Ignoring the 800 Pound Gorilla–Blogging Beyond Wizards of the Coast
I am tired. Tired of the constant bickering about 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons rules and classes, the relative merits of the 3.5 vs. 4.0 rule sets, about “Wizards of the Coast” latest digital initiative or the newest WOTC book published.
As of right now, I am simply not going to discuss any “Wizards of the Coast” offering or event unless it is significant to the general gaming world. Since I am the final arbiter of “significant,” it is only fair that I define the term. The easiest way is to list items I find “insignificant,” since that is a short, but wide-ranging list. Anything outside this list is fair game.
Items this blog will not discuss from this point forward:
“Dungeons and Dragons” rules or classes
New releases from Wizards
The “D & D Insider”
“Living Forgotten Realms”
This is not to say I loathe WOTC. To the contrary, I think they produce good gaming products. In fact, the only campaign I am currently playing in is “Keep on the Shadowfell” for 4th Edition.
I hope you understand this is not some emotional knee-jerk to the “Evil Corporation.” In my mind, no one company should be the primary focus of discussion. It is an unhealthy fixation. A healthy community should be diverse and inconstant. Change is the norm, not the exception. New games come out, they grow and then they either evolve or disappear. It is in this chaos that great games are found.
I want to find the next new and exciting game. I want to play it and then share it with you, my loyal readers. That is why I blog, not to focus on a single company, but the gaming community as a whole.
As I edit this post, I realized that my main point is that “Wizards of the Coast” will be just fine without anyone blogging about them. They are part of a massive company (Hasbro) and they have the most famous RPG ever written. Their marketing efforts keep thir name in front of every RPG gamer that goes to a gaming website or reads a gaming magazine. Literally hundreds of websites and blogs breathlessly follow their every release and decision.
This blog is not one of them.
I promise, that from this point forward, I will refocus my efforts on the gaming community as a whole. I want to find the obscure company with a great product that everyone should see and write about it. I want to write about the art, architecture and history of the real world to create better campaigns. I want to find great web resources for gamers and share them with anyone who happens by. I need to connect with other bloggers and argue about games and conventions and whatever else crosses my mind.
In other words, blogging about everything but “Wizards of the Coast.”
Trask, The Last Tyromancer
