This is still a new project for me, and as such I'm still learning and deciding what, exactly, I want to do with it. I'm probably going to try to be more focused on certain topics, like entertainment, as opposed to odd rants and opinion pieces unrelated to entertainment. I've started a Twitter account, I'm trying to clean up my Facebook and G+ accounts, basically just trying to set myself up as a, well, brand, for lack of a better word.
There's something that I miss in gaming journalism, and maybe it's something I can add back in, at least in my own way. I miss some of the old gaming sites. Gamespy for instance. Note, I did not link to them. They haven't been worth linking to in years, not long after Dave Kosak left actually. There was an editorial restructuring, and suddenly the site was full of juvenile articles which seemed geared towards page views and controversy. I blame IGN honestly. Not long after, a lot of the same things started happening to 1UP. Incidentally also owned by the same company. Hell, even now you can check with 1UP, and see that in the last week they posted a series of inflammatory video game violence articles which really add nothing to the discussion, but I bet they drew in the page views.
I've become very disillusioned with the gaming press overall. Ben Paddon, of @gamejournos, seemed to really understand a lot of the same issues I had, and started a great blog about it. However, the blog is more or less defunct as he's moved on to other projects, and one can't blame him, you can only spend so much time focusing on the shitty things before you burn out or get bitter. No High Scores is another blog, done by former and current gaming journalists that gets it as well. They try very had to give a no spin zone environment where their genuine love of gaming drives the articles.
So, where do I get my gaming news? Oddly enough, Joystiq is my primary source of info. I happened upon it quite by accident really. I started frequenting Massively, one of their sister sites, for MMO info after MMORPG.com started becoming more and more of a shill site geared towards inflating page views while trying to keep the game companies happy. If your site is more concerned with keeping a game company (or it's asshole lead, in the case of Dr. Derek Smart) happy then it is with giving honest opinions, you're a shill. Doesn't hurt that the community of posters, for the most part, was also extremely toxic. Gamespy seems to be improving, so I've been checking in on them from time to time as well, but I have my doubts about the new editor, so I honestly don't feel comfortable endorsing them.
You'll note that I haven't mentioned the PA Report. This might seem surprising, considering I do consider myself a bit of a fan of Penny Arcade, but the simple fact that Ben Kuchera works for the PA Report is enough to keep me away from it.
What I'm saying is, that I'm going to try and bring more focus to the blog going forward. I'll be focusing a lot on gaming, especially of the MMO variety, although expect to see some articles related to other entertainment mediums. No more sounding off about guns, the weather, or waitresses. What this does mean is that my posting habits will probably be a little more sporadic. But, it's time that I start taking this a little more seriously. You can only say you want to be a writer for so long before you either have to start taking it seriously, or give it up. Shit or get off the pot as it were.
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