Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Bright Lights, Big City

When I started my EVE blogging career back in late 2006, I never intended to become known. It was something I just did for myself. As Crazy Kinux pulled together the first EVE bloggers into the blog pack, I was one of about 20 EVE blogs and near the top in terms of output. It was a small insular community, a tiny fraction of the playerbase that was not well known outside a few reader.

But in 2007 and 2008 blogging as a hobby for EVE players exploded and the roll of blogs skyrocketed from a handful to over 500. Those were the heady days as podcasts were just finding their listenership as smartphone prevalence was still low, and Twitter was not yet born and streaming on Twitch was a fantasy. News sites like Evenews24.com and TheMittani.com didn't exist yet either so the only competition for the information and news that blogs provided was the cesspits that were forums.

Into this environment I found myself one of the more popular blogs as I had a lot more time to write tomes for posts and I had very little competition. I had a regular writing and editing gig at the EVE Tribune news site and for EON Magazine. For a while, I became a little space famous.

For me, I was at a perfect level of fame. Well known enough to be regularly recognized when in space and get shoutouts and occasional fanmails for my writing, but not so popular as to attract griefers who wanted to ruin my gameplay to make a name for themselves. I didn't get rich from my fame but if I ever needed a helping hand or was looking for a place to hang my hat, I had lots of offers. 

Alas, it all came to an end around 2011 as a new breed of better bloggers started to arise like the charismatic Rixx Javix and Robo-Blogger Ripard Teg, coupled with the new wider reaching mediums of podcasts, Twitter, and Twitch streaming, and the rise of new sites. On top of all that, I had a new job that required a lot more of my time and effort leaving less for in depth blogging. 

That's not to say I still don't get benefits from my fame. When I was looking to go back into Planetary Interaction in wormholes, I had an offer right away. When I was moving into Orca production, I had a partner to assist in defraying costs email me the next day. 

I may no longer be Space Famous, but my previous brush with celebrity status still pays dividends.

4 comments:

  1. when drifting through your home, I was keeping local under close scrutiny to see if I could spot you. Space Famous you still are.

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  2. You are still the man Kirith and I still read everything you write, so don't go blaming me for anything. Other than the obvious, which I take full credit for. Whatever that might be. The world has changed and so have we, life moves on in strange and interesting directions. But we're still a community and we always will be.

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    1. No blame or malice intended, my friend. :)

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  3. Sunday night in Heydieles a few corpmates and I were waiting in a small plex for a fight. I saw you and Marcel come in first and I called it out on comms. We ended up bailing because we numbered 6 and saw at least 10 on short dscan,

    I read everything you write and it's greatly entertaining. To me, you're still space famous :)

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