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Send In The Clowns
By Corvus | December 2, 2009
Don’t you love farce?
My fault I fear.
I thought that you’d want what I want.
Sorry, my dear.
I started Man Bytes Blog in March of 2005. It has served me well as a platform for my exploration of my passions and has been instrumental in my professional development. More importantly, the community I have developed through my writing here consists of a countless number of people I’m proud to consider friends.
Over the past year, however, my relationship with Man Bytes Blog has become complicated and burdened by its history. I have increasingly found myself tired at the thought of updating it, of repeating the same messages about story and play over and over. My approach to writing here has become more formal and dense, making updating more of a chore than a delight. Coinciding with this fatigue has been the development of the HoneyComb Engine–my math-light and world-agnostic RPG system–and the launching of the (very) rough draft of the initial storyteller handbook online. Now I’m deeply embroiled in a substantial rewrite and redesign, based upon feedback about the inscrutability of the original text.
And next year isn’t going to get any better, schedule-wise. Three follow up handbooks are in the works, plus localizations of the original. There are LifeWheel manufacturing issues to look into and a HoneyComb-Engine-based LARP event to plan for October. Plus, I’ll be taking an AS3 class this winter and hope to finally put together enough information that I feel comfortable releasing some gamelettes based on my theories. And while I’m doing all that, I still need to be seeking out contract work so I can help keep the lights on in the Zakelro Manse.
So I’m lowering the curtain on Man Bytes Blog. It’s been an extraordinary experience, but one I can no longer sustain.
The existing content will all remain available here. I’ve offered the BoRT to another site and I hope we can work out a transfer. I’d hate to see it go away entirely, but I expect any transfer to a new site will change it considerably (and quite possibly for the better).
But while Man Bytes Blog is retiring, I’m not going anywhere! I’ll still be arguing with people about game design on Twitter and Google Wave (feel free to contact me if you want to swap Wave-contact info). I will still be contributing to projects like Well Played 1.0 (in fact, I’m working on a Fable 2 essay for Well Played 2.0).
AND in January if 2010 I’m planning on starting a new blog, with a new name and a new look, right here at http://corvus.zakelro.com. I’m going to return to a rougher format of writing, sharing the crudest snippets of thoughts, and letting my rough edges more obviously show. I’m going to return to the more exploratory nature of my early writing, and share more of my design work as well. I won’t be returning to the same one-post-per-day dictum of the first years of MBB, but I’m going to aim for two posts a week, Tuesday and Friday, even if they’re just sketches.
So have a great December, and a safe Zombie Yule, and I’ll see you again in January.
But where are the clowns?
Quick, send in the clowns.
Don’t bother, they’re here.
Tagged:meta. | 11 Comments »
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:48 am
Looks like a lot of us are turning towards different projects. I have been speaking with a few other bloggers, and we are all realizing that we have other things we’d like to pursue and the current style doesn’t support it. Many of us will be pursuing different kinds of writing and gaming projects into the new year, myself included. The Artful Gamer will similarly be making a transition in focus.
At the same time, the BoRT has remained my favourite REAL forum for discussion. Responding to other posts and thinking about a common theme is exactly what I would think of as a real virtual community.. a true meta-topical common space for gamers. I hope the new BoRT facilitator puts as much care into the topics as you did, Corvus.
Looking forward to your next blog. It sounds exactly like the kind of writing that I’d like to read more of, given that many have turned to an academic expressive style as of late.
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:53 am
Aw, man, change is everywhere.
December 2nd, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Sad to see a good blog retire, but I know you’ll still be kickin’ around and your ideas will still flow through the internet. See you on the road, and thanks for all the content over the years.
December 2nd, 2009 at 3:18 pm
I’ve had a similar experience with my own blog where it’s become something of a chore to maintain and lost that spark of energy that came with its creation. I’m sad to see MBB go, but looking forward to the new, more personal Corvusey blog that awaits. Cheers!
December 2nd, 2009 at 3:58 pm
I look forward to seeing what knew things shall be wrought, here and elsewhere. Have a fine Yule (may the zombies be kept at bay another year), and a fine Annual Celebration of Solar Circumnavigation.
December 2nd, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Sad to see such an influential site go. On the other hand, I look forward to your increased productivity. Also, there is no escaping Twitter.
December 2nd, 2009 at 9:35 pm
I’ll be sad to see MBB go… But I think I understand your feelings about it being weighed down by history.
Early congratulations on the impending launch of the new blog.
December 2nd, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Ah! So sad to hear this, but how true it rings, and I can fully understand. I will miss it, though.
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:51 am
It’s amazing that right now there is a wave of people reassessing their relationships with their blogs, something I was swept into as well.
Sad to see Man Bytes Blog close its doors, but I know you’ll still be out there doing what you do so I shall endeavour to see this as the closing of a chapter and not the end of an era!
Congratulations for everything you achieved here, and everything you will achieve in the future!
December 3rd, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Best of luck with the new adventure Corvus, I look forward to the new short format blog!
January 5th, 2010 at 11:40 am
[...] I announced last month, I shut down my blog of 4+ years because it was no longer serving my needs. I had [...]