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Pulling Community Sites Into the Blogosphere
By Cameron Sorden | October 11, 2007
I was having a discussion with one of my co-workers the other day about blogs, the blogging community, and game community sites (like Ten Ton Hammer). It’s clear that bloggers are fairly influential and becoming more-so. While not many individual blogs have a whole lot of power or readers, necessarily (with a few notable exceptions), the power of the community as a whole is considerable. A PR gaff by a company or a perceived slight which causes a rant can quickly turn into a veritable firestorm of commentary, and many of the news sites (TTH included, obviously) watch the blogosphere with great interest for potential stories. Many designers read blogs, and most people have google alerts set up for their names and projects these days so that relevant stories usually find their way to whomever a blogger is discussing.
Given that bloggers are a relatively small, hardcore, vocal subset of gamers, we were discussing how you can make a site like Ten Ton Hammer more relevant to their interests and get more of the influential people in the blogosphere talking about stories we run. I pointed out that it wasn’t hard to understand the secret behind that. You need the same things you need to garner attention from anyone: interesting, new, or exclusive content relevant to their interests. If we run good stories which merit commentary, they get picked up and discussed. After some thought, however, that wasn’t a good enough answer in my opinion.
Eventually, I decided that the best way to keep Ten Ton Hammer relevant to bloggers is to get them involved. Journalists should always be looking for critical feedback of their reporting– does it meet the needs of their readers? Was anything relevant left out? How can we do better next time we write an article? What do people want to hear about when we talk to “game designer X”? We need our editors and writers paying attention to the audience we write for, and the blogosphere is a great sounding board for that. After all, I tend to think that TTH in particular caters to hardcore MMOG gamers. The blogging community tends to be pretty hardcore when it comes to games, so I think it’s safe to say that a lot of our reporting and feature articles are written for players like them.
I don’t do a lot of writing for TTH these days (I’m too busy posting news and focusing on school) , but when I do I like to follow up on the stories I throw out there. I was a blogger before I started working for TTH, so it’s a little easier for me to stay motivated and keep tabs on everything, but I think that that kind of interaction is key. It makes us as writers feel like we’re not sounding off into empty space, it makes bloggers feel like their valuable feedback is appreciated, and it helps us write pertinent and relevant articles by keeping us focused.
I’d like to hear some other opinions on this issue. What’s the role of community sites and fan sites in the blogosphere, in your opinion? Do you like to see feedback from the authors of the stories you’re commenting on, or do you think it’s better to keep a level of separation between traditional reporting sites and bloggers? How can bloggers and news/fan sites help each other, and how can a site like TTH reach out and be more than just a news feed to the blogging community? Can we? Should we? Or does Brent already have that covered?
Topics: TenTonHammer, blogging, community |
October 11th, 2007 at 11:04 am
It’s an interesting article you have here Cameron and one that I have many times thought about myself but never been able to quite relay in words as you have. I write for the Vault Network which is in almost all aspects identical to TTH so I too have the unusual view from both sides.
In all honesty I believe that “community sites” have become much more like newsreels that just regurgitate the same information that every other newsreel does. There are some features at these sites that are unique to each or perhaps that try to be unique to each before the idea is copied from one to another. The problem I have with ‘press sites’ is that I can get a real opinion somewhere else.
When I read a blog that I have been reading for months or years I grow to know and trust the opinion of the writer. I know that if they say something isn’t right or if they give their opinion one way or another I am at least tipped off about something. On the newsreel sites it’s nice to get the stories quickly or to stay updated on perhaps the most recent news - but that’s where it ends. On a blog I can get more that the surface of the story. I can get the dirt, the real goods, and more than a ‘community site’ would perhaps dare say.
In all honesty I think Brent has already built the “bridge” from community sites to the blogosphere. He has a site that connects the articles of both in an unbiased way and gives a representation from all sides. It’s a nice collective.
This can be taken one step further though. If community sites were to dare to be different and become more (i use this term loosely) “real” to the readers then I would imagine the site that dares to take the next step would quickly become the more popular. TTH is almost there with the blogs they do, but not quite. I think that’s one edge TTH has over the vault network.
Again, good article! It gets you thinking.
October 11th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
I see what you’re saying with the “real opinion” thing– nobody likes to read an article that gives a laughably one-sided view of an issue that’s clearly pandering to a developer.
However, I think that the articles you see come through Ten Ton Hammer are pretty “real.” While we can’t just go out of our way to diss a game for no reason, constructive criticism is encouraged in our reviews, articles, and previews so that an objective picture is presented. We’re given a pretty long leash as to what we can get away with saying.
If you follow the news postings at TTH, I almost always lead news with a bolded comment that’s intended to be humorous. Often, these comments are pretty snarky or sarcastic, but they usually consist of my first response as a gamer to an article I’m reading. If my bullshit detectors go off, I’ll say so there. I feel like it’s a nice balance between a personal opinion and objective coverage that makes gamers feel at home (and I hope they feel that way too).
However, would increasing the use of this style really encourage more interaction between TTH and blogs? I guess I was more looking for ways to increase fansite readership, participation, and discussion by creating more interaction between bloggers and fansite writers.
Maybe the question needs to be more focused. It still feels pretty vague to me.
October 11th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
I think I would definitely gravitate more towards a community site (as i have with TTH’s articles like yours) if they become more personable. TTH is leading the way big time in this respect. Connect with the readers by finding writers who will “give it how it is”. That’s what I like in an article - that tangible ‘real’ quality.
Increasing readership and participation will be the side effects of great writing.
October 11th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Hey, my name is Alex Taldren and I have a video game blog called The AT WIre.
I try to follow as many of the community sites as possible. Unfortunately, TTH wasn’t one of the ones I checked regularly, but based on what you’ve both said, I’ll be sure to add it to my list. Anyway, my main concern is that many of these community sites separate themselves on purpose. Their motive? Perhaps they figure they are superior to the readers and bloggers that frequent their site? Regardless of motive, the problem remains.
Of course, some of them attempt to integrate by adding the ability for their users to run their own “blogs” through the community site. Personally, I can’t stand it because I don’t want to feel like just another Gamespot “blogger.” I enjoy having my own customized site that represents me.
The problem with gaming communities attempting to me more “real,” stems from the users’ reactions. For example, a site such as Destructoid, which is definitely one of the more “real” communities, is often mocked by larger communities.
As you said, this all does feel rather vague. I’m having a difficult time writing my thoughts. I will tell you all one thing… I’ve felt increasingly disenfranchised by sites like Gamespot, especially after the release of Halo 3. They are starting to feel more like corporate mouthpieces rather than “real” new sites.
October 12th, 2007 at 9:51 am
Every day, I check three news-tracker sites: Brent’s VirginWorlds, N4G.com, and MMOWTF.com. I only look at something like TTH or the Vault once in a blue moon, because I’ve already seen the headlines elsewhere and the tracker sites offer me a broad selection of viewpoints.
I would think the main selling point of network sites are the communities (forums). Our little blogosphere might be spread out, but it acts as my community. And blogs are more focused communities than forums.
As an aside, I hate crap like this. Not the article. I mean that I click on the headline at TTH’s front page and, instead of sending me directly to the article, it sends me to some little excerpt and asks me to click again for the full article. If you want people with dial-up or something to be able to read the first paragraph before loading up the embedded screenshots of the full article, then include that paragraph as a drop-down expansion from the headline page. It’s a minor issue, but annoying.
October 13th, 2007 at 7:37 am
Thanks for the feedback. If you head to http://www.tentonhammer.com/news/ or
http://www.tentonhammer.com/exclusives now, you can see the full news articles without an additional click.
Ta-da! Community interaction at work.
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