Responsibility
As some of you know, yesterday began a small traffic spike here on my blog. It wasn’t anything revolutionary, as my blog on its best day still gets far far less traffic than OMGN. But the spike made me realize the kind of commitment my blog is becoming and the responsibility I’ve got for it.
As I’ve somewhat shifted my writing focus to my blog from my other projects like OMGN and FlickZone, I’ve gotten a few “regular” readers here. Mainly, the only people I know of that regularly visit my blog are family members, some close friends, and people who find links on sites like, oh let’s say, Game AI for Developers.
But my blog traffic stats have been increasing a little bit more lately, especially with links coming in like the one from Game AI and the fact that I’m posting roughly each weekday (and taking weekends off, haha). I’ve also been tracking some of the incoming links to my blog, such as the one PJ Perez has on Bleeding Neon. Dude, I had no clue he had a Wikipedia article! I want one for me, haha.
As a result of my increased traffic and incoming links, I’m starting to feel more responsibility to continue writing on a regular basis and to come up with interesting content. I’m not sure how many people actually read my blog and care about the random stuff I post on, but I still feel this responsibility.
See, I’m not really a true blogger. My intent here on DarqByte is not to break news or break into the journalism business. No, I leave the whole journalism business to PJ and my wife, Laura, since they are both totally awesome at it. I’m a programmer; a web developer; a video gamer. Just some random guy who likes to post random stuff on his blog. I’m not even trying to make money from my blog, as evidenced by the fact I have no ads here on it.
So… I mean, I’m all for having regular readers and kick-ass AI websites linking to me on a regular basis when I rant about racing game AI. I love the fact that someone as well-known as PJ in the Vegas area sees me fit to link to from his well-read blog. I’m very happy that anybody even wants to read my blog.
Just don’t go expecting me to always be able to write about insightful stuff that will provoke discussion in comments (which has yet to happen, actually, haha). I’ll probably post often about random funny crap that you have already seen. I’ll just rant about things or talk about random personal stuff like my home improvement post I wrote up earlier today. If this is entertaining enough for you to keep coming back, then awesome! I love regular readers.
Although, my blog may really be just part of a complex plot to land myself a premier job in the video game industry, say as a producer or reviewer. That would be totally awesome, by the way.
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No expectations, dude. What I’ve learned from the veteran bloggers is that it’s all about self-expression. Whether you elect to make money off this later, or if you simply use this as your creative outlet, it’s all about what you have to say – and that’s completely up to you.
I do agree that there is a sense of responsibility in blogging, especially once you build a readership. When you draw people in, you just don’t want to leave them hanging. It’s also nice knowing that you might relate to people in some way through your words.
P.S. You write this blog, so how does that make you any less a “true” blogger?
Well… I guess when I said “true blogger,” I meant someone that blogs for the journalistic aspect… I think. Haha.
I’m kind of a big deal.
But really, Rob, us journalists are amateurs at everything (except for snagging free drinks and show tickets), whereas the real bloggers are subject experts, such as you.
Thanks for the mention, though. I need to keep my friends close … so you’ll buy the books I’ll be hawking in a year or so.
As long as the books are interesting, I’m on it!
Hmm… Makes me wonder if it’s better to be a subject expert on one or two things or to be pretty good across the board…