Some of you may be aware that my posting over at WoW Insider has been sporadic, both in frequency and dare I say it: quality. The trouble is that when I accepted the position I had quite a lot of free time, and very little notion of that changing any time soon. I was looking forward to Cataclysm, and all the joys of raiding new content.
Fast forward to now, and I’ve had to move twice since then. My partner has moved back to Holland, where the job market is better. I’ve had to move in with my parents and take a 2 hour commute into my working day. I’ve also taken up horse riding again, an activity that was a major part of my life before university. As a result my time for the game has gone down substantially. Having to produce an article for WoW Insider based on such limited game time, and to the level of quality that website deserves just proved to be too much.
Hopefully this means I will be more inclined to post here. Posting on your own blog is a much freer prospect than posting for money. You have no editor to fix the things you’re doing wrong, and no deadline to miss. A mixed blessing. Working for WoW Insider has been an amazing experience, and a great challenge. I believe it has definitely improved my writing, even if my output plummeted. I’ve also made some amazing friends, and am still really looking forward to Blizzcon.
I will also have time to think about podcasting again. I loved podcasting, it’s a lot of fun and was great for my confidence so I hope to have time to do it again. And of course I look forward to gaming for the game’s sake, and for my friends, and because I’m passionate about it and not because I have to.






1
Jaedia at http://menagerie.jaedia.net/
I hope this reduces stress levels a little bit. Must say I missed you over here! Your posts have always been good reads and I don’t read WoW Insider very often.
I hope you guys have time to get Mana Obscura going again, it is the one podcast that I’ve been able to sit and listen to and enjoy
(Sword & Laser can be a good listen too but that’s a little unrelated to this comment) You’re both great at it.
Posted at July 7, 2011 on 10:57am.
2
Pewter at http://mentalshaman.com
Thank you
I’d love to podcast again, so we shall have to see whether Gaz and I can align our schedules again
Posted at July 7, 2011 on 11:27am.
3
Windsoar at http://www.jadedalt.com
Must say that I’ll be glad to welcome you back
I don’t get much reading done at WoW Insider due to the formatting and have missed being a regular reader!
Posted at July 9, 2011 on 1:30am.
4
Syl at http://raging-monkeys.blogspot.com/
Every time I come here, this place looks different.
For what its worth, I missed you posting here – you were one of the first blogs I regularly followed in the blogosphere and that stood out to me for tackling gaming taboos, bias and discrimination right on, focusing on the more social side of online gaming and communities (which I personally always follow with great interest).
Also, that WoW fondue of yours was awesome.
So, in short: welcome back, mental shaman.
Posted at July 19, 2011 on 1:14pm.