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I noticed the other day that Server Fault has a blog. Obviously this is a bit of a unique case as the main SO blog is about the engine in general, but there is no reason we could not organize a Gaming.SE blog.

I would think that to be successful the topic of this blog would have to be about MORE than just the website. It'd have to be about gaming in general. Thus it would include related topics in:

  • New Technologies in Gaming
  • Upcoming Games (reviews)
  • Professional Gaming
  • Discussion of topics on the site
  • Good Games others may have missed (recommendations)
  • other Discussion Topics in Gaming (that would be beyond the scope of the site).

Ideally, some of the more prolific members of the community would participate (I image there are a number of people who would be interested in games Grace plays). To support this it is necessary to have some level of integration with the site. With the SE API we could support features such as:

  • User Account access (either entries or comments)
  • Linking to accounts and questions
  • Posting if you have certain qualification
    • Answers in a minimum number of tags
    • A minimum number of answers
    • Something rep related

Now, it is not necessary that we actually be affiliate with Gaming.SE in any real way, but I think that affiliation may strength this relationship. The blog would be designed as something to support the community and give forum to otherwise Off Topic questions and advice. Finally, the blog would solve the problem of "I know the answer to this cool question, but I don't want to be the person to ask and then answer it."

So obviously I can't run this blog by myself, I'm going to need to start recruiting from the gaming.se community. So consider this a call out for writers.

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    Psh, I doubt anyone would be interested in a game like Mukashi Mukashi aru Tokoro ni Totetsumonaku Naka no Warui Twintail no Shimai Himesama ga Irasshaimashita to sa.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Aug 24, 2010 at 14:22
  • Is that a real game? It sounds very interesting but I couldn't find info on it
    – juan
    Aug 24, 2010 at 14:39
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    @Juan Yes, although I had to hand-transliterate it. It's made by the same group that made Lethal Application and Lethal Crisis. The title (which occupied 4 lines of text both in-game and on the box) roughly translates in English to something along the lines of "Once upon a time there were two twintail sister princesses who did not get along very well". It plays similar to US Super Mario Bro. 2, but with cooler mechanics and an insane chaining system. And of course there's naught but twintails, twintails, and more twintails.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Aug 24, 2010 at 14:42
  • The game maker is Daisessen you can find their website here: daisessen.com Also I think I've proven my point. Also: daisessen.com/releases/mmt.html
    – tzenes
    Aug 24, 2010 at 14:44
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    That sounds like a great blog post @Grace...
    – juan
    Aug 24, 2010 at 14:50
  • google translate of the page from @tzenes translate.google.com/… translate.google.com/…
    – alexanderpas
    Aug 24, 2010 at 16:44
  • @alexanderpas I didn't find the translation helpful, but all the urls are written in english, which does help some.
    – tzenes
    Aug 24, 2010 at 17:16
  • @Grace You just gained about 100 points of awesome there.
    – C. Ross
    Aug 24, 2010 at 19:49
  • @Grace in other news I downloaded MMT last night, and its a lot of fun. It's odd how a concept as simple as "chaining" takes a game from good to great.
    – tzenes
    Aug 25, 2010 at 18:21
  • @tzenes: Now that the blog exists and has content, maybe you could add a link to the question or accept Macha's answer so it is easier to find?
    – Larry Wang
    Aug 26, 2010 at 4:23
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    I will want to participate to some extent, perhaps write a few reviews or game-recommendations that I consider must-play games ;) -- for starters we could make a post listing our favorite games (whoever wants to be in that list that is)
    – juan
    Aug 26, 2010 at 14:00
  • @Juan grab me or Macha in chat
    – tzenes
    Aug 26, 2010 at 15:38

3 Answers 3

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I have created a temporary blog at gamingse.wordpress.com under a new wordpress.com user account. If we decide to go with a self-hosted wordpress site, the data will be easy to export from wp.com and import to the self hosted site.

Once we decide who will be the primary maintainer for the blog, I will give them the password to the user account used. (I can't just post it here, for obvious reasons)

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  • Beautiful post @tzenes.
    – C. Ross
    Aug 25, 2010 at 17:12
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    @Cross I'm not sure how happy I am with the tone I used. I wanted it to be playful and humorous, but I think it came out a little too aggressive. I'll see if I can improve on my next one.
    – tzenes
    Aug 25, 2010 at 18:19
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There's no reason we couldn't organize this independently; as far as affiliation goes, it could be a possibility once we graduate from Beta, or before if it gets enough traction.

At the very least I don't see how it could hurt us, so it's a great idea.

Actions speak louder than words, so I'd say we do it, we do it great, and then it'll be easier to ask for stuff from the team!

disclaimer: I don't currently have a lot of time to participate, but I do have some

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    The most reasonable solution in my opinion as well. Do it, prove it's worth an official recognition. Not the other way around.
    – Gnoupi
    Aug 24, 2010 at 15:48
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I think @Juan's reply in this thread is pretty spot on.

There's no downside to trying to organize one. I applaud the initiative.

A site blog sounds like a great idea. I would say the best advise is to get one going as proof of concept. That doesn't require our intervention. There's not much we can do on our end to "give you a blog." It's one thing to want a blog. It's an entirely different matter to put one together and to keep it up. That's the hard part.

Blogs are an inherently one-to-many publication. You would have to figure out how this blog would be created and published "by the community" so it is considered a gaming.stackexchange.com blog, otherwise it's just a blog by... somebody. If the idea works, it's easy enough to find ways to somehow affiliated with your site.

We use Wordpress. It seems to work well. Wordpress has also developed into a very capable content management system. Perhaps you would consider using it that way: Wordpress as a Content Management System.

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  • assuming we could implement this on our own (ie without general SE intervention) how would you feel about a blog where members over 10k rep were given automatic publishing privileges? I'm asking from a purely philosophical standpoint.
    – tzenes
    Aug 24, 2010 at 17:18
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    @tzenes: I don't know if that's the way I would personally implement it. A blog should have an editorial layer dictating quality and a suitability of posts. I think—and this is totally my off-the-cuff opinion—a blog made up of "anything submitted by users with X reputation" would be a mess that few would read. Think about a print gaming magazine comprised entirely of anything submitted by WoW users who have completed X quests; not very appealing.
    – Robert Cartaino
    Aug 24, 2010 at 17:57
  • I see what you're saying. I would have liked it if there was a nice easy tie in, and given 10k rep users had mod power this seems to signify we're given them a lot of leeway. However, even that is controlled by the community at large and mods in particular. I would still like this to be a collaborative blog "by the community," but that seems to be a non-trivial problem.
    – tzenes
    Aug 24, 2010 at 20:09
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    @tzenes: Maybe we should have it so that some (community selected) people have the ability to approve/publish posts while those above a certain rep limit can submit posts? Of course, it sucks a bit for those whose posts are turned down, but they can always post it on a personal site then.
    – Macha
    Aug 24, 2010 at 20:48
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    @Macha certainly having moderators for the Blog makes sense, as there are moderators for the rest of the community. I haven't really thought through what the active role should be though.
    – tzenes
    Aug 25, 2010 at 18:20

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