Retro Games, Rotation, and the Gamer

- or -

 

A Question of Retro Games, 

Game Play Rotation Lists, 

& Modem Gamers

Well unless Angry Birds happens to be in his Game Play Rotation List that is!

The Most Dangerous Gamer (Comic)

by Nicole Wakelin on December 10, 2012

 

PREFACE

There has never been a better time to recover from lazy gamer syndrome or its counterpart - no-time-to-play-itus - than today.  Now.  Bear with me, all will become clear.  But first we begin the lesson... 

 

The Importance of Context

Contexts is wicked important.  So are ideas like “logic” or “expression” or even “thought” and “emotion” just to name a few.  One position on these matters can be found in the school of Epistemology -- which is the philosophical science and discipline under which we study and define how we know what we know - and the best was to both communicate and illustrate those points.

At its most basic of definitions “Epistemology” is defined as the study of the nature and scope of knowledge, as well as its justified belief and related systems that extend from there. Epistemology
analyzes the nature of knowledge -- and how it relates to similar notions such as truth, belief and justification -- and then defines those words and terms and their meaning in useful ways, so that we can thus carry on dialogue together.

The discipline also addresses our means of production of knowledge, and skepticism about different claims therein. I find this immensely appropriate and even poetic when I consider the alternate worlds that I have most recently existed in, and in particular that of the Japan and its northern-most island, Hokkaido, in the world of Hitman (2016), and the world that exists within the construct of the game “Thief” which was for all practical intentions, created in the late 1990s and refined in 2014 but depicts an industrial-age society on some alien world.

Sure, those are fictional worlds - or are they? I can tell you that at times they felt very real to me - and in particular the moral codes that appear to have usurped that of the courts and Common Law in them.

And the Darwinian approach to moral justification - something akin to Python Law rather than Common Law - when it comes to the significance of and importance for “getting even” or revenge - two themes that play significant roles in both of those manufactured worlds.

Despite the fact that humanity - let alone an individual citizen from one of the many different tribes that human call “nation-states” under which the species has been divided -- often and under conditions of grave danger seek that sort of satisfaction. I'm just saying.

To have meaningful exchanges about these - and other - topics we all need to agree on the basic foundation points like the actual meaning of phrases like “Retro Games,” or “Game Play Rotation List(s)” and even “Modern Gamer(s),” and what about “Preface?” That being so, for the record as I write this I am working from the following foundation points:

Retro Games = Any game that is older than the current season - but can be a very old game too.

Game Play Rotation List(s) = Any game title you play regularly but especially one you have yet to complete to your satisfaction.

Modern Gamer(s) = Me. You. Any gamer currently gaming even if they began their gaming career in the 1970s. As long as they are still gaming and doing it on modern hardware, they are a Modern Gamer.

Preface = The bits that come before the meat of the story.

See? That wasn't so difficult, now was it?

The Meat Part

Moore's law is an observation made by Gordon Moore back in the day that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years. His observation turned out to be spot-on accurate, which is why they named it after him. It probably didn't hurt that Gordon Moore was also a co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and a little tech company called Intel.

The paper that Moore wrote and published in 1965 described the doubling - every year - in the number of components per integrated circuit, and projected that the rate of growth would continue for at least another decade - which turned out to be a very conservative time estimate, hindsight being 20/20 and all.

Borrowing from his experience I would like to introduce to you:

Boots-Faubert's Law

So yeah, this is the paper I am writing and publishing (well, article not so much as paper but still) that history will draw upon to phrase what will become known as Boots-Faubert's Law of Game Play Rotation - a simple law in gaming that dictates that the typical Game Play Rotation List for a gamer will double in size every 12 months as more games are added to the list thanks to two basic principles:

(1) The wizards at game studios continue to pump out games at a staggering rate, many of which are classified as “must-play” titles; and

(2) The average gamer will not have sufficient time in any given year to spend on completing these games, which will cause a backlog of incomplete games (and games they never got a chance to start playing in the first place) due to the lack of sufficient time to play them all.

The reasoning for this has to do with how big the video game industry has grown, and the fact that it continues to grow, with new studios appearing practically every day.

2014

A good example of this trend and its effect can be found in the year 2014. Bear in mind that a decade ago the typical gaming season - which runs from September through May - generally produced around six AAA titles in the “must-play” category, and so was certainly within reach of the typical gamer. Which was why we didn't really have Game Play Rotation Lists of the sort we have now back then.

Fast forward to 2014 however, and the situation has changed. Peruse this sampling of just the primary “must-play” titles for that year:

1. 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil
2. Alien: Isolation
3. Assassin's Creed Rogue
4. Assassin's Creed Unity
5. Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate
6. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!
7. Bound by Flame
8. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
9. CastleStorm: Definitive Edition
10. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
11. Chariot
12. Child of Light
13. Dark Souls II
14. Defense Grid 2
15. Destiny
16. Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition
17. Dragon Age: Inquisition
18. Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z
19. EA Sports UFC
20. The Elder Scrolls Online
21. Elite: Dangerous
22. Escape Dead Island
23. The Evil Within
24. Fable Anniversary
25. Far Cry
26. Fez
27. FIFA 15
28. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
29. Forza Horizon 2
30. Goat Simulator
31. Grand Theft Auto Online
32. Grand Theft Auto V
33. Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition
34. Halo: The Master Chief Collection
35. Halo: Spartan Assault
36. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
37. How to Survive
38. Infamous: First Light
39. Infamous: Second Son
40. The Last of Us: Left Behind
41. LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
42. LEGO: The Hobbit
43. The LEGO Movie Videogame
44. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
45. LittleBigPlanet 3
46. Madden NFL 15
47. Mario Kart 8
48. Mario Golf: World Tour
49. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
50. Metro Redux
51. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
52. Minecraft for X1 / PS4
53. MLB 14: The Show
54. NASCAR '14
55. NBA 2K15
56. Need for Speed Rivals: Complete Edition
57. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
58. Pinball FX 2
59. Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare
60. Pokémon Battle Trozei
61. Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
62. Risen 3: Titan Lords
63. The Sims 4
64. Skylanders: Trap Team
65. Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition
66. Sniper Elite III
67. South Park: The Stick of Truth
68. Sunset Overdrive
69. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
70. Terraria
71. Thief
72. Titanfall
73. Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition
74. Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark
75. Tropico 5
76. Valiant Hearts: The Great War
77. The Walking Dead
78. Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate
79. Watch_Dogs
80. The Wolf Among Us
81. Wolfenstein: The New Order
82. World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition
83. World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor
84. Worms Battlegrounds
85. WWE 2K15

While not every gamer is going to like every genre - so there will be some selective removals depending on personal choice, the list above contains 85 games! And it does not help matters that some of those titles don't really include official endings - particularly the MMOs.

Sure I could have summarized that list - but then it would not have contained the gut-punching impact that the full list contains. And if you think that is a lot of games to be released in one year, consider the fact that that list only presents the AAA games - there are three times that number of lesser and niche titles released in 2014 as well.

This is why the average gamer's Game Play Rotation List is going to continue to grow with each passing season.

Another Problem

If you think that the paractical limits that usually apply - like only being able to afford X number of games in any given year - is helpful, consider this new problem: Microsoft has started GIVING games away for FREE to members of Xbox LIVE Gold.

Consider it - today when I checked the list of free Gold games - under the Game With Gold Program - I found the following titles:

Ryse: Son of Rome

Evolve Ultimate Edition

Darksiders

So there you have three more titles I want to play. I WANT to play mind you. But I guarantee you that I won't have the time to fully play them to my satisfaction, so as sure as Bob's Your Uncle those three titles will end up being added to my Game Play Rotation List.

What's the Solution, Kenneth?

I don't know about you lot, but the idea of my GPRL simply ballooning forever bothers me. There are loads of entertainment withering there just waiting for me to play!

Fortunately I have a solution. I say we set aside Sunday afternoon through early evening for ME time. Game Time. We dedicate ourselves to removing titles from our GPRLs by really digging into a game every Sunday. Set Sunday aside for gaming! Free the Games! YEAH!

Email Information Management

Back in the day hearing that voice saying "You've Got Mail!" was really something of a big deal for a lot of users and not just the ones on AOL.  I know hackers who added that voice to their email notice programs just because it is both cool and rather retro!  Here we see Tom Hanks (in the film You've Got Mail) getting mail... 

Before we get started in addressing this perennially thorny issue, I thought it might be a good idea to first discuss the matter of just how do we spell let alone capitalize the word around which this post is centered?

This really is one of those issues that appears to have officially come down to personal opinion over empirical declaration, because when we finally sit down to cut bait the fact is that nobody knows officially how to spell email.

Actually would it be more correct to say “nobody knows officially how to spell email,” or would it be less correct? Huh...

The issue surrounding the question of whether it is spelled “email” vs. “e-mail” vs. “Email” vs. “eMail” vs. “E-Mail” vs. E-okay wait this is rapidly growing ludicrous...

The point to this is that the matter raises blood pressures across the world and has actually been the source of bitter arguments, some of which resulted in violence in the workplace!

If you think this is not a serious issue, consider this: as recently as 2011 in one of the semi-annual meetings of the American Copy Editors Society it was announced by the editors of the Associated Press Stylebook (the AP Stylebook is a reference source that pretty much ALL professional journalists and most of the non-professionals use daily) that they had changed their recommended spelling: "e-mail" is now "email."

The results of that announcement? 

Bitter argument by both journalists AND editors over that change. Now we in the Fourth Estate consider our editors to be the final word on questions like this, so when even THEY cannot agree? Well, let's just say that is a disturbing development.  We really don't like it when Mum and Dad fight.

I identified this issue as perennial because it is a constant and ongoing one - in fact it tends to pop up in conversation and concern almost daily when someone asks for the address to which they should address a message intended for me either as a journalist or as a member of the human race!

When a question like this grows violent the best means of settling it is to consult OTHER reference sources - but when we checked with the Chicago Manual of Style and then Merriam-Webster we found that they pretty much demand “e-mail” be used. Across the pond in Old England the Compact OED - which is generally the preferred consult of journos on-the-go gives the word as “email” so no help there...

If you are thinking that this should clarify the matter - after all we ARE talking about the OED and even Dr. Who agrees that the OED is the final word on spelling - considering the bloody-minded and often violent tendencies of the editors of the Compact OED there's still plenty of reason to be concerned.

After all, in 2010 those red-pen-wielding fiends were responsible for one of the bloodiest attacks on the English Language in recent memory when they abruptly severed 16,000 hyphens - but then we are told that on the wall of the offices of the lead editors at the OED there are Voldemort for Prime Minister campaign posters. I'm just saying...

What brought all of this up was a relatively meaningless comment that cropped up in a conversation yesterday between an editor and I with respect to their providing a small packet of information that I would require to work up a time and budget estimate for a small think piece on the effects of mobile games and mobile gaming on productivity hour estimates at companies that lack a firm policy on the use of personal phones in general, and smart phones specifically, in the work place.

I used "email" and they commented that the correct spelling is "e-mail" and there you go.  Game On!

Just because you CAN forward an email does not mean you SHOULD. And sure, Grandma may think it is cute, but really?  Really?

This is NOT About THAT

So yeah, that happened... But since this post is actually about consolidation of email and was prompted by our preparations for our annual Pre-Spring Cleaning Efforts in the office, we will leave the matter as stated above with the qualification that we are going personally with "email" and will refuse to argue that point because hey, that train has sailed!

Yesterday a sub-editor for a gaming publication I occasionally write for asked me why half-a-day had passed before I replied to their email.

My simple answer was that the email address they used for me is one of the webmail accounts I have and I only check that a couple times a day.  

If they need to get my immediate attention they would be best served using my main email address, which is POP-3 based, so I get those mail notifications pretty much instantly throughout the day thanks to the wonders of the smartphone.

They did not find that amusing.

The thing is email in this modern day comes in several flavors, with the two most popular being POP3 and WebMail.

POP3 - or Post Office Protocol 3 - works in many ways just like the physical post office but is a bit more flexible too. What I mean by that is that it has several layers of physical security that protects your email.

Layer 1: Email Service

When anyone anywhere in the world sends you email and your email service provider supports POP3 the email that they send you goes into your POP3 queue.  It is then stored there until you access and download it. So the people who send you messages will be able to verify that the message was delivered - but not read.

When you retrieve (read) the email, your local computing device basically downloads that email from the POP3 Server of your service provider, allowing you to read it immediately or later, if you don't have the time then.

The beauty of that is that you can connect to the server and download your mail in one big package and then later, when you have time, you can view and reply to any messages on your local computing device regardless of whether or not you have a 'net connection.

The next time you use your email app to check your mail the app will automatically upload (send) any messages you have replied to that are in its send queue at that time.  Isn't tech cool?

POP3 is like this guy delivering your email!  Okay not really. But then Cliffy was on Cheers back when mail did not usually HAVE an "e" in front of it.  Just saying...

Layer 2: Email Storage

If you have set your POP3 email app to both download the email messages AND leave a copy on the server, unlike the real post office it will actually retain a copy of that message for you.  

Should your local computing device be destroyed or stolen, you can still retrieve copies of any of your email messages from the server via another device.  Which makes it a sort of email message archive if you like.

You can ALSO set your email app to download your new messages and then delete the original so that it is NOT stored on the POP3 Server. It is entirely your call.

Basically the POP3 protocol makes it easy for anyone to check their email from any computer in the world, provided they have configured their email program / app properly to work with the protocol.

In addition to that and depending on the complexity of their POP3-capable email app, they may even be able to use a single app to download, read, and reply to ALL of their email accounts. And that is pretty much where this is headed.

WebMail on the other hand is just what it sounds like - a web-based email services.  

Examples of webmail include sites like Yahoo, GMail, and the web-based email services that are provided by a lot of ISPs and Website Hosting outfits these days.

Like POP3 the webmail server will accept email messages on your behalf, and then when you log into the webmail interface, present any messages you have received to you, in your inbox.

Unlike POP3 though, just reading a message does not make it go away from the server.  You have to personally delete the message when you are done reading or replying.

Both have different pro and con aspects to them.  For example with POP3 - assuming you have a properly configured email client like Thunderbird or Outlook - you can basically have ALL of your email in one place.  

These email clients are even smart enough to insert the correct reply to address in any email you write, and you can even configure them to use specific security or confidentiality settings based on that address you are replying from!

POP3 allows you to grab your mail from the server and read or reply to it later, whereas with webmail you have to do all of that online - so you cannot write an email message while you are offline - say traveling on a train or in a car - you have to wait until you have 'net access to do that.

One of the serious cons for POP3 - and this is usually the one that webmail fans immediately bring up when the two types of email service are compared - is the fact that POP3 often can serve as an infection point for computing devices that are not properly secured with anti-virus and security software.

Basically with POP3 you are physically downloading a copy of the mail - and any attachments - to your local device.  So if that email contains an evil payload and your security is not up to snuff, you could end up either infected, or running a hostile app.

With webmail all of the interaction takes place on some remote webmail server out there in the cloud, so if you get a nasty delivery chances are a lot smaller that it will actually succeed in delivering its nefarious payload to your local computing devices.

Another point in its favor is that webmail users never have to worry about whether they are running out of hard drive space on their local device - they only have to worry about exceeding the storage limit on the webmail server itself.

The Conveniences of POP3

Now having taken all of this into consideration, the conveniences of POP3 email are sufficient - and this is especially true if you are forced via your career to maintain a number of different email addresses - to make the efforts of properly securing your local computing device worth doing.

Actually - and I am not being mean here - you should be properly securing it anyway.  So really you could view switching to POP3 to be a bonus since it will encourage you to practice safe surfing and safe computing - which like I said, you should already be doing!

Filtering Email

One of the best aspects of using your local computing device in conjunction with POP3 apps is that, depending on the app, they can really be smart AND useful.  Specifically they tend to support some pretty useful utilities - like email filtering.

With email filtering you can set up all sorts of rules that the email that you receive has to follow.  When you get on a mailing list from an aggressive company, you can add their domain to your DO NOT ACCEPT list, and any offending email is deleted behind the scenes so you never see it.  Your app simply drops it into the round filing cabinet for you.

By using the Spam filters on your email app it will eventually build a list of the various companies, email domain names, and the like who you prefer not to receive email from, and present you everything except the email from those people or businesses.

You can also set up keyword rules - for example you can add Viagra and Penis Enlargement as either a single rule -- your app will delete any email messages that contain the words "Viagra" and "Penis Enlargement" before you ever see them.  Or you can set that up as two rules, and so never see another Viagra advertisement OR a Penis Enlargement advertisement again.  Yeah, that's a good thing.

How Popular is POP3?

Obviously using a POP3 App/Client to pull all of your mail into one convenient place will only work if you CAN pull all of your mail into one convenient place, right?

With that in mind, there are some simple steps you can take - and before you ask, I recommend using the Thunderbird Email App from OpenOffice/Mozilla because it works well, it is free, and it is easy.  You can also use Microsoft's Email program - they call it Outlook - and obtain the same results as long as you are willing to pay for it depending on the version.

Regardless of the app/client you use, you should be aware that they all treat the email process the same way - that is to say that they all consider receiving email to be ONE side of the process, and sending email to be another side.

You receive mail via a POP3 Server, but you SEND all of your replies via an SMTP Server.  So you are going to need to set up for both when you are consolidating - and I strongly recommend you test every account you have set up in the app/client to verify that it is in fact working as intended.

The Steps You Need to Take
Once you have picked the POP3 App/Client you want to use, and installed it, you will need to do the following - and this is true whether you are just getting started or you have decided to consolidate all of your mail accounts like us:

1. Contact your ISP to get the instructions from them on how to configure your email app to access their POP3 services.  You will also need - in addition to the address of their POP3 email server and the login settings as well as any special settings they may require, such as alternate port numbers - the SMTP Server settings and login information as well.
2. The POP3/SMTP settings for any alternate email service providers - specifically and including Webmail providers - so you can add them to your Client/App.

About number 2...  To help you out I went looking to see what commercial and personal email services actually include POP3 as part of their services, and this is the list of companies that I found DO support it:

• AOL/AIM Mail - Official Instructions from AOL
  
• Gmail (Google Mail) - Official Instructions from Google
• Lycos Free Mail (POP3 Requires Fee) - Official Instructions from Lycos
• Mail.com Free Email - Official Instructions from Mail.com
  
• Microsoft Outlook Mail (Formerly Hotmail) - Official Instructions from Microsoft
• Yahoo Free Mail - Official Instructions from Yahoo 

There you go - those are the big ones that pretty much everybody uses.  If your provider is not on the list check their site for POP3 Settings.

Bear in mind that some of the free webmail services that offer point-to-point automatic encryption do NOT offer POP3 services - they can't and protect your email with encryption.

Really was not kidding about you needing to maintain proper security on your computing device.  If you make the switch to POP3 you will need to do that.  Anti-Virus, Anti-Phishing and email scanning are a given in this world today.

Email Encryption?
That noted though you CAN do email encryption AND digital signing of email using Firefox with the free Enigmail Add-On.  Just saying....  You will want to get one of the free PGP Encryption programs for your OS though, as well.

. . . CDC Identified Previously Unknown “Tuesday-Flu” Epidemic

The mysterious and widespread illness that severely impacted rail and air transportation, the financial sector, manufacturing, and public services industries in nearly every major city in the United States this Tuesday AM has been identified as a previously unknown variant of “G4M3r Flu.”

Researchers at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the CDC National Center for Environmental Health, with assistance from CDC Division of Bio-Terrorism Preparedness and Response in Atlanta, succeeded this morning in identifying the virus.

“What we have here is a previously unknown strain of the G4M3r Flu,” Dr. Benjamin F. Pierce of the CDC's rapid-response unit, explained to the assembled news media outside the CDC′s Roybal Campus in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

“Interestingly enough, agents from the Division of Bio-Terrorism Preparedness and Response were able to walk-back what develops was a series of simultaneous infection vectors,” Pierce revealed.

“It appears that all of the vectors originate from the very same Patient Zero -- or rather Patients Zero, as in plural.

“It seems that some time last week the pair were initially exposed to the new strain of a previously unknown secret virus due to improper sanitation habits -- they shared a bottle of champagne without using glasses -- at a development studio located at Calton Square 1, Greenside Row, Edinburgh, Scotland.

“Patients Zero -- they are brothers from the same mother but with very potty-mouths -- have been identified as Dan and Sam Houser -- and were evidently celebrating some sort of event related to their businesses, and giving a speech to staff at the original infection vector in Edinburgh.

"I would also like to add Hotel Oscar Lima Yankee Sierra Hotal India Tango! just because I like to sound cool that way," Pierce said. 

After quaffing an ice-cold can of Rockstar Energy Drink -- available in over 20 amazing flavors in over 30 countries -- Pierce continued his address to the press while smacking his lips audibly and repeating "Nom, Nom, Nom!"

“As near as we can determine, the pair then proceeded by private business jet -- the bastards -- to perform similar talks at locations in Leeds, Lincoln, and London, before departing the UK.

“They then traveled to North America, making stops in Andover, Massachusettes, New York City, and Toronto, before flying on to San Diego, and finally to an undisclosed location in Japan.

“It appears that at each of these stops the pair delivered the same speech, and then proceeded to repeat the same very unsanitary sharing of beverages -- champagne,” Dr. Pierce explained.

“What we can be sure of is that the virus was both created and spread -- the distinction is not clear at the present time -- by the Houser brothers, who then passed it on to wave after wave of apparently willing victims throughout the world.

“The rapid spread of the 0-Day virus -- which has now been formally named as GTA-V -- transitioned to epidemic levels by 23:59 this past Monday -- that would be 16 September -- and as unbelievable as this sounds, within 24 hours infected something on the order of nearly 14-million first-wave victims!

“No wonder nobody showed up for work on Tuesday morning!” Pierce declared.

Willing Victims line up to be infected with 0-Day GTA V Influenza, increasing the odds that they will not be in for work the in the morning by, oh, I don't know?  100 percent?

Unique Circumstances to Blame for Simultaneous Global Infection

In this case a startling but unique set of circumstances permitted nearly simultaneous global infection and the subsequent spread of the virus before any national agencies became aware of the dangers.

Calling the official reaction a “Colosse au pied d'Argile” members of the French version of the CDC called for a retreat while Congress in the United States and Australia held emergency sessions to determine if video game violence could somehow be related to the nearly 14-million dollars in sales for GTA-V.

Sources close to the studio that created the game offered this official response to those allegations: “Duh?!”

While hard numbers are presently unavailable, sources in the know at parent company 2K speculate that the numbers for 17 September 2013 will easily exceed the infection rate from the previous outbreak of 29 April 2008, and pointed out that nobody held them responsible for the massive loss of productivity and man-hours during the GTA-IV Pandemic, so it would not really be fair to do so for this one...

The “0-Day GTA” virus -- now understood to be a variant of the “G4M3r influenza virus” has been reported to be more effective than Viagra in at least 439,721 cases reported in the United States, including 14 in Indiana, 2 in Michigan, 1 in Illinois, and 1 in Ohio, in which the effects lasted for way longer than four hours.

There has been one hospitalization due to a panic attack caused when the victims Xbox 360 displayed the "Red Ring of Death," though no actual deaths beyond that one documented Xbox 360 have been recorded among the patients.  

It should be noted that absolutely NO human-to-human spread has been identified because that capability will not be available until 1 October of this year.

When this virus occurs in teenagers, it is called “unauthorized access to an M-Rated Title” by the ESRB, whose approval is sought but entirely superfluous considering how bent the rating board is in Australia -- we are just saying.

Infection Vector - Insert Disc 1

---

Too much time on my hands, it's ticking away with my sanity

I've got too much time on my hands, it's hard to believe such a calamity

. . . the need to maintain a good website for freelance writers.

The life of the typical freelance writer -- particularly writers who exist in the shadowy in-between world of traditional print and online publishing (a necessity these days as you have to go where the money is) -- tends to be a very predictable one in most respects.  

You may not know what you will be writing about from day-to-day or even hour-to-hour, but you do know where in the world you will be in physical terms with some easy predictability.  These days the lion's share of the work that the typical freelance writer does is centered around their personal computer, with assignments arriving via their email inbox and delivered in much the same fashion (unless the publication has an online form through which completed assignments are meant to be delivered.

One of the consequences of this new way of transacting business is the necessity for every writer to create and maintain a personal website or, at a minimum, a personal web page that serves as both an online identity and the focus for their work; it becomes the center of their business in other words.  

Editors these days expect to be able to access a wide variety of information on those pages or site, from instant contact data to writing samples, as well as biographical information that will provide a sense of who the writer is as well as what they do.  While most (if not all) of that information will never make it into print, the function that it serves is to give the editor a sense that they know who the person is that they are assigning work to or hiring,and that the writer is accessible to them so in that respect the form that a writer's page/site takes is pretty important, because it ends up being a virtual extension of a real person.

First impressions count for a lot -- my mother told me that and I believe it -- so the first impression that you make as a freelancer through your site should be an accurate reflection of who you are but it should also have enough character and oomph to catch the eye.  Obviously you cannot risk going over the top with it, but it should be memorable enough so that the positive impression that it makes on an editor lingers.

With that in mind you would think that every writer would take pains to be certain that their website provides an accurate reflection of who they are, and offers at least a minimal slice of their character and personality, right?  Well, no, not so much really.  In fact if you took the time to Google the search terms "+freelance writer +home page "+portfolio"  what you end up with is a long list of sites with predictable content but pretty much lack any sense of personal identity.  

The effort that you make in creating a site that represents the identity of the author is especially important for the freelance writer, and not just respective of the impression that it makes on editors who offer potential assignments, but perhaps even more important is the impression that you make on your readers -- after all the reason that you do what you do is for your readers, right?  Right!

The treatment that they give is more like a brochure than a personal statement, and these sites and pages appear to have been stamped out of preset designs rather than serving as examples of the creative spark that exists in each writer.  A very strange trend if you ask me, because I know a lot of freelancers and they are almost all, to a one, characters in their own right.

Addressing the reasons behind why these creative and capable writers who are otherwise interesting and even amusing people have come to the conclusion that they are better served by bland lists and tend to rely upon blog-style cookie-cutter designs -- formats that have about as much to do with the individual writer as the ticket stub for a train trip from Boston to New York -- and I confess that I am left quietly surprised by this trend.

While this is a subject for another post, on another day, before I get to the real subject of this post I wanted to share with you the results of several conversations that I had with different freelance writers whose sites pretty much mirror what I have just described, the gist of the conversation being opened with the question of how they chose the design that they chose...

"The appearance of the site really is not as important as the information it contains so as long as that information is easy to access and easy to read, what does it really matter?  It is not like an editor is going to form an impression of me from the design of the pages where I stick my portfolio," was one thoughtful reply.  "Maintaining that (website) is such a hassle.  I used to write a blog on it but I realized that nobody really cared, so now all I have to remember is to update my portfolio," was another.  Clearly they have the impression that their online presence is mostly wasted effort when it comes to what amounts to personal branding, and that is a shame, because when I looked at the other side of that coin the position was diametrically opposite...

"You can tell a lot about a writer from their home page," an editor for an online gaming entertainment site I was pitching a feature to said.  "In my experience the freelancers who take the time to create an interesting site for their work and themselves are the sort of writer who puts in 110% effort in the assignments that I give them, and besides that if you think about it, the fact that they take the time and put out the effort to create a site that reflects their personality and their skills is always a good thing," they observed.  "I can choose from a hundred freelancers for each piece I need written, so the ones who make a lasting impression on me are the ones I remember first."

It is probably a good thing that you cannot see facial expressions through webchat and IRC, because the writers I was talking to would likely have been shocked by my needing to carefully pick my jaw up off of the floor at their replies, and the editor would have taken note of the smug expression on my face caused by their confirming a reality that I had long suspected.  

The writers seem to be convinced that the image that they present to the world -- and what is much more important to my way of thinking to their readers and editors -- does not really matter or have an impact on how they are perceived by both groups, but I know -- I know -- that is not true.  Coming up with a good (and accurate) site design that helps to communicate who you are as writer is a very important step in creating your personal brand and in introducing you to the world, and especially new readers who are just discovering you.  Then there are editors -- don't forget the editors!

Once you have decided on that design and its elements and you start building your site, you should borrow a trick out of the playbook of web design pro's though, and immediately begin tweaking your site by paying attention to the way it is being used.  You get that information through the site stats that most hosting companies make available to you free of charge.  And that does not apply just to your website either -- you can use the stats from different elements of your site -- this blog is a prime example -- to see how it is being accessed, how it is being used, and perhaps even more significantly you can obtain a snapshot of the people who are visiting -- and reading -- your pages as well...

At least some effort towards improving the effectiveness of your website needs to be made on your part as its creator whose partial goal is to introduce your character and personality to both your readers and new editors who might throw you a bone in the form of a writing assignment.   It is not enough to make it and then wash your hands and say "I'm done!" you have to set small goals for yourself aimed at improving it and then do it!

Tweaking Your Site

If you happen to care about how your website looks, the impression that it makes on the average visitor, and how they use it, you already have some props and respect from me; I am convinced that the presence of your website or page is as important as good telephone manners and punctuation when it comes to making an impression on editors, and even more important for your relationship to your readers.  I am also convinced that the care that you take in design of your site/page and the information you put on it besides the required things like contact information and your portfolio are worthwhile and worth the effort.

The choices that I made for the recent redesign of my site were very personal and reflect both my character and personality -- actually the creative spark that set me in motion and resulted in that puzzling design came from a casual comment from an editor that I had pitched a piece to, and in the follow-up call they made some comments and observations that, though personal, set my imagination on the course that eventually took me to the design you can see on my home page.

They did not end up commissioning that piece -- they wanted a variation of it, which I was happy to accommodate -- but in the midst of that conversation they observed that they found me puzzling; they commented that they admired my pluck -- that my appearance and personal situation (I use a wheelchair to get around) would probably depress most people to the point that they would not be out there pitching feature pieces but rather would be depressed and hostile towards life.  They thought that my can-do positive attitude was admirable, and wondered what the secret was to my staying upbeat in a world of constant pain that is largely hostile towards people who cannot walk. 

"Drugs," I replied.  But they knew I was joking.  The truth is that just like every other life-altering situation, you have to make a choice; you either make the best of what you have or you give up.  It is incredibly easy to blame others for your disabilities and your inability to have the things you want or lead the life you want; it is a lot harder to take what you have and build upon it, and when you are physically handicapped I believe that making the choice to be emotionally compromised in the bargain is the surest path towards self-destruction and self-pity.

When you consider the alternatives -- lead a bitter and unfulfilled existence, don't get the things you want, make other people miserable, and in the end when you tally up everything you did not get done and all of the failures that your life presents, you still only have yourself to blame.  I would much rather try and fail then to not try at all, and besides that when you try and succeed the impediments that you overcame tend to make those successes all the sweeter as a consequence.  Now that directly impacts the entire issue of both an online and real-world presence for me, and probably in ways you have not considered.

I never conceal the fact that I am disabled (the politically correct phrase would be mobility challenged) but on the other hand it is usually not a good idea to make that the first thing an editor learns about you if they happen to be looking for someone to cover an event that requires travel to another city or country -- and I have and will continue to accept those types of assignments, because I firmly believe that the struggles associated with travel are my personal problem, and not something that I want to encourage the average editor to consider.  With that in mind you can probably see how my website and online presence is incredibly important to me -- and why tweaking it and making it more effective is worthwhile effort.

Despite the relative importance of that destination and presence online, very few writers appear to have even the slightest idea of how that resource is being accessed, and which pages receive return visits -- the sort of raw data that the people who create websites pay particular attention to since it allows them to fine-tune a website to improve its results and make it more effective.  Considering the fact that for most freelancers they are the web design and development department for their business, as well as the creative team, and the standards inspector, writer, editor, and chief bottle-washer.  We cannot be all of those things without forming an intimate attachment to what we create, but we can be all those things and still remain completely ignorant of the actual use of and impact that our sites have on the readers.  Heck, you don't even have to try to reach that level of ignorance, you just have to let it happen.

Knowing what the device and Operating System are for the people who are accessing your site can be as interesting and as important as knowing where in the world they are, what the percentages are for the nationality of your visitors (change that to readers) are for each piece, and when the stats cover your actual writing, features, news, reviews, and the like, this information morphs from statistics to valuable data that can help you sell your skills to editors from publications you have never even considered pitching to before.  When you discover you have a large reader base in Germany that you had no idea existed, that is new you can use!

Stats for Speaking Of...

When I first discovered the collection of stats that are available -- at the click of a link -- I was blown away.  There was all sorts of useful information to be had, in fact I will share a sampling of that with you now:

-- Visitor Percentages by Browser --

• 17% -- Chrome
• 46% -- Firefox
• 21% -- Internet Explorer
• 01% -- Mobile
• 03% -- Opera
• 08% -- Safari

-- Visitor Percentages by Operating System -- 

• 01% -- Android
• 06% -- iPad
• 02% -- iPhone
• 02% -- iPod
• 03% -- Linux
• 08% -- Macintosh
• 03% -- Other / Unidentified
• 72% -- Windows

-- Visitor Percentages by Country of Origin -- 

• 01% -- Belgium
• 10% -- Canada
• 04% -- China
• 06% -- Germany
• 03% -- Mexico
• 01% -- Poland
• 03% -- South Africa
• 27% -- United Kingdom
• 42% -- United States

In addition to the above stats I can also learn what pages on my various sites refer the most traffic to this blog, as well as what other sites online (mostly my home page and Google) refer readers in, where they are coming from and what search terms that they are using that ends up bringing them to my site and this blog, which blog posts generate the most views and how often, what the daily traffic looks like, and a plethora of other information. 

On the hosting account for my website I can get the same information but in far greater detail, and in fact the stats system can be custom configured by me to allow me to drill down to specific information such as what the percentages are for each of the Microsoft OS's that are covered by the entry for "Windows" -- if you are curious and I was, I recently took a look at that information displaying the data as daily stats and learned that over the course of the past seven days the presence of Windows 8 is steadily increasing, which suggests that contrary to the rumors online, people are actually buying and upgrading to the new Windows.

A jaded -- or clever -- writer might take these stats and use them to tailor the contents of their site in order to narrow them to the most appealing information, so for example I might start writing blog entries whose subjects include the Firefox web browser on Windows 8 and examine Internet interests of people in the USA and United Kingdom, which would nicely hit the top percentage of users already visiting my sites.  Or I could do the same thing but change the focus of habits to people from Poland if my goal was to improve the traffic from that country.  You get the idea about how this information and these stats are actually useful for improving the site, right?