LOL, well, this blog entry represents “Post Number One Hundred”. I guess that means I am not the most prolific writer. Not that I don’t like to write. I have actually put pen to paper and finger to key in many different forms. I have always liked writing. When I was in high school, my highest-scoring exams were in History and English, where the exam was three hours and was one or two essay questions. I would approach essays for those classes (English, Modern Literature, History) with a smile on my face, and that was before computers made things easier. Keep in mind that word processing didn’t proliferate until after I was done high school. It was a unique experience to get something like PaperClip for a Commodore 64. Which, by the way, could only handle 440 pages, and less if you got fancy.
I have actually started two different stories, and no, I won’t post them. They exist in the electronic periphery of my home network. Will I finish them? Maybe. I find writing my ideas out quite therapeutic, however, writing my problems out often is most damaging and upsetting.
I had never really thought about publicly writing anything. I mean, why would anyone want to read what I write? But, about four years ago, I unknowingly joined a group by simply registering my PlayStation 2 gaming console. I actually visited the PlayStation Underground PSU) a few times, but the cyberthugs, sanctimonious moderators and what seemed to be controlled chaos put me off of ever participating. A few days after I signed up, I got an invite to something called the Gamer Advisory Panel, or GAP. This was a more targeted marketing feedback group. At the time, it was similar to being in an office with thousands of cubicles lining many hallways: You couldn’t truly see everyone in the office, although you could hear some of them, if not most. You could interact directly with anyone there, as long as you navigated your way down the right hall, and stood in the opening of their cube. I got to know a few people, and during the few months after my arrival, but before the “new version” of the GAP was unveiled, I learned a few paths to certain cubicles in which I found friendly, familiar people. Some, like the first person who ever “spoke” directly to me, TexanFanatic (James, but I will not put his last name to protect his privacy) would visit me in my cube as well as making introductions. I really didn’t stay in my cube (write or post) much, but I did start visiting a lot more of them.
Then, GAP 2.0, as we called it, was introduced in September of 2005. It was a significant change in that now, instead of an endless sea of isolating cubicles, we were all now standing in the middle of a big town square. No hiding. No privacy. In fact, there were times where you couldn’t HAVE a conversation because EVERYONE was talking – and many just yelling at the top of their lungs because they could.
It was at that time I had started to write – and a lot. It wasn’t so much to yell louder than anyone else. My goal was to try to bring a calming effect to the GAP. Don’t post like you are sending Simple Message System text to your friends, but actually act like you are speaking to a few thousand people (who, btw, are ready to pounce on any percieved mistake). It was an amazing marketing tool for the group that created and maintains the GAP community. I actually befriended a few of the staff from that firm (Direct Partners). They were hired by SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment America) to create this subset of the PlayStation Underground in order to get more metrics and other indicators. For the most part, it works well, but there are a lot of members who just don’t get why the GAP even exists. To give you an idea of what I mean, if Sony has an ornate crystal figurine of, say, a dolphin, and Microsoft has an ornate crystal goblet, with a fine engraving of a cougar on it, the people I say “do not get it” are the ones that complain that they should be able to drink from the dolphin. No, really, it is that blatent.
There was an interesting social experiment done there, too. A few, actually. It was amazing for a few of us to watch what happened. From these experiments the terms “FlyPaper” and “WIIFM” were coined. There are more, of course.
One thing that many of us watched happen is the development of cliques. I was baffled at first, but when you consider the GAP community as any other community – even high school – it began to make more sense. You had the odd ones, the better-than-you group, the self-proclaimed popular crowd, the nerds (although – in the GAP, Nerdism is a prerequisite for being there, since anyone who is part of the GAP is by definition a gamer).
After a great deal of discord over the rules, about 6 months after GAP 2.0 was introduced, DirectPartners added moderators to the GAP. I was one of 14 moderators, although 2 of them remained ‘quiet’ about being moderators when the rest of us went public. It was a good idea, in retrospect.
One thing I did learn to do is write online in a fashion that lent itself to conveying not only the story, but the telling of it. Pauses, stresses, purposeful misspellings and phonetic spelling. The use of [square] brackets to denote an optional word or phrase; the use of asterisks to describe an action associated with the prose *rereads the line he just wrote*; using ’single’ quotes to define a sarcastic or less effective paraphrase, rather than “actually quoting a source or previous fact”; using BLOCK caps to STRESS words, rather than using a bold or other typeface option; and … if needed … adding ellipses to indicate a dramatic pause. It was fun to do, and many times, I wrote simply hoping that anyone … someone … would just get a smile or giggle or open their mind, just for a moment.
After a time, a friend of mine (who I cannot name) from the GAP introduced me to WordPress by letting me know he had a blog there. I loved it. I started my own blog not long after that. I have started (and either closed or passed on) a few others since then. This is the only one I have now, and I will never get rid of it. I have mentioned my enjoyment in having a weblog on WordPress to a fair number of people, and at least 10 of them have actually created (and kept up) a blog here. I don’t want credit for that – I only mention it because I think it is cool.
Although I seldom ever actually post about ME, it is sastifying to be able to write. Even if nobody ever reads it. But, if you do read it, I thank you. I don’t expect comments, but they are always appreciated.
London Speak