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I got an email telling me I was eligible for this... And to be honest, I like the idea (free-to-me game? Who wouldn't?!), but there is one thing I am wondering about that I haven't really seen addressed either in the above thread or the linked other thread... Perhaps I missed it, but I went over both places twice...

What is expected of me should I apply and get accepted?

Only place I saw this mentioned was in the email I received telling me about this.

What's the catch?

Merely that you ask questions, and post answers about the new game you got on Gaming Stack Exchange. Involve the community in your game. In other words, have fun while helping us create the best gaming Q&A site on the internet!

Ok, that's great and all, but what, exactly, is expected of me?

Some games I'll play through and not have a single question of it. Normally, that isn't an issue. But with something like this, I'll feel bad about not having anything to contribute back, and it certainly wouldn't look good on me. Alternatively, I could make some questions up, but they usually feel... forced...

On the flip side, I also don't want to use the Stack Exchange sites as my own personal Google either. I tend to dislike when people do that, personally, but for all I know, that might be the expectation.

Even if it's all a bit fuzzier than all that, I'm fine with that, but I do feel this is something I need to know before I apply. Last thing I want is to spam my favorite sites because I feel obligated to when I'm not actually expected to.

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    I think Matthew is exactly right. Most gamers are used to solving problems. You may run into several issues that only take a few minutes to solve - but it's likely that other gamers will run into those issues too. Some will solve them faster than you. Others will have a harder time, and they may turn to us to find an answer. The goal of the program is to have a few of our members get the game right away and get these questions out there so they can be found by the folks that are having more trouble. Don't force it. Just ask yourself "Is this something others might have trouble with?"
    – sjohnston
    Commented Oct 7, 2011 at 15:31

2 Answers 2

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Some games I'll play through and not have a single question of it. Normally, that isn't an issue. But with something like this, I'll feel bad about not having anything to contribute back, and it certainly wouldn't look good on me. Alternatively, I could make some questions up, but they usually feel... forced...

If the game is really simple and you honestly have no questions, I don't think anyone will hold it against you.

I'd be really surprised, though, if you actually have no questions when you play many games. Most experienced gamers are great problem solvers, but that doesn't mean the problems don't exist!

My general plan for the grants is, rather than only asking questions about things I can't solve after an hour of struggle or something: If I'm trying to figure something out for more than a minute or so, I'll ask a question about it. If I solve it thirty seconds later, that's OK; I can just post the answer myself. These questions are legitimate, and it's quite common that some problems will take one person a couple minutes and another person just can't solve it on their own. While this content might seem "forced", it's much better that trying to dream of questions you don't actually have.

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  • That certainly relieves my reservations about whether or not I'll be able to produce questions or not (I have situations like that all the time but don't consider them questions usually). While this doesn't really directly answer the question, I think it helped me get the idea of it down.
    – Aeo
    Commented Oct 7, 2011 at 16:22
  • you can look at my Portal 2 question here as an example.
    – Jeff Atwood
    Commented Oct 8, 2011 at 2:19
  • Yeah, keep in mind that with new games, no matter what question you have, chances are other people have that same question, and even if you can answer it yourself, maybe they couldn't ... or maybe they can answer it even better than you did! You should still only post good questions, but if you answer a few of them yourself, well, the point of the grant is to get quality Q and A about newer games, and if you do both parts yourself, there's nothing wrong with that.
    – Dave DuPlantis
    Commented Oct 9, 2011 at 4:29
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In addition to asking questions about the game, you could also write a blog post or two on our community blog. The blog is always looking for new writers, and it'd be great to get reviews or impressions of new games written.

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    I actually intended to do a review of Dead Island but I couldn't find anything in regards to protocol/restrictions for simple things like length, image sizes, etc. Is there a FAQ somewhere that I'm missing?
    – TheQ
    Commented Oct 7, 2011 at 16:07
  • I didn't even know there was a community blog before now. I might look into that as an excuse to brush up writing skills if nothing else.
    – Aeo
    Commented Oct 7, 2011 at 16:15
  • @TheQ, there's even a chatroom specially for that: chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/386/gaming-blog-editor-room
    – juan
    Commented Oct 7, 2011 at 17:26
  • @TheQ As it currently stands, there's no real restrictions for length. In regards to image sizes, there's plenty of storage space on the blog for images, and we can help you scale them down for proper formatting. If you want to get wordy, go ahead, if you want to keep it short and sweet, you can do that too.
    – FAE
    Commented Oct 7, 2011 at 17:30
  • @Juan I was aware of the chatroom, but didn't want to go in asking asinine questions that might have been otherwise answered on a FAQ-esque page. I wont be so shy about it if that is the de facto area for all things blog related.
    – TheQ
    Commented Oct 7, 2011 at 17:32
  • @FallenAngelEyes Good to know, thank you! I don't know how I feel writing up a review now that the game isn't new, but I will keep this knowledge in mind for future game releases.
    – TheQ
    Commented Oct 7, 2011 at 17:33
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    @TheQ First, don't worry about it not being new. We've got people on there reviewing their experiences with Assassin's Creed. :) Secondly, I believe someone's already done a full review of DI, but if you read it and had a significantly different play experience, feel free to do a writeup. I'm in the room there, so if you have any further questions, feel free to join and ping. :)
    – FAE
    Commented Oct 7, 2011 at 17:42
  • @FallenAngelEyes I might ask you some questions in regards to writing up some non-DI related things then, as I did read the review and a lot of the sentiments were shared.
    – TheQ
    Commented Oct 7, 2011 at 17:44
  • @TheQ, I understand. Don't be afraid to go into the chat though, they're nice people (most of them at least)
    – juan
    Commented Oct 7, 2011 at 17:47

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