I learned this morning that yet another Eve Blogger has decided to shutter the doors. I've been writing Eveoganda for 12 years now and I've seen blogs come and go, some of them burning hot for a time and others fading away without much impact. Great blogs. Funny blogs. Helpful blogs. Doesn't matter. And the reasons why they fade away or vanish or die doesn't really matter in the long run, they all blend together into a fable of real life commitments, lack of enthusiasm for the game, failures of content, or a million other reasons. It happens. Few things are intended to last forever. And blogs, while often strange and fascinating things, are no different.
If you haven't noticed by now, I am a truly weird person. And trust me, you aren't the first person in my life to notice this about me. So any advice or comments I make have to be taken within that context - I ain't normal. Every single day for the last twelve years I wake up and sit down at my computer to make certain decisions about the day that lies ahead of me. Much like you do I suspect. One of the very first things I do is consider writing a new blog post in these pages. Some days I manage to do just that, like I'm doing right now as I type these words. And somedays I don't. Much like the last five days when I decided against writing a new post. I've been unusually busy at work, but I've also been unusually busy getting things ready for the Frigate Free for All next Saturday. Thousands of ships need moved. So it has been an unusually busy few days. This is not what makes me weird. (Not entirely) What does make me weird, at least in this context, is that I've managed to work out a way to write consistently over twelve years and 2,644 posts. About Eve Online and my experiences with the game, the community, and the world that has sprung up around it. That my dear reader, is the weird thing.
I ain't going to stop. And that might just be the weirdest part. Oh sure, someday, somewhere, down the line the words will finally stop pouring from my mind. I may keel over one day while writing, or vanish in a mysterious incident, or just get too damn old to form complete sentences. It will happen someday. But until then, I'm planning on continuing. I've written these words back when this blog was HOT and getting an average of 5,000 readers a day. And I've written it when it was cold and the numbers dropped. As a matter of fact, and of perspective, I've written through three waves of that cycle. Back in May of 2013 over 145,000 unique visitors read this blog. These days that number is averaging about 25,000 a month. Luckily I don't care about numbers. In May of 2019 only 6,200 unique visitors read this blog and yet I kept writing it. (And for those of you reading these words, this is the first time in 12 years that I've ever even mentioned specific visitor numbers.) I don't write these words to be popular.
And maybe, perhaps, that is the weirdest thing of all. I write for a lot of reasons. I started this blog to have a place to share my artwork. It evolved into a journal of my time in-game and the struggles of finding a career inside of Eve that I would enjoy. It has grown into a combination of many things over the years, a soapbox for changes, a propaganda machine, a trial of meta-gaming and war starting, a hunt for missing Frills, a diary of real life challenges, a mix of humor, politics, anger, frustration, and lots and lots of artwork, videos, stories, podcasts, and much, much more. But behind all of that is a personal determination to express myself and what I love about this crazy universe of ours. And ultimately if that makes me weird, then so be it.
I'm saddened any time another blogger calls it quits. But I've lived through it a hundred times. I've lived through being called a "Blogger" in a derisive nature by trolls, of being shunted aside, ignored, called profane things by important members of this community, and much, much worse. And I've lived through Community Spotlights, interviews, podcasts, and sudden waves of popularity. I've had posts that created real change and posts that have been largely ignored. I've had to get used to the idea that I have to write in a strangely repetitive nature so that new readers don't feel left out. Writing a blog about Eve Online is a strange, weird, unnatural thing.
There has been some comments circulating around about Streamers and YouTubers contributing to the demise of the Eve Blogging community. I'd like to say a few more words about that subject. It is certainly true that there are only so many eyeballs to go around and that the "Blog" is a rapidly antiquated and often archaic form of communication, lacking in motion, music, and special effects, I would argue that the two things are mutually exclusive. And while I do not personally watch streamers very often, I do enjoy many great YouTube channels and appreciate them both. I have nothing against content creators of any type and wish them all success. I have never once felt that such things have impacted these pages. Not directly. And yet I have written in the past about the general impact of other forms of content creation and the impact they have had on blogging in general. Because they have essentially killed it. But not for the reasons you might think.
Content creation is hard. It takes time, commitment, and passion. It can consume you. And blogging is one of the hardest and most time-consuming paths open to a potential content creator. I've just written one thousand words (1,002 up to this point) on the subject. Who does that? Try that on a regular basis. Content is the reason why blogging has faded away and other forms have grown. It's as simple as that. And that is no reflection on those choosing a different path. Good for them. But that is the reality. Blogging takes a lot of time and energy to get going and even more time and energy to sustain. So do other forms of expression, of course, but this is an Apples and Oranges comparison. And let's not go down that path. There is nothing to be gained.
I'm happy that I can write these words. I enjoy it. I like sharing my adventures with you. And I will continue to do so as long as I am able, or as long as the desire to do so continues. Others may choose other paths. And that is also fine.
It is, after all, a big universe.