So here’s the deal, yo. I’ve been at this blogging for Wizard 101 for about 270 days give or take a few. Things have kind of changed and evolved here, and so in looking forward, I’m going to just take a quick look back at what we’ve seen and let you know where I stand now.
When I started this blog, I was mainly talking about me and my adventures as I crashed through the game. I found my way on to the community list and became listed in the group of bloggers. I made a couple videos for youtube and the blog. And, after working through Moo Shu, I started really helping my kids play their characters through the game, and they seemed to appreciate it (say in unison with me now, "Thanks Dad.")
Meanwhile, I was formulating plans in the background the whole time of how I could make this blog into something really significant and important. What I came up with was interviews! Interviewing Nelson Everhart, Professor Greyrose, Super Death Wizard, and Cheyenne were major publicity for the blog. People I believe really became aware of this blog through announcements both on the Wizard101 main site and through announcements on Wizard101 Central. (I still have plans to do something more meaningful with this blog, but it’s been proving difficult.)
Meanwhile, I was still playing the game and decided to start making the mooshu video journals. This went well and was an easy way for me to catalog me moving my kids through mooshu. Halfway through that process Dragonspyre happened. BOOM. I took the mooshu video journal idea into Dragonspyre and completed Dragonspyre while knocking out a four-part video series.
Meanwhile, The Evil Twin comics and the Google Searches made an appearance on the blog.
Meanwhile, I’ve been holding Kyle and Amber back from completing Dragonspyre because I wanted to level them with my friend Caleb. We hardly ever get together to play unfortunately. The REAL Kyle and Amber have pretty much lost interest in the game. Kyle would rather play ToonTown or the Wii and Amber would rather play Free Realms or Barbie Castle designer. (That's the nature of my kids though: they like to roam and sample games rather than stick to one and really feel it out . . . I guess I didn't pass on that gene.) I started leveling The Evil Twin and Isaiah Taleslinger in the meantime because I didn’t want to level my kids’ toons without my friend.
THEN, player housing happened. Now I’ve been posting pretty much a new item a day for the past few weeks.
Boom.
So what’s next? Here I am, a dad who really just wants to play with his kids and express myself, and I’m now playing Wizard101 with others (wonderful others mind you) instead of with my kids and expressing . . . something. And somehow through it all I’ve become the “featured blogger” and gained an actual audience . . . I’ve never had that before to this extent.
So what do I do? Do I start blogging about these other games I play with my kids and become a gamer daddy blog instead of a wizard101 gamer daddy blog? Do I keep posting about Wizard101 and reaching out to the fans? What do I do? I like the connections I’ve made at Kingsisle a TON. I like the people that read my blog a TON. I like that people will stop by my blog for info a TON. I try to keep up on information and find the pulse of you guys, but I don’t know.
What I do know is that I’m not sold on providing an “item of the day” post for the rest of existence. It is easy content to provide you all with, but it’s not my job (I’m not the wiki). My job is to follow the pulse of the game, to be true to myself, and to provide you with entertainment and actual news so you’ll keep coming back. Maybe an insight or two and lots of hyperbole in typical blogger fashion. ;-)
So, yeah, I think I will keep reinventing myself. I think I will try to keep giving you the goods on Wizard 101, but in my own distinct way. I’m not going to settle into a rut and gather dust (hopefully *brushes off shoulders*).
NOW, with all that said. My family and I are expecting number three to appear on the scene in early July. I’ve basically got one month until my time goes from limited to WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED TO ME AND MY TIME! This state should last at least six to nine months more. After that point with a newborn, things start to chill just a bit more.
So I’m up for an interesting ride, and hopefully you are too if you come along with me on the journey and if I can manage to still create interesting things for you to look at and read.
I guess the point of this post is just to say, things, they are a changin', and things, they’ve been changing all along.
Happy Dueling (the one thing that remains constant around here)!
12 comments:
Friendly, ol' buddy, pal of bloggers and wizard 101 players everywhere, you are up for the craziest ride of yor life. the third kid, in the middle of perhaps both your first kids most developmental ages (i dont know you never told us their age) is one of the most dangerous areas to tread. but, look on the briht side! if you get little necro on wizad 101 at an early age, there is a good chance he will stick withh it for the rest of his life. he will be pround his dad is the famous Friendly Necromancer. i'm still a kid so its weird for me to be typing these words, but its from knowledge that i gathered from my parents making me watch far too much educational television. my parents hide absolutley nothing from me. ya know i acctually have reason to believe that the world will end sometime between now and 2012. well, there is the 2012 thing obviously. then theres world war three and the MAD (mutually assured destruction) which is another item that proves just how stupid the government is. they are willing to kill everyoe, just to kill the enemy. its suicide! and number 3 doomsday theory, CERN. yes, CERN. tey have been working on a 17 mile long proton collider. they call it LHD, the Large Hadron Collider. they are remaking, in essence, the Big Bang. in miniature. there is always the threat of tiny black holes just big enough to suck up Madagascar, drifting to the center of Earth to band together to a normal black hole. and the rest is simple cause and effect. in short the cause and effect is this: Cause: Humanity is dumb, Effect: World Ends. simple as that.
Well friendly, I'm not quite sure that this will be the craziest ride of your life. I live in a family of three kids, and I came first. Then my sister. And when my little brother came, we just loved him and played with him. So as far as kids dealing with it, I think that will be fine. (Or at least I hope so.) And as for your blogging, I know you didn't write this blog just to inform us about the item of the day, but it's really fun to see. I check here every morning to see what the new item is, and it's usually amusing, and it sometimes makes me wanna go farm for it. So, what I'm saying here is, Please keep the item of the day feature. Just because you keep it doesn't mean you can't still blog to us about your wizard101 adventures. You can still do that all the same.
Hope all is well!
~Michael~
Wow, Justin, turn off the television.
Despite what TV tells you, micro/quantum black holes are no danger. They have no power to suck the Earth into them, they dissolve almost instantly (the small ones) due to something called the Hawking Effect, and their minuscule surface area is unable to swallow in much of anything before they dissolve. Black holes of any sort have no more pull than the particles that went to creating them, and the gravitational pull of a few protons will not bring in enough particles to keep them from dissolving by emitting Cherenkov radiation from the quantum shifting of the event horizon.
MAD ended in the 80s with the end of the Cold War.
What 2012 thing? A Mayan calendar ending in 2012? Means what?
When you see something on television that seems just a little too alarming to be true, do some research and what you find may lead you to become yourself a great scientist.
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Friendly, I think there are plenty of new W101 bloggers who have that item of the day thing covered. You can pass the torch on to them, I think. You know I will read anything you write!
Hey! Bring evil twin back! That was an awesome carton. I think you should bring in guest bloggers and more interviews, aren't they your claim to fame?
anyway, visit my blog! I got the promo pet.
Hi Friendly,
This is the first time I write to you but i read you every day. First, congrats to you and you wife for your wonderful family. I totally understand you wanting to spend more time with your kids. Even if it means you write you blog less often. I am sure your audience will come back even if you take a break from blogging. I know i will.
hey friendly this is my first time blogging you but i come here every day before i play wizard 101 to see what new news you got or to see what cool items i can try to get so please keep bolling on wizard 101 and keep bringing the item of the day i enjoy it and bring the evil twin comics back please also hey if you do leave to spend time with your family for a short break that's cool too but i hope to here about you when new world is here.
I am fine with a paternity leave, btw. I think you need a break from your two or so years of blogging.
Dear Friendly,
Man you really do pack a wizardly punch with this audience. The truth about my blog all started out with reading your blog. I had first set my eyes on your blog in November 2008. Then finally it had inspired me to build my own blog. I post new things such as Marlybone's Unique Bos Drops, Spoof Comics, and random helping posts. The ideas I have had over the few weeks may come into play on my blog. But most of all I would like to thank you, because if it was'nt for you, my blog wouldnt be a blog; it would be nothing. Nada. Nunca. So thank you.
My blog is coming along now btw. I got a new background ( Idk if it will say despite my readers' opinion, or if I think it will fir the bill of staying on there )and my banner is swell I guess. I am still a teenager, so I cant go out and buy some good editing software ( I would've gotton a job, but I'm not of age yet!). My trumpet playing is going good ( I am in marching band, it's super fun! ), our band goes to places all around the state to compete in marching competitions and to play at football games and fairs.
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Anyway's back to W101. My house is coming along good. I am mostly collecting items from bosses and from around the spiral. ( such as statues, or STAT YOUS :) I am deciding if I should decorate each room like each world. Like my living room is Mooshu related, my quarters are Krokotopia related, etc.
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Also, congratz on the incoming baby! I bet you he will be ecstatic when he finds out that the Friendly Necromancer is his father!
So your kids are losing interest in W101? I think that I could ever loose interest in it! Wii is fun but I love W101 and all the fellow Wizards/Bloggers that inhabit it!
Your Blogger Friend and
Defender of the Spiral,
~Isaiah Spelldust
hey there friendly this is my first time blogging you but hey it's cool if you take a break you done a great job with wizard 101 and good luck with your new baby coming and good luck with your kids too. wizard 101 fan jesse night shade ^_^
Thank you all for your support and your comments. I'll be addressing them all more in an upcoming post or two. I really appreciate you all telling me what you would like to see more of on this blog.
Thanks again!
I just want to congratulate you on your *gasp* third child! I can't imagine life with more than 2 of the little buggers at this point. I'm sorry to hear you'll be taking a break since I just found your blog but fortunatly I have 2 years worth of reading to catch up on and maybe you'll be back by then!
Don't worry! I'm not going anywhere yet! ;) keep tuning in and I'm glad you found the blog!!!!! (yup, just went a little crazy with the exclamation points there.)
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