An Interview With Ben Gillbanks from Miniclip
I’ve recently been in contact with a great number of individuals; both through email and via instant messenger. One of these guys has been Ben Gillbanks – owner of many sites including his blog Binary Moon. I decided to sit down and ask Ben a few questions about work, play and blogging – enjoy!
(My questions are in bold for the record)
Adnan: Hey Ben, thanks for joining us!
…5 minute pause…
Ben: Ooh – we’ve started…you might want to edit that one out.
Adnan: LOL. So firstly Ben, tell us a little about who you are and what you do.
Ben: OK then. I’m a web and games developer. By day, I work for Miniclip.com – the largest online games (browser based – flash, shockwave etc) games site in the world. By night (and sometimes at the weekend) I run my own sites; Binary Moon, Binary Joy and Binary Sun.
Adnan: Wow, so what’s working with Miniclip like?
Ben: Well – it can be very hard work. We don’t just play games – although obviously that’s a part of the job. My role is rather varied. I tend to be in charge of the front end development of the website; that’s HTML, CSS, and whatnot. I also do a small amount of the backend work; PHP and MySQL. When I’m not doing that sort of thing I develop flash games.
Adnan: Nice, so what recent projects have you completed in terms of the Miniclip site or Flash Games?
Ben: I won’t bore you with the site stuff. It’s mostly behind the scenes stuff :). The games I have recently worked on include Up Beat, Dr Carter and the Cave of Despair, and Balance. There is also a game coming out next week called Mountain Bike for which I did a large percentage of the art.
Adnan: And for the record, what’s your favourite game?!
Ben: That’s a tough one – we have over 350 to chose from. Of the ones I’ve made I’d have to say Up Beat, and of all the games on the site… probably Commando.
Adnan: So, what’s working in an office environment like; are their any significant advantages or disadvantages?
Ben: Working in the office as opposed to home is a good thing, as it removes the distractions you get when working from home. You also get to interact with other people which may sound a little strange, but when you work exclusively through IM and email, it can be a bit draining. Also it’s often easier when working on projects to have everyone in the same location – however it’s not always necessary. All that said, I dislike the commute into work every day, and the getting up early that goes with it, so it’s nice to work from home occasionally to reduce the stress of the travelling.
Adnan: As a fashionable and hip online gaming company, I’m sure everyone’s dying to know – what sort of modcons, gadgets and gizmo’s do you guys have around the Miniclip offices?
Ben: Haha. We have a variety of toys (for relaxing naturally); XBOX 360, Nintendo Wii, a pool table, and a couple of remote control helicopters.
Adnan: Lol sounds like fun. Your blog BinaryMoon currently has a Pagerank of 7. That’s awesome – how did you manage to build it up to that level?
Ben: Obviously I don’t know how Pagerank works exactly, but my guess is that it would follow a number of factors. Firstly I’ve had the domain a long time (in internet terms), I bought it when I was at university – probably around 2000, so it’s built a lot of trust. Secondly, and most importantly I’d guess, is that I released a wordpress theme that went on to become the most popular theme on wordpress.com – creating a heckuva lot of backlinks. Thirdly I am part of 9rules so my site is on their site, which is also a high ranking one. Interestingly, because of my theme I have been banned from Technorati (as have a lot of other popular theme designers) – my backlinks put me at number 8 on Technorati – but I don’t show up 🙁
Adnan: How did the 9rules relationship start? DId you approach them, or did they come looking for you instead? How influencial has being in a blog network been on your site’s growth?
Ben: No big secrets here really. I was a fan of the network, and liked a lot of the content, so I submitted my site. Regarding growth – there hasn’t really been any due to 9rules itself. I get a small amount of traffic but nothing substantial. The big bonus of the site is being able to network with other like minded people. There is a private community forum where all the members can get together and chat about whatever is on their mind and help each other out in their various endeavours.
Adnan: What are your plans for the future for your own sites? Are there any new projects in the works?
Ben: Binary Moon is going to continue as it is, pootling along with my random musings. Apart from a small redesign/site evolution I don’t really intend to change it much at all. I hope to continue growing Binary Joy. That’s more of a money maker for me so I want to increase traffic and articles there. I am in the process of getting some new writers so hopefully that will help. Binary Sun is my games store, where I sell the games I make. I also want to add some flash games to it to try and increase traffic, but being the busy bunny I am I don’t have the time to make any. Maybe one day. I’d also like to make some more full version sale games but again, it takes time that I don’t have.
Adnan: Finally, feel free to shamelessly promote any of your sites or articles that you feel will interest the Blogtrepreneurs!
Ben: As you’ve already mentioned on your site I am currently running a competition on Binary Moon giving away links and a review in return for links back to me. The competition closes on the 15th so if you’re interested you will need to enter quickly. I am also running a competition on Binary Joy where you can win the entire collection of the Ricochet video game series. The series is made by an independant company and isn’t available in the shops, but it’s pretty cool so you should check it out if you want the chance to win some free video games. I also intend to do more competitions in the future – some of which will be for proper games (PSP, XBox 360 etc) so stick around.
Adnan: Thanks for your time Ben, and it’s been a pleasure chatting with you!
Ben: No problem – it’s been great chatting to you too!
