blog demerits

["Brandon J. Van Every" <vanevery@indiegamedesign.com>]

Benja Fallenstein wrote:

> On 5/25/05, Brandon J. Van Every <vanevery@indiegamedesign.com> wrote:
>  
>
> > Benja Fallenstein wrote:
> >    
> >
> > > Is there any interest in this at all? Would someone else want to read
> > > such a diary?
> > >
> > >      
> > That's pretty much the raison d'etre of a blog.  I have a problem with
> > blogs: they go on and on and on about somebody else.  My patience for
> > that is limited, as is most people's.  I personally think that
> > discussing / debating these issues is more valuable to people.  When
> > multiple people contribute to a discussion, multiple people are mentally
> > engaged. 
> >    
>
> But whenever we have been discussing something here, I've drawn my
> examples out of thin air, because examples from the projects I've been
> working on would have taken too much explanation. If I had the
> explanation already online in the form of a blog, I could just
> reference it. 
A website can serve as "sticky" knowledge.  It doesn't have to be a 
blog.  A blog will tend to bury anything you did previously under 
anything you're doing now.  I know my own website sucks, but I've 
decided that when I revamp it, it's not going to be a blog.  Rather, 
it'll be a focused, well-indexed showcase of my best content.  I really 
feel that blogs are about quantity, not quality.

> I don't think that you would have more patience for me
> posting my design notes here than posting them on a blog...
>  
If they are very long, probably not.  My experience from running 
gamedesign-l and participating in several forums, is that people don't 
have the patience to respond to a huge overwhelming thesis.  There comes 
a point at which one's problem is too specific and intricate to one's 
own concerns.  If things get that long, it's better to post a working 
implementation on a website and then have a forum where people can ask 
questions about it.  Or bring it up for discussion in forums, at "more 
typical" volume levels.


Cheers,                     www.indiegamedesign.com
Brandon Van Every           Seattle, WA

20% of the world is real.
80% is gobbledygook we make up inside our own heads.