Poll: Should “Stargazer’s World” cover non-RPG topics as well?

There's *a lot* of blogs about videogames already… just saying. 🙂
.-= Stuart´s last blog ..Aiming and Evasion Reloaded =-.

Sure, and Stargazer's World will always be a pen & paper RPG blog, even with some irregular board game or video game posts.

I worry that Stargazer's World is in danger of losing its focus already with the addition of the extra authors. While I probably wouldn't even notice if you slipped in the occasional post about some video game you were playing, if pen & paper RPGs just became one of a number of things covered, I see that as a problem; any blog where I read less than about half the posts probably gets demoted to the "read if somebody links to an article" list instead of my daily feed.
.-= Joshua´s last blog ..Introducing New Players to D&D via Stonehell =-.

Joshua, I can assure you, that Stargazer's World is not about to lose its focus. I am just in an experimental mood right now and that's why I started this poll.

Too late! Interest… slipping… can't stay… awake….

I kid, I kid.
.-= Joshua´s last blog ..Introducing New Players to D&D via Stonehell =-.

You are an evil man, Mr. Macy! 😛

Quite a few RPG podcasts make the mistake of rambling on about videogames at the beginning of their episodes. If they don't get to the RPG stuff in the first 15 minutes (my walk home at lunch) I usually give up on the entire episode. Blogs are similar.

If I clicked through to read an article on Bloodbowl (for example) thinking it was the tabletop game and found it was the videogame, that'd put me off quite a bit and I'd be less inclined to click through the next time I saw something about Dragon's Age, D&D, etc. where it might also be about a videogame.

That's not specific to your site, but about all blogs that cover gaming. 🙂
.-= Stuart´s last blog ..Aiming and Evasion Reloaded =-.

As I am propably the one who got Stargazer pondering this idea (with offering to write a bit about boardgaming), I guess I should chime in:
Ironicaly me of all people would urge you to be very careful to broaden the thematic range of your blog too far – especialy so shortly after opening it to additional authors.
I really only plan to add my thoughts on boardgames once or twice a month as a small variety to your usual RPG-fair, for which you are well known. If you start to make one or two posts a month on all kinds of losely related things, all this other stuff can easily drown out, what people are coming here for: RPGs.
I'd say: Let all the new authors settle in first and see if these changes are to the liking of the readers . Then you might consider this again in a few months.

I would not stop reading Stargazer's if you guys started posting more about video games, I likely wouldn't read the articles though. The more I skip the more likely I am to unsubscribe just because it's not related to what I'm here to read.

That being said, blogs to me are also about what the author wants to talk about. Just because I don't want to read about it doesn't mean you shouldn't be talking about it find your passion and write. For those interested in just the RPG aspects of your blog highlight the RPG RSS feed. We'll tune out what we don't want and focus on the signal of what we do.
.-= Tyson J. Hayes´s last blog ..Savage Mondays – February 22, 2010 =-.

@Sven: That's probably a good idea.

@Tyson: I think I will stick to RPG-only with a few boardgame posts thrown in. But if I decide to add more non-RPG stuff I will highlight the RPG-only RSS feed. That's probably the best solution.

I would second (third, fourth, nth) the caution. Unless there is an extremely strong tie-in to RPGs (such as Exalted's War for the Throne boardgame) I would be hesitant to include non-RPG content. As stated before, there are plenty of other places doing that kind of thing.

I personally read your blog all the time for the RPG content; other blogs that cover too many topics get skipped, in my feed!

Specialty board-games and card-games in my opinion are excellent topics to cover on a blog about roleplaying because they are part of the social gaming hobby: when I go hang out with my friends on Fridays we are just as likely to play Munchkin or Arkham Horror as we are Shadowrun, and I think all three hobbies are close cousins.

Videogames on the other hand are NOT the same hobby, regardless of the fact that they are still "games". I'd prefer to read video game reviews on a blog or website dedicated to them. The same goes for geek toys – I can check out the store at thinkgeek.com for that.

However, there are compromises that you may not have considered – if you really want to blog about extra stuff, please do so and keep these in mind:

1) Clearly mark non-rpg topics in the post titles so I can tell by glancing at my Google Reader that the post is about Videogames or Geek toys – we can skip or read as our interest takes us.

2) Consider providing separate feeds to us too, like the one you provide for RPG Bloggers Network – though i'd like to see the Board Game posts too so maybe I'm too picky.

3) Consider making a second personal blog for posts about stuff that readers don't want on Stargazer's World. Anyone who loves to read everything you say will gladly follow it, and those of us who only want to read social gaming related material can do so!

I'll keep reading either way, but so far my experience at Stargazer's World has been top notch and just what I need when I'm looking for a quick gaming fix and just can't get any players together. I'd hate for it to fall down my list of "must read!" blog feeds!