And You Are... ?

Why the hell should you read what I have to say?

I've been trying to answer this question in my mind for a month now. As I scheme for this "blog" to be successful and well-read, brainstorming articles and approaches, I still hit a brick wall attempting to succinctly answer this simple question. Average blog readership is dismally low, something around one reader per blog. That's pretty miserable.

So why should I even bother writing this thing and expect you to read it? To be fair to myself, I'm a reasonably smart man. I have a degree from Bucknell University, a prestigious, if small, liberal arts school located west of corn fields, Pennsylvania. One of my majors was creative writing, so at least my writing style shouldn't have you reaching for the nearest noose.

But the real reason why any of this blogging effort should even take place has to do with passion. On the whole, I'm an admittedly lazy person. But when I get cooking on something that piques my interest, I have a tough time slowing down. Video games, as gayballs as the very word might suggest, are a source of great pride, passion, and understanding in my life. I strive to uphold a certain level of integrity when I discuss games, otherwise the conversation can quickly decline into the sad lamentations of lonely fanboys. But if you touch upon the right points, push the bigger buttons, suddenly the interactivity of video games can spawn the most fascinating discussions and provoke important questions, ones that challenge the very fabric art and emotion and experiential design and, well, shit... just about everything that defines our postmodern society.

I don't mean to ramble, but then again, I do mean to avoid sounding like an academic. I may be a "reasonably smart man," but I spent too many college nights reading papers that bored me to tears, not because the subjects were uninteresting, but because academics struggle with every word and always choose the hardest ones to follow. While their jargon leaves no ambiguity in its meaning, it does require patience and the ability to read with a dictionary on hand, which is tedious and boring and ultimately more stressful than helpful.

So fuck that. And fuck the ladder of lectures meant to infuse the unsuspecting student with miraculous and sudden intelligence. What I want to create here is a means of discovery unique to the digital interface my generation has embraced as second nature. Through reading, discussion, and most importantly, through playing, perhaps we can discover a little extra something about what it means to be human, and why, God, why we are so fascinated with these two-hundred plus dollar boxes that enable us to experience, not just see, but experience a new plane of existence, a synthetic plane, of no less importance than the grounded earthly plane we so quickly tire of working nine to fives and drinking our way to every Monday.

So let's get cooking. There is much to discuss.