My name is Shane Weaver, I was born and raised in Yellowknife, NT, and I strive to be a journalist in the video game industry. I, just as many children of the modern era, found video games to be an enjoyable hobby throughout my childhood. But by the time I had entered high school, I was no longer simply interested in playing games, I had been mesmerized by the industry; the studios making the games, marketing, publishers, and the companies behind the hardware that make it all possible. It swiftly became a fascinating scene to be a part of and spectate, and I decided that I wanted to get involved in it somehow for a living.

My initial aspiration was to become a video game designer myself, it seemed like the easiest way to break into the field and I was more than capable academically for the mathematical and computer science related work it entails. What skewed me away from that though was that I lacked the same creative vision that many game designers need to find themselves in the position that I wanted to see myself in, I didn’t want to live out my career as a lackey on a 200 person development team writing code and fixing bugs with my name hidden in 20 minutes of credits. I wanted to get out there and meet the people I admire and respect in the industry and be a part of present issues the medium faces.

I decided that the best way to get involved was to follow the paths of the people that lead me to the field, the journalists that wrote on these games and captivated my interest. Particularly after attending PAX Prime 2014, a video game convention in Seattle, where I got to toss myself head first into the industry in person for the first time and loved every second of the four-day event. The only issue was that writing was never a great strength or hobby of mine, so I decided that I’d enrol into journalism to spark a writing mentality into my brain and improve my English skills, while additionally receiving a diploma that would help me on my résumé. But primarily it’s for the writing experience and to help inspire me to write fair and cohesive articles on the games I play and the people that make them.