Everyone gets stuck. It's a simple fact of the gaming pastime. Although everyone has a different method for taking down those virtual demons, perhaps the most common is reading a FAQ.

FAQs, or Frequently Asked Questions, are plain text documents that rarely take the form of questions and cover anything from full walkthroughs to bestiaries and plot discussions. People spend countless evenings writing walkthroughs, for free, and with little thanks to show for it. What drives them to cover every polygon of a game for seemingly nothing? And why is it that many give up in the process?

FAQ Writing - The Good

It's another hobby that involves playing games

Imagine playing your favorite game and documenting every single find along the way. FAQ writing is essentially writing a journal of your progress, and telling others how to do it as a byproduct. It is an excuse to replay titles in your library and put your knowledge to good use - you do need an excuse to play Zelda for the fifteenth time, right?

Your work is officially published

Forget writing a murder mystery novel or the next Harry Potter, you can write a walkthrough for a game that is legally copyrighted as soon as it hits the webpage. The feeling of seeing your first guide online is nothing short of incredible, a satisfaction that you might not experience otherwise.