Thanks for the comments. To be clear, I'm not talking about sacrificing your ideals or writing an opinion you don't think is valid. It's more a matter of being sensationalist, or covering a story that wouldn't interest you if it weren't for all the interest that other people are taking in it.

I write for a site that has that type of "reward" system. I've become incredibly discouraged lately, for the very reasons everyone stated. To the point where I have cut way back on my production for them.

Just got sick of seeing the good articles from writers being overlooked, and thus underpaid, over and over.

I probably come from a different perspective than the rest of you, as my background is actually in Economics and not as much Journalism. I’ve also served more on the business end of sites than as freelancer. So from that angle I can see why a site, specifically a smaller site that has a variable income would choose to go that route. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of it, as like Jared has said it can lead to sensationalist ideas, as I have seen firsthand in the past. I think it is up to the editorial team to make sure that quality isn’t sacrificed for traffic, as the writer has a moral hazard on that one.

That’s why everywhere I’ve worked where I have had influence on the pay scale has offered as close to a fair wage (flat rate) as we can (extremely close to our expected break even point). Then, when that income happens to come out higher than we expect we like to pass it back on to the writers. Thus, we do track traffic they bring in and that does affect possible bonuses.

However, I maintain that our Editorial staff does a fairly strong job at avoiding sensationalist flame bait and strives for quality work (As they have no traffic based incentives, to avoid that very issue).

I'm working on this type of site and it's not as bad as people make it out to be. I'm not making my living off of the hits and, honestly, if I weren't being paid, I'd still like to see how many hits I've gotten just to see if what I have to say matters. Never assume that money means you have to relinquish your voice.

Anyway, if you have a Facebook or Twitter or Myspace, make sure to post the link to your article and mention what it's about. I also use reddit.com--it's not working out all that great for me, but I manage to get a few hits. As already mentioned, make an article about something current and I guess most-talked about and just give opinion on it. It's not a matter of content: even if the person doesn't like your article, they still stopped by your page and got insight because your link appeared in the Google search.

If you're actually going into freelance worker, I think that's more of a serious matter. However, I'm using Examiner.com and blogspot and probably Suite101.com to post some articles that people may acknowledge. When I actually apply for a real game journalism job or become a freelance writer, I'll have a portfolio.

That would work for Too Human...


Oh wait!

The game wasn't amazing was it.. doh!