Interview: Johann Morales

This week we have interview Johann Morales, Writer and Director of the C506 Project. Author of the novels "What Bleeds (2011)" and "Tales of Edelmira (2015)". Johann is a student of project management and works with DC Comics artist John Timms. Moreover, he loves gaming. Let’s learn more about Johann from the interview.

 

Ron: Tell us a little about yourself and your background.

Johann Morales: I’m Currently the traffic Manager of C506 Latam, I created the project 5 years ago as a connection between the gaming geek and nerd community between Latin America and the American culture. I have a background of Project Management for IT companies and 10 years ago I started C506 as my own company and so far, it has been magnificent.

 

Ron: What are your duties at Collectible 506?

Johann Morales: I’m the one directly in contact with our sponsors and webmaster, I also manage social media profiles for DC artists and editors. Additionally, I’m the head of different projects assigned to c506 by companies in Europe like reaper miniatures and warlord games, Activision, Square Enix, NECA and more.  I'm also a grammar and style editor and a writer.

 

Ron: You work with John Timms, a DC Comics artist. How are you involved with his work?

Johann Morales: Mr. John is first, a good friend of mine, we live in the same country, Costa Rica. We never personally met until we had a meeting in Manhattan during NYC , We started working together with social media projects and currently working in some projects has actively participating,, unfortunately I can’t tell what projects but for this week I can exclusively tell you that we are releasing content reviews for his black red white dc comics statue and touring the piece.

 

Ron: Tell us about your upcoming gaming YouTube channel? What do you plant to showcase there? With so many gaming channel streaming millions of videos, how do you think you’re will make a difference?

Johann Morales: I’ve been a writer for all my life and also a gamer, mostly a beta tester for some companies like blizzard and Activision, I’m currently working hard in the QA side of warlord games in England, because of my background as a player and my experience as a writer. Our channel has been requested too, because we talk a lot about games, even before some release dates because companies ask for our feedback, so we are integrating a more visual experience into the web, readers are going to be able to not only read and comment but to play with us and participate for free games and collectibles. I do understand, there are many channels out there doing amazing but we are answering to our followers with what they want. And that's amazing, I love playing live and commenting because for me, our followers are friends. 

 

Ron: As a journalist, what trends have you noticed in the gaming industry recently? Do you support where it’s heading?

Johann Morales: I’m a nostalgic gamer, I like to play solo or with friends, there are thousands of great games available, indie projects and amazing artists offering talent, I’m kind of worried about how micro transactions and Battle Royale are developing into the future of video games.  But as long as we can continue to work together as media, fans, gamers and helping new talents, I’m sure we will always have amazing new games and hopefully not the same kind of game for years and years. It’s all about finding the best and specially helping the best, it’s our duty as journalists and gamers.

 

Ron: Esports focuses on its social aspect a lot these days. Do you think there’s a lot more potential in terms of the social aspect of Esports than there currently is?

Johann Morales: Yes, I do believe that. We have achieved a lot via esports and part of growing socially is to push a little bit more the social side, this to be in the focus of 3^rd party brands, sponsors and population in general, the gaming is a positive way of living and we have to spread the word even more, The esports are part of our future. I sure believe in social terms, not just a big brother of good gamers. Skill over popularity is a must.

 

Ron: What is an effective approach to prepare, rewrite and edit copy to improve readability? Have supervise others in doing this?

Johann Morales: That’s part of what I do daily for my clients and sponsors, and yes, I SPECIALLY USE MY MANAGMENT BACKGROUND FOR THIS.  Copy must be understandable and related to what’s happening now, not only gamers or geeks are reading your job, other kind of fans too, people new in the business, looking information on how to get into information.  I believe in being human, relaxed and not too hard. Also, don’t push people into what you think is good, don’t make copy about you, think globally

 

Ron: What is the most challenging part of writing, especially when it comes to editorials and reviews?

Johann Morales: Having the best content published ASAP, not going into fake new or kinky clickbait, news is to reflect real facts, we all know how hard it is as a writer to get the viewers we want and need. There are some writers translating ideas and I do believe in having the same source, but making your articles with your own style, this will potentially get more returning visitors. Editorials is where I go mostly for personal opinions and I keep it very personal, yet again most of my work and books are about passion, but for me, editorial are to put your own hearth.

 

Ron: Have you ever gone above and beyond the "call of duty" for publishing any piece?

Johann Morales: During 10 years I have done the extra mile for every single situation, research needs to be done, personally I’ve always talked the truth and TAKEN SOME BLOWS FOR IT, BUT NOTHING BAD. One I got fired because I compared a really cheap popular  movie with  an old masterpiece, my editor at the time asked to not talk bad about clicky categories and told me to remove my job, I actually quit because of this, fun enough now I provide feedback to my former coworkers in that company. 

 

Ron: Have you ever received negative feedback on a piece of writing? What was your response?

Johann Morales: Well, negative depends on  your situation, negative from an editor or colleague , client, sponsor is positive because you learn a lot, I have received feedback from people like Todd McFarlane creator of spawn Chris Claremont from x men and I did tried to correct thing I was doing wrong, but if you have, let’s say 25.000 readers and some hate comments, go over it, the good feedback is from professionals because they are going to tell you the truth, I believe that as a writer you must surround yourself with feedback, it’s a must. 

 

Ron: Can you tell us about a time when you developed your own way of doing things other than following others?

Johann Morales: 10 years ago, when I was told by an amazing writer  to make the news you want to read if those are not available in other places, be the one informing about what you love and the world will follow you, so far, I have no complaints, its hard! But its achievable.

 

Ron: We all have experienced this at least once. Will you share an experience when your ethics and patience were tested? How did you keep your emotions in check?

Johann Morales: Working for one of the biggest 1/6 production companies I was absolutely pushed to my limits and asked to not follow my code of truth. I was devastated because I loved the work with them and my company but I was unable to choose the 2. my test was very rude, you change or they change, I just decided to let them know why C506 is popular and about how receiving negative feedback is part of the process of creation.  I kept my emotions and specially values by always being who I am, if you are troubled, sick, tired, go back to your roots and reconsider, is this what I worked for? Also, don’t go unprofessional, I know everybody knows this but please rethink. Take time and rethink, answer truthy, let them know what’s wrong

 

Ron: What in gaming excites you the most? Outside of work, how much time do you spend playing video games in an average week?

Johann Morales: I’ve been playing less and less but about time we are working in the channel because I miss playing so much, we have a lot of work, writers can relate to working Monday to Sunday. I always play at least 2 hours every 3 days, I hope I’m going the play more now, my backlog is HUGE, When I get a game from a client, I’m always happy because I have to play and play fast for reaction, so playing at that point is a must. I love solo games, 2D too, Metroidvania are amazing in my opinion, JRPG too,

 

Ron: What experiences would you personally like video games to deliver in the future?

Johann Morales: More content to solo player, god of war and tale of innocence proven how amazing games can be played old-school, dot get me wrong, it’s just that with my schedules I don’t play during regular hour and solo play is gorgeous. I want to play some games that are coming now but those are Multiplayer, like with WoW, I loved wow but I stopped playing because of time. 

 

Ron: As a Journalist, you get a lot of developers trying to get your attention and to play their games, but they may not know the best ways. Do you have any tips that you can impart to make their pitches towards you and other journalists more effective?

Johann Morales: That’s an amazing question, yes, please developers, you guys need to understand that we actually want to show your game or help your Kickstarter and write about it, but in the emails try to make a good title, please try to address the mail or information for the company, give us a call, contact us directly so we can talk, I did the same with companies and now I’m even traveling to help them, organic help is a must, go to forums, groups, ask for who can help you. Send me an email, prove us that that you guys are marketing an important product and that we are important for us, spam is not the way to go, don’t over email 20 requests addressed to 10.000 sites, no, we will most likely ignore that. 

 

Ron: With so many gaming websites and independent journalists trying to reach the same target audience segment, do you think the correct messages are being spread across?

Johann Morales: I don’t think so, if you go out, in every city or place of business you will find people talking about their new website, their new channel, or project, it’s not new for us that we are oversaturated in the media business, yet unfortunately, we are going  to the same places, reporting about big companies only and waiting for those AAA games or just giving a good feedback because we received a press copy with a new console, I’m sure we can do way more in the independent journalist by transforming into professionals, I started with 5 views per day and always doing my best, after 5 years we have reached millions and planted small seeds across America and LATAM.

We have 32 people in training and 7 editors, because we wanted to be professionals and we went for that, doing always the best, respecting schedules, asking for help, making calls, making networking, I wish we could work together in the independent media to help independent productions, books, movies and more. We do that, and we also cover AAA but it has to be different, almost every new web or podcaster is going  for information already told, and with google moving so fast and social media, we have to get visitors with not reported news, games and commentaries, then you can aim at the big target, having a real background. Create from 0 is really hard, make it worth!

 

Ron: Why is it important for gamers to maintain a healthy lifestyle? What advice would you have for a gamer looking to take the first steps towards a healthier lifestyle?

Johann Morales: Well I’m personally a cancer survivor, I did learned the lesson, but still my health is not the best, For years we have been inside the stereotype of useless person living in a basement but no, we are here, doing our best and most of us are amazing human beings with beautiful lives and values. I fractured my back for not taking care of my weight, I was really overweight 320lbs and went to surgery with my life in risk, I’m 250 now but fortunately I’m really tall, I had to stop exercising because of surgery but I eat a lot of vegetables, non-sugared snack and fruits, I can’t walk freely, I use a walking stick, you guys out there take me as an example, for that overweight and my back, I had to inject titanium in my back and I ended up with cancer, I barely survived and now I try to keep the life I was given back, WALK, RUN, SWIM, Go out and exercise, do it for me since I can’t do it anymore, you need to be healthy and strong to play and write.

 

Ron: What are the future plans for Johann Morales?

Johann Morales: I’m really happy about our upcoming partnership with blizzard, NYCC is next, I’ll be there talking about gaming and geek culture in LATAM, you guys can check for my panel in the NYCC website, I continue to work with DC, John, NECA Reaper and we are possibly presenting a new 1/6 scale action figures company as our new sponsor, this covers my schedule until Dec, I will be taking vacation, this year has been a blast and for January I’ll be back to Manhattan for toyfair. Take a look to www.collectible506.com for more information and it has been a real pleasure talking to you all , thanks to you, your team and I want to say thanks from here to my team in C506 Love you all guys!

 

We thank Johann for taking his time and attending to our interview questions. We wish him all the best with his current and future projects. Keep up with Johann Morales in his website.

 

Sarwar Ron, NoobFeed
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