Colin Campbell received the Games Media Legend award at last year's GMA's. I've never met Colin, but I've heard he's an absolutely lovely chap and anyone who has put over 25 years into the games industry certainly deserves their standing ovation. This week an article of his was republished on MCV, with 25 tips for people new to the games industry. It is a lovely article and an essential read.

I wanted to write a similar article detailing some of my experiences from my first 2-odd years working full-time, both at VideoGamer and in the awful preceding year when I was trying to find work, so here are 15 Tips for the Young Games Journalist. I couldn't think of 25.

Feel free to tell me how thoroughly wrong I am on Twitter.

1) Working for free?

Try not to work for free - though you'll probably be prepared to do so at the start. Treat free work as a stepping stone (it certainly opened a few doors for me) but don't let yourself get taken for granted. This will happen, so make sure you're prepared. Don't be afraid to say no.

When you're trying to break through the awkward stage of offering your something's for absolutely nothing, feel free to be choosy - you will have plenty of opportunity to write for nothing, from both unscrupulous rags to respected publications and everything in between. Choose to work with people whose work you relate to, and for publications that look like they're going places.

There are two main motivations with working for free: exposure and networking. Exposure is what you'll inevitably want, as you're young and keen, but forging strong links with peers that will be rising through the industry as the same time as you is absolutely essential. Treat them as peers, not as rivals competing for the same pitiful scraps. You will need their friendship on the days when it all comes crashing down.

Many places will offer you an unpaid gig with the promise that these will become paying positions as the site expands. Unfortunately, this will almost always never happen.

Do remember, though, what working for free will do if you're looking to become a professional writer; hundreds of aspiring writers devaluing the market by offering to write for nothing isn't exactly good for anyone that wants to make a living.

Unfortunately, it's also a fact of life that the competition is fierce and if you don't do it then somebody else will.

2) Respect the audience

I see a lot of journalists who resent their readers - they just flick to the score, they just post bile in the comments threads etc - while forgetting that it is their perusal of your work that keeps publications in advertising and games journalists in plaid.

Some of your readers are enraged trolls who will do their best to slag you off, but many of them - who remain silent - deserve your respect alongside content that excites them.

3) Be friendly

Talk to other journalists, especially ones from other publications. You will need them. They can often offer a different and valuable perspective on a subject matter you both know plenty about.

4) OMG!!!

Try not to post pictures of promotional copies of games you got in the post on Twitter. You don't need to be ashamed of it, but flaunting it always sends out the wrong impression. Be excited for the titles, not the materialism.

5) Respect the PR

PR's do a difficult job that's probably more stressful than yours for better pay, and occasionally their interests will clash directly with yours. They are almost always doing the best they can to accommodate you, so try and be polite and respectful at all times - they are, at the end of the day, human beings. Probably.

6) And respect yourself

It is your reputation that you need to protect, and you should do your very best to look after it. Caveat: I have made (and continue to make) plenty of mistakes when it comes to this.

If you want other people to respect your work, you need to hold yourself to a certain standard. Be realistic with your output. If three publications offer you the chance to write three massive articles that each have the same deadline, you need to care about your output enough to turn some of them down or get them reshuffled to another day.

And do not, under any circumstances, write a review for a specialist website that purports to trade with long-form analysis after playing a game for twenty minutes - no matter how tempting it is and, believe me, it will be. You will eventually get found out.

As we live in a social age, remember to engage with people, answer their questions, and treat all your work with as much attention as you possibly can. As beginners looking to make names for ourselves we should be expected to continue discussing our work after it's been submitted, and by that I do not mean posting the same URL to Twitter seventeen times in one day.

Almost all of my work has come through being recommended by somebody to somebody else, and these opportunities will only ever be as good as your reputation.

7) Specialise

Think about your gaming skills as well as your professional skills. The days of being a general purpose writer are coming to an end - games journalists need to be more than editorial Polyfilla. Get great at a genre, be the guy or girl that gets called whenever those games pop up, and be proud of it. Make it what you love - be the PC person, the Indie person, the FPS person etc. There will be a point where any publication that gives a crap about its reputation needs somebody who is good at a certain genre, so make sure it's you.

8) Don't get left behind

How will the industry look in five years time, and do you care enough to still be involved then? Try and get involved with video and audio, but more importantly think about how people on the internet are creating and consuming content. It's changing every year, and you'll need to adjust to keep up.

9) Try and write for humans as opposed to Google

If you work in online media, there will be a point in your career when you're made aware of SEO. It is an inescapable part of the job, but it will be very easy for you to become consumed by this and think about writing everything for the benefit of search terms and indexing robots. Try and keep your focus on actual human beings, though - for reasons I've already stated.

10) Read like a writer

Have Parkin or Donlan bashed out something new? Read it - and I do mean read it. Look at the form. How do they open their work? How do they close it? Look at the way it all comes together. Isn't it clever? If you care about the industry (and, believe me, you will need to care) then don't let a fortnight go by without checking Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Look at how Eurogamer manage to present all that information. See how Gamespot is using video. Watch how CVG and VG247 can play with a story. What have sites like TheSixthAxis and PocketGamer done lately?

Admire the work of others - never resent it.

11) Be open

This generation of consoles is the first to embrace the kind of social features that now rule the internet. Don't lock your 360/PS3 profile away and hide it - display it wherever you can, and be proud of it. And, no, I'm not saying you should go crazy for Achievements.

12) Understand the medium

If you're writing for print, then try and understand the work that goes into each issue. If you work online, try and get your bearings with how it all comes together - HTML, Photoshop, CMS' and all that stuff. It pays dividends.

13) You don't need to prove yourself

Don't contort yourself to try and impress people with a writing style that's just not you. Just because you're starting out, you shouldn't need to worry about fitting some sort of mould or model. Write honestly, and write often, and you'll be all the better for it.

14) Say something in your work

If you're writing an article that expects your opinion, then you should have an opinion. I'm sick of dry, meandering articles from authors so worried about their thoughts being interpreted in any negative way that they write endless reams of middling copy. Don't act like padding, because lord knows there are enough people in this business that'll think nothing of you to begin with - and you don't need to give them a reason.

15) Play lots of games

Seeing as you're probably going to be paid half of what you would get writing copy for a B2B publication about sheds or something, you need to enjoy the best perk of the job - exposure to games. Play games. Think about games. Connect them with one another in your brains. Understand the context. And, please, enjoy them.

For instance, play Call of Duty (or whatever game franchise is currently in fashion) even if you hate it. It only takes about two hours anyway, and it will offer you up some great perspective.