I've solidified my plans to blog my experiences in Age of Conan, starting from launch day.

Around the blogosphere, I see a lot of general-purpose MMO / MMORPG blogs, a large number of WoW-specific blogs and a few blogs gearing up for WAR (Warhammer). Although interest seems to be high for Age Conan, I haven't seen any noteworthy blogs specifically about the game.

Mind you, I might be looking in the wrong places, or just not seeing what's directly in front of me. After all, my own blog doesn't have a lot of apparent signs of my plans, other than my just stating them now. Once the game is rolling, the players will be more evident.

I think also, for many people, WAR is the MMO they're waiting for and they've been looking at AoC as the distraction until then. I was much the same way when I played City of Heroes before WoW.

If you spot any good sources of bloggers likely to concentrate on Age of Conan, let me know. If I find myself reading them, I'll drop a link down my left sidebar here (which needs reorganizing anyway).

I just ragged on microblogging and its inevitable digression into minute and unnecessary details, which I do realize makes me a bit of a hypocrite, especially considering the following:

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I'm thinking about blogging my experiences in Age of Conan, while I roleplay my way up the levels, complete with screenshots and the occasional video post.

It's been a long time since I'd roleplayed, but that's the plan for our guild in Age of Conan, on an RP-PvP server. I don't plan to get heavy-duty, I won't be having any roleplayed weddings or deep story multi-act scripts, but basic world immersion and a few scenarios appeal to me:

• Mysterious Guild undertones. Our guild is planning almost an ARG-like puzzle buried within the guild's own little rituals and whatnot.
• Bandits that waylay travellers on the roads. After encountering it back in Ultima Online (I ran into road tolls all the time, I wouldn't go that far), I've always wanted to repeat the experience, only as a bandit and not a victim. ;)
• I want to get into my character. Immersion is good and I find it difficult within Azeroth, where pop-culture references overwhelm much of the lore. Mind you, there will be some reference's in Funcom's version of Hyboria, I'm expecting a bit of Lovecraftian overlap, but that kind of flavour just adds to my joy.

We'll see if I can keep it up though. I did try to keep screenshot progress of my original leveling in WoW (in cheesy shots with my character waving to the camera), but I never uploaded those shots in a timely fashion.

This is an old subject, but one that I'm finding myself revisiting time and time again. Call it a desire to pigeon-hole if you like, but what category of "news" does blogging fall under?

First, let's filter out all of the personal blogs, plus take out fiction and the pure aggregators. Oh and don't forget the spam and corporate promotion blogs, skip those too. Everything we're left with is trying to be newsworthy.

There's no simple umbrella for blogged news, but I think I've got it down to three basic categories: Journalists, Pundits, or Joe Schmo with an opinion.

• Journalism needs standards. That's my opinion, one I hope is shared by the general populace. Even basic op-ed reviews need standards, you wouldn't review a movie you haven't seen, or a game you haven't played, right?
• Pundits can be listened to once and then ignored. They tend to push a rigid and repetitive stance, that's why they're pundits.
• Joe Schmo, that's the tricky one. There are both educated and uneducated opinions. Once an opinion is decently educated on the topic at hand, the lines between Joe Schmo and Journalism begin to blur.

Despite some nasty setbacks in videogame journalism, a goal of integrity should be maintained. In fact, those setbacks will probably strengthen the field. They've also opened up a hole where the bloggers can compete with the establishment.

If you've got what you think is leaked information about a game, verify it. Everyone loves a good fresh leak, don't they? But if it's not true, it's causing damage. And respect the NDAs, even if you aren't the one that signed it. In fact, this is why NDAs have become so prevalent in our industry, so many hotshot wannabe reporters can't hold their tongues when they should.

What do you care, if your pagerank goes up you're happy right? If game blogs get mired in false information, a high pagerank won't be worth much with a disenfranchised audience. Make trust the default, don't post suspect information.

Honesty and integrity before pagerank, please.

Normally I like Tobold, but lately he's been posting opinions about monthly fees on new and upcoming games that I strongly disagree with. Specifically in his articles "WAR is expensive" and "Pirates of the Burning Sea is too expensive". I think he's making some overly simple assumptions about information he's just not privy to. I don't think these are fair claims to make in the face of the significant financial hurdles that face independent developers like Flying Lab Software.

To be fair, Tobold tempered his opinions recently with "Listen to me! Or rather not", which was refreshing.

Are blogs journalism?

It's the conundrum with blogs, isn't it? Are we just players with an opinion and some webspace? Are we journalists, do we follow the ethics of journalism? Do we skip those ethics, like much of the recent media does and just spout whatever is on our mind? Some of us have significant readership, with fans who could take our meandering thoughts as facts, so do we take responsibility for that?

Truth is, Tobold is just as human as I am.

Speaking for myself, I've been a videogame journalist (official, card carrying so-to-speak). I've got my credentials and I can stand up and say I know a thing or two after years inside the industry.

But this blog is hardly journalism.

I'm not a journalist anymore. Something snapped for me a little while ago, where I realized my passion for games was being watered down from the inside. Playing games again just as a player was so enjoyable. Dammit I love games. But I couldn't let go of stuff I knew and opinions that begged to be expressed. So I converted my personal blog to this. MMOROG as a name is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, I'm not all encompassing within MMORPGs by any stretch. I don't want to be a pundit and I hesitate to jump back into journalism.

Too many Pundits

I'm uncomfortable with Pundits, they stick their feet in like roots and twist information to suit them, branching off in tangents stacked on one assumption after another. More and more blogs seem to be falling into punditry. Meanwhile, the journalism side of the videogame industry has been stuck in its corrupt game reviews system for decades.

I want to read opinions from other players who're comfortable to post just as players. Or the rare journalist that manages to maintain that honest perspective that's not hinged on an advertising (or web traffic) agenda. Perhaps with the independence of bloggers we'll see more of this, but so far the likes of Kotaku, etc. haven't been encouraging.

So here I am, trying to keep myself in check and I guess it's natural for me to act a bit like a watchdog now and then toward others. I'm sure Tobold means well, but I've been around the block and sometimes I sniff something that smells funny to me. I'm jaded and I'd like to see more validity from anyone reporting on games, bloggers or otherwise. That includes myself.

If anyone has any other reading sources for MMORPGs that they trust and respect, I'd be happy for some new links. They don't have to be chalk full of information, just express an insight or two.