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One of the most…hmmm…that's no way to start an article about walkthroughs!

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That's better.

One of the most popular forms of video game writing is the walkthrough, FAQ, or guide. While you could distinguish between them, most gamers use the terms interchangeably, and they all have a similar purpose — to help you get through your games.

In fact, I would guess that walkthroughs represent a large percentage of games writing.

What you don't see, however, is writing about walkthroughs.

We want to hear your thoughts about them. We want you to explore every gamer's dirty little secret — walkthroughs, FAQs, and guides. It is a writing space that has largely gone without commentary. Now's your chance to provide some! (Please note: We don't want you to write a walkthrough for any specific game).

You can take any stance and answer any questions, as long as it's about guides, walkthroughs, or FAQs. We're going to collect the best submissions and compile them into a walkthrough of our own: Bitmob's Walkthrough to Walkthroughs. (And yes, it will be 100% text-based with kick ass ASCII art!)

Here are the official rules to participate in this week's callout:

1. Write any article about walkthrough, guides, or FAQs. Keep it concise — about 200-400 words should do it, but you can go longer if you choose.
2. Tag that article with the following tag "Walkthroughs" — we'll use it as a catch all for this activity.
3. Submit your article to the Mobfeed by May 12, 2010.

Check out my sample article to get you started, and here are some questions for you to think about:

 
  • What makes for a great guide? A bad guide?
  • Why are text-only walkthroughs still so popular?
  • Has the Internet killed the printed guide? Is it a lost art?
  • Why do you use guides? Why don't you use them?
  • Have you ever read a really good guide? Did it enhance your experience with a game?
  • Has a guide ever ruined a game for you?
  • How can guides survive in a spoiler-sensitive environment?
  • With the proliferation of in-game hint systems, will developers ever replace the fan-written walkthrough?


And remember: You have one day left to get your articles about 2010's Most Anticipated Games in for Thursday's roundup.

Thanks to Ryan Rubis for creating the ASCII art for this article!