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Homepage Submission Guidelines

The new Homepage is here, and with it comes a few changes. A cover image approximately 350px x 255px is required. However, images inside the article itself should stay the same as before, 625px x 425px. Additionally, we ask that you add at least 5 tags in the designated field, as well as fill out the Article Listing Preview field. This will be the text accompanying your cover image on the front page.

Criteria that must be met in order to have an article promoted to the Homepage:

  • The article must be largely yours. This means that the text has to be written in your own words and can not be copied and pasted from somewhere else. Replacing a few words is not enough to call something your own. Quotes, facts, names and dates are obvious exceptions.
  • We are looking for articles on gaming and technology, be it news, reviews or opinion pieces. Retrospectives are also welcome. Do not stray too far away from this if you want your article promoted to the Homepage, but don't be afraid to change it up a bit when you submit. (Review Guidelines can be found here.)
  • Use correct grammar, and always double and triple check your spelling. We don't deny an article just because of a few simple mistakes, but we don't want to re-write the entire thing. Too many mistakes tells us that you are too lazy to care.
  • You are not allowed to use GIFs or any other animated images as a header image. If you have a several pictures important to the article's content, an album can be embedded. All images/albums/embedded videos are to be centered.
  • Make sure to keep the formatting clean and simple. Text color, size and alignment should not be altered. Do not split up your article by using bold headings, and if you have to add a list of facts, use a spoiler. A source is required for any and all news articles.

Do not, under any circumstances, ask us to promote your article. This includes commenting in the thread, reporting the thread or messaging the writer’s team directly, as doing so will result in denial of your submission.

Submitting blatantly copied and pasted material will be considered as spam and deleted.


How to write your article well:

Use correct grammar, it gives your article a more professional look and makes it easier to read. Focus on capitalization, spelling, punctuation and overall grammar, the most common mistakes we see involves commas, so be on the lookout for those. Make sure not to repeat yourself and not to use words you don't fully know the meaning of just to look good. Always proofread your work. Reading the article out loud helps you spot most mistakes and also makes it easier to notice poor choice of words. Another important factor is structure. This all depends on what type of article you are writing. It is recommended that you add evaluation after stating information from your source, either in a quote or paraphrased. Starting your article by evaluating what is stated in your title makes little sense. Your article should start with information from your source(s). As you list information, evaluation should follow. This does not have to be two chunks of writing, as you can switch off frequently. Your evaluation will usually always be subjective.


Information (Fact): Today, Valve announced the official release date of Left4Dead 3. The announcement was made by head developer Abraham Lincoln on the official Valve website through text accompanied by screenshots. Evaluation (Subjective): This has Left4Dead fans caught in more anticipation than ever before. The Left4Dead series is easily the greatest accomplishment made by Valve, and the fact that they will continue this achievement is exciting to say the least.

Be careful not to re-word the source you are writing from, but use the information in it to create your own text. Add originality and feel free to use quotes, tweets and other objective evidence to support these. Keep on point, as people started reading your article for a reason and they don’t want to be led astray into the wilds of your imagination. Do not split your article into sections detailed by bold headings. If you must split the article, try to do it by using transition sentences when you start a new paragraph. If it is absolutely needed, we may over look this if we cannot find a better way to do it ourselves. Excessively using lists (numbered, bullets, dashes, etc) will mostly likely result in your submission being denied. If your article is based off of information from a list, try to pick the most important things from that list, and write your article about it. You can have the entire list in a spoiler if it is important to support the topic you are covering, or you can add the most important ones in a quote. While we're all for 'different' writing styles, if you submit something that has multicolored text, random use of bold, italic or underlined letters, it will be frowned upon. Having absurd font sizes, fonts, characters etc will also be frowned upon. (ie. Don't submit something in large bold rainbow colored font.) If you are seen excessively doing this, we will be forced to report is as intentional spam. And finally, take your time. Don’t rush your article just to have us deny it for not meeting the required criteria.


If your article gets denied:

Below are some things we hope you keep in mind before you submit an article. More importantly, we hope you look back at this thread if your article gets denied.

  • We do appreciate your submissions: If you put time into your submission (meaning not copy/pasted) we will generally appreciate it. This alone, however, is not a reason for promotion. There are many factors that go into the fate of a submission.
  • We put time and consideration into submissions: Unless a submission is blatant plagiarism, we always discuss articles and talk about what should happen to the submission. All decisions are based on factors that are outlined in the post above.
  • It's nothing personal: We treat everyone's article equally. We never deny an article just because of who wrote it.
  • It is a group decision: As mentioned in the prior point, articles are talked about between two or more writers. This means it is not just one writer who wants to deny your article.
  • Decisions are final: All the decisions we make are final. Complaining about denial will not get your article moved. Doing so will most likely result in your post being deleted.
  • Any questions or concerns must be dealt with in private: If your article gets denied you have every right to ask for reasons, but it must be done so in private. Any public post questioning our decisions will be deleted. The best way to ask us is to send a PM to the writer who denied your submission.
  • We ask for respect: In addition to privacy, we also ask you talk to us in a respectful manner. We respect all submissions that are posted and their authors, so we ask the same from you. We want to help you, but talking to us in a disrespectful manner does not help the situation in any way and it can only make things worse.


Regarding comments on articles:

Do not try and correct errors within an article as this IS a form of “mini-modding” and is strictly prohibited. You may report the thread or message a member of the writing team directly should you find any errors in an article. One line responses still break site rules, so replying to articles with "Nice review!", or "Great job!", is spam and it will be treated as such.

Review Guidelines

When selecting a topic for a review, please keep the following in mind:

Triple A Games
  • If you're looking to submit a review for a new game that is going to be released or has recently been released we ask that you do so within a week of the official release date. There will be a grace period in place in order to accommodate for unforeseen circumstances. This does not mean that reviews submitted after the initial week will be automatically denied, but we will take into consideration that it was submitted afterwards.
Indie Games
  • Indie games are great, and some of them really need the attention from reviews, gameplay, etc. That being said, when submitting a review for an indie title, please make sure that you're reviewing something in a reasonable time frame. By that I mean that we're not expecting you to review a game that was announced 2+ years ago that has never been seen or heard of. We'll leave it up to you to determine whether or not what you're going to submit is a reasonable submission.
Retrospectives/Throwbacks
  • We currently do not have any strict regulations regarding how 'old' or 'new' per-say a game should be. We will review the submission thoroughly and make a final decision based on what was submitted and information we gather internally.

Once you've selected your topic, we encourage you to follow this format as best as you can. However, do not feel as if you are entirely limited to this format:

  1. Opening paragraph about the game, what it is, and who it's meant for. Be sure to include the developers/publisher, platform(s), and genre(s).
  2. The actual review. This can really differ per game, but generally touch upon the gameplay, story, mechanics, and visuals. Should be at least two or three paragraphs.
  3. Conclusion. Bring all your thoughts together. Tie back to who the game is for and whether people should actually get it. It's probably a good idea to include the retail price.

Last but no least, we expect everyone who submits a review to follow these rules. We will be more strict about enforcing these rules upon a review as apposed to the leniency seen with regular submissions:

  • You must follow the guidelines above.
  • You must have played the game yourself for a reasonable amount of time (we want to limit "hype" pieces).
  • You may not write a score (x/10 or x/5 etc). If you do it will be redacted from the review and taken into account.
  • The game should be relatively new (or unknown).
  • Much like any other submission, you must respect the fact that we may deny your review for any reason (namely because we are writing a review ourselves).
  • We will not allow reviews up before the embargo.
  • Try to base your review off of legitimate post-release copies. If you play a pirated version or early, you must account for day one patches.
  • When submitting a piece to the Homepage, it is highly recommended that give this thread a read.

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