NovoGamer

novoGamer is a video game journalism website working along with multiple other projects under Novus Technologies Ltd. originally launched October 2014, as a reaction to the Gamergate controversy.

History
novoGamer was first launched on October 17, 2014 by Mason Day, an individual named only as “Administrator” on the website, in his concern about the bias in video game journalism that was manifesting the industry at the time. He began the project in September 2014 and launched it the following month. Named “Project Gamer”, the project aimed to overcome the corruption that was predominant in the Gamergate controversy through transparency and community participation, and thus was named novoGamer with the Latin prefix novus (new) as a point of forming the "new gamer".
Creation and previous versions
The first iteration of the website was created September 28, 2014, when the domain of the website was first purchased and the project was uploaded. At the time, there the site was a very basic design with no images and a “Gamesnosh feed”.
In the second iteration of the website, created November 26, 2014, the site was overhauled and more closely resembled its modern day version, with the removal of the “Gamesnosh feed” in favor of a bulletin of events. The version also added an image and thumbnail system so that articles could feature screenshots or other media of whatever they were reporting.
On February 17, 2015, the third iteration was a complete redesign that implemented a personal messaging system and comments for better user-to-user communication. The update also added Google’s Adsense for revenue and a notification system to notify users of popular Twitch.tv streams, a service that broadcasts video game gameplay.
In the fourth iteration of the website, launched May 11, 2015, removed the personal messaging system and the Twitch streams introduced in the previous version as they were both found to be redundant to the website and did not accurately express the purpose of novoGamer. Instead, the version added in novoGamer News, a subsection dedicated to news in the video game industry. The website was also improved for mobiles in this version.
Current version
On January 23, 2016, novoGamer 2.0 was officially released, with little indication shown on the website itself, although an email was made to users informing them of the change. Though the name of the website was unchanged, major improvements were made. On the surface, very few changes occurred in terms of the site’s visual design.
Of particular note is that the website’s backend and server performance were both improved and that Google’s Adsense was mostly phased out in favor of “Nucleus” advertisements. Future versions of the website may be developed, but current changes are little more than patches.
Staff
novoGamer, due to its inception as a different take on video game journalism, was created upon the basis of volunteering. Anyone from a senior editor to the user is choosing to participate in the website and is a volunteer and not paid, as to dissuade an internal hierarchy. With the user-based principle, the entire website could be considered similar to an anonymous web forum, where anyone can write an article. Similarly, all the staff can be considered to be anonymous to each other, each member known mainly only through his or her own online profile.
Though the website and the Administrator is based in the United Kingdom, the editors are spread throughout the world. In addition, there is no official office or headquarters for Novus Technologies Ltd. or novoGamer. Similarly, users around the world can write articles featured on novoGamer, though the only language that is accepted currently is English.

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See Also

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