The author is a professional editor and unprofessional blogger.

This Gamer's Life was created in 2018 as a home for video game content and to archive the author's most popular blogs on the Game Informer website. Posts have covered new video game releases, past titles and franchises, industry trends and conventions such as E3, IndieCade, DreamHack, L.A. Comic Con and Anime Expo, with an eye toward providing an objective perspective of the medium and increasing coverage of independent game developers.

When the author is asked why he chose to become a blogger, there's no easy answer. He didn't really know what it meant to be a blogger when he began posting on the website 1UP. He simply wanted to share impressions of video games with others who shared his interest. The fact that people actually read the posts, and even liked them, was a pleasant surprise. So in some ways, blogging chose him.

This was true of his role as a Featured Community Blogger (2012-2018) on the official website of Game Informer, an industry magazine and fourth-largest U.S. publication by circulation at the time (user blogs were discontinued in a June 2018 website redesign). The nonstaff/nonpaid role was bestowed by magazine staff (to Shootist2600 in the link, the author's gamertag/username) in recognition of unique and consistent contribution to the blog section.

From 2009 to 2018, 82 blogs had received recognition and 21 had been chosen for the magazine newsletter. In 2012, 32 of 44 blogs were recognized by the site (a 73% rate that was best among 643 bloggers). The author also interviewed developers/publishers at the Electronic Entertainment Expo and reported on the event. As website moderator, he assisted members and enforced site conduct.

This Gamer's Life is the result of more than 15 years spent writing about video games. Every experience has helped inform the author's views on the industry, the challenges faced by independent studios, and his craft as a writer covering this medium. None of this would have been possible without the gaming community, and the support of the industry and social media followers. Thank you for visiting and always being an inspiration!
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Game Informer Issue 233, September 2012
VIDEO GAME, CONVENTION & OTHER COVERAGE

Blogs exclusive to ThisGamersLife.com:
The author is grateful to have had 21 blogs featured in the Game Informer Newsletter:​
He'd written 175 blogs on the Game Informer website and was fortunate to have had 82 selected for the weekly feature Blog Herding -- The Best Blogs of the Community:
For all 175 blogs posted by the author on the former Game Informer website, please visit the following link:
(*External content is the responsibility of a third party and might not always be accessible.)
CONVENTION COVERAGE

​Anime Expo:
DreamHack:
Electronic Entertainment Expo:
IndieCade:
L.A. Comic Con/Stan Lee's Comikaze:
(*External content is the responsibility of a third party and might not always be accessible.)
WRITING CONTESTS WON

Letters From Harran writing contest (November 2015)
​The author was one of 11 winners in the Letters From Harran writing contest sponsored by The Dying Light Team at video game developer Techland Games. (Winning entries are included and given credit in the Dying Light: The Following expansion pack. See screenshots below.)​​
Killzone: Liberation Tales of War Story Contest (June 2006)
While a member of Sony's Gamer Advisory Panel (2005-'09), the author won the Killzone: Liberation Tales of War Story Contest sponsored by video game publisher Sony and developer Guerrilla Games. (See the prize below: A life-size model Helghast helmet used in the Killzone: Liberation ad campaign, the same worn in the image at the top of the page.)
MISCELLANEOUS
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Web presence:
Video game details:
  • Game Systems (Past & Present): Atari 2600; Microsoft Xbox, Xbox 360 & Xbox One; Nintendo GameBoy, Wii, Super NES Classic Edition & Switch; Oculus Quest & Meta Quest 2; Sony PlayStation 1, 2, 3, 4 & VR (PSVR); Steam Deck
  • Favorite Game Genres: FPS, TPS, RPG, Action/Adventure, Racing, Platformers
  • Favorite Games: A Fisherman's Tale series, BioShock franchise; Dragon's Dogma; The Elder Scrolls franchise; Fallout franchise; Gris; The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild; The Last of Us series; Mass Effect; Observer; ​Uncharted series; Shadow of the Colossus; Silent Hill franchise; Tomb Raider series; The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

MMO info:
  • Favorite MMO Game: The Elder Scrolls Online
  • Character Name: Voorhyym Serpensmyde
  • Character Class: Templar
  • Character Level: 12
  • Character Alignment/Team: Ebonheart Pact
  • Server Name: North America

Other interests:
  • Favorite Music: Lily Allen, Alvvays, Courtney Barnett, Big Thief, Blue Six, Colbie Caillat, Cayetana, Chastity Belt, Frankie Cosmos, Cowboy Junkies, Lucy Dacus, Emmylou Harris, Samantha James, Kaskade, Late Night Alumni, Sarah McLachlan, Metric, Michiko, Morgan Page, Oceanlab, Over the Rhine, Toni Price, Remember Sports, Joan Shelley, Sunflower Bean, Taylor Swift, The Wailin' Jennys, Waxahatchee, The Weepies, Neil Young
  • Favorite Movies: Alien, Blade Runner, Braveheart, Dances With Wolves, Elizabethtown, Garden State, Gladiator, Heat, The Hunt for Red October, Interstellar, Kingdom of Heaven (Director's Cut), Lawrence of Arabia, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Wars: A New Hope, The Way Way Back, Thor: Ragnarok
  • Favorite TV: Barry, Big Little Lies, Chernobyl, Dead to Me, The End of the F***ing World, Fargo, Fear the Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The Great, The Handmaid's Tale, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, Rings of Power, The Serpent Qween, Somebody Somewhere, Station Eleven, Stranger Things, Succession, Victoria, The Walking Dead, Westworld
  • Favorite Books: Habibi, Jane Eyre, Junji Ito manga, My Broken Mariko, Nijigahara Holograph, Rebecca​

Let there be light ...

The author been playing since the dawn of video games. First came text-based adventure games on floppy disk, then early arcade games in cabinets, before cartridge gaming on the Atari 2600 (hence the gamertag, Shootist2600). That might make him a gaming dinosaur, but it also gives him perspective on how far the industry has come, and where it might be headed.

The future's so bright ...

He's seen games evolve from the 2D side-scrolling adventure of Pitfall! to the virtual reality open world exploration of Skyrim VR. The author is as excited now as he was then. The future of interactive entertainment is only limited by our imagination, and video games inspire the imagination like few things can. They keep us young, and fuel younger gamers' dreams.