Hiatus

I’ve been on a bit of a forced hiatus from gaming.

With our house being shown for sale and therefore no games set up long term, and in fact no games set up at all it has been an interesting experience.

On the one hand, I’m hankering to put up a big multi mapper, clip counters and #rolldice. Yet underneath all that is a lovely sense of freedom from the blogging and video etc, of not being ‘compelled’ to get that next game played. That next video produced or game discussed.  In fact, I looked at the blog’s upcoming posts just a dozen, versus the usual 20-30 plus pre-programmed.

I’ve been enjoying watching others play, reading some rules and popping smaller one mappers with short play times on the table. In a most meandering whimsical fashion.

The other nice thing is feeling a sense of freedom to invest a bit more time into narrative writing or write ups of games played. Now your mileage may vary on perceived quality there, so reader is forewarned. ;).

This hiatus might inform my approach going forward. Less ‘regularly scheduled’ content [I have for the last 11 years posted every Thursday & Friday at a minimum and sometimes daily with short updates and tid bits], less of that urgent race to play what I felt I had missed out on during the period I was absent from the wargame table for 25+ years and a more of an enjoyable pace.

Down the Track

Which has me thinking about all of this long term.

I see a lot of cool fresh faces.

I see a lot of folks thinking they are going to make money blogging about wargames. Now that is adorable.

I see a lot of folks pushing 5-7 posts or videos a week. – Good for you. That from experience is yeoman’s work especially if it is high quality.

It is easy to get caught up in the ‘arms race’.  More, more, more. However that was not ever my intent. I really enjoy just playing, asking questions about the hobby, the publishers/designers and hanging out with you scruffy mugs.  I desire more of that and less ‘content creator’ nonsense.

I suspect there is a transition point where a hobby becomes a job. I’m not interested in another job.

Making your fortune in v/blogging?

Making a few extra quid from inserting Depends ads or Googles Grammarly ads really seems to be a waste of your time and my time; so trust me that won’t happen.  In the pure wargame world there are only 1 or 2 companies that could afford to pay for ad placement or content creation in any case. Most of the rest that I know of appear to have little-to-zero interest in marketing effectively and most can’t or won’t even do review copies.

Who knows about marketing?

Over the past few years I’ve experimented with measuring exactly what the blog and YT channel I run impact is on order flow with one or more publishers. In particular with one publisher we were able to measure the number of orders 48 hours after an exclusive post on several occasions. Those numbers were pretty impressive if I do say so myself! ;).  For me, it was more of a feel-good moment as I believed in the product and the designer. That publisher does not pay me. But yeah, I did get a free copy of the game in question. To me, that’s enough; a simple measure of appreciation.

I’m surprised more publishers don’t do this for the vloggers, and bloggers? Ask them to show you results and metrics. In any case, while there are many content creators, a Publisher could just choose a few and share a bit of love around. I think that would build a lot of loyalty, some incremental sales and raise awareness.

For me FREE stuff comes with obligations. I don’t really want to be forced to get that game on the table asap! Doing a game justice often requires the right mood, mode, and mindset. So as long as a Publisher or Designer knows that it’s all good. I usually end up patronizing their site to buy something in any case.

Contentment vs Content

So as I have been watching YouTubers, reading blogs etc, I’m looking at the owner wondering what your end game is. For many, it seems obvious: they LOVE what they do and it shows. 

They LOVE what they play, and talk about. It’s a passion.  Others, well others have little or no passion….I can tell dont know if you notice it?

Where did all that nonsense come from? – I was doing a contemplative 15-minute reading this morning. It talked about contentment. It really hit home.

One thing I realized is I am most content, when I’m mumbling to myself, hunched over some cardboard watching the story unfold. Adoring maps. Musing over tactics. Puzzling out how best to capture the designer’s intent, exploring the history.

I am most content when something happens and I grab my camera like an eyewitness reporter on the spot and snap a picture whose context and relevance are known only to me. 

Now… I am also content lying on a beach with sand between my toes and a crust of salt on my skin. I am content sitting on a mountain top balcony with a good book. I am content watching my 3 sons exercise their energies in sports, cooking with my wife, entertaining friends. You get the idea. 

As far as this hobby goes, I’ll be seeking more contentment and satisfaction and less content going forward.

#rolldice