Get into (blogging) game

Recently we have lost quite the number of Age of Conan bloggers. This takes me to the main issue of how little press coverage and media Age of Conan gets. Hint: very little. Looking back at what blogs we had I gotta mention:  

http://aoaevii.blogspot.com/ - the grandfather of all blogs. If anything it gave me the idea of running class blog. Evii's writing was more of a "trial and error" type of guides, more of a journal if anything, where he was jotting his notes about his progression with the class.  

http://kruellaofaoc.blogspot.com/ - the blog I loved for it's personalized touch on Age of Conan.Quite a few rants and insights about how the things were back in the days (of high adventure).I still do troll this blog by posting a comment about some major events in AOC.  

http://ageofconanaddict.blogspot.com/ - now that was some major disappointment for me: the guy had such an energy to just go in and write his ass off. And yet here we are :X  

http://irinirmusings.blogspot.com/ - a blog dedicated to conqueror's class. It had nice vibe, but it the end it seems like the author wasn't really all that into Age of Conan in the first place  

http://templeofxotli.blogspot.com/ - a dear student of mine. Of all blogs this one had the potential to become this great, refined thing. Arcalimon had the dedication and the will to go on. Sad to see him go. 

http://aocdeadlysins.blogspot.com - a very interesting and niche project. I have been following "deadly sins" with anticipation. Basically the blog was covering the whereabouts of assassin only guild. 

And the honorable mention goes to this guy: http://www.aoconan.6x.to/ - "Our future is simple to expand, Recruit and to expand our knowledge to help our fast growing users of the website" indeed my good sir, truer words were never written... 

If you are thinking about writing your own blog I highly recommend doing that. No, really do it. Here are few tips about the things I have learned the hard way: 

1. Audience - don't get into blogging if you are not willing to write just for yourself. I find it very rewarding to just type in what I am thinking about and if someone reads that and enjoys it: great. When I started I had like 2-3 readers and now I have about 200 page hits per day. Even if all of you were gone I would still have kept doing it because "one bitten, forever smitten". That is how we roll in the bloggosphere (I HATE that word). 

2. Content - I think most people have problems with finding the stuff to write about. Lets face it: Age of Conan ain't WoW, baby, and if you are going to rely only on re-posting official news you are not only going to bore your readers to death, but also starve your blog and end up like http://aocblog.com/ (prime example of what not to do). My rule of thumb is: share knowledge and opinions. Those are the two things that people are really interested in: finding crucial piece of information about their class that will help them to improve the game play experience or read some one's rants and that they hopefully agree with (if not they can always rage in the comments). Don't be afraid to post things that you think are nothing out of ordinary, you don't have to be in world's first T4 Emperor kill to write something interesting. Hell, if anything I am enjoying those "oh-not-so-epic" tales written by low level players that are taking their first steps in Hyborian kingdoms.

3. Persistence - if you are going to write then STICK with it.Just like with everything else by re-engaging in the activity on regular basis you will develop habit. If you are going to do 3 posts in 2 days and then go silent for 2 months then no one (except some crazy weirdos like me) are going to ever read your crap again. 

4. Enjoy it - this is the last, but not least. This is not your second job, this is not your future carrier or gateway to "Internetz famez". It should, optimally, be something that you really enjoy doing. If you have this creative side of you that is screaming to get out then this is great opportunity to express yourself. The blog gives me a chance to vent some feeling about a game (it sounds super geeky, but we all got angry at a game at one point),criticize things that I don't like, give my appreciation to things that I love (so it is not "once I did wrong and that I am hearing ever, twice I did right and that I am hearing never") and finally share whatever knowledge I can with other players. I like giving tips inside the game when someone asks for help simply because I like helping people. The blog lets me to do same thing, but, hopefully, on a larger scale. These things I enjoy. 

Yeah, that is about it, the four key factors. I highly encourage you to at very least give it a shot. Hit the "create a blog" button and give me your thoughts - I dare you.