Those of you who’ve followed this site for awhile may know that I’ve often times mentioned what a chore it is for me to keep this place updated and running smoothly.
In the early days it wasn’t so difficult. I had a bit more time on my hands – or so I thought, anyway – in ’08 and ’09. Also, I was much more engaged in the game back then. I had an ongoing series of adventures to talk about, a lot of knowledge to share, and the eagerness to do so.
Although it took months and months before players started finding out about this site, I still posted new articles multiple times weekly as if I had an audience of thousands. Well eventually that wish, as it were, came true. Within a year of creating this site, HuntsmansLodge.com started attracting thousands of visitors per day.
This was both a blessing and a curse.
I was pleased that I’d amassed a small following, and even more pleased at all of the feedback I received from WoW hunters – thanking me for helping them step up their game in one area or another. Helping other players was the premise for this site from day one. Well… that, and providing myself a place to babble about my Spirit Beast and Devilsaur taming expeditions.
Anyway, as traffic grew, so did the demands.
Let me say first off that whatever responsibility I think I have to the site is perceived. No one pays me to maintain this project, nor is it saving anyone’s life, feeding starving children, or housing the homeless — it is a hobby and nothing more. I started this site because I wanted to reach out to other WoW hunters and I wanted to see what WordPress and blogging was all about.
I’m delighted that I’m able to share my knowledge of the game with others – helping them to enjoy their WoW experience a little more. I’m happy that many of you find me amusing and entertaining. I really like the community of players that frequent this site. I’m truly proud of what I’ve created, but… it’s a site based upon a game — a game that I seldom take the time to play anymore.
However… as I’m sure many other bloggers will tell you… once you start gaining a sizable audience, you definitely feel more obligated to keep serving up new and better content. This has been a constant struggle of mine for the past year and a half.
I have good intentions, I swear. I’ve always strived to stay on top of this site and keep it fresh with juicy new articles and guides, but it’s just too difficult for me to devote the necessary time.
Late last year, I got to the point where I seldom logged on to play. I usually only logged on when I needed to do research for a topic to explore. I scarcely had time to play, so I mainly did so when the site absolutely needed updating. Let me tell you… that’s a surefire way to curb your enthusiasm for the game.
It reached the point where I was thinking of just hanging it up before Cataclysm. I took a few weeks off, then decided I’d come back to the game with a lot less self-imposed pressure. My plan was to redefine casual. I even came back as a Rogue. I was having fun again – enjoying the game as it was meant to be enjoyed, and still managing occasional updates to the site.
Fast forward now to Spring 2011. Even as a filthy casual, I’m still struggling to find the time to sit down and play, let alone write about the game.
Since I started playing WoW, back in February of ’06, I’d never been away from the game for more than 2 or 3 weeks. Earlier this month I returned to it after a two month hiatus. During that time off, I took a hard look at my life and what I was doing, not doing, and should be doing. In an effort to get back on track, WoW completely fell off my plate.
Now it’s not like I was some sort of WoW junkie or anything — I was an 8-10 hour per week player at best. Yet, by giving up WoW altogether as well as focusing my attention away from this site, I was able to buy myself practically a whole ‘nother day each week. The result… I rediscovered fulfilling and productive things I could be doing with that time instead of sitting at my desk staring at my screen.
One thing I’ve always struggled with is just how much time WoW requires, which is a huge reason why I started Huntsman’s Lodge. I had spent countless hours at this accursed game, amassing tons of pointless knowledge. I felt that if I could at least share this with others, then when it’s all said and done, I’ll at least feel like I did something worthwhile with that time.
Now don’t get me wrong… I’m not WoW bashing here – I’m just saying that I think it’s a shame that this game has to devour so much of ones time to be truly enjoyed. The times when I’ve enjoyed this game the most were when I was raiding a few times per month, participating in arena once a week, running heroics now and then, doing the occasional dailies, rocking WSG with my 19 hunter, playing an alt, or whatever… All of this time adds up quick, and before you know it, you can find yourself sitting at your computer – playing WoW for 15, 20, 25 hours per week, or more.
This is probably fine if you can afford the time to devote to this hobby, and if the time spent playing WoW isn’t causing you to make compromises that impact your life negatively. In other words, if you’re not sacrificing the more important and rewarding things in life (i.e., family, friends, work, school, sleep, etc…), then knock yourself out.
For me, however, it’s another story… I’ve finally come to terms with something that I’d been struggling with for years… I really don’t have time for it.
I’m not saying that Garwulf is hanging up his gun for good, but it’s unrealistic to think that I’ll be able to maintain this site as I had in previous years. The fact is, I really enjoy providing this virtual hunter hangout, but I’m at a total loss when it comes to adding new content.
I’m completely uninspired and overwhelmed at the same time. Part of me wants to dive in and press on with new articles, guides, etc… but then I realize just how much time that will require — both in game and out. The fact that this game is constantly evolving doesn’t help matters at all. An authority blogger such as myself needs to stay on top of game changes and updates — constantly revisiting past subjects and adjusting things.
I can’t do it anymore, nor do I want to.
It’s not that I stopped enjoying WoW, it’s just dropped quite a few places down my list of priorities is all. Time I used to devote to playing or research is now used for other, more rewarding things.
Nowadays when I do play, it’s typically with my 3 year old sitting on my lap. He likes to push the attack buttons while I maneuver around. Needless to say, this is fun for both he and I, but it’s not something that will provide a foundation for this blog’s future. 😉
In addition to my drastically reduced playing time, I’ve no interest in visiting WoW news sites anymore. I used to check MMO Champion multiple times daily, but now maybe only visit it a handful of times per month.
So… having said all of this, it’s time I get to the central focus of this post.
I am looking for writers.
This site is very dear to me, as are all of you, so I don’t want to just let this place go, so to speak. If anything, I want to regain some momentum and press on. There’s just no way I can do it alone. At best, I’ll probably be posting maybe 2 or 3 times per month. Even that’s not a guarantee, as I may just disappear again for weeks on end.
I’ll continue to pay the hefty hosting bill, maintain the site and do all of the behind-the-scenes work, but I want to turn this place into a truly community-driven site. This idea was something I’d been cultivating for some time, which is why I implemented the forums back in ’09. I knew that eventually I wouldn’t be able to maintain this monster alone, so I wanted to create a portion of the site that was user-driven and self-sufficient — providing visitors with new discussion sans my involvement. Of course, early on it was anything but that. Yours truly spent waaay too much time answering questions in that forum.
However, now that a few years have passed, the community’s grown large enough to where those forums run themselves, practically.
That’s sorta what I intend to do with the blog.
So here’s the deal…
I’ve done this same thing in the past and was quite pleased with some of the contributions I’d received. However, it was a shit-ton of work.
This time around there is not going to be an application process of any sort. If you have an article you want me to publish on the site, then submit it. If it’s a one-off post, that’s fine. If you enjoy writing about WoW Hunter stuff, and having it read by thousands of people per day, then submit weekly. There will be no minimum commitment and you can submit as often as you want.
This is not a paying gig, but I have been known to present gifts to some of my contributors. Don’t expect any sort of compensation though. The payoff for having your article posted here will be the recognition you receive from other WoW players from around the globe. Although traffic’s dropped off quite a bit in the past few months, HuntsmansLodge.com still gets visited by four to five thousand people per day. You supply the article — I supply the audience. 😀
That said, if you’re a kick-ass writer, then I may be inclined to pick up your WoW bill now and again. 😉
Alright, so provided you’re interested in sharing your writing with the community here at HuntsmansLodge.com, and you’re already a registered user, here’s what you need to know…
I only ask that you adhere to a few simple rules:
- The article should be related to the hunter class in some way. This kinda goes without saying, but I’m just making things as clear as possible. This is a hunter site after all. Obviously, nearly every player who visits this site plays a hunter, but if you want to write about hunters from a tank or healer’s perspective, then that’s cool too.
- The article needs to be entertaining, informative, helpful or enlightening. There must be something worthwhile about your article that will prompt others to want to read it.
- I like funny articles that draw from experiences or just give readers a glimpse into the mind of a fellow WoW hunter.
- Guides and how-to’s are alright if you are confident that you can write up a good one. If you want to go this route then it must be original. If I see something that looks regurgitated from another blogger’s site, I’ll shit-can it posthaste.
- The article must be edited beforehand. I’m adopting a near-zero tolerance policy for misspellings and grammatical errors. I’m no literary expert over here, so if you can’t at least come close to my mediocre standards, then don’t bother.
- In addition to proofreading for spelling and grammatical errors, please pay close attention to sentence structure and other things like redundancies. If I see an article where a particular verb is used five times in the same paragraph… well… that irritates me. So please, read through your article a few times before sending it on.
- The article must be written exclusively for this site. If you have another blog and want to link to it from your post – that’s fine. Just understand that if you post here, you won’t be posting it on your own personal blog.
- No affiliate articles. If you send me something expressly for the purpose of driving traffic to your affiliate site, I will delete it quicker than you can say Lok’tar ogar.
If any of these rules are not obeyed, I reserve the right to trash the article. Also, I may or may not (i.e., probably not) reply with a reason for not including it on the site. Time spent editing, as well as explanations as to why something goes unpublished, are both too time intensive. The whole idea behind this is to keep the site fresh, without me having to spend hours and hours each week laboring over the content.
Alright… so if you’re not put off by any of that and you want to send me something, I’d love to see it!
I will be personally formatting and publishing each and every article that comes in, so don’t expect to see it posted immediately once you’ve hit submit.
Have fun!
Article Submission
If you would like to contribute an article to HuntsmansLodge.com, please submit it using the provided form.