So You Wanna Be a Blogger? #MMONBI

Before we get into a lots of nuts and bolts of how to manage your blog, you really have to decide whether you want to blog.

While no one can really answer that question but you, here’s some things to think about as you contemplate signing up for your own writing space.

 

What It’s Good For

Do you like reading about your favorite games? Do you spend a portion of your day cuddled up with your S.O. blabbing about your recent kill, or even worse, don’t have anyone to talk to about your gaming hobby?

Or you could be that person who swamps their guild forums with every guide and link to every juicy tidbit about your class, patch notes, or an interesting story you read over the weekend. Not that I’m judging you mind… I was that person.

I know I wish some of my great commentators who don’t blog would, because they have such thoughtful, lovely things to share. A blog can find a great way for you to share your enthusiasm, your thoughts, and the resources you love. But even better, it provides you a great way to connect with other players who enjoy doing what you do and love talking about it.

What to Write

The great thing about blogging about gaming, is that the topics are limited solely by your interest and your time. There are hundred of things to talk about, and just as many ways to talk about them. Some general MMO blogging profiles focus on things like:

• Reviews
• Guides
• Artwork/Screenshots
• Development
• Game Experience
• Activities

You can talk about anything from your favorite class to the industry as a whole, and everything in between. There’s always, always room for another voice and another perspective, even on something as seemingly simple as leveling.

For Love or Money

Now, if you want to be a professional writing-type blogger who actually gets compensated for your work, my series will not provide any great pointers. I’m all about the amateur, the fly-by-the-seat of your pants and produce what you love, not what you have to, blogging. However, if you are interested in being paid for writing, I can say with absolute certainty that writing, and writing often is the best way to get yourself a permanent writing position p-e-r-i-o-d.

If you ever want to write for money, it sure doesn’t hurt to write for love first. Pon recently discovered the difference between writing for yourself and for an employer, but I’m positive that writing for herself helped her get that paid position in the long-run. (Warning: Plenty of liberal ranting and cursing!)

Time

Unfortunately, like all other hobbies, blogging takes up time. Fortunately, how much time it take depends on you and what you want to write about. Guides, lovely and useful as they are, are time-killers. Many guide-writing blogs, only write guides simply because keeping their content provided and updated can easily rule out other writing. Opinion columns can be done rather quickly, but depending on the tone, the number of links, and whether or not you have or even want images, time can tick away on them as well. And while I don’t have an internal editor breathing down my neck, for the perfectionist, the aspiring professional, or even the good blogger, you’ll likely need to set aside some time for editing and updating.

With all that being said you set your schedule. You can post every day or once a month. Different formats are likely to produce different results, but it allows you to have a lot of control of how much time or energy blog will take from your regularly scheduled life!

Undecided?

If you still don’t know if you wanna be a blogger, still want to let things percolate a bit, don’t forget to sign up at the NIB Forums for links to additional advice, and a great place to ask questions and get answers from other bloggers. If you have a question specifically for me, write in.

And as a last word of advice: write it. Even if you don’t have a blog, but you have the urge to write do it. Ask an established blogger to take a guest post and see how you like it. You might find yourself contributing so often, that you’ll know you need your own space.

Next time on my NBI series: What’s In a Name? Setting Up Your First Blog

And for the curious, yes, this post’s title is gaming inspired.