GSW Column – No More
Just as I talk up the work I publish, I should mention when I drop a gig – and last week, I retired my Save the Robot column at GameSetWatch. GSW is one of my favorite gaming blogs, and I was pleased with most of the columns I wrote for them, but I’ve had trouble finding the right ideas lately – or finding time to do serious research and planning for a column that was supposed to run every other week.
I’ve had the privilege of writing several columns over the past few years, for Pitchforkmedia.com, Paste, and The Wire newspaper in Portsmouth. I’m the kind of guy that tends to do well with a column: I hang on to the gigs that I like, so I store up the kind of credit that leads to these invitations, and I have a short attention span and a lot of ideas, which can keep a column fresh.
If anything, I usually cover too wide a ground in my columns – which is part of the reason I quit this one; I didn’t think I was hitting this audience’s sweetspot very consistently, and would rather find a gig where it makes sense to write about pretty much anything. But I’m grateful to Simon Carless for the opportunity, and it gave me a chance to turn out some cool pieces. Here are some of the highlights:
- The One-Game Diet
- My Horse and Me
- Let’s Burn Down Africa
- Gaming and Web Me.0 (Or: Why is My Butt Online) – This is the one where I felt like I lost everybody; in retrospect, it could’ve been better argued.
- Childish Things
- The Birth of the Cool
This means for the first time since ‘03, I have no columns at all. Strange.
I’ve really missed your Pitchfork column lately. I could really use more of your insights into “music 2.0″ and all the accompanying gibberish. There are really two few agnostics writing about the intersection of music, commerce, and technology and your voice is sorely missed.
blackmailismylife
June 30, 2008 at 5:40 am
Hey man, thanks – I really appreciate that.
savetherobot
June 30, 2008 at 7:07 am
Also ironic is how your GSW column just got promoted–on GSW.
I’ve wondered just how long my own can last. A while, sure, but how long a “while” is is still fuzzy.
Michael
June 30, 2008 at 7:30 pm
In that case — more time to blog!
Mitch
July 1, 2008 at 8:08 am
Hmmm … anything to do with not having time because you play too much Rock Band?
Agatha Christ-Almighty
July 1, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Agatha – No comment.
savetherobot
July 1, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Sad to see Save The Robot go the way of the Aberrant Gamer, but if Leigh is any indication you’ll just start writing even MORE now
Matthew Gallant
July 1, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Bah!
And I had just started catching up on your columns over on gamesetwatch. I especially liked the ‘Let’s Burn Down Africa’ one.
I hope you do start writing more soon.
Good luck.
Yegwa
July 5, 2008 at 2:39 am
Yegwa, thanks for the kind words. I’m still writing for the Onion and Pitchfork and will hopefully pitch more stuff in the near future – and I’ll link it all from here.
By the way, thanks for the link to your blog. I’ll be interested to hear how your interactive fiction game comes out.
savetherobot
July 5, 2008 at 12:32 pm
I too will miss your GSW column, but I respect your choice to walk away for the reasons you described. I’m glad you have other outlets for your fine writing, and I especially hope you’ll continue to focus on games. We need you.
Best of luck with everything, Chris.
Michael Abbott
July 9, 2008 at 12:01 am