- I may be a blogger. I may even be a seasoned blogger, if only through bloody minded determination. So though I may be nominally qualified to offer advice on blogging, I can't say that any of this will do you any good. Also, some of this advice may sound contradictory. Take heart in the fact that I am as confused as you are. Forward!
- One of the first things that anyone will tell you about blogging is to be consistant with your posting schedule. The internet is a fickle thing. If you aren't posting regularly, people will forget about you. Go too long between posts and suddenly you're deleted from a half dozen RSS readers and your hits drop. Your readers will only support you for as long as you support them. Unless you have a baby. People tend to hang in a little longer in that case.
- It is absolutely necessary to be passionate about what you are writing. Your passion will fuel your creatively. Your excitement about something will make me excited as a reader. If you're pooping out posts just to fill your schedule, people will know. They might not tell you, but they will quietly unsubscribe. That's why I continue to read Keen and Graev and Syncaine. When they are down on games, their blogs are unreadable. But when they are excited about something, they are some of the best.
- This might sound silly, but if you find a topic that interests you, lean into it. I almost never say everything that I have to say about a topic in one post. One time, I ended up writing an entire post without ever stating the point that I wanted to write about in the first place. No one will mind more posts about a topic if you have more to say.
- Now, you also have to disregard all of that to avoid burnout. Blogging is not a sprint; it is a marathon. When you write a blog post, you are participating in a conversation with your readers and other bloggers. Sure, you probably have a lot of passion at this point in your blogging career. Don't over do it! If you push yourself too hard, blogging becomes a chore instead of a pleasure. I'd rather you take a break and come back once you are ready rather than disappear altogether. There have been a number of promising bloggers who I've linked in the past who I sorely missed because they gave up far too early.
- Finally (at least for this post, be careful about hyperfocusing your blog. I ran an in-character Guild Wars blog for a year. That was great right up until I burned out on the game. Give yourself the flexibility to write about what you want. If that is a specific MMO, MMOs or all of gaming in general, or whatever, your blog is your place to share with the community. If you feel to constricted, you will eventually run out of things to say.
- I think that's enough advice for one post. I have two more on the way as NBI Month continues. For now, I'm linking three blogs that are already off to a great start: World's End Tavern, Vagabond goes for a Walk, and My Staff is Bigger than Yours. These three are just the tip of the iceburg. There are several more to be found at NBI HQ. If you are interested in starting a blog, check out my earlier post. It's never too late to join, no matter what Tobold says. Jerk.
© 2012 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- I know this link is running around the internet already, but I wanted by throw my imprimatur behind it as well. Head over to Eurogamer and read this article about Free Radical, the developer behind TimeSplitters and Haze, and how it all fell apart.
- I'm not in game development, so I have no special insights. But I think it's important to be aware of this business that we are all tied to in one way or another. Of course, this article only produces one side of the story, but anyone who has followed video games for a while can intuit what the other sides would say.
- Anyway, it's a fascinating read.
- As has become a common occurance, a new game was announced by way of the cover reveal for the next issue of Game Informer. Today, Bethesda Softworks announced The Elder Scrolls Online.
- MMOGC echoes my thoughts:
I really don't feel the world of Skyrim needs an MMO...but that's just me.
- I know that the Elder Scrolls games have their fans, but Tamriel has never been a place that I want to explore with thousands of other people. I can't imagine what an MMO would deliver to a solo player like myself that the single player games can't.
- Bronte of Are We New At This? points out that this is the least surprising announcement in the history of gaming. Instead of amazement that the game is in the work, we are instead letting out a collective sigh now that finally got around to confirming what everyone already knew.
- Also, a PR rep emailed him about the announcement. What the hell, folks? Am I chopped kobold liver over here?
© 2012 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- It didn't take very long, but I'm finally done with Kickstarter as a thing that I follow. I don't have anything personal against the site. It's just that the system doesn't work for me any more.
- To date, and much to my wife's chagrin, I have backed six projects. Two of them, Double Fine Adventure and Wasteland 2, I backed because they were projects I believed in and I wanted to see happen. I backed Idle Thumbs Podcast because I missed that podcast something crazy and I've always wanted to repay them for all of the joy I got out of it. I backed The Order Of The Stick Reprint Drive because the $25 dollar pledge level came with an obscene amount of perks. And I backed the Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack and Spirit of the Century Presents: The Dinocalypse Trilogy out of a combination of cheap rewards and naked curiosity.
- That won't be happening anymore. Especially with video games. I've been following The Banner Saga, Leisure Suit Larry, Shadowrun Returns, Grim Dawn, and Storybricks as each of them scrambles for their goal. However knowing that I'm putting out money from some eventual payoff on a game that I'm not sure I would even like is a huge gamble. I backed Double Fine because I believe in that team and I love the documentary idea. And I backed Wasteland 2 because I want to see how they interpret an old school RPG the right way. For the rest of those, I rather wait until they are released and decide then. As for the various board and card games I'm following, I already own too many that I never play. I shouldn't be spending some outrageous amount on a product that I won't even get for months.
- I'm sure that something will come up that gets me excited again, something that I want to insure gets made. But until that time, I'm out.
© 2012 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- I don't start a new post catagory on a whim. So when you see that "NBI" in the title, you'd better believe this is important.
- The time has come. Thanks to the leadership of Syp from Bio Break, a number of bloggers have come together to form the Newbie Blogger Initiative. Way back when Warhammer Online came out, there was a huge influx of new bloggers who built a community, several of which are still blogging today. The time has come to foster the community again and we are looking for new bloggers like you.
- Are you already a blogger? Awesome! Thanks for everything you contribute to the community. Not yet a blogger? Well, I have a proposal for you. Here is what I need you to do:
- Start A Blog! - It's not as difficult as you might think. Both Blogger and Wordpress are popular free blogging sites. Evidently Tumblr is pretty popular as well. Your mileage may vary, but the important part is just to get started!
- Introduce Yourself - Now that you have a blog, you need to write your first post. By tradition, that post is usually an introduction. Tell us a little about yourself and why you decided to start blogging.
- Visit the Newbie Blogger Initiative HQ Forum - There are a bunch of bloggers hanging out to answer questions, network, and encourage you. I love discovering new blogs, so make sure you tell everyone that yours exists.
- Sit Back and Lap Up All The Praise - Maybe it's not that simple, but it's not very hard either. Post, read other blogs, leave comments, and participate with the community. A community that you are helping to build.
- Several bloggers will be providing advice throughout the month. I, because I don't know when to shut up, have three posts lined up. I swear, blogging is not hard. I'm just really excited about this. And you should be too. So sign up now. And tell them Anjin sent you.
© 2012 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
