Why Should You Support The Code?

Here's what one industry professional has to say about my writing and work:

Shawn Struck is as close to the soul of Internet geek culture as it gets, having been there almost since the beginning. He was blogging before they were called blogs. He was writing articles on gamer culture before anyone thought of it as gamer culture. He was arranging covers of Final Fantasy music before OCRemix, interviewing Nobuo Uematsu before GameSpot, running forums before "community moderator" ever became a paid position, and doing human interest pieces on gamer parenting for a readership that was, at the time, mostly teenagers--and he's never let up since. For over fifteen years, he's been both a keen observer of nerd culture and one of its great bastions of conscience, cutting through oceans of slick PR and fanboy bickering to deliver genuinely insightful commentary on the issues actually matter to fans: the creative future of popular media, the changing ways in which we enjoy them, the communities we build around them, and the rights of those who are marginalized within those communities. As a game developer, when I want to look beyond the mechanics of a game and into how and by whom it will be played, or delve into the most recent debate or controversy dividing the community, I know exactly who to ask: long before the big gaming news sites can bang out a blog post, Shawn is already there.-- Kevin Chen, Game Developer

I update The Code by myself, three times a day, five days a week. I focus not just on geek culture, but aim to make geek culture more inclusive, to shine a spotlight on problems that marginalized groups face and signal boost their efforts.

I would love to offer more to The Code and its readers: novelty food reviews, on location coverage and interviews, updating 3 times a day 7 days a week and even doing all that while releasing a bi-monthly podcast and offer regular contests and giveaways! 

I am also an non-traditional independent student entering college at 34 as a sophomore to get my Bachelors (and was accepted to Rutgers-Newark stating this fall), a writer and designer with 13 years of experience, and currently my only income are the cents from the occasional Google AdWords click. If you feel what I do is worthwhile and want to help out, there are two ways you can help directly support the work I do at The Code:

• Become a patron to my Patreon campaign for as little as $1 a month. No matter what amount you become a patron at, you get a reward-- everything from monthly special thanks to choosing a topic you want me to write about to a free surprise package to having me as your own personal designer!
• You can also drop a one-time amount of whatever you want into my virtual tip jar by clicking below: