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Could you imagine if you got an assignment at work that was literally “Write an Essay About What Your Job Means To You?” So with that being said, let’s lower the expectations here a bit. My name is Matt Barham, and I’m the Art Director for Game Trade Magazine. Get hype! Our story starts thousands of years ago in the year 2000. I had spent the previous year after graduating from an art school so prestigious it no longer exists working a job at a craft store that my Mom had gotten me. Needless to say, I had everything going for me. Despite clocking them sweet minimum wage dollars and learning everything you need to know about picture frames from the craft store it seemed to me that I’d be better off actually getting a job related to my graphic design degree. Graphic Design was something I was passionate about, having essentially picked the major out of a hat. I am good at planning. But I made up for this but not being particularly confident I was any good at it. But you can only live on no health benefits for so long, and eventually I applied for a job on some magazine I had never heard of. Gamer Trade Monthly or something. Not feeling confident on my prospects I grabbed my portfolio, climbed into a sick 1994 Ford Thunderbird and rode out to the palatial estate where GTM was produced. Despite my best efforts, I landed the job. I liked to think I beat out the other candidate because I was handsome and more talented than he was, but it was probably because the dude’s name was Waldo and they wanted to be spared “Where’s Waldo” jokes. So Waldo got self-owned by his own name. Sad! I was told the plan was to have me come on board, get acclimated to the company, and then start working on the magazine. That lasted until day two when I was handed an article and told to get to work. And let me tell you, I was not good at making a Over time we worked the kinks out. By issue 12 we had moved to full color, and eventually transformed ourselves from what looked like an old punk rock zine to a much more slick and polished product. What was so rewarding is that the entire staff learned how to produce a magazine together. One of the special things about this place is that we’ve only hired one other person since I was. Nobody ever leaves GTM, which of course is due to how handsome and talented I am, and not that we do good work in a great environment. My tenure at GTM has not been without difficult times though. Andy Rayman, the man who had hired me and had been my mentor, died suddenly of a heart attack in March of 2008. He was only 38. Then, in 2013, we lost our editor, the beloved Phyllis Opolko to cancer. In each case we rallied the troops and kept moving forward. I can’t think of a better tribute to Andy and Phyllis than to keep putting out their magazine. No wait, our magazine. And by “our” I include you, the reader as well. I’ve spent my entire adult life trying to make GTM the premier magazine for the industry. I hope that if you’re a long-time reader you’ve noticed the improvements we’ve made in the last year or so. We’re only going to keep getting better, so stick around. I’d also like to extend a heartfelt thanks to everyone reading this right now as well. Without getting too hokey, the whole “if not for you I wouldn’t be here thing” has a lot of truth to it. You reading GTM month in and month out allows me to provide a comfortable living for my wife Amber, and daughters Gwen and Vanessa. You keep me out of working at craft stores and keep me flush with protein powder and barbells or whatever dumb thing I’m into at any given time. I owe it all to you, and to Game Trade Magazine. Ok Bye.
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magazine back then. In fact, if you read any of the issues from when I started at #7 to about issue #40 when I started to figure out how to do things I’d like to personally apologize for the magazine looking the way it did. As far as I’m concerned now, you’re an OG and I’ll Ride or Die with you anytime.