Shared Topic: Casuals, Raiders, and PvPers

This week’s shared topic was suggested by 2nd Nin and is entitled “Casuals, Players, and Raiders.” Authors are encouraged to share their definitions of these three types player and their opinions on how they’ve evolved.

Some of the current contributors include:

You can read more about this topic and follow up on future contributions over at Blog Azeroth!

Episode 16-Wynnicus Beta 3.16

wynmatt This week Matt and Wyn from World of Matticus endure hardships, betrayals and silly fart jokes to spend time with us for TNB’s second live show!

— Continue reading Episode 16-Wynnicus Beta 3.16 —

Downtime Round-up: 9-9-08

dt_roundup Is it that time again! That’s right boys and girls, it is roundup time! We are excited to have Siha from Banana Shoulders  joining us as our Twisted Blog next episode. If there are any burning questions you would like to ask her, feel free to send them in!  Here are a few posts you may have missed!

 

Hay to Munch on:

  • Dear Abby?  For WoW? That’s right, seems to be new blogger Aislinana is making sure her blog is different by focusing on giving advice on how to handle situations presented as you play and interact with others.

 

  • He now has a name! Dechion, formerly from Benameless, has decided to come out of the closet, not only reveal his name to us but also launched a new site to celebrate.  So if you were a reader of benameless, be sure to migrate to his new site: Dechion’s Place

 

  • WoW apps on the iphone: Ziv from Double Trouble ponders on why a couple WoW related applications survived the Blizzard legal hammer.

Live! Episode 16 Recording

Episode 16, which we previously announced would be co-hosted by Matt and Wyn from World of Matticus will be live-corded! (Um.. live recorded???)

We will be trying UStream again, but there will be no technical problems this time (Um. I think).. Just go ahead at 9:30pm Pacific Time (US) and go to :

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/twisted-nether-blogcast

The password to get in (I don’ want no stragglers…) is tnb73.

We’d love to have you guys there as we talk about WoW, WoW Blogging and the WotLK beta with Matt and Wyn, Live! Ask some questions on the chat room and we might even answer them!

Blog Tipping: Writing for Reading

annabadge At its core, blogging is about writing things that people will read. Sounds easy, right? If only it were so simple. Figuring out what people like reading can take awhile (just as figuring out what you like to write can take awhile). In that light, here are a few tips to improve the readability of your posts:

  1. Don’t just show, or tell – do both. Pictures are good. Stories are good. Both together are better. Tell the reader WHY something is interesting, and what about it caught your eye.
  2. Write titles that catch reader attention. Matticus notoriously uses the supermarket rags as post title inspiration (as well as Cosmo!) – why? Because those titles are there to catch your eye, and used in a blog post, they’ll appeal to the reader as well
  3. Make your point quickly, and don’t waste words. The first two or three sentences of a post will either draw a reader in, or send them clicking to the next thing in their list. Make your point early and obvious, and then back it up with details. If you thought filler was obvious in high school term papers, it’s even more obvious in blogs!
  4. Explain jargon and acronyms. You can assume that most people reading a Warcraft blog will know what WoW is, but a new player might not know what TPS is, or HPM. (Threat per second, Heals per mana). It only takes a second to explain an acronym, and you’ll widen your audience significantly by doing so – especially if you’re talking about a very specific topic.
  5. Edit, edit, and edit some more. A great idea doesn’t automatically mean a great post. Go back and edit what you’ve written, making sure that your post is clear and concise, and that it says what you want to say and how you want to say it!
  6. Use active voice. Rather than “I have been blogging” say “I blogged”. Make the subject of your sentence DO the action. If you’re giving advice, give advice – you don’t have to worry about softening it.
  7. Beware the wall of text. Blog paragraphs are shorter than normal paragraphs because they are intended to be read on a computer monitor. Formatting is especially important on blogs (and probably should be a Matticus post all in itself) – for now, be aware of what your text looks like when its posted. Is it easy to read, or is it a mind-bending, eye-boggling wall of swimming text on a screen?

Obviously this is just the surface of things that help make your blog more readable, but they are some of the most important. Some of them are easy, some of them are hard. For me, coming up with good titles is often the hardest thing to do. Writing and editing is easier (I have an academic writing background), but catchy titles? Eep!

And, so you don’t think I’m some kind of blogging whiz kid, some of these tips have been garnered from months of reading Lorelle on WordPress – her blogging tip section is extensive and AWESOME.