Laura Gray, Managing Editor of Gamepur | Extended Author Bio

I knew I wanted to be a writer when I was six years old. I would sit on the floor of my childhood home, composition notebook in front of me, filling line after line with squiggles from a Uniball pen. While no one could read the illegible loops, hidden in every peak and valley were adventures waiting only for me to obtain words enough to express them.

For me, words sing on paper the way a bow slides across the strings of a violin, pure and wonderful. It’s the most amazing feeling, and I wish I could properly convey the way every scene or paragraph fills my chest with passion as hot and overwhelming as the sun. It’s what makes being the Managing Editor of Gamepur such a joyful experience – I get to write, and be around passionate writers, all day long.

Pokemon Dreams and Virtual Potato Days

I’ve been a gamer for just about as long as I’ve been writing. I’ll never forget the day I opened my lime green Game Boy Color for the first time. I’d saved for months, determined to play Pokemon after it released. It was a real shame I kept getting lost in Yellow’s Safari Zone.

Since then, I’ve had a deep love for all things Pokemon. I’ve played just about every game that has released in America, and will happily tell everyone why Hoenn trumps Kanto any day of the week. The TCG holds a particularly tender space in my heart for all the friends and memories it has provided me throughout the years.

Additionally, I have an overwhelming love of farming simulation games. There is something so wholly wonderful about playing games that artistically reimagine something as simple and therapeutic as planting potatoes and petting chickens. I particularly love the Story of Seasons games, as they all seem to capture unique aspects of humanity in their storylines and highlight the joy of just appreciating life.

Game Writing Was A Surprise

I have persued many forms of writing over the past two decades, from forum roleplays with Naruto OCs in middle school to my time as a Literature major at University. To say I am surprised to find myself in the games industry is an understatement. I always imagined I’d end up a professor, or attempting to write a novel. (The novel is definitely still a work in progress. My love of fantasy is undying.)

However, writing as a career alluded me for eight years, as a college term served deviated into a career as an IT Technician. Despite hauling monitors up and down stairs, or loading operating systems onto new PCs, I always had a notebook and wrote consistently in the footnotes of my extremely busy days.

All this came to a screeching halt in 2020. Pregnant with my son, I had to face the realization that I couldn’t keep up with the demands of working such a physically intense job. I wasn’t happy and hadn’t been for an overwhelmingly long time. I wanted to do something that mattered. I wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself and have the chance to voice my thoughts to a bigger world than the three people I occasionally saw in my tech warehouse.

On a whim, I wrote my very first game article, a Dungeons & Dragons feature, and from there, I knew I’d found where I belonged.

What do I want to give to readers?

I’ve been a writer, trainer, and editor for Screen Rant, an editor for Dexerto, and now the Managing Editor of Gamepur. I’ve been a mom for two and a half years. I’ve been a person for three decades.

In all that time, I’ve learned that the greatest thing in the world is passion. I want to passionately inspire others to create, I want to encourage conversations and talk about the absolutely amazing, stunning world we are a part of. The game industry is filled with the manifestations of our creativity, lovingly brought to life by teams of artists, programmers, and writers who see worlds and possibilities that challenge the very capabilities of technology. Getting to be a part of that conversation is important to me, and very special.

My hope, as the Managing Editor of Gamepur, is to encourage and help provide the very best guides, features, and news about this amazing industry, and highlight the passion and creativity that build literal worlds for us to explore.

I am certain this is one of the coolest jobs out there, and I am so grateful to get to write for each person who reads our work.