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January 19, 2005
Linkfarming
I've been on vacation, and I have a few things set aside to read and possibly answer now that I'm home that might interest the 20x20 crowd.
First is a nice post from Doyce on not messing with a good thing. He encapsulates one of the things that has driven me to stop messing with mostly-functional systems, and one of the reasons I'm not adding people to my own PBeM right now.
Second, and primarily aimed at his own players, is my friend Greg's questions about new campaigns. It's particularly interesting to me because I know the players involved, but the decisionmaking process is also cool to watch. (Also, you can give him some RPG quote love for Owlcon T-shirts).
Bryant pointed me at this anti-blog rant on rpg.net, which recapitulates a lot of points I've heard before and applies them to RPG blogging. I'm far from a blogging triumphalist, but I think Sandy Antunes doesn't get blogging, particularly as it relates to indie games and part-time publishers. Making friends with your audience can be a good thing, particularly if you don't want to go through the traditional-publishing filter.
And last, but not least, this Hidden Sex Keyword thread on the Forge has been a very interesting read for me. Reading the thoughts of the various gamers, particularly the women who, like me, were working their way through trust issues from early bad experiences, fascinated me.
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Comments
Having just fired up my own blog for public viewing this week, I'm on the other side of the 'blogging is bad' argument. I think Sandy Antunes misses the many-to-many aspect that allows blogging to be something different from older, more-traditional forms of publishing.
The benefit of blogging stems from the micro-level of interest that it (as well as other resources that utilize the Internet) can tap into. To use my own interest as an example, there aren't that many people who still remember, let alone still play the old SPI game DragonQuest. But I've been a part of an online community for DragonQuest for more than 10 years now. It's far too small an interest group to be worth publishing in a mainstream publication. But there are enough people who are interested that there are a number of resources for it. Blogging allows communication to a narrower interest group.
Yeah, I'm probably not up to William Safire's level with language, but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't be writing or communicating with others. And if what interests me and what I choose to write about doesn't interest you, that doesn't invalidate it as a useful medium. Move on to some other blogger whose writing is more to your taste.
Yes, there is lots of mediocre content served up in blogs. But I would rather read a weakly written article that pertains to a topic I am deeply interested in than a well written, professional piece about something I'm only passingly interested in. Blogs may not give us the greatest prose, and they may not be of the widest interest. But for those who are interested in a particualr topic, and in contributing information on that subject, they are an excellent tool.
Posted by: Rodger Thorm at Jan 20, 2005 4:35:40 PM
