Thursday, November 1, 2007

Who are you, and why did you start blogging?

I should have answered this question sooner. You, my readers, deserve context!

The idea for this blog started at AGDC. I was speaking with Brent, Cuppycake, Andrew Krausnick and Steve Williams, all of whom have blogs. It occurred to me that I do have a lot to say about game design, so why not join in?

I'm always reading up on one aspect or another of game design, and I try out new games as often as I have time for them. So, when I run across something I think is interesting, I write about it. I hope it will be as interesting to you as it was to me, whether you agree or not. Comments are always welcome!

Now, as to me personally -
I have just over 2 years of computer game design experience, all of it (so far) on Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. While some may point out that Vanguard isn't doing so well, I doubt I would have learned as much about design if Vanguard had been more successful.

I didn't just pop into the gaming industry fully formed, like Athena from Zeus' head. In the past, I've worked as a computer consultant and information architect - both jobs that taught me the importance of user-centered design. And, of course, I'm an avid gamer. I've played and GMed tabletop games since 1994, and played MMOs since 2003.

So, in a nutshell, I'm a D&D DM with her foot in the door in the computer gaming industry.

Addendum:
To concur with Jeff Freeman... yes, I may have taken leave of my senses. :)

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I started blogging to improve my writing, oddly enough.

heartlessgamer said...

I'm glad you can admit that you're learning something from an otherwise failing game and hopefully that drives you to make better designs in the future. Vanguard was a lesson for all of us, gamer and game designer alike.

I started blogging to get off message boards and provide better service to my writing, but it really hasn't worked that well :P

I like your reason for blogging, but the templace needs a bit of work as it is displaying all over the place in IE 7 for me. Sorry, can't access Firefox at work if you are a Firefox junkie :P

Lisa Boleyn said...

I am a Firefox junkie, but I'll see what I can do to make the blog format more accessible to other browsers.

These postings are mine alone, have not been reviewed or approved by any employer or company, and do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone but me.