As our community managers take a look back on their specific games or
predict the future surrounding games that haven't launched yet, I felt
it important that somebody take the time to write about the massive
changes to the Ten Ton Hammer network in 2007. The network is a little
over 3 years old now, and it made some big changes in 2007 to keep it
growing strong and delivering what readers want. So here it is: a recap
of the year gone by and the improvements we've made!
Quality Staff
Ten Ton Hammer is a content-centric network. That is, we strive
to entertain you with as much news, articles, guides, and media as
possible. Delivering content so frequently takes a dedicated staff, and
Ten Ton Hammer made some major acquisitions this year on its main site.
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Sorry,
ladies. Cody is taken.
Cody "Micajah" Bye
Managing Editor
Official job description: Cody joined the Ten Ton Hammer team in
February 2007 to serve as the network's Main Site Editor. He
writes,
edits, and formats nearly all of the
articles that appear on the main network site.
Why readers should care: Simply put, Cody has almost single-handedly
turned the Tentonhammer.com
main site into a prolific source of previews, reviews, and interviews
for all massively-multiplayer online games (MMOGs). A tireless and
dedicated writer, Cody constantly tries out games to bring readers the
latest scoop on the next big thing. The sheer amount of content he
produces is amazing. The fact that he manages to make it all so good is
even more incredible. Cody's is also famous among the Ten Ton Hammer
staff for his skill at writing love letters.
Andrew "Deg" Chernauskas
Web Producer
Official job description: Andrew provides the templates for new sites
on the Ten Ton Hammer network, integrates the site and forum logins for
those sites, and fixes what we break.
Why readers should care: It's hard not to notice the impact Andrew has
had. He completely redesigned the Ten Ton Hammer main site and helped
us integrate a new content management system in 2007. The result for
readers is a sleeker design with handy taxonomy tags (you click on
reviews and can see all reviews on the site). The new system is easier
for writers to use, too, so that means more and better articles for you
with great organization!
Garrett "GQFulls" Fuller
Industry Relations Specialist
Official job description: Garrett coordinates requests for content with
developers and publishers. Community Managers route their interview
questions through Garrett, and he passes back the answers.
Why readers should care: Garrett's work is mostly invisible to you, but
it's crucial. He's been in the industry for a while, with Bloomberg
News for several years and most recently working with MMORPG.com, so
Garrett came to us already with solid relationships with a number of
major publishers. He has continued those relationships as the "face"
for our network. When you see an interview or exclusive media on our
site, it's likely due to Garrett. And when you see our contest
announcements, like the recent
href="http://tentonhammer.com/SOEHolidayGiveaway">SOE Holiday Giveaway,
Garrett's probably
involved in securing the prizes.
Danny "Ralsu" Gourley
Premium Content Manager
Official job description: Though
href="http://ralsu.blogs.tentonhammer.com/?p=58">I have frequently
joked that my job involves harvesting ponies, I do actually have a
mission for the network: my job is to produce and manage content for
our Premium
Membership program (more on that later). This entails promoting and
conducting contests, getting prizes to winners, and the occasional
preview or review.
Why readers should care: Who doesn't like winning cool prizes? Premium
Membership gives Ten Ton Hammer readers access to the coolest stuff
first and supplies extra perks all while supporting
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/index.php?q=node/104">a gold-free
network. This is important to all gamers.
Karen "Shayalyn" Hertzberg
Public Relations Specialist
Official job description: Karen promotes our content with
developers, publishers, and gaming communities. She let's publishers
know about the content we've produced for their games so that they can
advertise it on their community page.
Why readers should care: Karen's not a new hire; she's been with Ten
Ton Hammer for a few years now. She moved to the main site and took the
reigns as the Public Relations (PR) specialist in 2007. As she is also
very skilled and forum moderation, she has also taken over as the Forum
Manager. She's responsible for working on the themes for our forums,
establishing and maintaining consistency, and helping all Tentonhammer
contractors and moderators exercise consistent moderation techniques.
Basically, Karen makes sure the world sees our hard work, which keeps
buzz for games high and developers happy. Additionally, she makes sure
you get a fair shake in our forums because I would just ban you all!
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Lumio's
comics provide plenty of entertainment that is safe for work.
Cameron "Aelryn" Sorden
Main Site News Editor
Official job description: Originally hired to manage our
style="font-style: italic;">Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar
community site, Cameron now
posts all the latest MMOG news to the Tentonhammer.com main site and
promotes the juiciest bits of industry gossip in the
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com">Ten Ton Hammer forums.
Why readers should care: Well, if you don't care for MMOG news, we
really don't know why you're here (unless you're trying to hook up with
Xerin--he's single, ladies!). It takes a special kind of person to sort
through all of the official websites for the news on the games you care
about it. Because of Cameron's work, you only have to visit one site to
get your daily does of news.
Comics
Another big improvement in 2007 is in the area of the
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/comics">Ten Ton Hammer comics.
Boomjack put out the call and drew in Jonathan "Lumio" Shariat to make
some creative spoofs of our favorite MMOGs. Jonathan has delivered
with frequent updates to the comics, and our readers love seeing new
ones.
There's more to celebrate! Click the link below to read about the
new communities launched by Ten Ton Hammer in 2007!
