nbimedium

May 1st marks the inception of the Newbie Blogger Initiative, a community-based and community-oriented push to support gamers who have maybe been on the fence about putting their thoughts on the hobby into regularly scheduled prose (or haiku…there’s a distinct lack of gaming haiku).

The purpose of the NBI is to get a whole dump-truck full of established bloggers to make themselves available to gamers who are interested in starting up a blog. Back when I started blogging, there was no Blogger.com, no WordPress, Tumblr, Twitter, or Facebook. As a web developer, I had to make my own blogging website. Yes, up-hill, both ways, which meant that bloggers were really few and far between because it was more work just to set up a blog than it was to actually blog. But even in 2012, as easy as it is for anyone to sign up for a free account to a service named above and start banging out jaw-dropping bon mots, I’m sure there are a lot of gamers who don’t yet blog. Maybe they’re not sure if anything they write is relevant to anyone. Maybe they’re concerned about having to be a fire hose of content. Maybe they don’t feel that they can devote the time to publishing posts.

Phooey. That’s right. Phooey. For the keepers of the blogs I frequent, blogging isn’t about page-views or sponsorship or about landing a job as a paid blogger. It’s about being so passionate about gaming that their enjoyment of the hobby goes beyond just sitting at the keyboard or on the couch and being a consumer. Bloggers like to start – and more importantly, participate and even sometimes curate – discussion. Sometimes topics are personal, sometimes theoretical or mechanical, and sometimes they’re just there for venting purposes. Not every topic a blogger posts about will be popular, as some won’t get any views, or others will force the operator to close down the comments to keep things from escalating to Defcon 1. Blogging is about expanding a love of a hobby beyond oneself, to bring thoughts and opinions to others who share one’s hobby, and to get feedback on how others think and feel about the same topics. The “act” of blogging may happen between the blogger and his or her blogging software, but blogging is really about the community of bloggers and their readers.

Want to join that community on the other side of the desk? It’s simple! Head on over to the NBI HQ and register for discussion. If you’re thinking about taking up the proud mantle of games blogger and have some questions, that’ll be the place to ask, and to interact with bloggers on a more personal level.

NBI Sponsor Blogs: Games and Geekery, The Wild Boar Inn, MMO Fallout, Tastes Like Battle Chicken, Grimnir’s Grudge, Roll One Hundred, Dragonchasers, Ardwulf’s Lair, Inventory Full,Jaded Alt, Ark’s Ark, Tremayne’s Law, Blog de la Burro, Just One MMOre, DocHoliday’s MMO Saloon, High Latency Life, MMO Gamer Chick, Skycandy, Nomnom.info, Hunter’s Insight, Life is a Mind Bending Puzzle, Berath’s Brain Burps, Epic Slant, Bullet Points, Professor Beej,Journeys with Jaye, Screaming Monkeys, Welcome to Spinksville, Vicarious Existence, Casual is as Casual Does, Star Shadow, I Have Touched The Sky, The Ancient Gaming Noob, Just One More Unlock, A Ding World, Yeebo Fernbottom’s MMO Love In, Stropp’s World, Kill Ten Rats, The Jedi Gambit, Beau Hindman, Blue Kae, Gankalicious, Live Like a Nerd, Casual Stroll to Mordor, Tish Tosh Tesh, Casting a Shaddoe, A Green Mushroom, ALT:ernative, Parallel Context, ETCmmo, Avatars of Steel, Tales of the Aggronaut, West Karana, Contains Moderate Peril, The Stories of O, Levelcapped, LOTRO Fashion, Mr. Meh’s Supplication, Malchome’s Mind/Restokin, Nerdy Bookahs, T.R. Red Skies, Wadstomp, Scary Worlds,