I think one of the disadvantages the d20 boom brought hardcore gamers was the proliferation of products. There was no way to keep up with the amount of books being published, and it even made WotC look like they were pushing too much D&D stuff out the door. Now, I think some of that proliferation was great, as it let a lot of people write and publish RPG products that never would have had the chance. It also introduced us to a lot of great ideas. Unfortunately, there was also a lot of junk.
One thing it did was further fragment the D&D community into small segments. When you only have one or two products a month coming out, then there’s a whole lot of common ground and shared experiences. So while Ryan Dancey’s vision of network externalities seems to have played out, it also diluted the social glue that held the RPG community together. While all groups are different and everyone does things their own way, it’s nice when you can look back at a year or set of years and have a shorthand for communicating that experience. I don’t think the d20 years have that, and as a result people’s memories are going to be more about mountains of books than particular experiences.
I’m wondering if the same thing is happening now with the explosive success of RPGBloggers.com. I find myself unwilling to read 50+ posts a day, especially when a lot of them turn out to only be a couple of paragraphs long. Great blogs, as we know, have longer articles with a lot of meat. This conversational tone isn’t helping me tune in, it’s forcing me to tune out because I only have so much time in the day. So, over the next week or two, I’m going to be tracking the blog entries I read off the RPG Bloggers feed and subscribe to the ones I like individually.
What do y’all think? Is there an RPG blog glut? 
5:48 pm on October 27th, 2008 1
There are a lot of RPG blogs out there, certainly more than I had thought existed, but I still have my regulars I follow through Blogger. I find a quick daily scan of RPGBloggers lets me hit up the best of the rest.
I’m sure some of it might die down. Keeping up a blog is difficult, and many blogs croak after a wee bit. We’ll see how that’s handled when it happens.
6:09 pm on October 27th, 2008 2
I see what you mean about the glut.
I never understood the one-paragraph blog post; honestly, what’s the point? There’s practically nothing to respond to, which pretty much ruins the comment value. Sure, a lot of little posts increase the amount of time you’re on the front page, but one big post a day shows you’re putting more thought into it. (So I refuse to write anything less than 500 words, except on Friday nights when I’m running game.)
I save my time by the simple expedient of having topics I just won’t read. If it’s system-specific, I’ll probably tune out, since it’s almost never something I can get use out of. If it’s a game review, I’m probably not going to get any use out of it. If it’s not even remotely relevant, and I can tell ahead of time, I’ll probably avoid it.
Excellent article!
6:19 pm on October 27th, 2008 3
I don’t think that a proliferation of content is ever a disadvantage, whether you’re talking about d20 supplements, RPG blogs or whatever. More choice = more choice, and that’s always a good thing. Sure, there’s going to be a mixture of good and bad quality, but just because I don’t like something doesn’t mean there isn’t an audience for it with someone else, and the really, truly awful stuff tends to disappear pretty quickly anyhow.
Give me the RPG Bloggers’ Network with 500, 5000 or 50000 members and I’ll be happier still. I reckon the problem isn’t with there being too many blogs, but with needing some way to filter and categorize better. And we’re assured that’s already been worked on.
I agree that short posts can be annoying though. Give me meatier, more interesting posts that downright invite comment. Like this one, for example…….
In the meantime, hang in there
I’m certain it’ll be worth the ride.
8:27 pm on October 27th, 2008 4
[...] How does one handle all the JUNK out there on the many RPG blogs wonders the Gamer Dome. In the specific case of the RPG Bloggers site, maybe they could add a recomendation [...]
8:41 pm on October 27th, 2008 5
Someone already listed in the comments above once said that the RPG Bloggers Network is like drinking from the proverbial firehose.
I already subscribed individually to about as many blogs as are listed in the bloggers network. Yeah, its alot of double listings this way, but it OK.
As for the one-paragraph posts… i think it might be something to with new bloggers (myself included) who have limited time and are trying to keep the flow going. One post per day, someone once said, is a good way to blog. As my blogging experience deepens, I’m learning the ropes and restraint is the hardest part to learn. Restraint from clicking that “Post Now” button, that is. I’ve commented before that the RPG blogosphere is much like an echo chamber - this wierd hive mind where people seem to spontaneously post about similar topics minutes apart. Thus, any drive to be “first to post about topic X” also drives us towards short - rapid fire posts. Heck, the rest of the blogosphere can fill in the meat, right? [sarcasism]
In all seriousness though; I don’t think this is much different from what I experienced in the Science blogging community a few years ago. Everyone was suddenly into it. Everyone was suddenly posting everything that popped into their minds. Eventually, 90% of those blogs disappeared. The 10% that remained were either the same 10-posts a day blogs (but for some reason had a dedicated audience) or they evolved into more thoughtful, “meaty” blogs with real content. Either way, the shake out was a good thing - it helped give people an venue to vent, alot of new connections were made, and a number of important projects started (and died) and made an impact.
I think the RPG Blogging community is just going through growing pains. Once the wheat gets separated from the chaff, the number of posts per day should die down. If it doesn’t, then RPGN should maybe adopt a new model; maybe one that includes quality control or an independent board that chooses their members or something. For example, a model for a blogging network like SCIBLOG.com works extremely well - where a dedicated number of GOOD bloggers write OFTEN about CHUNKY/MEATY TOPICS. The sciblog.com website gets tens of thousands of hits per day and hosts all the blogs within the sciblog.com domain. It is every (most) science blogger’s dream to blog there - but each and every one of those bloggers who DO blog there started out as an indie blogger just looking for a soapbox. The quality of their posts opened doors for them - and they were invited to join sciblog.com.
OK… i’ve rambled long enough.
12:18 am on October 28th, 2008 6
Greywulf nailed our thinking here. We could be more exclusive into who we include, but we chose to be more inclusive. At the end of the day, we’d rather the good blogs get exposure from us and have people subscribe to their individual feeds than look to us to be an exclusive source. Part of what makes the blogging community so good is the individual spirit.
Phil and I are hoping to kick off something soon that will show off some quality posts from each week in a bigger and better way than just featuring them… so stay tuned.
And for the record, at the risk of sounding defensive, our stats seem to indicate that there’s roughly 30 posts in a day, so the amount of time a particular post is on the front page tends to be around 24 hours now.
12:50 am on October 28th, 2008 7
First, I share your sentiment about not having that common ground between players that we had pre-OGL. If you were among D&D gamers, chances were everyone knew about I6: Ravenloft or Undermountain. There was something cozy about it. Of course, this could be nostalgia talking. Today I might mention an entire line of products and the person I am talking with might not have a clue.
To be sure there was a huge amount of crap being published in the beginning, but I feel that the weak material/publishers have been weeded out for a few years now. The one thing d20 did do was act as a crucible and forged some very strong companies that now produce great products [Green Ronin is a magnificent example IMO]. I also think the competition made good designers/writers better. I also agree with Greywulf that more choice is better, but now gamers that were once free with their dollars are a little more wary about where they spend it [not to mention the downturn in the economy].
As far as the blogging community goes, I am one of the “Johny-come-lately” bloggers. I don’t know how many existed before the creation of the RPG Bloggers Network or how many were inspired after stumbling upon it. I started about a week before it was created, but promptly joined when I heard about it. I do find there is a lot of “empty content,” but different people like different stuff.
Hell, I find one of THE most popular, award winning blogs out there is a lot near meaningless drivel, but obviously people like going there and participating in it. And do not misunderstand my intentions, I am not bashing someone’s blog or trying to incite some “Blog Wars” fiasco (and not it’s not THIS blog, else I wouldn’t be posting!). I am merely illustrating that some people like the shallow, one paragraph posts. This IS the web, and since it’s inception, people have been polluting it with subpar content.
I’m also not saying my stuff is the best written blog in all of blogdom either. But I think I have put a decent amount of thought behind 90% of my posts. And I don’t do it just to see my blog’s name float down the front page of the RPGBN.
Here is a question I would like to pose:
“Is blogging (regardless of topic) about the reader or the blogger?”
Many people blog as a hobby, unconcerned about the number of hits or people’s opinion of their posts. It is about the process. Writing can be therapeutic. Some people do it only for the pageviews and praise of others, and therefore write what seems to draw the most people. And somewhere in between are the gems. The bloggers that do it because they like what they write and hope that a few people share their passion.
It seems there is already a decrease in the number of posts per day coming through RPGBN, as I posted this morning and you can still see my article on the front page. It may be some “winter slump,” but I imagine the trend will continue until we only have a handful of dedicated bloggers left, much as Jonathan has seen with the Science bloggers.
I can only see the “glut” doing the same thing for the blogging community that it did for the d20 publishing industry. It will be a crucible that will forge better content while the slag falls to wayside.
And Jonathan thought he rambled on…
1:25 am on October 28th, 2008 8
I’d definitely like to be clear that I wasn’t calling anyone in particular out. My blogging has certainly gone to crap lately, and sometimes I like the short posts. It was more just a general musing about how things had been working out, and how much I found myself just clearing all these days instead of even scanning headlines for interesting posts. I think that started after I clicked one too many interesting headlines to get one or two paragraphs at most. I’m guilty too, as I said, so it’s less a judgment and more a comment.
8:16 am on October 28th, 2008 9
On the “RPG glut” I strongly disagree - do we expect that only as many novels, TV shows, movies, and board games be produced as we can personally read/watch/play? This feeling is a legacy of how small the industry’s been, where people feel like they have some right to “being able to get it all.” But in the retail world, there are usually more context clues you can use to determine what is good/fits your tastes and what is not, so you can target the small percentage of the space that you will enjoy.
On the “blog glut” - yeah, I also wish there were a distinction between people posting things that qualify as actual articles and the more short-form communications. I seem to remember a star-rating system when RPGbloggers first came out but it disappeared. But a ratings/digg/whatnot system might help with that. And maybe if the summary said how long the whole post was, that info should be accessible. And perhaps expose the tags. I would find it a lot more consumable if each article summary was more like
ORX and Retail Pricing (****/18 votes)
Guy ([info]tundra_no_caps) recently went over the retail plan IPR provides to its members. I’m not much for math normally–I tend to avoid it at all costs–but his numbers started me thinking about how the retailer discount was affecting my overall profits… (27k)
8:19 am on October 28th, 2008 10
oh, forgot the tags… here’s my “dream entry” that shows all kinds of good info (not sure the comment count is possible)…
ORX and Retail Pricing (****/18 votes)
Guy ([info]tundra_no_caps) recently went over the retail plan IPR provides to its members. I’m not much for math normally–I tend to avoid it at all costs–but his numbers started me thinking about how the retailer discount was affecting my overall profits… (27k/11 comments) tags: business, gaming, math, orx