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One Year. 405 Posts. I Talk a Lot


Dear Readers,

Hi there.  I’m Sugar.  We often interact but we rarely speak.  Some of you have chewed through the 405 published posts I have created over the last year.  Today, on the year anniversary of the blog itself I’m talking directly to my readers about the blog, its past, and its future.

Format changes: I am an artsy type of person.  Leaving my blog static does not appeal to me.  I decided to change the format to reflect the current now.  I don’t plan to change it constantly because that becomes rather distracting.  Yet, the blog itself is evolving into its own creature.  I’m just along for the ride sometimes.

Why I started: As a new player struggling, everything I read was about how amazing people were.  I felt so terrible because I sucked badly at the game.  Yet, people constantly said that I was doing fine and that it takes time and things will improve.  This was true, sure, but I wanted to write about it more, so I did.

I wrote about how awful I was.  I wrote about my mistakes.  I wrote about the times that I learned something that made me feel stupid because I had not figured it out before.  I wrote about little things and I wrote about big things.

I wrote about unimportant things.  I wrote about them because I was not often finding them written about.  The learning curve is steep and the well known illustration is a representation of the struggles a player has.  One reason for those struggles is that when we leave ignorance behind we seldom return to it.  Therefor, documenting it and the knowledge that came seemed a good idea to me.

I also like to ponder and chew on topics.  Its rare that I can find someone that wants to listen to my endless, idle thoughts   Blogging lets me write about what is on my mind without wearing out the people around me.  A large part of my alliance did not even realize that I was blogging, pretty much daily because I wasn't self promoting.

I've gotten a bit better with a link on my bio and as much self promotion as I can stand (which isn't a lot).

Why I changed the name: My original blog name “The Walrus bucket” was a whim and a bit of humor and silliness   I’m not actually well versed on memes.  As groundless as my first months in Eve were, so was my blog itself.

When I started writing daily I decided to become a bit more serious.  I wasn't sure if I’d actually keep up with the blog at first.  My early posts were simple and boring and had nothing to offer other then my own personal confusion.

Once I was in low sec, and living in low sec, and dealing with people not believing that I lived in low sec, I decided I wanted to chart what was going on.  My time in low sec became more and more fulfilling.  I had some PvP kills I had a few billion ISK, I felt, if not successful, productive.  I was also walking the path not often traveled and I wanted to share that with people like myself.  People that like to research and read about others doing the tings they are thinking of doing.

But I couldn't pick something pirate based for the blog name.  I wasn't really a pirate.  I was a newbie in a  rifter or a t1 fit rupture and I was terrified of everything.  I tagged along and tried not to die.  I felt that it would be the height of arrogance to label myself and my blog about piracy and pvp.  After all, I spent a lot of time salvaging in a Noctis.  That was distinctly not pirate.  I was ready to shine my tractor beams in their eyes.  Yet, the mental adjustment started there, when I tanked it and fit a point onto it.

The concept of me writing about my Lifestyle in low sec worried me a bit.  At the time I was not sure that I was committed to staying there.  I felt that I did not belong.  Like I was an impostor   I rarely spoke to anyone outside of my corporation because I did not believe that they wanted to hear me or that they’d take me seriously.  I also had nothing to give back for everything that I took in (knowledge).

I went with something neutral.  Something that would not inadvertently lock me into things.  If I left low sec I guess I could change again.  But I felt ready at that point.

The side effect is that I will delete the walrus bucket today.  It is fully mirrored onto Low Sec Lifestyle.  Its had 100 page hits in the last 4 months so I think its about time for it to go away.

What is the blog: The blog is me.  I try to be honest here.  I try to lay out my mistakes and failures as clearly as I do my achievements and success.  I try not to gloss over my losses but to write them with as much detail as my wins.  I lay myself open for others to see my flaws because Eve needs that.  Someone has to admit that they have fun while not being amazing.

What are the goals:  I often feel like a terrible blogger.  I look at people with their guides and their ship fits and their deep analysis of the game.  I’m off trying to take pretty pictures of my Jaguar’s engine trails against the backdrop of a planet. Everyone else seems so interesting and insightful.  Me.  I take pictures.

I often feel like an impostor   I don’t have a deep, insightful words on Eve’s game play to share.  I am also not a particularly good or badass player with incredible adventures to follow.  I mean, I reveal in the joy of making an Orca.

I expect to remain goalless.  I write from the font of my creativity and whatever bubbles out gets put to text.

What is the future of the blog: I am very close to getting my own domain for flexibility.  Blogger is a wonderful tool and I will continue to use it.  However, as I write other things I’d like a better format for them to be displayed on.  This is an ongoing project that I've been pondering for a few weeks now.  I’m relatively sure I will be going through with it once I figure out a domain name.

I have some ideas on what I’d like to have.  Its nothing world shattering.  I’d simply like a larger palette to paint on.

For now, I've started up a secondary gaming blog for the things that I play that are not Eve but I still like to chatter about my adventures.  I'm also adding some book reviews since I am an avid reader.  One of the best ways for readers to find new books is through other readers due to the nature of publishing.  Plus, it amuses me.

My Readership:  Who reads my blog interests me a lot.  I’m mildly obsessed with the statistics page.  It tells me what posts people seem to like and what ones they don't.  I never know what is going to spark a lively discussion.  Some interesting things have come out.:
  • I normally get over 400 hits a day right now.   I have no idea if this is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ or ‘indifferent’.  
  • The hit statics have grown pretty steadily since June. In May I was adverging under 100 hits a day.
  • I have someone(s) from Russia who have been reading from almost the very beginning.  I know this through the geographic chart that blogger provides.  Back when I had 10 hits a day, I constantly had hits from Russia.
  • People seem to have me in their google readers.  I'm honored.
Thank you for reading:  I am happy that I entertain people (good or bad) enough that they come back and continue to read.  If there is any commitment I can give you, it is that I will try to keep people engaged.

Questions and Answers: I have no idea if anyone actually has any for whatever random reasons.  I’d like to put it out there just in case.  It’d be fun and I’ll probably answer most things.

Comments

  1. Congrats on your first year. I remember linking some of your early posts to Twitter and the like, because I thought you deserved to be more well-known. I'm glad that's happened for you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Before I started reading your blog, I was very dismissive towards the lowsec players, considering them dumb/bad IRL. I think all "carebears" would agree. You proved me that it can be a totally normal and nice person roleplaying in a video game. I look at the "pirates" very differently today because of you and your blog. Maybe others too. Bringing light where was ignorance is a great thing! You have a good blog and you are a good writer.

    PS: 400 daily visits isn't bad, especially that EVE doesn't have that big community. I have 4000 after 5 years, most of it spent in the much bigger WoW community. Not bad at all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm very dismissive towards highsec players, considering them dumb/bad IRL. Gevlon has not proven me wrong.

      Delete
  3. Blogger and I are still working on the new layout. It likes to reset my settings

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't even play EVE anymore and I enjoy your writing. Good Job and thank you for the entertainment !!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congrats! I enjoy your blog and the new layout is great. Waiting eagerly for new posts in the new year.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I stumbled onto your Blog from Miura Bull's blog, Ive been checking it almost every day since. Good read as always and Congrats!

    ReplyDelete

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