BC of the Month, May 2007: Matt Paprocki - Page 2

I decided there had to be another way into the game industry (or at least get close to it), and that was journalism. I majored about a year and half in Bowling Green University’s program before I completely lost interest. I didn’t quite see the logic in learning (and paying for the privilege) about ancient eastern civilizations when all I wanted to do was write. Taught myself most of what I know. It’s more fun that way.

I started up my own cheap and horribly put together fanzine called Gaming Source around that time, and when the cost far outweighed the benefits, I was lucky enough to find the website, Digital Press, through a Christmas gift (their price guide for video games) and settled in there. This also spurred a huge video game collecting bug that has been referred to as a variety of things from sick, sad, cool, insane, or the greatest thing ever. I was promoted by default to reviews editor since, well, a rather large portion of the content was mine anyway.

I’ve worked retail jobs in various capacities for a little over ten years, and recently found some actual paying work as a freelance journalist for local papers and a few other media companies. I keep the retail jobs because, well, I’m a freelance journalist. That leads us to today, where I spend free time playing games, writing about them simply because I enjoy it, watching loads of movies, and taking care of countless pets including two lizards, three ferrets, some fish, a mouse, and two dogs. That’s down a bit from a typically larger roster which in the past has included an alligator, snakes, and frogs, amongst others.

Q&A: The Serious Stuff

You're in that very exclusive club of writers who've written over 1000 articles here at BC. Where do you find the time to watch the movies, play the video games, and write the reviews, and how does this all fit in with what you do in your "real" life?

Wait… we’re allowed to have “lives?” The sad part is, I don’t have the time. My shelves are full of movies I’ve bought and never watched (some not even opened). Games are everywhere that I never even put into the system. I’m also the reviews editor for Digital Press, which takes even more of my time. I’ve found myself not reviewing things I planned to when time doesn’t permit. I need to balance the running time of the movie, the amount of extras, and how long it will take me to write it up. An average movie review takes me around 45 minutes. A game review is generally shorter and takes about 20. That’s always in the back of my mind before I sit down to watch/play something. Rushing leads to sloppy reviews, or disinterest, which is even worse. If you look through my reviews, you can definitely tell when I was bored out of my mind writing about something (a review for Lake Placid 2 being the latest victim of this issue). I simply enjoy doing it for the most part though. I’m a freelance writer and work retail, so even work revolves around games and movies generally. It’s just a hobby in the end I guess. I love home media, and writing about it seems like a natural extension of that.

Article Author: Lisa McKay

Lisa McKay is Blogcritics' Executive Editor. At BC she can usually be found hanging out in the film section. She recently started food blogging at Will Kill for Food.

In her spare time, she watches movies, listens to music, reads, and caters to the whims of two spoiled cats. …

Visit Lisa McKay's author page — Lisa McKay's Blog