By now the blogging world is well aware of the departure of two big names, BRK and Resto4Life. They aren’t even the only bloggers to have retired their pens – I also see a general slowdown in the entire community. Now granted all this stuff went down awhile ago, but yours truly didn’t just want to come here and say “Yeah, this sucks.” So I let it sit, and thought about it and tried to gather some deeper meaning. And honestly, it really made me think about the world of WoW blogging — like a lot.
So my question to you is this: is there something bigger going on in the WoW Blogosphere? Or is this just coincidence that two of the big boys (well, one big boy and one big…gal – to be fair) have made their final exits? Maybe some kind of swine flu or general malaise is sweeping World of Warcraft Writers, or maybe it’s just time for a select few to take their bows.
The Fleeting Nature of Blogging
Blogs are, by there very nature, somewhat impermanent. Just think how easy it is to set a blog up today. Anyone and their grandmother can head over to Wordpress.com and get the ball rolling. You can be blogging in minutes, literally.
Well, as easy as they are to set up, in many ways they are just as easy to shut down or let go. It’s not like we (the bloggers) are all under contract somewhere. Very few of us, if any, see any kind of income out of the deal, and we don’t have editors begging us for more posts, either.
Take my blog, for instance. I have a middling number of subscribers, in the 500’s (as you can see from my sidebar) which isn’t great, but is decent for a WoW blog. I have a Jinx affiliate account, that has a whopping 7 bucks in it. Still too low for them to even send me a check. I’ve yet to see a dime from my work, and in fact I have to spend 8 bucks a month for hosting along with paying to renew my domain every year. I am by no means complaining, I just want to illustrate that WoW blogging is a largely thankless job.
Larger blogs may earn a LITTLE bit, but not enough to quit a day job and take up blogging full-time, I guarantee. And not all of us can catch on with WoW Insider, where I hear they get actual checks.
What’s the point? Bloggers aren’t beholden to anyone, even the big blogs, and can close up shop at the drop of a hat. That’s just the way it goes.
Nothing to Write About
The release of Wrath homogenized many aspects of WoW. Gear was distilled into more distinct, but more inclusive categories. (Caster gear, Melee DPS gear, etc.) The classes themselves were remixed in a way to make all classes at least adequate to fill any role. Druids got their out of combat Rez, for instance (pre-Wrath, I know, but still part of the larger Wrath update).
On top of the homogenization, everything was made a little bit easier. Leveling in Northrend is a piece of cake. There’s a whole host of easy to attain gear, including BOE crafted epics and the like Heroics are doable right when you hit 80, without the need to grind rep or get “attuned” to anything. Even raiding is easier. I would argue that a lot of good blogging had to do with the more difficult aspects of the game. What’s the best way to grind rep? How can I gear up for T5 raiding? What’s the best array of healers for an SSC run?
All of that is gone. I don’t really need to update my post about gearing a Resto Druid. Just find a leatherworker and get it done. The same can be said for most classes. Sure, it might be best to have a mix of healers for raiding, but you can go with 4 druids and a pally if you so choose. It can be done.
Hell, we can’t even complain about not being able to solo as a healer for grinding cash or whatnot. We have dual specs now.
So I ask you this, what is there to write about that’s really compelling? I don’t know, maybe that explains the slowdown of posts here, in some way.
Blogging to Write
Another issue I see relates to the act of Blogging itself. And to relay this point, I’ll once again get personal.
I began Part Time Druid because I loved WoW, but I also REALLY wanted to be a writer. I felt like I wasn’t pursuing that dream in any way, and I wondered if I could somehow translate my WoW obsession into writing. I thought about WoW a lot, maybe I could use it as a tool to jumpstart my actual attempts at writing. I can tell you without hesitation that my nefarious plan worked – it really worked.
Writing the blog gave me confidence that I COULD in fact buckle down and put words on paper. It gave me valuable practice at the craft of writing, and it even gives me something I can SHOW people. Yes, I do write. I’ve had close to 100,000 page views or whatnot. Some people even read it.
I don’t think I’m alone in this, either. I suspect many bloggers were people who really wanted to write. Maybe they just never felt like they had anything to say, or couldn’t figure out how to make it fit in. Blogging about WoW can give you easy material, and plenty of practice and feedback.
For me, personally, I do keep writing. I just don’t write as much about WoW as I used to. I like to think I have more interesting things to talk about, and maybe some day I’ll link out to my personal blog, as others have done in the past. I don’t know.
The Real Reasons are Individual
I don’t think you can really boil it down to a couple of universal reasons — it’s probably more personal than that. BRK found real life calling, wondering where he had been. Phaelia decided it was time to start a family, and made the wise choice to concentrate on that. I can’t blame them.
For all of you reading this who don’t already write a blog, think about this. You probably play WoW a lot, often thinking you play it more than you should, but not as much as you’d like. (A terrible conundrum, I know.) Now imagine adding to that the act of writing about your obsession. You thought about WoW a lot before, now imagine having to come up with things to write about on top of it! It can get overwhelming at times. Do I really want to think about this game so many hours of the day? (Yes I do, but no I don’t…you know what I mean.) Am I wasting my time with this?
You have to look in the mirror, and honestly ask yourself: “Do I spend too much time thinking about a game?” My guess is that BRK and Phaelia asked themselves quite similar questions, and came to similar conclusions. Yes. Yes I do.
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I think it totally depends on how you approach your blog. BRK and Phae are great examples, but they approached their blogs, like many others do from a teaching standpoint more or less. And as you pointed out, besides healing or dps strategies everything else has a less steep learning curve than before.
But then you have people like me, fim, BBB, and several more who approach blogging as an extension of the game. I know for me, when i get excited about something or annoyed by something, it overflows like Mt St Helens. Getting it out in gchat isn’t enough. So it goes in my blog. I figure if I didn’t spend “too much time” thinking about WoW, I’d just as likely spend too much time thinking about some other thing, and sometimes, that’s just as bad.
Nicely put.
I agree that there just simply is not that much to talk about any more. When I started it was to have aplace to keep my guides and lists. things that are no longer really needed.
Not even gear lists are looked for much any more thanks to the magic of gear weight filters on wowhead (I know I use them too)
With every thing so laid out for us and overall easy to figure out there just is not much need for the things I used to write.
As for me, I am kind of trying to find my voice again. To find something to write about that will matter somehow.
Dechion’s last blog post..The more you tighten your grip, the more will slip through your fingers
I wouldn’t think that WoW bloggers quit because there’s nothing in WoW to write about, but simply because they stop playing WoW, usually due to real life commitments. In fact the Wrath expansion has added a lot of potential blog fodder – achievements in particular.
Either way, a blogger will churn out posts as long as he/she wants to, even if there had been no achievement, one can write about guild, or the little things that happened on one sunny day. A WoW blog isn’t much different from any other blog – it’s distinguished and defined by the author’s attitude and style, more so than the actual content displayed.
While the community hurts a little on the inside with the depature of prominent bloggers, it is only natural that other writers will gradually rise to prominence. Looking at the big picture, it’s more or less a cycle, and I’m sure the community will continue to grow with the prospect of Arthas and his army looming over all of us, as well as the possibility of future expansions.
I’ve never ever written a guide, as far as I remember. My posts are generally pretty useless to anyone. At most they may give someone a little piece of food for thought. Still I think I need a createive environment to work at my best as a blogger. When many of my favourite blogs close down or cut down on writing (like you) it will effect my own blogging. I lack the igniting sparks, the lines that make me think and start the thought process leading to a post. There is a sort snowball effect (can you say that in English?) when the blogs start to fall. You know when they tumble down a hill and take more snow with them on their way…
I haven’t started blogging until recently. Why? Because I finally picked up the courage to start. Yes, I have trouble sometimes finding subjects, but I don’t think that has to do with the game as much as with me not feeling writing about certain topics.
And maybe, just maybe, blogging is like an economy? A self fullfilling prophecy? The more negative people become, the less well it goes. A never ending spiral, until someone stands up and breaks it.
Shy’s last blog post..Guide to the Red Proto Drake
As old blogs stop posting, new ones pop up just as fast (you can see just by all the new ones introducing themselves on the Blog Azeroth site).
I think people still do want the help and advice, which is why I started my blog. I had been a highly active member of the druid WoW community for as long as the game has been out, but I never thought about blogging – until resto4life shut it’s doors and I realized that would leave a huge hole in my beloved community – so I am taking the time to fill the gap that I believe was left, and there are a plethora of other druid blogs that have information just as helpful (or more helpful) than what I post.
With being basically a brand new blog, I still had thousands of visitors the week that 3.1 went live because I put up a post with links to a variety of druid specs for all the druids picking up their dualspecs (and because WoWinsider’s publicity for my blog took it to new hights instantly, lol). I still get a ton of hits from people google searching for help on how to play their druid. DPS rotations got harder in WotLK, and healing got more complicated, too. I had a brand new druid on my server actually send me an in-game mail seeking advice the other day.
There’s still a huge demand for information. While things may feel obvious to some people, there will always be a demand for guides to help newer players, and when old blogs close, there will always be people who can fill those shoes in some capacity or another.
People come and go with an MMO. It happens, but I don’t think blogging is dieing, I just think that some people have RL stuff that happens that take them away from the game. Maybe I’m just optimistic ’cause I’m new to the blogging community?
Lissanna’s last blog post..Legendary Part 2: How much can druids heal for in 15 seconds?
One more thing. Right now is the end of the semester for a lot of Universities in the US (not sure how it works in other countries). Anyone blogging who attends or teaches at a University is hitting the end of the semester rush, and once they’re on summer break – they may find themselves less busy, with more time to write… It’s part of the cyclical nature of the school system…
Lissanna’s last blog post..Legendary Part 2: How much can druids heal for in 15 seconds?
I really hope the age of blogging isn?t dead.
I am not a ?blogger? like the majority of your other replies, just a reader.
I haven?t played WoW since December (my daughter was born in January,) and even then I was playing part time, I have upgraded to wrath but not touched the content – infact I would say that I have not played properly since before tbc and the days of molten core – I have a level 70 character, yes just one, and he has not seen any of tbc content either.
Real Life is of course to ?blame? ? I have moved house, and started a family with my new partner. I have more jobs that need doing than time to do them. I would LOVE us to play WoW as we used to, that?s every night all night, but it just can?t happen at the moment. Hopefully once all the ?BIG- jobs at home are done and the little one (who is gorgeous by the way) sleeps the night happily there may be time for us to get back to playing WoW ? even if just a little ? until then I have blogs, they keep me in touch with the game, just a taste. Something to read in my lunch break (how sad am I?)
If you remember I said that I would stop reading this blog once you shifted your main to your warrior but I am still here, can?t give it up. So I say again
I really hope the age of blogging isn?t dead.
[...] Over on Part Time Druid, they seem to be concerned that somehow WoW blogs are going to die out or no longer be useful. I just don’t see that as being the case. I just think that the community of bloggers (just like the in-game community) is going to change over time. Some people leave, and some people join in their place. [...]
Bloggers who are looking to make money by writing about WoW are best advised to steer away and look for another topic. WoW itself is an extremely narrow niche. There’s a rare few that can even make money writing about it. When I started writing two years ago, I never got into it for the money. I was writing at a loss (and I still am).
I’m still as passionate about the game and writing now as I was when I first started. It’s hard to believe and I get questions all the time “Don’t you get tired?” “How do you do it?”. The ideas, like the spice, must flow.
It’s a wonder I’m still here. There have been times in the past where I’ve come so close to throwing in the towel myself. But I’m still young. I’m still in school. Don’t have a family or anything else like that to invest my time into. I suppose that makes me an exception.
Professional WoW blogging isn’t all that its cracked up to be. There’s a lot more pressure involved and you find yourself rejecting some of your own creativity. It’s hard for me sometimes.
Matt’s last blog post..Healing Ulduar: Freya
Great post PTD, as always…
I think that with such a confined circle of blogs, the loss of one or two is amplified.
In reality we probably see more people leaving our guilds on a daily or weekly basis, and I am sure WoW looses subscribers at a huge rate… but they may not personally effect us, so we don’t really notice.
WoWbloggers notice the departure of WoWbloggers, and undoubtedly many of their loyal readers do to…
But tomorrow’s bloggers and readers probably wont appreciate the significance of these departures.
Ultimately I will keep on writing as long as I feel like writing (and playing WoW). I have been on the verge of burnout with both Blog and WoW on numerous occasions… I have just had to stop and think things through… I’m still here today, and probably will be tomorrow…
Gnomeaggedon’s last blog post..Oztraylian bloghers?