The Myths of Creatures Blogging
Remember that there are only two days left before the Discover Albia activity survey closes! There have been a lot of wonderful responses that have confirmed some plans I have, while also steering me in slightly different directions for other ideas. One focus of the survey was to understand how Creatures players view the activity of blogging. I use the words “blog” and “blogging” very loosely here, as they can also be applied to standard Creatures web sites in many ways. Some of the write-in responses stirred up some thoughts, and I put together a list of some common myths surrounding Creatures blogging. This certainly is not an exhaustive list, yet I hope these cover some of the most common concerns!
Myth 1: There are Enough Creatures Blogs Already
First off, there can never be enough Creatures blogs! I think some players may get caught up in the idea that there isn’t a reason to jump on board because there are a bunch of active blogs. Everyone plays the Creatures games differently, and has unique perspectives on the games. I’ve never come across a Creatures blogger who doesn’t welcome a new voice. True, some blogs may have a similar sort of focus, yet each one is different and appeals to different players and readers!
Myth 2: Starting a Creatures Blog is Too Hard
Although starting a new blog takes a little more effort than a snap of the fingers, getting started isn’t all that bad! I can personally vouch that it’s simpler than learning about Creatures genetics or CAOS. The real secret is planning ahead. Just opening up a blog and thinking it will all work out is a guaranteed way to fail. Why? Because blogs do require time and energy, yet how much of that is determined by the author. Many bloggers (myself included) are also willing to help new Creatures bloggers get started!
Myth 3: I Need to Invest My Own Money to Get Started
Creatures blogs require time, not money, to start and maintain. There are free services available for blogging and hosting that also cover coding and site design. The free stuff works very well, too!
Myth 4: I Have to be Well Known in the Community
New players can start a Creatures blog just as much as established community members! There are no popularity contests, nor negativity based on who someone is (or isn’t). New and old are welcome!
Myth 5: I Need to be an Advanced Creatures Player
Many Creatures blogs focus on advanced topics like agents, CAOS, and genetics, yet these are not required to blog! Seemingly simple subjects, like what happened in one of your worlds or why you really dislike the color of the C1 cheese, are actually really interesting content! Why? Because everyone experiences the game differently. And who knows: Maybe you’ll end up learning some advanced stuff!
Myth 6: Maintaining a Creatures Blog is Too Hard
It can be overwhelming to keep up with a blog. The trick is to set expectations: Do you want to post once a day, or once a week? Which of the Creatures games will you write about? What Creatures topics interest you? Is the color of the C1 cheese really that offensive? No one expects a Creatures blog to be amazingly active: It’s you, the author, who sets those expectations. Set them, stick to them, and all will be well!
Myth 7: No One Will Read or Care About What I Post
I once believed this myth, because I equated interest in my posts with the number of comments. Many readers may be silent, yet there are a good number of people who just love reading about Creatures!
Myth 8: I Can Quit My Job and Earn Money with a Creatures Blog
Showing ads on a Creatures blog may bring in a few pennies here and there, but we have such a small niche market. There are also Terms and Conditions that must be followed. Good luck with this one!
Hopefully dispelling these myths will show how anyone who has a little time and a lot of love for Creatures can get started! The best advice I can give anyone is to write for yourself and focus on subjects you enjoy. It can be tempting to start writing about topics that may be more popular, yet your Creatures blog is yours. Readers can sense when you’re passionate about a subject! Don’t ever feel pressured or stressed out about blogging. I also don’t want to make it sound like everyone has to have their own blog or site for Creatures-related stuff. This is merely a list to break down a few hurdles for anyone on the fence about taking the plunge. Feel free to share any links to new Creatures blogs here!
For some reason I often get ads for cheerios on your blog, and I don’t know why, but it makes me smile.
I wanted to add that when I first started my Creatures blog, it was for my own purposes more than anything. As a kid I would keep “diaries” about my worlds in WordPad files, and blogging was just the modern way to do that. So for another view of things, if you start a blog for your own purposes, be that monitoring a wolfling run or keeping track of your CAOS notes or just writing down all your endless ideas and dreams for agents/breeds, you will accomplish your purpose regardless of if anyone reads it or not. But I think bloggers will be surprised at what others enjoy reading; I know I was.
Thank you for that point of view, Amaikokonut! I think that’s a perfect way to look at blogging about Creatures. A blog works really well in keeping historical records of whatever you’d like! I’m also very interested in practically everything on Creatures blogs. There’s always something new to see, and I often get a lot of laughs out of the silly things that happen in other worlds. At the same time, blogs are often the places where I started to learn more about genetics and CAOS!
I’m pretty sure I started out Creatures blogging the same way as Amaikokonut; simply as a way of keeping a record on some tests I was doing. Years later I’m closing in on 30,000 page views with something stupid like 400 views a month. I can’t for the life of me figure out who these people are. I didn’t think our community was that big!?
Anyway, I really wanted to say that I LOVE finding a new Creatures blog. Every single one of them has had something new to offer. I actually discovered “The Shee’s Lost Knowledge” only this year and man is there some cool stuff there.
I would love to see a blogging community so big I can’t keep up with all of them. Get into it people!
It is very interesting to see how many visitors come to a Creatures blog! Not everyone comments, yet I’m always amazed by the number of people! Do you use Google Analytics, Arch? That’s usually a very accurate representation, whereas I found the Blogger interface was plagued with inaccurate statistics.
I love stumbling across new blogs, too! I only wish I could do a lot more stumbling. Blogging can be a whole lot of fun, especially about Creatures! I hope that we can see some new ones popping up in the near future!
I’m not using Google Analytics on my Creatures blog. I might have to give it a go, as I know there are some issues with the blogger stats.
Presumably you are using Google Analytics? How big a difference have you noticed? I might have to try installing the Google version and do a comparison.
When I was using Blogger, I believe the stats were overstated by quite a lot. I can’t remember by exactly how much, yet I’ve found that Analytics is a lot more accurate and useful! It can be very helpful to figure out if other languages should be supported, which types of posts get the most interest, and where visitors are coming from. Just remember that with all Google products (i.e. AdSense) Analytics requires certain statements within your privacy policy to be fully compliant. Hopefully it will work out well for you!
I started out after reading this blog and Naturing :: Nurturing, actually! I thought it looked like a lot of fun to document what was going on in Creatures worlds and wolfling runs and it was an excuse to share what I was learning. I just like sharing my gaming experiences.
I just wanted to add that I also thought nobody read my blog and it’s true that it can seem like no one is interested when there aren’t any comments, but you’d be surprised. A peek at my hits shows something like 10+ views a day. That’s pretty cool. The most important thing is feeling good about what you’re writing, though. If you write for yourself and like what you’re doing, then that’s already one person who cares about what you’re writing.
Come to think of it, a good blogging prompt might be “Describe your experience as a blogger”. It might be helpful for potential bloggers if they can read what current and active bloggers have to say about their own experiences, why they started blogging, etc.
That’s a wonderful way to get into blogging about Creatures, Kezune! I’ve run into the same predicament about not thinking anyone reads what you write, yet so long as you’re happy with what you’re doing, nothing else should matter all that much! Hopefully others will share their experiences with blogging, too. I agree with you that just knowing how others got started and overcame difficulties can be very motivating!
While I don’t have the disc and can’t really play Creatures any more because of my lack of money, reading this is inspiring. I think I’ll give it a go, with a slight twist.
That sounds awesome, Chip! Have you ever looked into the GOG.com versions of Creatures? They’re pretty cheap, and often go on sale. But if that is an issue, would you be looking at the C2/C2 bundle or C3/DS? Or even both? No reason for those questions…
I’m interested to see what twist you come up with! Feel free to share the link here, or contact me if you’re looking for personalized help. I’m happy to lend a hand or answer any blogging questions! Good luck getting it all set up!
Okay, it gets way too fanfic-y at times, but here goes…
The Trial of Chip the Third
The twist is that it’s a (currently terrible) fanfic/journal style thing based on the experiences I originally had as a young’un.
Chip, are you kidding? That is one of the most original and interesting ways to start a Creatures blog! I think it’s wonderful just the way it is: Not terrible at all! I’m going to make some comments and highlight this soon, because you have no idea how excited I am to start following a new Creatures blog. Thank you for starting it: I seriously can’t wait to continue reading what comes next!
Not to spoil, but… A fair bit of blog! Chip going a little bit funny in the head. Which is probably gonna be a recurring theme…
I’m intrigued so far! I know that it sometimes takes a little bit to spread the word about a new blog, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t get too many comments right up front. Except from me… I must control myself from responding to every post! Ha!
You know, I was thinking about this recently and I realised how much I want to share everything about my Norns. I’ve even started to feel like it’s a waste not to tell the world about what they’ve been up to, what kind of mutations they have, and of course about my botched attempts at genetic engineering. So I’ve decided to start my own blog. You seem pretty interested in new blogs, so have a link!
Mad Norn Scientist
That’s awesome, Shoy! Congratulations on opening up the blog: It sounds really interesting, and I’ll certainly follow along to see what happens with your Norns and genetics. I’ll also spread the word, since welcoming a new Creatures blogger is something the community really enjoys! Best of luck with it, and thank you for sharing the link!
You may have seen this, but I too have a new Creatures blog. It may not update reliably, because of the oddness of my laptop’s issues. But yeah.
Thanks for sharing! I found it the other day, and I’m excited to follow along. Welcome to the wonderful world of Creatures blogging! I hope it’s been fun so far: Documenting things and writing about Creatures in general got me into a lot of other areas of the games, and continues to be a great hobby!