Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, gamers of all ages, we are beyond proud to welcome you to the brand new Doublejump!

Some of you may know of this website’s past, which stretches beyond being launched on Medium about thirteen seconds ago, but for those who do not: we ran a website by this name until last June, when circumstances beyond our control forced us to close it down. After a short downtime, however, we decided that there was simply too much unfinished business for us to leave forever, and so we moved into an often-interrupted period of reflection and planning; the result, we feel, will not only be a much, much easier website for us to run and keep building, but just a better Doublejump for you to experience.

We would like to take this opportunity to answer a couple of questions that we’ve been asked a few times while we’ve been working on the website, just in case anyone else wanted to know the answers.

How does this website differ from the original version of Doublejump?

In quite a number of ways, this website is more of a reimagining of Doublejump than a revival. After a lengthy period of planning and research, we have made a number of major changes to the website’s operation:

• The coverage: Since the complexity, frequency and intensity of the daily news cycle was one of the major reasons for the website’s closure the first time around, we have decided to cut back on news coverage. Instead of posting ten news articles per day, we will be producing a single news segment every Saturday that highlights the most important news from the week that was, which will allow us to spend considerably more time producing fantastic original content for you to enjoy.
• The platform: The most obvious difference between old and new Doublejump is the platform on which we’re running it. Medium is quite basic compared to other publication platforms, but that is far from a bad thing: it allows us to focus on the quality and quantity of our content, and it’s simpler to run from our point of view, meaning that we can focus solely on the quality and quantity of our content while the site is in its infancy. Eventually, of course, we hope for Doublejump to outgrow Medium, and we have plans for when that happens.
• The future: With so much more time on our hands with this version of the website, we are planning to start producing audio-visual content for you all to enjoy. This will start with regular video game streams on Twitch.tv, and will progress into a podcast and YouTube videos when the site grows a little more. In the future, we are also hoping to expand our way into writing about movies, music, television shows, popular culture and other forms of entertainment, but that’s still a while — and a few more staff members — away.

Although these changes are quite significant, and the website won’t look, feel or act the same as before, Doublejump still has the same three guys at its core, so you’d best believe that we hold the same beliefs, values, expectations and passion for the video game industry that we did before, and that won’t be changing any time soon.

How often can we expect to see articles from you?

At this early stage of the site’s life, we don’t want to make any guarantees in terms of the frequency of our content, but we are hoping to be able to produce at least one major article (editorial, feature or review) per week. We plan to supplement this with a weekly news segment, posted on Saturdays and highlighting the most important news that you need to know from the week that was, and other more “minor” articles (although we’re yet to identify precisely what those will be). With that being said, we have no intention to rush our writers to complete articles, and so there might be some weeks where a major article isn’t ready for publication; we’re fine with having those weeks, and we hope you will be too!

Of course, we are always looking for talented writers to add to our staff, or for members of the community who just want to get a single thought off their virtual chest without obligation. We are still working through the finer details in terms of how we would like to officially handle staff applications and article pitches from the community, but please feel free to contact us in the meantime if you’ve got an idea you think we should hear!

There are no ads on the website… How do you plan to make any money from it?

One of the first decisions we made when we decided to re-launch Doublejump was that, at least initially, there will be no ads on the website. Not only do we believe that having ads around an article takes away from the reading experience we’re trying to provide, but we’ve found that you can’t really curate the advertisements that are shown; we don’t want you guys seeing ads for things that are entirely irrelevant to you or your interests!

With that being said, we are planning to start running a Patreon campaign once we can establish a new body of work; this enables Doublejump’s friends and fans to make monthly financial contributions that will help us pay for and improve the website, as well as the quality of its articles. Please keep an eye out for that campaign to start in the next few weeks, once we’ve shown you a bit of what we’ve got.

It should be noted that advertisements may be placed on a future version of the website, but these will be carefully curated and planned out so that they will not detract from your overall reading experience.

How can I support the website?

A website at this stage of its life cycle needs the support of its community in order to get off the ground and go. At the moment, there are three key areas in which you can assist us, if you’d like to:

Social media:
The simplest, cheapest, and most impactful way to support us is simply by getting on our social media and “liking” our posts, sharing them around and commenting on them. You can find us on the following social networks:

• Facebook: Doublejump
• Twitter: @dbljump
• Instagram: @doublejump

We will be sure to update this list as we begin using more networks, of course.

Merchandise:
We have some merchandise available for you to purchase over at our Redbubble store. Merchandise purchases support us in two ways: Redbubble puts a small amount of money in our pocket for every item purchased; and you’ll be wearing our logo around, helping us out with some exposure!

Patreon:
Of course, once we have finalised how we plan to run the Patreon campaign, you will be able to support us through that. We’re working on some cool rewards and setting out our goals for the website, and then we’ll have that up and running.