Influence

Do bloggers have an influence on what games people out there are playing?

I have to say, yes. Personally speaking. Not so much in the fact that people read your comments about other games and think “so and so didn’t like this game, there for it must be bad” but more so in the fact that when people read a blog and see you enjoying a game, they think they too will enjoy it. Plus, they’ll ‘know’ someone who’s playing. When I read blogs out there I think ‘wow, it seems like Cordanim is having a great time in EQ2, maybe I should give it another shot’.

It also works the opposite way. When you constantly discourage people to play a game, word gets out. “Ohh. If I play THAT game, maybe so and so won’t like me any more, they dislike that game.” I try really hard not to discourage people from playing any game. I write about what I play and what I’ve experienced, and if people are playing EQ2 while I’m playing Vanguard, that’s great. It’s a great game. I think every game out there has a niche for people, and it doesn’t matter at all which game you’re playing or even if you play none of them at all, so long as you’re happy. No one else is paying the subscription fee for you anyhow. I dislike telling people that they shouldn’t play a game because of whatever reason, or that maybe they should play something else because ‘enough people play that one already’. In the end, it doesn’t matter. Play what you will have fun in, there are great points to every single one. Bad points too. Everyone’s experience will be different, and unless you at least TRY it, you won’t honestly know. Don’t just follow a crowd because it’s the ‘cool’ thing to do. People can be wonderfully intelligent, and I’d expect anyones gaming to reflect as much.