Submit to Can I Play That?

Can I Play That? is not currently accepting pitches.


Interested in sending a pitch to Can I Play That? about your experiences with video game accessibility? We are interested in pitches from disabled players in the form of features and want to make it easy for you to submit your pitch ideas to us.

So if you’ve got a burning idea for a feature and we have the budget to commission that piece, then read on to find out what we look out for.

What do we accept?

At Can I Play That? we’ll accept a pitch for a number of different site categories.

  • How I Play: This category serves as a way for you to share experiences in how you play a game as a disabled player. This could be sharing how you use voice control, a modified controller, or through other means to play a game.
  • Why I Play: This category focuses more on discussing what playing video games adds to your life. Why is a game that is accessible to you so essential?
  • Commentary/Features: If you’re wanting to be more analytical and observant of the industry or the state of video game accessibility, this is the category your pitch would fall into. Maybe there’s a new controversial game feature and you have some thoughts? Maybe a new initiative from a company has your mind wondering about the future?

We do not accept pitches for reviews on games due to the nature of how we review games for accessibility. There may be times where we will outsource a review to a freelancer for a specific reason. We also do not accept pitches for news.

How to pitch

Please email your pitch to submit@caniplaythat.com

It’s no secret that Can I Play That? is run by a small team. As such we have some requirements for when you submit a pitch.

Do

  • Label your email with “Pitch:” followed by a working title for your piece.
  • Let us know who you are and if you’ve worked with us before. We accept pitches from those with journalistic experiences, and those without. Although do send us examples of your work so we can get an idea of your style of writing.
  • Tell us about your pitch idea in a couple of paragraphs at most, your planned title, and your estimated word count (Usually 800-1500 words is enough).

Don’t

  • Send us full pieces, only submit developing ideas. If we end up saying no, it’s not only a waste of your time, but it also means it’ll be harder for us to work to help structure your piece to suit the site.
  • Submit time-sensitive pieces. We’re a small team and may be unable to get your piece out while it’s relevant.
  • Submit reviews or news. We have these covered internally and don’t generally outsource these except in rare circumstances.
  • Send us the same pitch more than once.
  • Send us pitches through social media messages.
  • Send us video pieces. We’re only after written content.

Following your submission, while we will try to get back to you, don’t take Can I Play That? declining a pitch personally. It may not suit the site, we may be too busy, or we lack the budget to pay at the time.

Payment

Due to our limited funding, we do offer payment for pitches. We usually try to offer $100 for each pitch that we’re able to support and any payments are made through PayPal. This is subject to change depending on our circumstances.

Submitting your draft

While we’ll discuss this and author details over email should we approve a pitch, there are some submission guidelines to keep in mind when sending us your drafts and final submission.

  • Your piece should be submitted as an editable Google Doc. However, should you require using other text methods (E.g: A .txt file for screen reader use) let us know so we can accommodate when making edits.
  • Provide 1 featured image at 1080p resolution, and at least 4-6 relevant images depending on the length of your piece. These images should be attached to the email, and must have alternative text noted either in email or in the editable document.
  • Don’t worry about formatting text too much. We’ll come to fit our house style when it comes to putting it on the site.

Things to keep in mind

  • If you’re working on an interview or quoting numerous people working in the industry, we ask that you pass the Gray Test, extending your piece to include transgender and non-binary people. The industry is diverse, so let’s show that.
Tweet about the Gray Test, explaining that pieces that journal articles must cite the work of non cisgender males and non white people.
  • If your piece cites or quotes other people or their work, ensure proper credit is given and link to their original work.
  • Ensure pronouns of people included in your piece are correct. Alternatively, use gender-neutral pronouns.

On a personal note

Can I Play That? was started by a queer, Deaf and hoh, disabled and chronically ill, transgender, Muslim, immigrant couple. We are an inclusive community and will not tolerate racism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia, or bigotry in any form from any member of our community. If any of this is a problem, Can I Play That? is not the community for you.

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