If my site viewer stats are of any indication, not many people care much for the Elder Scrolls lore posts. Well here is my response to that.
Today’s not going to be another lore post, but that’s besides the point. The point of this blog has ALWAYS been about me and not anybody else. That may sound selfish but it really isn’t. This is me writing down my thoughts and ideas and anecdotes, or whatever I find fascinating for the day. People might read it. People might not. Sure it’d be great to have this huge super-popular blog with hundreds of readers a day, but in the end none of that matters. If I only get half a dozen views a day, then I hope those half a dozen people enjoyed what I had to say that particular day.
This whole Blaugust thing was an experiment for me. I can’t believe it’s almost over, but at the same time i’m so GLAD it’s almost over ahahah. I knew that pushing myself to do 31 blog posts in a row was going to be difficult, so in my own mind if I didn’t succeed it was always going to be alright. Somehow i’ve managed to muddle my way through 4 weeks of non-stop posts (even a couple days of double posting to make up for missed days), and there’s been some great support on twitter too. I jokingly made a comment on twitter yesterday to the effect of “PARDON ME WHILE MY BLOG SLOWLY BECOMES AN ELDER SCROLLS LORE BLOG” and I had a few people go “YES THIS IS A THING THAT SHOULD HAPPEN DO IT.” There’s an audience for everything. Which brings me back to this blog.
A couple of my blog posts have done really well. My post a couple weeks back about social gaming and depression was REALLY popular (compared to the number of reads I get for other posts anyway). It makes sense, in a way. I know a LOT of people who have social anxiety or depression or other issues, so I know some of those things I said really resonate with people. Especially among my circle of friends online, depression in one form or another is actually pretty common. Everybody likes to hear that they’re not the only ones who struggle with things, and some of the comments i’ve had on that post have been just awesome. I guess the (rambling, meandering, slow to come across) point i’m trying to make with my post is this. The numbers aren’t important. As long as i’m putting out things I need to say I will never be dissatisfied with this blog. I think that was a trap I fell into with my old blog. I started it out as just me rambling about World of Warcraft, but it eventually became a “what do people want to read about?” thing, and it really became kind of a chore. So, while I’ve stated several times that when Blaugust is over with, I won’t continue blogging EVERY day, I WILL continue blogging, and I will do everything to make each post about whatever is on my mind rather than what I think you want to read about from me.
Have an awesome weekend folks 😀
gaming Identity 
The problem with lore posts is that there isn’t always much to say about them — the audience, as you note, is fairly restricted, and there might not be much to say other than (as Wolfy put it today, “I TOTES AGREE WITH YOU HIGH FIVE!”). That doesn’t mean they’re not interesting to people.
In any case, whether they are or not should make no difference at all. Write what you want, for whomever you want (I write for me and only incidentally and/or occasionally for the readers), whenever you want. Any other way lies madness or a paid job, or the kind of personality I do not have nor will ever develop.
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I’m glad you made a comment cause 140 characters on twitter isn’t always enough to give a proper response to some of the things you were saying. I completely agree with everything you said, both here and on twitter. The problem is that while I didn’t INTEND to become a numbers man with my old blog, it still just kind of happened. I convinced myself that I was still writing for myself, but maybe I had just run out of things to say. Only NOW, looking back, do I realize that I was really writing for others, and that’s why I don’t feel bad about giving it up like I did. I have no intention of doing that with THIS blog either, but who knows what might happen 2 or 3 years down the line. As it stands now, though, I am happy with the things i’ve put out, and that’s enough for me.
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Ohh I hear that. Part of why I stopped blogging (though I told myself I was on hiatus) was because I started comparing myself to others — a bad tendency in any domain except maybe the 100m sprint.
Yes, the bloggers I admire (devs, designers, players, random people) *do* say really cool things and they *do* say it much better than I ever would, but that shouldn’t stop me from writing. I didn’t start the blog to become TEH BEST BLOGGER EVAR – I started the blog because I had things I could get off my chest through that medium, and entertaining people and/or provoking discussions were only happy side-effects.
Blaugust has brought me back to that, so as exhausted as I am by it, I’m happy. I still think my 2009-2011 posts were much better than anything I’ve put out since, but I suspect that’s part of my self-defeating tendencies.
Hang in there! And if you *need* comments or validation, the best thing is simply to ask for them. I’ve done that before and it only takes one friend or e-friend to come out of the woodwork. 🙂
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I love your Elder Scrolls lore posts!
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Thanks Athelia! I really enjoy making them. There’s just so much story and so many years (the first Elder Scrolls game, Arena, came out in 1994) of lore and it’s all just so damn fascinating.
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