Staff

Gregg B

Despite playing games since he was a child, Gregg doesn’t think there’s a single photo of him sat in front of one; so you’re just going to have to take his word for it. It all began when his granddad introduced him to the Sinclair Spectrum 128k with its dazzling grey exterior and built-in tape deck. He was lured into these garish little worlds almost entirely because of their cassette box artwork. He was hooked. His Spectrum days were brief and shortly afterwards his parents bought him and his brother, unbeknownst to them at the time, a gaming stalwart: the Commodore Amiga 500; the legacy of which burned into his mind like some sort of thing that burns a lot into your mind. It was The Secret of Monkey Island that introduced Gregg and his mum to adventure games, and the genre’s eventual commercial demise transformed her into a bitter and twisted husk of a woman. So please, help Gregg’s mum: buy an adventure game today. As his beloved Amiga fatigued, he began enjoying the fruits of the 16-bit console era; later turning his sights to the PC and Sony Playstation. Gregg believes his early experience with the Amiga and the Spectrum inclined his tastes towards the more esoteric PC world of gaming, over time distancing himself somewhat from his console-hugging friends. These days he spends most of his time dusting off old gems that he missed or digging up new indie titles. Gregg loves co-operative play but alas, he has too fewer gaming friends to join him on most occasions. That and a piss-poor internet connection.

When he’s not gaming or enjoying other recreational activities, Gregg earns his living as a graphic designer doing all sorts of work from stationery and display work to illustration and websites. He lives in the UK with his girlfriend, who works as a freelance illustrator and cinema supervisor. She’s finished Portal, got two stars on Mario Kart DS and consistently kicks his arse on Planet Puzzle League.

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Helmut

After narrowly escaping the clutches of the University arcade, Helmut managed to squeak through with a degree and now works as a software developer in Nelson, B.C. hoping to get two kids hooked on skiing and gaming.

His first computer game was Dungeon on the PDP-11, and now he most enjoys shooters and driving sims, but wont hesitate to lose a day or two playing Tumblebugs. He has not ascended in NetHack. He is the only staff member to have spent $1000+ playing the NBA Jam arcade game, but that, of course, was another life.

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Jason Dobry

Jason’s first experience in gaming began with Infocom’s impossibly difficult The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on his dad’s IBM PC AT. After brief obsessions over Rogue and Starflight, he discovered Civilization in 1991 and fell into the habit of 12-hour gaming sessions and endless wars with Zulus and Americans. In addition, he may have played almost every adventure game in Sierra’s “Quest” series (i.e., Space Quest, Police Quest, King’s Quest, etc.), but incontrovertible evidence still proves elusive.

All grown-up now with a beautiful wife and two girls, he doesn’t have the luxury of day-long game-a-thons but still finds time to play a game and on occasion write for his cruel taskmaster, Steerpike. His “desert island” games include System Shock 2, Medieval Total War 2, and Battlefield Bad Company 2 (the island will have Wi-Fi in addition to electricity). When not video gaming, he tends bar, searches for teaching jobs in lovely Michigan, watches hockey and the Detroit Red Wings, and nurtures a board game addiction.

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Jen

Jen is cranky 16 hours a day. The other 8 hours, she’s asleep.

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Lewis B

As the younger sibling to Gregg B, Lewis’s exposure to games at an early age remains much the same as his brother’s. It was during their early teenage years, however, that their tastes begun to divide, with Lewis delving into the murky 56k modem waters of Massively Multiplayer Online Games. Ten years later, with unrivaled MMOG experience under his belt, Lewis has finally seen the light and hung up his adventurer boots for good. Thankfully however, Lewis did manage to stop off and enjoy consoles along the way, as well as an abundance of PC titles. He is now enjoying the delights of the Wii.

When he’s not playing video games, Lewis manages an Immigration Team in the UK, and lives with his girlfriend. He is currently writing his first novel and has had multiple published works.

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Mat C

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Meho

Born way back in 1971, Meho learned English by getting private classes and listening to Iron Maiden records. Doing all kinds of jobs to feed his ever-hungry mouth, he has been an employee of the International Red Cross for most of the years he can remember.

His writing “skills” were developed through working on his own fanzine first, and then having a lazy and relatively successful (pronounced: disastrous) freelance career with many of his native Serbia’s printed and electronic media. Meho has written mostly about popular (and unpopular) music for all kinds of magazines and newspapers, but has managed to branch out and do some writing about comics, games, cinema, and even serious, not-with-pictures books. He also participated in the making of one book by contributing an essay to a collection of writings on the secret history of Serbian cinema. Meho is currently being paid to edit the comics and literature portions of the biggest Serbian popular culture web magazine – www.popbooks.com – even though being paid for something that he does free on his own blog sounds like a crime. He’s also married and has a bunch of cats.

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MrLipid

The secret power behind Tap-Repeatedly, MrLipid is – along with Steerpike – co-overlord of the site and the technical wizard who keeps everything running like an oiled machine. He can often be seen tinkering on the equipment that keeps the site operating, though always from a distance: MrLipid is elusive and mysterious, preferring to swoop in and fix whatever Steerpike breaks, then vanish just as quickly. By day, MrLipid is co-founder of an emerging technology startup and fan of obscure adventure and object-finding games.

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Old Rooster

Based in Portland, Oregon, Scout – aka Mike Gust – works in the film business, writes reviews for Tap-Repeatedly and doesn’t mind the endless, ceaseless rain. He reads, hangs out with friends, plays video games, drinks too much coffee, listens to old records and watches lots of movies. He enjoys baffling performance art, getting checks in the mail, and looking for his glasses. Scout has yet to have his photo taken with a famous person.

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Steerpike

Steerpike – aka Matthew Sakey – is a journalist and consultant in the games industry, as well as a marketing and e-Learning professional who works with companies to develop advanced games-based learning tools for their employees. His earliest memories are of video games, and hopes his last memories will be of them as well. He’s a featured monthly columnist with the International Game Developers Association, and is internationally published in an assortment of dull e-Learning texts and less dull gaming magazines, including Games for Windows, Game Developer, Play Meter, Develop, Skoar!, and Joker.

Along with MrLipid, Steerpike runs this crazy site, and he’s in way over his head.

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Toger

Toger is a well-rounded gamer in every sense of the word. She (surprise!) will play just about any genre as long as it’s fun. Her first gaming experience was Castlevania on the NES… back in the 80s… as an adult. You do the math. If you’re interested in stalking her, she can frequently be heard as a featured performer on the comedy podcast Bell’s in the Batfry.

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Yapette

Pac-Man and Space Invaders led Yapette – aka Tibby Booth – to believe she didn’t have the twitch-mojo to game. Although her reflexes did not improve over the next twenty years, Yapette was intrigued by a description of Pandora’s Box. Within a week she was collecting red and blue pages in Myst. Seeking gameplay experiences beyond ho-hum clicks, Yapette tried CRPGs and discovered the joy of fireballs. Multiple online games taught her that it’s possible to survive without saves before and after every boss battle.

Yapette’s favorite games have a good storyline and massive worlds to uncover. With a counterproductive need to hoard loot for a Rainy Day, limited bag space and managing a full party with inventories bring on Analysis Paralysis. As her gaming style is both cautious and frugal, Yapette avoids melee combat whenever possible and opts to talk her way out of trouble if given the chance. She is happiest when devs allow her to wear heavy armor when casting as she hates to die.

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Want to join us?

Send an email and writing sample to steerpike@tap-repeatedly.com. And cash. Send cash.

Celebrity Guest Contributors

Thomas J. Allen

Will Dull

Jason P. Sage

Marcus Sakey