Massive Nerd

Ladies and gentlemen. Boys and girls.

I've been hard at work on the blog.

Notice the changes? OF COURSE NOT. I didn't say I was hard at work on THIS blog.

I have leveled up my Blogging Skill sufficiently that I've outgrown Blogspot.

So, I present to you: MassiveNerd.net.

I have transferred my FeedBurner feed over to the new blog. Those of you subscribed to the FeedBurner feed should not see this message in your readers. If you DO see this, you're subscribed to the default BlogSpot feed and will need to switch to the FeedBurner.

I hope you'll all join me, I have some big things planned.

Big things going down, friends.

I may have a short post or two in the mean time, but Fiction, Dragon Age Guides and Comics for Noobs are on temporary hiatus for the next week or two.

Trust me, it's worth it.

I was digging around Google Analytics the other day, looking at some stats from my old blog, when I happened upon something unexpected.

This

Phoenix_Fire is a student studying interactive media. He decided to start a blog, Fight Fire with Frostfire, exploring various aspects of online life.

In the above post, he examines the writing style of a blogger. Me.

After reading this article, I started thinking. It's important to draw the distinction between an "author" and a "writer." An actual AUTHOR would look at my work and lose their lunch.

I was going through some old fiction posts the other day as part of a side-project I'm considering. Reading through some of those old posts, with this new perspective in mind, I had a revelation.

My writing style is a jacked-up, back-asswards MESS.

But it's an AWESOME mess. All my stunted paragraphs and "one-line turnarounds," as Phoenix_Fire calls them, serve as a visual representation of the pace and flow of my writing. This was not intentional, just the way things worked out for me, but now has become my thing.

But so what? THIS. IS. SPARTA THE INTERNET. There are no rules here. If an AUTHOR submitted something like this, their publisher would throw them out a window. Luckily, I'm a WRITER. This non-traditional form of media calls for some non-traditional writing.

I just may be good at this thing, afterall.

Fellow writers, I would love to see your thoughts on your own styles, especially in the context of "online media" as opposed to "traditional media."

As many of you know, I work in retail. As such, time and energy are at a premium. I'll try to post as often as possible, but there may be some weeks... well... like this one.

At the very least, I'll try to make up for the quantity with extra quality.

In addition to scaling back on posting, I'm scaling back on playing.

I've deactivated my Aion account. No, I'm not like many out there ragequitting. When last I played (several weeks ago) I was still enjoying the game greatly. No, it's not perfect, and NCSoft still has work to do, and it may be too little too late. That being said, it's a game I wish I had more time for. Unfortunately, it requires an investment I can't give.

I'd rather spend that time playing games like Dragon Age: Origins right now. So, I'm scaling back from all subscription-based games to focus on single-player games for a while.

Once I finish DA:O, Mass Effect 2 and Final Fantasy XIII, with a chance of Assassin's Creed 2 and others, I'll start looking back at MMOs.

I still really want to give Champions Online a go, and I'm REALLY liking Star Wars: The Old Republic. Oh yeah, there's a little thing called Cataclysm out there, too.

So, I'm not going anywhere, chumps. I'll still be posting, just not playing anything Massive right now.

One year ago today, I started blogging over on Hardcore Casual.

I'm amazed I made it a whole year with this blogging thing.

The secret? The community. That's right, you guys out there reading this.

In celebration of this milestone, I have joined up with Byaghro, who some of you may remember, for his new website, Diabolical Minds.

No, I'm not leaving THIS blog behind. Rather, I'll be posting some articles over there that would benefit from some increased exposure.

My first post there is a quick introduction, so please stop by and look around. There should be some other familiar faces popping up on there, as well.

Update: Meh, I decided to go back to the old way. Nothing to see here, move along.

Doing a little maintenance with the site.

I figured since I'm expanding my horizons a bit beyond WoW and Aion, that it would be in my best interest to stop segregating the links here. It would get a bit too much with WoW, Aion, City of Heroes, FFXIV and who knows what else all over the place.

Although now, it feels a bit cluttered.

Thoughts?

Guess what, kids? I've got the whole next week off work.

You're all drooling over the prospect of massive content posts. Well, slow down there, Sally.

Yes, I will be doing lots of writing next week, but I'll be saving it all up for later. I'll be working through some fiction posts, as well as getting around to finishing up my Aion preview.

Instead, you'll be treated to Sam's YouTube Extravaganza! Monday through Friday, I'll be posting my greatest hits.

Strap in for Video Vacation.

This is a story.

A story about a story.

A story about a story which is part of a larger story.

Several months ago, back on Hardcore Casual, I started a project, Create Your Own Azeroth. I worked with several other blog authors to create a branching, choose-your-own-adventure-style story based around the World of Warcraft world.

For those of you who have not read the story, it begins here.

The project went well and was a great success. Unfortunately, due to several authors going dark, I suspended the project.

However, there is more story to tell.

Starting in the near future, I will be continuing the adventures of our hero, Corrigan, as well as others.

In order to preserve cohesion of the story, I have chosen one path of CYOA as canon:

Prelude, by myself
The Libram, by Syrana
Untitled, by Skipper
Stand your Ground, by myself

Now, this does not mean the other chapters are not worth reading. They definitely are. Honestly, I don't feel this was the BEST path through the tale, story-wise. However, this was the best to continue with the story. Corrigan's survival rate was... below average.

Again, I highly recommend reading through ALL the paths from the beginning.

A word of warning: In keeping with my more casual method of blogging here on Massive Nerd, as opposed to Hardcore Casual, these posts will not be on any set schedule. When I have one ready, I'll post it.

Of course, I can't just leave everyone hanging. I have to tease a bit:

The first story will reveal the secret of Sylphine's identity.

Hello, my name is Samodean, and I am a massive nerd.

Welcome new and old readers to my new blog!

First, a quick introduction for the new readers out there. I started up my previous blog, Hardcore Casual back in October of last year. It was a blog solely about World of Warcraft. Well, at least that's how it STARTED. Before long, I started doing weekly "Nerd Life" posts for off-topic discussion.

Over time, I actually started putting more time and effort into my Nerd Life posts than my WoW posts. Additionally, I've been growing increasingly tired of the game. After some time with the upcoming game, Aion, I decided it was time for a change.

And so, Massive Nerd was born. The purpose of this blog is just to give me a place for all the strange, wonderful frightening thoughts I have. "Nerd Life" style posts will be more than weekly. Nothing concrete, but I want to branch out into more topics. Constraining myself to solely WoW made it hard to write sometimes. Even though there is no primary topic for Massive Nerd, WoW and Aion will be receiving the majority of the coverage here.

One major change from Hardcore Casual is the posting schedule. I started posting sporadically, but then got more into it and was posting 5, 6, even 7 times a week. After several months of constant updates, I felt I was obligated to deliver that much content on a regular basis. And, well, sometimes I just didn't have much to talk about, and would spend great deals of time just figuring out WHAT to write about. So, some weeks I will post quite often, and some maybe only once or twice. Quality over quantity, my friends. So, when you see loads of Aion coverage leading up to its release, don't get too used to it!

Now, a quick note for my WoW blogging friends out there. I have not quit WoW blogging. I have not left the community. True, I no longer post about WoW exclusively. creatively, I felt this was the best direction for me. As such, I have scaled down my links. Hardcore Casual was a WoW blog, and I dedicated a large amount of space to blog links. Massive Nerd is more general, and if I linked EVERYTHING I read, this page would be nothing but a giant blogroll. As such, the small selection of WoW blogs I have displayed are the ones I read EVERY DAY, regardless of topic. I still read other blogs and will still be around for a while.

Once Aion launches, however... we'll see where things go.

Before this grows any larger, welcome all! Massive Nerd will feature coverage of World of Warcraft, Aion, console games, movies, TV, comics, anime and any other aspect of "Nerd Life" I feel others like me would be interested in!