The job is pretty much the same as the last one I was advertising, so pardon me for copying large chunks of the previous job description. However, it’s not an internship this time around… looking back, neither was the first one. I digress. By working at Evolve, you’ll get the opportunity to work with awesome companies and franchises like GOG.com, CD Projekt RED (The Witcher), TimeGate Studios, Paradox Interactive and more.

Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Conduct media relations – pitch stories, write press releases, follow up
• Assist in planning PR, marketing/creative and community campaigns
• Interact with people — media, fans, whoever — on Twitter, Facebook, etc.
• Do random marketing stuff, offering feedback on selling points, marketing copy and whatever else we have to help with
• Compile coverage/buzz/community reports
• Help with business development, securing new clients, partnerships, etc.
• Come up with cool new ways to promote clients and their products
• Contribute to this blog more often than I do

Still a pretty good gig, as far as I’m concerned. The ideal candidate has these traits:

• Excellent writing abilities, able to deliver fun, creative and enticing copy
• Knowledge of games industry necessary (consoles, PC and mobile), tech and social media knowledge nice
• Extensive network of contacts in games industry preferable
• Prior PR experience within a games developer, publisher or agency greatly preferred
• Not against working from home, wherever that may be
• Based in NYC, SF, LA or Edmonton preferable
• Able and willing to travel internationally
• Active and engaged on Twitter, Facebook and/or other social networks

This is a paid part-time position with 20-30 hours of work per week and the potential to grow to full-time in the future. If you’re interested, please submit your cover letter, resume and salary expectations to tom@evolve-pr.com. CLOSING DATE: January 6.

Essentially I’m looking for someone interested in tackling all aspects of the job I do; I don’t really want to hog all the glory, and I know that interns tend to get stuck with the crappiest possible jobs. Yes, you’ll still be responsible for compiling reports for clients, but beyond that you’ll also have a chance to do all sorts of other stuff that’s a lot more fun.

Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Compile monthly coverage/buzz/community reports.
• Conduct media relations – harass journalists endlessly for coverage,  write press releases, put together story pitches, follow up
• Do random marketing stuff, offering feedback on selling points, marketing copy and whatever else we have to help with
• Assist in planning PR, marketing/creative and community campaigns
• Interact with people — media, fans, whoever — on Twitter, Facebook, etc.
• Help with business development, securing new clients, partnerships, etc.
• Come up with cool new ways to promote clients and their products
• Contribute to this blog more often than I do

Doesn’t sound so bad, right? So here’s the type of person I’m looking for:

• Awesome
• Friendly
• Can put up with my stupid jokes
• Strong communication skills – both writey and speaky
• Not against working from home, wherever that may be
• Prefer someone in NYC, SF, LA or Edmonton… not necessary, though
• Knowledge of games industry necessary, tech and web knowledge nice

This is a paid part-time position, between 10 and 20 hours per week (variable), with the potential for full-time work at some undetermined point in the future. If you’re interested, please send your resume, cover letter — anything you think will make me like you — to tom@evolve-pr.com.

Here I sit, perched high above the streets of San Francisco in a swank Japanese theme hotel that I couldn’t possibly afford were it not for the miracle of Hotwire.com. In an hour or so I’ll set off to wax professional and hand out business cards to people who’d probably rather go start a tongue-wrestling war with the colorful street folk in the area than listen to yet another pitch from yet another PR guy.

But I like to think I’m different–nay, better–than those other, surely sleazy (at least in my head) PR folks. They’re out there hawking their services with a big fancy suit and a big fancy package of big fancy sales collateral. I forgot my suit, probably wouldn’t wear it anyway, and printed up some last-minute business cards with an overnight business-card printing place. I’m not like them, right? That should count for something, right?

Deep inside, of course, the inevitable truth weighs on my mind: the people I’m trying to get business from likely expect that sort of uber-professional who’s recited his sales pitch a million times. Sure, they’ll say, “oh, I’m so tired of that same old crap” (maybe they wouldn’t use those exact words, but you get the idea)… but at the end of the day, big agencies still win out over the little guy.  The global presence of offices in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Copenhagen and Sao Paolo will surely win a contract over that freelance rep in rural Wisconsin — not to say that ability, character or any of those other important factors necessarily play into those decisions. This doesn’t just apply to the business-development side, though, where I have to muster up all the charm of a used-car salesman to provide a life for myself and my family, but also with media.

I’ve read all sorts of articles complaining about PR, suggesting how we should be better doing our jobs, how we’re pretty much all buffoons who can’t be bothered to actually do some research. I understand there are some awful PR people out there. They hop on Vocus, generate some massive list of journalists they couldn’t possibly know much about–much less research and have time to follow up with–and blast out their press releases like a farmer unloading the buckshot at a flock of helpless ducks. They’ll send a dozen emails on the same subject, leave 20 voicemails, send five faxes, hire a Renaissance Faire court jester to deliver a song-and-dance pitch directly to the writer’s door… and they won’t take no for an answer. I understand these people exist, and I understand they’ve fucked it up for the rest of us.

But now I go into pleading mode (and this isn’t the first or last time I’ll have to do this): please give those of us who do our research and try to do our jobs ethically and effectively a bit of credit. I understand that I need to build a relationship before you’ll read everything I send you; that’s fine. But hey, if I’ve sent you three emails (absolutely my limit) and you can’t be bothered to hit the reply button and say, “no thanks,” what sort of message does that send to me? When I see you write a story that is completely relevant to what I’m pitching you, or worse, I see a story that is completely irrelevant to anyone–but is solely news because it involves some mega corporation or someone you went to lunch with last week–then what am I to gain from doing things “the right way”? It seems like it would be so much more effective for us–the PR people who want to do a good job–to start spamming you, harassing you endlessly and to not stop until we’ve secured the coverage.

I suppose this is, again, a moment of pleading. Journalists, PR execs… or really, anyone who ever has to hire any sort of external help or work with PR reps… hell, I suppose this could apply to anyone at all: if you’re going to say that you want things to change, or that you wish everyone wasn’t doing the same crappy, half-assed job in trying to reach out to you, then the least you can do is try to reward the people who do things differently. If you don’t want to hear from us, say so. If you’re not interested in whatever we’re pitching, tell us. That’s totally fine. But if we spend all this time and effort trying to cater to your needs, giving you exactly what you want, and then we’re simply ignored… we have to wonder if any of it is really worth it.

Watch out, trolls. It's hammer time.

The apocalypse is surely approaching, as I ready my hands for another gripping blog post — the first time this has happened all year, and my fingers are struggling a bit with this new task, like a pubescent boy fumbling with a bra strap. So bear with me if I ramble a bit; like that boy, it might take some time for me to get to the goods. It doesn’t help that it’s barely past 6:30am and my coffee cup isn’t refilling itself without the intervention of my fumbling fingers… which are writing this blog post. Duh.

Okay, so yesterday a pillar of the tech blogosphere/websiteosphere (I don’t even know what to call websites these days anymore, since most of them are blog-like), Engadget, shut down comments on its stories. As explained to VentureBeat by Editor-in-Chief, Joshua Topolsky, the decision was made because of a recent shift in the tone of comments, spurred largely by an influx of new visitors who found their way to the site because of the iPad unveiling. Now, apart from concluding that the iPad is an inherently evil device created to brainwash hipsters the world over, I’m forced to think about whether shutting these abusive commenters out entirely is really the right decision for Engadget.

See, I’ve been working in video games for a long time. There aren’t too many game-related forums out there that don’t occasionally — or regularly — devolve into sixth-grade playgrounds, with personal attacks on other users echoing through the digital air. It’s possible that my time spent trying to rehabilitate trolls — or to otherwise peacefully coexist with them — while arguing whether Fantasy Creature X could actually take down Hero Y with Feat Z and Weapon of Awesome Power +2 has desensitized me to the more vile of commenters. I’ve come to accept that anonymity, when combined with a group of idiots, tends to create some new breed of superidiot.

Topolsky’s thinking is that by turning off comments, he’s, “hoping they’ll get bored and decide to stop commenting.” That’s absolutely a possibility; these superidiots, although exceptionally gifted at spewing verbal vomit, surely have short attention spans — I liken them to those fast zombies in Dawn of the Dead, bound to be distracted by some other target that zips past their view. They’ll go complain somewhere else (via @dsilverman), they’ll go be turds on Xbox Live, harass their fellow Tauren on World of Warcraft, push over seniors at the grocery store… whatever. Or let’s say these superidiots are, like, even more advanced zombies — they’re angered by Engadget’s efforts to thwart their attempts at intelligent conversation, and feasting on commenters on other websites just won’t sate their hunger.

At some point, Engadget will turn comments back on. Apple will eventually announce the iHat (a hat I just made up that beams movies directly to your head but still has no USB port), and the superidiots will once again catch a glimpse of a shiny “Comment” link at Engadget. What then? They could come back with greater fury. I’ll agree with the Houston Chronicle’s Dwight Silverman (yes, sir, you get two links in one post!) that moderating the comments is really the only way to go from here. It requires a commitment from Engadget, either to devote internal resources to monitoring all comments or by enlisting the help of trustworthy people within the community to police the superidiots. As Topolsky said himself in that VentureBeat piece, Engadget can handle the flamewars. If it’s just a matter of cutting off outright offensive comments and personal attacks, the resources required to moderate user contributions is minimal.

We’ll see how it all plays out over the next couple of weeks. It’s possible that the trolls will move on and find a new home. In that case, Engadget looks really smart, making a bold stand against internet idiocy and ignorance. But if these particular trolls are the grudge-holding type, they’ll likely be waiting for the minute comments are turned  back on. At that point, Engadget has to decide whether to abolish comments altogether or just to start moderating them more actively.

As always, I welcome your thoughts in our comments — don’t screw with me or I’m shutting them off — via email or on Twitter! Until summer, when I write another post!

In a sure sign that this is not just a blog on which I post insightful commentary on the ins and outs of public relations and marketing, I’m actually writing something about a client! Beware, for this can only end badly — shilling kicks all kinds of ass.

This week we’re celebrating the one-year anniversary of GOG.com‘s launch. A little later today or tomorrow I think I’ll put together a post about the first year — it’s definitely been a roller-coaster ride, as the cliché goes, with a fair share of struggles and successes on the PR and marketing fronts. But that’s not the point of this post!

This one is just to talk about the wicked bargains we have on the site this week. Okay, so we have the Buy One, Get One Free promo on the Interplay catalogue. Fallout 1, 2 and Tactics, Freespace 1 and 2 (pretty much the best space sim without the Star Wars license), MDK 1 and 2 (look for my first credit — a huge contribution I made to that game, of course… not!), Shattered Steel (another great BioWare game), Kingpin, Hostile Waters (awesome) and more for $5.99 each, then you get a free one. Pretty good.

In the past few weeks we’ve been trying out a Hidden Gem of the Week promo, which basically spotlights one game that people may have overlooked — something really good, unique or otherwise interesting — and doing a little write-up and a 10%-off discount for the week. For the editorial bits, we brought some great writers on board – Pete Davison and David Craddock – who should certainly be in consideration for any sort of freelance writing gigs you people have! The past few weeks have featured Descent 1 & 2 (the two are bundled as one in the Interplay promo) and Shogo, an early Monolith creation… and this week it’s all about Rise of the Triad – particularly timely, given the recent indication of a franchise reboot.

As if compelled by the mythical Dealosaurus, we also just released Might and Magic 6 Limited Edition, which includes six games (Might and Magic 1 through 6) for $9.99. I haven’t played through most of the games in that package, and will do so at my earliest convenience… I get it for free, though, muahaha.

Check out Treevenge on Twitch!

“Fortunately, iTunes allows you to see other reviews posted by the same reviewer. So, we clicked on the reviewer “Vegas Bound” (iTunes link) and started to look at his reviews. He reviewed 7 applications, and gave each one of them 5 stars. Each review was short and sweet, and extremely positive. These reviews represented 6 different developers. A quick Google search revealed an infuriating truth: every single one of these developers was a client of one PR firm: Reverb Communications.”

The evidence looks pretty damning, but ultimately Reverb denies any wrongdoing in a response that states its ” interns and employees write their reviews based on their own game play experience, after having purchased the game by themselves, a practice not uncommon by anyone selling games or apps and hardly unethical.” This is where things get a bit fuzzy, of course. Have I given games I’ve worked on 10-out-of-10 reviews on sites where I had the ability? Yeah, it happens. But hey, guys, I also review other games and give them high scores if they’re deserving. I’ve given games I worked on mediocre reviews if I didn’t like them (well… nothing lower than an 8, of course, or I’d give them no review at all ). So maybe these interns just need to wisen up a bit and start reviewing other stuff. Only kidding. Of course that wouldn’t get to the root of the problem and would probably just make it a little bit worse.

MobileCrunch point out an excerpt from a pitch doc provided by a developer, alleged to be from Reverb, in which it’s stated that it “…employs a small team of interns who are focused on managing online message boards, writing influential game reviews, and keeping a gauge on the online communities.” Seems that their interns may also be going around to message boards and hyping their clients’ products. To me, that’s just as upsetting — at least if they’re doing it under some pseudonym and trying avoid being outed as PR reps.

I was in a situation a few years ago when I was working for an agency on the NVIDIA community account, as we were accused of essentially shilling, paying shills or planting shills for the video-card manufacturer. I don’t know where the NDAs and such stop, so go ahead and read the statement we (I) sent to Shacknews back in the day. I still stand by it and am sure that we weren’t acting unethically. You’ll have to trust me on that, I guess, but even so, it was already getting too close to OMG VIRAL MARKETER territory for my liking at the time. Now, though, I see that our practices of just working really, really closely with the community — talking and interacting with them on a very personal level (IM, phone and whatnot), hoping that they’ll appreciate our clients and us even more — is what we do on a wider scale now thanks to Twitter, Facebook, etc.

After all, the fans are out there. They like reviewing games. Games they like will probably earn at least a 4 rating, unless the player is holding onto his stars as if they were a rare commodity; so why even bother putting your own reviews up? For one game quoted in the MobileCrunch article, HydroTilt XL, there were over 300 5-star reviews (of 900-something total) — clearly any cover shilling tactics need not be employed here. Ah yes, the quality factor. Well, I think that any sensible person in this industry realizes that, especially these days, if you offer a quality product, people will buy it. With the rise of social networking, we have a huge connected audience that wants to share its love of games or music or movies or plywood manufacturers. Give them something they want to talk about.

I should finish off by saying that we really don’t know if Reverb has done anything wrong. It may just be unfortunate levels of zeal on the behalf of its interns, who really did love the game they were working on — and as it may have been their first experience with the iPhone App Store, their first review inevitably raising questions about the motivations. I do hope it’s not true — being accused of being greasy when you think you’re being clean sucks, and the people I do know at Reverb are good, honest people.