Tales of a Scorched Earth: year two

Those who know me know I love gaming. I could play video games all day long, and I would happily relay these things through writing. As I've known from the beginning, maintaining a weblog to some standard of decency is tough. I always said I would pack it up and move on once it started to feel like a job.

I'm not going to continue kidding myself. This website is a job.

It's partially my own fault, because instead of writing short, link-and-quote type posts I'd rather talk about the larger issue, or write a full article about a game. The former would certainly be easier at this point, but I'm not going to settle for that. There are enough sites out there that are happy to quote other people's work and pass it off as writing. Good for them.

I said in last year's year in review that this website would be more like a collection of articles as opposed to a "weblog", a term I never really made amends with. I never wanted to obey some hidden schedule and feel obligated to post regularly, but as I continue to gain readership these feelings are unavoidable. I'm flattered that I'm on the list of someone's daily reads or regular source of information. I'm glad I could share my passion with fellow gamers or people who cared to read about it.

I continue to harbour some kind of grudge against the "blogosphere", too, which is another phenomenon that I would rather disassociate myself with especially in light of recent events. In the past year the number of gaming weblogs has increased to the point where it's becoming harder to distinguish between them. They all want to be the voice of gaming in this grassroots effort to take back control from the ubiquitous gaming media empire. They all link and quote each other. They revel in their independence and ingenuity. This all sounds too familiar, though, and is the reason I hated weblogs to begin with. I don't want to be, or consider myself, a part of that.

For those that have supported me since the beginning I appreciate your kindness. This was always a hobby, a side project that allowed me to articulate some thoughts about my favorite pastime. Little did I know this would actually have an effect on people. It's a weird feeling, and never something I wanted when I started writing.

Forgive me for sounding like I'm about to give up, becuase that's not my intent. I have more than enough ideas and half-written articles to keep me updating this site for some time to come. I just ask you to understand I'm simply a guy with a website, who occasionally updates and talks about games.

Here's to another year at toase.net.

tending to the sores that stay