It will indeed take some time to find the space, but now that we know we will actually have money, we can start looking in earnest sooner than expected. There is no way it'll take us six months, I'll promise that right now. The podcast proper won't be back until after the campaign is over, but we're going to try and get in gear quickly at that point.

Yes, in both senses you've suggested. We definitely wanted to present a podcast that sounded professional in terms of audio quality, even though (perhaps especially because) we were not in fact a professional podcast. Idle Thumbs existed for years before the podcast as an editorial site, and we always took pride that it was an attractive, polished site. We even had custom artwork for most of our articles (that's where my Twitter avatar comes from). The way that manifested itself in the podcast era was in a clean, attractive website, and in a podcast that is crisp and audible. Part of that was just investing in decent equipment and taking advantage of my amateur experience in audio editing, and part of that was all recording in identical mics in the same room, not with a combination of different kinds of headsets over an internet connection.

The other much more important sense, as you indicate, is in the tenor of conversation. We already knew what kinds of conversations we have with each other when we're just hanging out. Jake and I have been friends a long time; we've known Steve several years as well; I worked with Nick every day at Shacknews; and Jake worked with Sean every day at Telltale before he came on board. We all knew each other as friends, and we just wanted to keep having those kinds of dumb, intelligent conversations in front of microphones. It wouldn't have worked on Skype.

I do think that's a lot less important for some podcasts. Three Moves Ahead is my favorite game podcast, and they record over Skype. Their conversation is deliberately more evenly paced (they even decide on a topic ahead of time!), and they don't talk over each other or constantly make terrible jokes at each others' expense. That kind of podcast almost works even better over Skype--the participants learn not to jump in unless they legitimately have something valuable to say. I've been a guest on a number of Skype-based podcasts (including Three Moves Ahead) and there's definitely a certain vibe it encourages that is conducive to a certain kind of discussion.

But on idle Thumbs we need to be able to be big stupid idiots to each other, and it works best to do that in the same room.

Ladies and gentlemen: I give you my formspring.

Back to work!

We were perfect and unique and it could have only been us.

No, it could have been pretty much any four experienced games writers who were willing to work a part time job for three years with very little money (and at least one for none whatsoever). It expressly hurt all our earnings for that period. I can think of a list of other games writers who if they were willing to take the sacrifice and concentrate could have pulled it off.

Would you have to be stylistically like RPS - i.e. Old Skool Brit games journalism plus equal focus on all PC stuff? Questionable. I think a PC-centric games blog with experienced staff would have done well anyway... but our approach has paid dividends. A regular response from other people in journalism is "I have no idea how you get as many hits as you do when you cover the games you do - half of which I haven't heard of". Which is actually our not-too-secret cleverness.

Could it have been done with less? Yes, I think so. Two people working full time - and so earning no money - could have done the same thing, but would have risked heavy burnout.

Did we all have to be experienced writers? Dunno. Maybe. The contacts and the reputation were important. I think you could have done okay with two people of relative standing and two people who were good. Hell, maybe even one person and three new people who were good. But that's a big maybe. RPS was invited to Valve within a couple of months of being in existence. We grabbed interviews with big developers like Ken Levine because we had the contacts and the rep to do it. One person isn't really enough.

Did you have to be good? Yeah, I suspect so, at least to work like RPS has worked. RPS has a developer profile which is far above even much larger sites. You could have perhaps made a site with an audience, but it wouldn't fit in our niche.

In practical terms, Jim is the one who the site couldn't have worked without. You'd have to replace Jim with someone who was actively willing and able to do what he does - which is a lot of the business stuff - for RPS to work. And also someone with Jim's circa-97 standing - as Jim was pretty known as a journo both in the UK and the US, so could talk to people in a business sense as a known quantity.

You could swap Alec, John and myself for - say - Tim Stone, Richard Cobbett and Tom Francis and it'd probably have worked. Probably. Or at least, possibly.

Really? It's like a band. Chemistry is tricky. And when there's no money, it's always an engine that's threatening to tear itself apart at any second.

I'll take that as a compliment! :) But GameSpy had a really solid team for a long time, I was just one part of it. I think, looking back on it, we should've gone in a totally different direction after the merger with IGN. Gaming editorial in general is an extremely difficult business. We should've been more aggressive trying to change the game!

I love car combat games, so if I ever had the chance to make my own game, it would probably be that genre. I don't think I have the skills to be a developer -- I would love to know how to program but when I studied it, it just didn't click.

Well, technically I'm still a junior! :) I am hoping to finish my biology degree by Spring 2012. Then if I get accepted into the Masters program at UMCP then I will graduate with a Masters in Education in Spring of 2013. If I do not get accepted, then I will be getting two bachelors degrees. One in Biology, and one in Secondary Education.

After that? My own classroom to teach!

Hey, fuck you. I'm a female game journalist and I make a living out of expressing my views in a difficult climate -- every time I talk about women's issues I get barbecued, so I pick my battles, and I've got a right to do that.

Going to go cry because some anonymous dick who can't even put his name on the confrontational questions he feels entitled to ask me has lost respect for me. Piss off.

SimTroy

We like to think that EVERY article we do is about why PC gaming is awesome.

That's a good question, and it's a hard one to answer. I dislike when people get defensive when they're being edited, and I hate when people can't listen to criticism. Luckily, neither issue has been an issue with the majority of the people I've worked with.

A major problem for me in editing someone is wanting to make them sound like me, instead of letting their own voice come through. That's a tricky line to walk when you're editing someone, and it requires a lighter touch than I often have.

I like writing WAY more than I like editing. :-)

An interview/lunch with Brian Reynolds I conducted for Gamepro magazine. I'm not a Civ fan; I am so, so bad at RTS games. But we shot the shit about the industry in general and had a great time. Dude's got boundless enthusiasm and energy; I admire him.

Certainly as a woman you have to be extra careful where and how you position yourself in games writing; always be "person writing about games who happens to be female", not "HAI GAIZ, I'M A GIRL AND O YEA DID I MENTION IM A GAM3R ;)?!"

I mean, people will eventually try making an issue out of your gender, and from the tone of your question it sounds like that's already happening. But the idea is to expect that, keep your head high and don't be baited like that. Chin up and do your work and eventually people will stop with the girl thing.

Actually, okay, they won't. But you can get to a place where people will respect your work, too, and where SOME people will stop with the girl thing.

Meanwhile, no website that would try to make you a trophy "girl game writer" is a useful foot in the door. You do not want to build the foundation of your career at some kind of low-quality "little boy" site.

You can firmly but diplomatically speak up when someone tries to put you in that position. Could be they're just not used to working with females in this space and don't know any better. But don't be afraid to tell people that you are here to be treated as a peer, and be ready to move on if that doesn't happen.

Failing that, it's better to be out on your own than to affiliate yourself with sexist junk. Be a self-starter; have your own blog, be active in positive gamer communities where you can share your work, use Twitter, and reach out to the kind of professionals you DO want to be associated with and ask for their support or input. You don't really NEED a "foot in the door" other than your own presence; write strongly every day and focus on that rather than on gender politics.

Good luck! The industry needs more positive, prominent female voices, so please keep at it.