Speaking of rewards, we have some awesome, limited edition, goodies left that people might not be aware of. Did you know you can get a black and white inked drawing of any of your characters and that the drawing will be included in the book? How about the fact that you can have your player organization interviewed and included in the book forever? My hope for this weekend is to find another $140 of support to reach our second stretch goal. If we do, everyone that pledged $20 or more will receive a pair of Epic Slant Press six-sided dice! If we happen to get $640 everyone will get a PDF sneak peak of my third book and one lucky supporter will be selected for an interview with Guild Launch! There are some other pretty cool rewards and stretch rewards on the project if you haven’t checked it out yet.

What I’m asking for this weekend is the chance to get the word out! I need a favor. My sphere of influence is only so large. I understand that you might not interested in a book about leading player organizations but your friends might be! Please consider forwarding this along on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, or even on your blog! The more eyes the better. All I can offer in return is my genuine gratitude and the promise that I’ll do the same for you one day. Thank you everyone.

This type of art print could be yours!

Diablo 2 blew me away when I got it. It was such a huge improvement over Diablo that I couldn’t begin to describe the awesomeness that Blizzard had created. The cinematic movies were better, the game was larger, and everything was just a far deeper experience. I played the heck out of it and truly enjoyed every minute. Diablo 3 has not blown me away. It certainly has better cinematic movies. I have been thrilled with that. I’ve also really enjoyed the lore books that pop up for you to listen to. All of that is wonderful. The core of the game, however, feels like Diablo 2. I haven’t seen anything that really improved upon that recipe. Blizzard took a good thing and continued it. There is value in that but with a 14 year development cycle it leaves me wondering what they did. I felt the exact same way about StarCraft 2. StarCraft 2, like Diablo 3, was a good game. It was a solid play experience. It just didn’t warrant the massive development cycle. I feel like both games could have been released in half the time and, based on the technical level of them, probably should have been.

I’m a cheap bastard

I’m going to make this clear: I’m cheap. I’m really freaking cheap. I do not buy PC games for full price. I wait until the hype is over and the price comes down. Then I wait until the discounted price goes on sale. If it isn’t 50% off I don’t buy it! I’m cheap, my father is cheap, his father was cheap, and I suspect his father was cheap. I expect a lot of bang for my buck is the point of this presentation. That is why I love MMORPGs. Based on how much I play, one hour of Rift costs me $0.46 or less. When I am full bore it probably gets down to the dime level! That is why I don’t see movies in the cinema. $10+ per person for two hours of entertainment? Insanity!

Diablo 3 is $60! That is a whole lot of money to a cheap guy like me! To reach Rift levels of cost I would have to play around 130 hours to get my value out of that. I just don’t see that happening. The game is cool and fun. I will absolutely complete the campaign but I just don’t see me running the higher levels of difficulty over and over again. Diablo 3 just isn’t a different enough experience from Diablo 2 to support me doing that. Without knowing all of this I went ahead and bought the game anyway thinking it was going to be a different situation from StarCraft 2. Oh Blizzard, you fooled me twice. Shame on me! I won’t make that mistake when you release WarCraft IV in 2017! I’ll wait until it goes on sale!

Always online?

Evidently Diablo 3 is an MMORPG and I didn’t know it. I can’t say I enjoyed the launch day blues that most MMORPGs run into. I was certainly surprised when the servers came down and I couldn’t play at all. This isn’t a knock at Diablo 3 itself so much as the PC gaming market. Enough is enough. I paid the money. I’m not licensing your game. I bought it. Good luck to me winning that battle though.

Diablo 3 is pretty cool

The cinematic movies are awesome and the story, thus far, has been interesting to me. There is a lot of tie in with what happened in the original two games and you certainly have a big feeling of nostalgia. You get to see the destruction that has been wrought on the world and the characters are all familiar. Diablo 3 is comfortable and familiar. It cannot be worse than Diablo 2. It cannot be a bad game. Everything that made Diablo 2 great is here. I like that. I just feel like for the time it took to create the game and the premium price associated with it that I probably won’t find the same value. This is especially true when you have a perfectly good alternative product in Torchlight 2. People keep comparing and contrasting them, talking about how Diablo 3 is better, and as someone who has now played both, I don’t see it. They seem so similar to me that I can’t even begin to see how someone can make a value judgement. Torchlight 2 feels happier is about all I can say.

At any rate, if you’re a cheap bastard like me, you can wait on Diablo 3. If you don’t follow the hype and buy it immediately you’ll be ok. The game will still be there for a long time and you’ll have plenty of people to play with. When the game hits $30 I’d say it is absolutely worth the money. Otherwise, buy Torchlight 2. It is a product of a small company that needs your support. Blizzard really doesn’t. They’ll get by just fine!

The one tip that has never worked for me is to “write anyway.” I’ve read a lot of advice that says you should just sit down and force yourself to write one word at a time. When I try to do this I can actually feel my temperature rise. Everything that comes out feels forced. The idea is that if you work through enough of that you’ll eventually break free and be in the clear. I rarely have that moment. I usually just end up more frustrated and somewhat angry.

Read

One technique that has been very successful for me in the past is to just stop trying to write and start reading. If it is possible, go read what others have to say about the topic you want to write on. Read as much as you can until eventually you hit a word, sentence, or paragraph that inspires you. It happens to me all of the time. I’ll be checking out someone’s blog and a point will be made that resonates with me. The last time this happened it was because someone left another blogger a negative comment. It flipped a switch in my head and I put together a pretty cool article because of it. If I had just sat and tried to force myself to write it wouldn’t have happened. Reading gives you the chance to be inspired. It fills your gut with the words you need to get past the block. Read often!

Find a friend

I am a huge team player. As an individual I have no competitive nature. I don’t care if someone “beats me” or if I “lose a game.” If you put me on a team, however, I’m going to go all out. Not because I want to win but because I don’t want to let my team down. I might be able to suffer defeats but letting my team suffer is not an option. From time to time I collaborate with other writers. This puts me in a team situation where I can’t let them down. It also gives me a partner to talk to about thoughts and ideas. I frequently find a lot of inspiration this way. I’ve also produced some of my best work through collaboration. This can work for you! Find a blogging buddy.

Write other things

There is a misconception out there that writers block means you can’t write at all. In my experience it just means you can’t write on the subject you currently feel like you should. If I am working on a manuscript I always feel like I should only be working on it. The truth is sometimes I get a little burnt out on one project. If I change over to another it doesn’t exhaust me and it builds my strength and energy to write on the other topic. Any writing when you have writers block feels like a success and success gives you confidence. That confidence can then be spent on the first topic. Try to write around your topic before you start trying to force it!

Yes, we received the minimal amount of funding necessary to do what I had in mind. There is still a lot more I can do to improve the book and bring it to an entirely new level of polish. The additional funds that we raise on Kickstarter will go directly back into the book itself. That is where stretch goals come in. A stretch goal is basically a point we’re trying to reach to be able to add something extra into the GLC2e. It also comes with a stretch reward! As we over-fund I want to reward anyone and everyone that helps push the project to new levels of success (more on this at the bottom).

I don’t want to lead a guild!

I understand that and you’re the hardest person to convince but I have to try! I realize the book is called The Guild Leader’s Companion but I can promise you it is a lot more than that. The second edition strips out the focus on the terms guild, raids, and loot. I also tried to steer clear of just looking at the organization leader. The GLC2e is a book that is for anyone that will take any kind of leadership role in an online game. It is also for the people that are curious as to what all goes into running one of these organizations. If you’re a leader, an officer, or a curious party, you’ll find the insights in the book useful. To be quite honest, I learned these skills playing MMORPGs but I’ve applied them to my real life with great success! You might find something cool inside the GLC2e that you didn’t expect!

I don’t have any money

Supporting a Kickstarter isn’t just about money (although money truly helps). If you get the word out I will be eternally grateful. A blog post, tweet, Facebook update, or Google+ note really goes further than you could ever imagine. The more eyes that see this the better chance I’ll have of reaching my target audience! I would also say, if you can, try to jump in on the smallest reward. The higher we get on the stretch goals the more that “global” rewards open up. You really can get a huge bang for your buck at $5 if we reach the top!

So what are your stretch goals

The general idea behind these stretch goals is to raise money to add more value to the book and treat Amanda and Ellie a little better. Our ultimate goal is $7000. If we reach it we’ll be able to create a brand new cover to match what is basically a brand new book. We’ll also be able to use a far more professional printer for the Kickstarter rewards and convention books (the Amazon ones will still be there as stock). Additional funds also add artwork and more editing time. Amanda and Ellie work on the cheap for me. We all have a great association and I want them to see a bigger bang for their buck. As we go up on stretch goals they receive more money. The one thing I want to make clear is that I never receive a pay check. I only get paid on the back end when we sell books.

Our stretch goals are pretty cool this time around. I’ll go over them a little bit so you know what you’re getting since we’re past our goal!

$1,000 - When we hit the $1000 mark on May 11th (our first stretch goal) I added a personal shout out on my new podcast, MMO Radio, to every supporter! No matter how much or how little you donate, your name and the name of your blog, website, guild, or project will be on our show! That is some pretty good exposure and the chance to hear me personally express my gratitude. The extra $200 from this goal will help us pay off some of the extra publishing costs that normally come out of my pocket. I also solemnly swear not to mess up on the shout outs this time!

$1,500 – We have these cute little white and blue six-sided dice for tabletop gaming with the cool ESP heraldry on them. I’ll put a pair in your rewards package!

$2,000 is cool too. Originally it was a sneak peak at book three. I’m about 25% done with it and it is turning out to be pretty good. Stephen from Guild Launch wanted to sweeten the pot a bit and is going to let us randomly select one lucky supporter (regardless of what amount you pledge) and do an interview with them. It will be the winner, Stephen and (probably) Mike from GL, and me all together having a good time. That interview will go up on the Guild Launch blog. A huge thank you to Guild Launch for this one!

$3,000 is awesome! Amanda will do two additional sketches outside of the ones on the reward side. One I’ve got planned but the other will be randomly awarded to a supporter (again, doesn’t matter how much you pledged). It is basically like one person getting the art part of the $275 reward for free!

$4,500 is subtle but real. Amazon printing is okay. The Raider’s Companion came out pretty well and it is nice. If you happen to have a hardcover, however, it is night and day. The binding, cover, and paper quality that come from the professional printer is massively different. They’re also significantly more expensive, harder to work with, and totally frustrating. With that said, I’d prefer to do that! Everyone that donates at a level to get a book will benefit from this!

$7,000 – The stretchiest of the stretch goals. I recognize that this is a ton of money past our target goal. I believe in having one “go big or go home” stretch goal because you never know, it might happen! If we hit this the book will receive a brand new cover by Amanda. I’m thrilled with the original cover and the revised one Amanda is doing for the 2E but wouldn’t it be cool to get one to match the new book? The second edition is a lot more than a minor update. We’re talking 30% more content. Of the original content I probably rewrote 65% of it with a different tone and with new experiences I’ve earned. The message is similar but this truly is a new book. Why not a totally new cover?

We need you!

So that is my update/pitch! I realize that was more pitch than update but it is what it is! Any help that you can give will be truly appreciated! Make a post, slander me online, tweet to your mother! Epic Slant Press only succeeds through the kindness of the community. If you have the time, please consider dropping by both the campaign and product pages to “like” and “+1″ them!

I’ve been a Heroes player since the first title. I’ve watched the game start well, get better, become horrible, and then redeem itself. HOMM V was one of the worst games I’ve ever played and the launch was atrocious. No multiplayer at release of a game that is all about multiplayer? There was no such failing with HOMM VI! Aurelis and I were able to create and play a happy co-op game with little trouble. It was like old times and we had a blast. So much so we stayed up way too late both Saturday and Sunday night. Suffice to say I’m hurting a bit this morning.

HOMM VI really is a return to what made the series great. It plays a lot like II or III, I don’t remember which one at this particular moment. Character advancement is a lot more straight forward and the luck element of it is gone. So is the convoluted skill wheel where you pray to the FSM that the right skills pop up in the right order. You can build the hero you want that compliments your game play.

The major down side is that even in co-op games you still have to wait your turn. I can understand that from a competition perspective you have to have turns. I just figured they would come up with some method by which you and your team members can play at the same time. There are also a pitiful few maps. Aurelis and I will be through them all in a very short time. Despite that, I still have to say that if you’ve never tried out a HOMM game you should pick VI up.

Night Haven

Zero of you have heard of Night Haven unless you read my mini-article about it. I continued to plug away with reckless abandon this weekend. At the spry level of 53 I finally achieved the task of getting the wolf pelt that let me finish my level five quest. I thought life was going to be wonderful but it now seems that by unlocking the laboratory, all of the monsters have gotten harder. So that means longer waits to get potions and such. Anyway, I got the thing so I’m happy. I won the game! Now I can actually start finishing up all of the other quests that have been waiting.

Diablo 3

I have been informed that I will, in theory, be able to play my pre-purchased copy of Diablo 3 this week. I am totally unprepared. I have not looked at any information nor have I fully planned to set time aside. I’ll be flying blind for the most part. The only thing I really know is that there isn’t a paladin or druid and those are my classes of choice. Plate-wearing aura guy or werewolf slashy person is what I like! I’ll have to figure something out. I doubt I’ll get much play done between my degree, my secret project (which I will announce this week for real), my Kickstarter, Rift raiding, HOMM VI, and my duties as a fiancee (we’ve finally accepted that we have to plan a wedding).

Oh well, I enjoy being in the thick of things and I certainly am at the moment! Someone tell me what Diablo 3 class to play and everyone else please consider supporting my Kickstarter Campaign for The Guild Leader’s Companion 2e. We have some -really- cool rewards left that include personilzed artwork and immortalization within the book!

Social engagement is the most important thing you can do as a blogger. If you’re not constantly sending updates to Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ about your latest post you’re not doing things right! The best way to track how much influence you have is through Klout. Klout will tell you just how popular you are and tell everyone else whether or not they should pay you any attention. It is the most accurate way to judge your self worth! Coincidentally… why not give me +K on Klout?!

Blog by not blogging

Coming up with new topics to blog about can be hard sometimes. Usually if I’m feeling all positive I don’t have a lot to say! Epic Slant was built on my need to arm-chair game design and talk about guild leadership topics! Sometimes I just don’t have too much to say and that is perfectly alright. I’ve mastered the art of blogging by not blogging. When you just don’t have anything to write about try starting a podcast! It is like blogging, but without the need to be coherent. For some reason people are perfectly happy to sit and listen to you talk about games while drunk! If that fails, just go look at what everyone else is talking about and rehash the same topic. Somehow that seems to work!

Things I read this weekend

James from Funsponge has written a lot of good things lately. The thing that really caught my attention is this short quip about the Diablo 3 downloader. He discusses how hard it is to pre-load the game (and it really is) and how evidently if you downloaded the downloader before Saturday it just isn’t the downloader for the download job. Download. =( (He also wrote this!)

Gaming for Introverts is a blog that interests me very much. I’m still catching up on all of Pamela’s blog posts but the one I want to share today is very interesting and pointed. It is one of the reasons I think old MMORPG players lament new games: the lack of social engagement (and I’m not talking about Klout). This is a very good look at some of the reasons EverQuest was special. Even in a game I love like Rift I can’t talk to anyone if I’m not on voice chat. Why? My DPS or HPS or anyPS will drop to nothing. All of these “action oriented” games require constant button pressing. My text always ends up looking like: Hey122223222 everyone, how was1222 your weekend.

I enjoyed what I read this weekend and I hope everyone else does too! There are some super talented writers that are new to blogging and we should all go out and support them!

(Disclaimer: My tips were an attempt to be humorous. You probably shouldn’t do those things. Actually, you should give me Klout.)

I am a Kickstarter addict. I love the idea that I can directly fund things I’m interested in and by doing so get rewards that aren’t available anywhere else. That directly hits me in some weird way. If I have the chance to put my name or my website in a book I’m in. If you have some kind of art component to the project and I can get Ferrel in your project, I’m in. I will literally spend hundreds of dollars for that because that really interests me. That is also why it seems people don’t even bat an eye to pledge $250+ for Amanda to draw their character in my books. Much like Troy, I looked at the Pathfinder Online Kickstarter and said, “no thanks.”

The dynamic of Kickstarter, in my eyes, has to be more than just “support this really cool thing because it will be really cool.” I am the perfect target demographic for Pathfinder online. I want a sandbox fantasy MMORPG. I love the Pathfinder setting. I am the dungeon master of a table top game! In every way I am the person they are trying to entice. I was not enticed to donate. Why? It didn’t make sense to me. I realize some people will support the project just because it is Pathfinder but for me there are some issues with their strategy.

Supporting Goblinworks might make the pathfinder MMORPG possible. I truly hope it does. As a tech demo, however, I didn’t see enough connection between my dollars and the end state. This is like funding a lottery ticket. Yes, my dollars might lead to a big win but they might not. This is too far in the planning process for me to want to support it. This is precisely why I do not start a Kickstarter project until my manuscripts are finished. When someone supports an Epic Slant Press book they can be assured that the book will be brought to market no matter what. Funded or not, I’m going to release The Guild Leader’s Companion 2nd Edition.

Rewards are a big part of Kickstarter in my eyes. The rewards should entice you to want to donate and “take a chance.” I wasn’t really thrilled with the rewards that Goblinworks offered me. There was no offer for a copy of the game or anything that really made me go “I need this!” This is counter to how I set my rewards and how another successful project, Kittens in a Blender, set theirs. Coincidentally, you have less than 42 hours to support KiaB and I can swear to you that the game is fun and hilarious.

A better comparison would be to look at Storybricks and their Kickstarter campaign. Now, full disclosure, I consider Brian Green a friend and would support any project he put up there based on that alone. With that said, even if we weren’t, I would have still supported Storybricks. The project they’re running meets my requirements. The support won’t generate enough income to create the game but there is already an alpha in existence. This is a boost to help the team prove to investors that there is interest in the product. More importantly, should the campaign become successful, I will receive a copy of the game and a lot of subscription time. I see real value in this and wanted to support it. (While I’m on this topic, you might want to consider supporting Storybricks too. Click for more details).

What am I getting at? I don’t think Troy was being unfair. I think his concerns were absolutely valid. The type of Kickstarter campaign that Goblinworks is running really isn’t for him (or me). It is for the die-hard Pathfinder fans that will throw money at the company no matter what. There is nothing wrong with that concept at all! I wish I had as much brand loyalty with Epic Slant Press! That still doesn’t mean someone who disagrees with it is wrong. So Troy, I think you’re right even if nobody else does! I was looking for more value too and just didn’t find it.

Zellviren writes an extremely interesting article about whether your religion impacts your character creation choices. I found it fascinating and it gave me pause to think about why I play Ferrel. Ferrel is a cleric who helps others and that is a part of my religion and code of morals. There might just be a link there!

Do you remember text-based adventure games? Are you familiar with main-frames and terminals? Feliz is and brought back some great memories for me. Check out this write up about A Colossal Cave Adventure.

Playing to win is an interesting concept that does pop up in MMORPGs now and then. Some of us play to play and others just play to win! Saali took some time to write a little about this.

A trip to the Faire. Lyrestra spent some time at the Darkmoon Faire in World of Warcraft. Despite being a min/max raider I really do enjoy the non-combat parts of online games! This looks like fun.

An Iron Man Challenge? That is pretty serious business. One death and the character is done! Huntress Maruka gives a brief account of her experience with the Iron Man Challenge!

Iniquity is currently working on a Tera chapter and CraftyGod happens to be doing a good write up about some crafting within that particular game! I thought I would pass that information along to my team!

There you have it folks, some of the articles I read this week that I wanted to share. Please take some time to encourage these bloggers! Go read their articles and maybe leave them a comment or two!

You can find The Guild Leader’s Companion 2nd edition project on Kickstarter!

What is the Guild Leader’s Companion 2e?

The GLC2e is the latest book by Adam “Ferrel” Trzonkowski. It is an expansion on his first book The Guild Leader’s Companion and is a collection of knowledge and experiences from Ferrel’s career as a guild leader. The GLC contains a detailed account of the numerous intricacies that go into running a player organization and strategies for dealing with the day to day challenges a leader may face. The second edition has been reformatted, reworked, and massively expanded in content. It has been significantly refined and contains 30% more content! Within the pages of The Guild Leader’s Companion 2e fans will find the same great information as before and a whole lot extra!

You can find more details about The Guild Leader’s Companion on its Epic Slant Press product page.

The Rewards

Pledge $5 or more
Ferrel will sing your praises and raise awareness of your blog, project, Kickstarter, or website via a Tweet, Facebook post, and Google+ comment. Three bumps for the price of one!

Pledge $10 or more
The above reward plus… Epic Slant Press will permanently add your name and/or your blog, project, or website* to the supporters section of The Guild Leader’s Companion 2e product page (120 character limit) and send you the ePub (eBook readers) version of the book. *Some restrictions may apply (IE no adult content or link farms).

Pledge $20 or more
The above rewards plus… Epic Slant Press will send you an autographed copy of The Guild Leader’s Companion 2e paperback. Supporters outside North America please add an additional $10 for shipping.

Pledge $30 or more
The above rewards plus… Silver Supporter status: Epic Slant Press will add your name and/or blog, website, or project to the silver supporter’s page inside The Guild Leader’s Companion 2e (30 character limit). Supporters outside North America please remember to add an additional $10 for shipping the paperback.

Pledge $50 or more
The $5 & $10 rewards plus… Silver Supporter status: Epic Slant Press will send you an autographed copy of The Guild Leader’s Companion 2e hardback and add your name and/or blog, website, or project to the silver supporter’s page inside the book (30 character limit). Supporters outside North America please add an additional $15 for shipping.

Pledge $65 or more
The $5, $10, & $50 rewards plus… Gold Supporter status: Epic Slant Press will add your name and/or blog, website, or project to the gold supporter’s page inside The Guild Leader’s Companion 2e (60 character limit). Supporters outside North America please remember to add an additional $15 for shipping the hardback.

Pledge $100 or more
The $5, $10, & $50 rewards plus… Gold Supporter status: Epic Slant Press will add your name and/or blog, website, or project to the gold supporter’s page inside The Guild Leader’s Companion 2e (60 character limit) and send a second autographed copy of The GLC2e hardcover to anyone you like (we’ll even put that person in the silver supporter section). Supporters outside North America please remember to add an additional $30 for shipping the hardbacks.

Pledge $275 or more
The $5, $10, $50, & $65 rewards plus… Gold Supporter status: Epic Slant Press’s Amanda Martin will draw a black and white image of a character of your choice to be included in The Guild Leader’s Companion 2e. You’ll also receive a glossy print of your image in your rewards package. Supporters outside North America please remember to add an additional $15 for shipping the hardback.

Pledge $500 or more
The $5, $10, $50, $65, & $250 rewards plus… Platinum Supporter status: Epic Slant Press will immortalize your player organization (ie: guild, clan, corp, kinship, etc) inside The Guild Leader’s Companion 2e. Ferrel will come visit you and your friends via voice chat to talk about who you are, what your organization does, and what you’d like the world to know about it. Your name and/or blog, website, or project, will be added to the platinum supporter’s page inside the GLC2e. Your player organization will receive a full page in the appendix that details what Ferrel learned about it during the interview and information on how other players can find it.

Pledge $3000 or more
The $5, $10, $50, $65, $250, & $500 rewards plus… Diamond Supporter status: Spend a convention with Ferrel and Epic Slant Press*! Each year ESP attends two conventions and you can be a part of the excitement! You will receive accommodations in one of the convention’s sponsor hotels, a full show ticket, meals with Ferrel, and your very own monogramed Epic Slant Press golf shirt. In addition to the convention package Ferrel will dedicate The Guild Leader’s Companion 2e to you as the sole diamond supporter. The convention offer is valid for three years and you can choose to attend any one convention that Epic Slant Press is attending with advanced notice. The sponsor is responsible for their transportation to and from the convention.

What is Kickstarter?

Kickstarter is a funding platform for content creators that allows them to directly receive support from their fans. Fans will receive special rewards from the content creators in exchange for their support. In many ways Kickstarter is like a “pre-purchase” system with the key difference being that the items supporters receive will likely never be available anywhere else.

Kickstarter projects are created with a financial goal in mind. This goal is set by the content creator and is based on what is necessary to bring their work to market successfully. The project is also given a set duration and must reach its financial goal within that time frame. When an individual pledges to support a project no money is exchanged. Money will only be exchanged if the project has successfully met its goal by the end of the time frame that is set. If the project does not succeed no money is ever exchanged.

I didn’t realize I was a blogger. I wrote editorials for the Iniquity website. These were EverQuest II specific and often focused on my guild and our raiding exploits. I did a bit of arm-chair game design and focused heavily on the end game. I had a very large audience because we were a server-first and world competitive guild. Eventually I decided to retire from that play style and it didn’t make a lot of sense to keep writing. After all, who wants to read the opinions of a raider who isn’t raiding or even playing the game?

It wasn’t too long before I realized I missed writing in general. I wanted a creative outlet so I founded my first blog: MMOlogy, the science of MMORPGs. It was an incredible failure when it came to hits. If six of my former guild mates read a story I considered that a victory! It was okay though because I learned the first lesson of blogging: write for yourself, not for other people. I know we would all love to be a 10,000 unique visit a day site but sometimes that just won’t happen. We should absolutely try our hardest to reach that goal but we should also be able to enjoy writing for the sake of writing. I write because it fulfills my creative need. If someone else reads what I wrote and comments it is just icing for the cake!

Eventually I started raiding again and wanted to write about it. I figured a fresh start and a new brand was in order. At some point I thought up the clever title (in my opinion) of Epic Slant. It is my Slant on the Epic activities (IE raiding) within MMORPGs. I know, I’m a genius! It got even more fun when Dresden and I came up with the tag line: Putting the O back in Pwn. Nobody ever got it (the joke is that Pwn is actually spelled Own. We think people that intentionally say pwn are silly). With a clever name and amazing tagline I figured I had a good starting point. I was inspired to write so I just did so.

Tips for success

1. Keep Writing – Content is king, even less than stellar content. Your first articles aren’t going to be perfect. They might not even be average. That doesn’t matter. If you sit around trying to write the perfect article the first time out you’re never going to finish a single article. Start kicking those puppies out as soon as you can! The more you write the better you’ll get at it. You’ll also start building up a backlog of content. That will help with your Google ranking and give your blog the appearance of activity which is very important.

2. Be Active – People that write more tend to have more readers. When I post five days a week my numbers climb exponentially per day. It doesn’t make sense but it happens. It just seems that people like to know you’re kicking around. I think it has to do with the fact that when you’re constantly writing people visit more often because they know fresh content will appear. I previously set a goal of two articles a week and it really built up my audience. These days I spend all my time writing books so Epic Slant has suffered.

3. Comment Till it Hurts – If you want to have others read your blog you need to go read theirs. Visit all of the popular but not massive blogs and make well thought out comments on the articles you find. The authors will see your comment and occasionally check you out. They may even comment back! Their readers will do the same. The more you comment the more comments you’ll get back. Just be careful that you’re not creating poor comments or just linking to your story. That is poor form.

4. Read Your Articles – Seriously, read your own work. I didn’t for the first four months and if you go way back in the archive it really shows. When you finish an article go back and read it slowly start to finish. Clean it up, make it pretty, and then post it.

So get to it

Okay now you have the back story and the tips. It is time to get off the sidelines and start writing. You could even be the next Ferrel (IE a guy with a mediocre blog and some fancy books)!

Would you like to know more?

Check out the Newbie Blogger Initiative HQ.