Our goal is to develop a site based 90 percent on reviews and 10 percent on previews and interviews. We want to have no less than one new original review per day. We are not a news site. We're not journalists. But, we always need new writers! The benefits? You get to be considered press and get the occasional free game. Sorry, we are an all-volunteer staff. But, dang, we have fun.

Some of us are experienced Web site and network managers. Some of us are game developers. Some of us are journalists or writers. Some of us are students. Some of us have been game reviewers in the past. But ALL of us are game players. We play games for the love of games and for no other reason.

We're hoping to create something a little different. We don't want to assign a value to a game. "This game is a 2. This game is a B+. This one is a 5.75." Our reasoning is that ratings don't tell you about what is most important — the player PLAYING the game. Two players reviewing the same game can have wildly differing opinions based on likes and dislikes, experience in the genre, and ability to play the game.

For example, I (Ophelea) am terrible at console games. I simply don't have the dexterity. But, I can recognize the difference between my own ineptness and a difficult game, and I also can realize when I'm having fun despite being all thumbs!

We think that's what makes reviews important — the person reviewing them.

We also believe that games aren't often reviewed properly, and as many of us are current/former members of the press, we'd like to work on changing that. To that end, we've set up a set of criteria for our reviews:

• No game (unless a Web game such as Popcap games) shall be reviewed in four days. It's impossible to know the game. Our reviews will take 10–30 days depending on the depth of the game.
• No game shall be compared to another game unless it is a sequel. All games should be reviewed on their OWN merits, or you run the risk of the player not understanding the comparison.
• We believe in "contextual" reviews. What we mean by this is that the review will be based on the writer. How did the PLAYER find the gameplay, graphics, UI, sound, etc., and did the PLAYER have FUN? If this were a game beyond the player's skills but the player liked it, would it be recommended for a rental? If it's within a player's skills, would they recommend buying it, and if so, why?
• We have writer profiles that give information about the writer. Personal information they're willing to share. History of videogame experience, favorite games, genres, etc. But, most importantly, we include a short profile of the TYPE of player they are. Are they a hardcore shooter player, or do they enjoy social games? Do they like real-time strategy games but find that they're bad at them because they micromanage too much? Who is the writer?
• We review massively multiplayer online games differently than most outlets. Our goal is to have multiple players blog about their experiences each night — a few sentences to a book depending on the night's events — and then every two to three weeks, an editor will write a summary review. The plan is to do this for 90–120 days. Then, six to nine months later, we go back and do it again. It's a failing in the media that games that change monthly or weekly aren't revisited.
• We review not only children's games, but games that are appropriate for children. (Such as a T-rated game that is OK for an 8-year-old.)
• NO GAME is too old to be reviewed. If it can be played — new or used — and our writers like it, they review it. Someone else may have missed it five years ago. Some games simply stand the test of time, period.
• ANY and ALL games can and should be reviewed more than once by multiple readers for all of the reasons stated above.

We feel our style makes for more useful reviews. If two of our writers review a game and one loves it while the other hates it, then look at their profiles. Find out if the one who hates it plays games just like you. If so, that's the review you want to trust.

Below you'll find a profile for one of our writers, to give you an idea of what they look like. At the time this page was written (August 2004), she was one of only two female writers.