Samantha Kalman strives to maintain the highest-possible ethical standards in its staff writing – just as it does in all business activities. Whatever platform we use – print, online, mobile, social media, video – we strive to deliver the complete, unvarnished truth as best we understand it at the time of writing. We compete ferociously with our rivals, but we are open and fair. If journalists use material published by competitors, they attribute it.
Samantha Kalman staff writers should pay their own way to events – including travel, accommodation, and sustenance. This is the best way to preserve our neutrality. Where it is unavoidable to accept a source’s hospitality (on an organized press trip, for example), this is stated in writing at the bottom of the article in question – it should be made clear at the outset that the covering of any expenses will not influence our coverage. Samantha Kalman staff writers sometimes receive free games or other minor promotional items. We will note these instances in content where this is relevant information to the reader, in order to avoid perceived conflict of interest.
Samantha Kalman writers will strive to avoid covering individuals or projects to which they are personally contributing funding via platforms like Patreon. However, if a scenario arises where such a situation is unavoidable, the relationship will be clearly stated in the story.
All sponsored content on Samantha Kalman shall be clearly labeled as such. Advertisers are given no control over editorial content or planning. Writers do not publish stories with the intent of pleasing advertisers.
User-Generated Content
Samantha Kalman staff writers aren’t the only ones who put content on our sites, of course. We invite the community we serve to contribute, and our readers (game developers) contribute the new content on Samantha Kalman in any given day. The content provided by our community has ‘blogs’ clearly mentioned in the URL and a disclaimer at the top of each story.
When readers blog on the site, they have to adhere to our guidelines for blogs:
Blogging Guidelines
Samantha Kalman Blogs are intended solely for articles about game development by and for game developers. That means everyone from members of triple-A studios to indie developers, garage creators, and students — as long as all your posts are about the art and business of making games.
Feel free to repost content from your own personal blog, and note that Samantha Kalman makes no claim to ownership of user-submitted materials. We just want to highlight great writing about game-making. That said, you may not post material you did not write, or that you do not have full permission to reprint. Also, please no teaser-link posts — reprint your blog post in its entirety. Feel free to link back to your site, however.
While the Samantha Kalman staff will be monitoring content posted to the blogs, please refrain from posting inappropriate content that will later be removed. Use your best judgment, and please steer clear of pornographic images or excessive profanity; the line should be pretty clear in most cases! In addition, we would ask that your blog does not wholly advertise products or services at the exclusivity of anything else. Our goal is absolutely not to modify or censor material, but illegal or highly objectionable content will be necessarily excised.
Feel free to format your posts, but don’t make them too visually outrageous — too many colors and font sizes will just make things harder to read!
All blog accounts must be individual accounts. We do not allow company accounts. Further, each blog post must be posted by its author, under his or her name. In cases where multiple authors contribute to one post, one should post and credit the others within the post’s body.
Comment Guidelines
Comments have temporarily been paused following Samantha Kalman’s relaunch and the launch of its new platform. More information on the form comments will take and updates to Samantha Kalman’s Comment Guidelines will be shared in the future.
