Playing a game and writing about said game is a massive, time-consuming endeavor. On average, a game takes 10 to 15 hours to get through, give or take another hour or two for multiplayer. Tack on an additional two or three hours to write about said game, and now you’re easily approaching the 20-hour mark. And forget massively-multiplayer online games. Word of advice: Never agree to review an MMO. Don’t even think about it.
For the reviews I referred to earlier, I was paid a total of $50 each. That’s 20 hours of work for $50, or $2.50 per hour. Over the years, I’ve made less than this. Far less. I once received a check from a magazine, more than a year after writing the review, for $15. These days, you’re usually lucky if you get paid at all for your work. I’ve had countless publications over the years either fold before they could pay me, or else make it so difficult for me to get paid that I eventually stopped pestering them with phone calls and emails and conceded defeat.
If you’re considering a career as a game journalist, think about this: You might or might not get paid $50 for 20 hours of work only to 1) typically receive a string of venomous reader comments that usually question your sexuality, your sanity, your sobriety, your ability to do your job, and/or all of the above; and 2) receive a browbeating from people like Don who feel the need to tell you that they aren’t going to blacklist you because you ruined their game’s Metacritic party.
Przełożenie wynagrodzenia za tekst na czas spędzony z grą jest rzeczą która bardzo szybko do mnie dotarła, nieco boleśnie.