've got the space on the server I'd like to see a picture gallery for the regulars. Esp for events or funny screenshots, or whatever. Obviously more employee profiles or even, *gasp*, redo previous employees with new questions. More podcasts! And where's Legion with his Idiot's Guide to Footballing? And, as always, more boobies! Hotties in swag!

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