« World of Warcraft: The Bejeweled Crusade | Home | So It Begins Again »
Why Do You Read Random Battle?
By Cameron Sorden | September 20, 2008
I just read Jaye’s latest post over at Journeys with Jaye, and it got me thinking about the writing I’ve been doing here at Random Battle. The focus of this blog has never been very much about my personal gaming sessions, but I also don’t consider this a hard news blog. I’m certainly not posting for every bit of newsworthy information that comes my way.
I started writing here for the same reason I continue to write here: I have a lot of opinions and ideas about games, and I like to discuss them with people. That said, I’m curious why YOU come here to read what I have to say. I’d love to hear feedback from any of my readers, old or new.
What kind of posts are your favorites, and what kind of posts would you like to see more of? I’ve never been one to blog about my individual gaming sessions very much unless there’s a point to it, because personally I find it kind of boring to read about what other people did in a game, but I also know that not everyone feels the same way. Is that something you’d like to see here?
With work starting Monday, I’m going to be posting less frequently again and I’d like to use the time I have to post things that are interesting. What really appeals to you? Should I be writing about mechanics? Getting back into multiple-game comparisons more? Stick to the quasi-news commentary? Focus on games other than WoW?
Comments are very welcome. I’d love to hear what anyone has to say.
Topics: Blogosphere, Personal |
September 20th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
What appeals to me is reading what appeals to you. In other words, I enjoy reading the articles you enjoy writing, or you want to write, far more than the ones that come off like you felt you needed to write just to have something here.
If there are mechanics that you *want* to opine about, that’s a more entertaining - and perhaps thought-provoking - read than just writing a mechanics article for page hits. Your enthusiasm shows in your writing (that goes for all of us) and I, for one, enjoy reading about other bloggers’ game sessions in addition to whatever topics they discuss, especially when they’re about games I don’t play.
Write what you enjoy. Write what you want. Not what you think we want.
September 21st, 2008 at 9:11 pm
“Write what you enjoy…not what you think we want.”
I couldn’t agree more. I enjoy reading your opinions and experiences, whatever they may be. I read a very small handful of blogs. I continue to read yours because you’re polite and don’t seem to write with the sole intention of inflating hits.
So keep writing what’s enjoyable!
September 22nd, 2008 at 7:30 am
I have an hour to kill every lunchtime, and I spend it eating my lunch and reading people’s blogs.
I usually work my way through the various blog-rolls that people post, and sooner or later I end up at yours.
Suffice to say, yours is one that I look forward to reading. I don’t need every blogger to be telling me about what exactly they did in-game the night before (which is the current craze at the moment with WAR), and thankfully you don’t do that.
Sure, I like to know what the each game is like to play, but I don’t want every blogger to be telling me for example: ‘Last night in WAR I levelled my X to level Y and I fought in Z PQ’.
Once I have read 5 or 6 such reports my eyes start to glaze over.
Regarding future content; I have to agree with the comments above.
September 23rd, 2008 at 1:49 am
I enjoy reading good posts written with zest and enthusiasm. And you regularily do that: write interesting things and thoughts about even minor things.
I’m still writing about my gaming experience, but I try my darnest to include something to which this experience is connected to. Ran a PUG instance: I write about PUGs/Grouping/Social. Bored on grinding: about quest/grind/loot. And so on.
Every post should have a point and something to think about. You know how to do it, just do what you want.
Scott said it best in the first comment.
September 24th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I can only echo what the prior commentors have already typed. You write with some proficiency about things that seem to be of personal interest to you beyond “I raided BT last night and got some loot.” Also, you seem to put some thought into what you’re writing, therefore provided more than surface impressions of any topic you’ve tackled. That’s what I enjoyed about your PvE column at Massively and why I keep coming back here. So keep writing what interests you confident in the fact that you have the ability to make it interesting to me and, I assume, others as well.
September 26th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
I generally don’t enjoy reading about other people’s play-sessions either. I like reading your theory and editorials. But I don’t mind the occasional personal post or news flash.
September 28th, 2008 at 9:48 am
I’ve really enjoyed your commentary on WoW mechanics lately. Several of those posts have really resonated with me and made me realize why I like or dislike certain aspects of WoW.
But I think I would agree with Scott up top and say that you should write about whatever interests you. I enjoy your writing and I like reading about the things that you’re interested in.