Who are the people that write walkthroughs?

Do you ever wonder about these people who, two days after a game's release, have made a huge .txt file, with an ASCII art of the game's logo and another of their internet handle? What is their motivation? How do they go about penning them? Do they pause the game to take notes? Do they brag IRL to their friends, "I was totally up 'til 4 a.m. writing a sweet Pokemon walkthrough?"

This is not to imply they are bad or weird people! And lord knows I can name v few games I have done without the aid of a walkthough. I just want to know about who they are.

http://laist.com/attachments/la_christine/nosferatu-1922-max-schrek1.jpg

I have wondered this too. I think that a lot of them are written by 10-12 year olds. But a lot of them are obviously written by intelligent adults.

One thing is clear though - thank the lord for these dudes. They probably killed the videogame strategy guide industry (I'm picturing executives in the top floor of Prima, Inc. in 2003 shaking their fists at gamefaqs.com), but I've turned to those free guides sooooo many times

in the days before these or strategy guides you had to call the nintendo helpline and it was staffed by people who took much pleasure in never giving a guy a straight answer

are you sure that was actually the nintendo helpline

for a "Creative writing" essay in 7th grade, i turned in what was basically a walk-through of an AD&D adventure. i somehow didn't realize it was total fucking plagiarism until i got the paper back and was all "why did i do this exactly?"

Here is a long interview with The Lost Gamer, IGN's May 2009 FAQ Writer of the Month.

IGN: Aside from praise and such, have you found guide writing to be helpful in your day to day life?

The Lost Gamer: I'd like to say that guide writing is helpful in my everyday life, because it's always a good skill to be able to clearly explain things to other people. But I tried getting a job with a tech support place, using the guide writing as experience, and they didn't buy it. Lame. Oh, well, I didn't want to work there, anyway. The guy who interviewed me was kind of sweaty.

IGN: Perhaps you should describe it as technical writing instead. Like manuals and documentation, etc.

The Lost Gamer: Yeah, that was the job. Technical writing / tech support. But at least it got me an interview. That's always good.

Then there's GamingDragon91:

IGN: What got you into writing guides for games?

GamingDragon91: Truthfully speaking, I got inspired. It's normal for gamers to get stuck here and there and the same happened to me, I went browsing for assistance and luckily/accidently stumbled across some of the best walkthroughs written by renowned figures in guide writing field. It got into so badly that I started reading them like novels

From that time on, I was so impressed I couldn't shake off the idea of writing guides. So, I finally picked up guide writing from a year ago.

IGN: Guide writing is not exactly a leisurely task; what keeps you going?

GamingDragon91: It's not easy for any writer because we sacrifice countless hours digging deep into the game, searching for secrets, perfecting our way of approach/gameplay and writing them down without a mistake. Our goal is to guide the readers in most accurate, enjoyable and easiest way and help them finish the game. Surely we won't net anything except for the satisfaction of helping a gamer finish his/her game but for some unknown reason it keeps us going.

IGN: Have you experienced any benefit (aside from feedback) with guide writing?

GamingDragon91: Everyone says "No" and of course, in monetary terms, no. But that's not all to it, everyone including me picks it up as a hobby and later gets hooked up or addicted and start liking it. Some even takes it as their part time/second/side line job. Isn't that enough? A hobby we picked up to kill time becoming our profession? If I manage to find a genuine video game tester or related field, I'll say I'm lucky; it's what I'm praying for.

'91 was a great year for gaming dragons

"dear God, most holy of holies, most compassionate, king of kings: please let me be a genuine video game tester or find a job in a related field.

Yours,
GamingDragon91"

Nintendo Helpline never let me down.

are you sure that was actually the nintendo helpline

It wasn't a full walkthrough but I've done one guide on Gamefaqs. I was just making notes for myself really because I could never remember what to do in that part of the game, and it looked like no one else could remember either so I cleaned up my notes and submitted them.