Blogger face off: Tobold vs. The Game Dame
New feature here at Sweet Flag…Blogger face off interviews!
I’ll be pairing off gaming/entertainment bloggers, against a series of questions. I am happy to take suggestions on future face offs & questions you ‘d like to see answered.
First up are two well respected gaming related bloggers:
Tobold’s MMORPG blog is well respected & was one of the first blogs I ever read. He likes to keep his identity away from his blogging persona, although he does give away a few scraps of information about himself on the rare occasion. His blog has over 1700 readers via feed.
Kate Kemp is the Game Dame. Not one to shy away from letting you know who she is, her blog may have a shy readership but Kate all but makes up for this!
SF: When did you begin your site?
Tobold: July 2003. My 5-year anniversary is approaching fast.
The Game Dame: TheGameDame.com was born in early 2005 when I started writing for Femme Fatales magazine.
SF: Would blogging be your career, if you were paid well enough?
TGD: I never want blogging to feel like work. My Game Dame site is the place I go to post things that are interesting to me – not necessarily to other people. It’s the place I can write whatever the hell I want without consequence. The fact that folks come back every day to see what’s new is a nice bonus, but even if I only had 5 visitors and 4 of them were leaving comments about the benefits of Viagra, I’d still make posts. Even though I’m not getting paid per post, writing what I honestly feel about games, tech trends and video game nerdery has led to some pretty lucrative partnerships… so I guess blogging is actually a pretty crucial part of my career.
Tobold: No, I don’t think so. I much prefer games and writing about games as a hobby, not as a profession. I’m afraid that if I had to write for a living, writing the same article that I now write for free would feel much harder.
SF: What inspired you to blog in the early stages?
Tobold: Before starting to blog I participated in various game forum communities. But that had various problems, like my posts not being properly archived, moderators deleting critical posts, or having to change community every time I switched games. The blog enabled me to have better ownership over what I write.
TGD: Anyone who’s spent 10 minutes with me knows I have no problem telling people what I think about stuff. Thanks to the wonderful interwebs and social networking sites like MySpace, I’ve had the opportunity to share my opinions with a far larger audience than my personal email list, so, starting around 2004, I started doing just that. Because I’ve always been passionate about gaming, writing video game reviews came naturally. After a few months of posts, the editor of Femme Fatales magazine found me. He was looking for a sassy girl to add to their team and asked me to come on board. The rest is history.
SF: Where do you see blogging progressing to in the future?
TGD: Readers are becoming more demanding when it comes to the content they read on their favorite blogs. And if you don’t pay attention to what they’re asking for, you’ll lose them. So I think the bar for bloggers has been raised. Bloggers – particularly ones in the tech/video game industry - who only regurgitate posts from other sites and don’t add their own flair are going to start disappearing. It’s going to be survival of the fittest.
Tobold: More and more people go into podcasts, and video podcast blogging is just a question of time. But personally I prefer the written word, and will stick to that.
SF: What keeps you writing about games & your gaming experiences on your site?
Tobold: Everybody loves to talk about his hobby, and blogging about games isn’t any different. Sharing my thoughts, triumphs, and frustrations with people who actually understand what I am talking about is important to me.
TGD: My parents fell in love playing Ms. Pac-Man in the arcades. I started playing Pong when I was still in diapers. In elementary school, I made friends with a couple of people just because they had a Nintendo and I didn’t yet. It’s just in my blood.
SF: All time favorite game?
TGD: That’s always a tough question to answer… there are so many different genres of games. I mean, if you go old school text-based adventure, I spent nearly a year hooked on MoonMist like it was a primo drug. But if you go with the best memories from a two-player game, I’d say Super Mario Brothers for sure. Favorite arcade game? Ms. Pac-Man. Favorite drunken college tournament memories? Super Mario Kart all the way. It’s hard to pick just one. How can you ask me to pick just one of my babies??!
Tobold: World of Warcraft.
SF: Most looked forward to game, that is yet to be released?
Tobold: Warhammer Online.
TGD: Aliens: Colonial Marines from Gearbox Software. The screenshots look effin sweet and the guys and gals at Gearbox really do amazing work.
SF: If you had only the choice of 1 gaming site you could read, which would it be?
TGD: Destructiod FTW!!! I love their humor.
Tobold: Does Blogspot count? I’d rather read a bunch of game blogs than one big commercial gaming site.
SF: Do you make any money from your site?
Tobold: No. Zero. Zilch. I don’t even have Google Ads. But then I also stopped paying for Sitemeter extra services, because Feedburner and Google Analytics do the same for free, so I’m not losing money either.
TGD: Indirectly, yeah. I’ve been contacted for a few gigs because of my site. I never would’ve been contacted to judge the WSVG Guitar Hero competition in Toronto if I hadn’t been actively posting on my site.
SF: How well do your readers instill a community feel to your site?
TGD: I’ve got a few readers that comment, but most of my visitors typically just contact me via email or Xbox LIVE to chat, send me links and respond to my posts. Overall, my audience is relatively shy. My site isn’t really about a community, it’s about The Game Dame.
Tobold: Very much so. It is the feedback and discussion with my readers that keeps me going. While it is not always easy to keep tempers calm, I very much enjoy my readers arguing with me.
SF: Biggest mistake made?
Tobold: In the early days I still mentioned names of servers, guilds, and characters. That blew up in my face when I was writing about guild drama, and the people involved felt unfairly treated because I “went public” with my grievances on my blog. But as I said, sharing my feelings about my virtual life is important to me, so it would be pretty much impossible for me to involved in some guild drama and not write about it. So now I anonymize everything and don’t mention any names any more.
TGD: Posting something on my site that I didn’t realize was proprietary information and nearly getting sued to death. FAIL!
SF: What question had you hoped I asked but didn’t? Give your answer.
TGD: What was the first arcade game you played that you got to enter your initials in the #1 slot?
Pole Position on my 5th birthday party at Showbiz Pizza. “Prepare to Qualify…” w00t!!!!
Tobold: Q: Who invents the best cop-out interview question? A: DM Osbon 
§Related Posts ¦ Blogger face off
Tags: Blogging, Tobold, The Game Dame
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May 26, 2008 at 9:16 am
I’m sorry Tobold, but Kate had my vote from the moment I compared your pictures.
DM how could you have passed over the opportunity to quiz Tobold about his idiotic scarecrow avatar?
May 26, 2008 at 11:40 am
mbp, the differences are obvious between Tobold & TGD but there are some subtle differences too that are highlighted in the way they answer the same set of questions in the interview. That’s what I love about a face off…
Here’s what Tobold had to say about the history surrounding his avatar:
‘Actually my current avatar has a rich history, having been created by somebody from the MtGO community back in the days using my forum avatar and a Magic card.’
May 26, 2008 at 9:25 pm
I love the juxtaposition of their favorite game answers… especially since Tobold’s answer came last.
This series is a good idea. I didn’t know about TGD. Hopefully, you’ll point me to some other blogs I don’t know about.
May 27, 2008 at 1:03 am
Aaron believe it or not that wasn’t planned…I wanted Tobolds & TGD answers to flip after each new question but it so happens it just shows how we are all so different in our opinions, even about gaming!
I have been getting some encouraging feedback from other bloggers wanting to be involved in future face offs, so I think the series is here to stay.
May 27, 2008 at 8:29 am
That question does highlight the gulf between MMO gamers and other gamers. Kate comes up with a bunch of games she enjoyed. Tobold mentions one. MMORPGs are so all consuming that they rapidly displace even the memories of other games.
Of course all of that will soon become irrelevant now that “MMORPGS are History”
May 27, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I agree to a point mbp, playing a MMORPG religiously stops your natural curiosity for new games. You may look for a new MMORPG but that could be your limit.
There are some great non MMORPG games coming through this year that still have a multiplay element to them. Missing out on them would be a crime! Hehe…
May 27, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Actually, I think that favorite game question showed a difference in personalities more than anything else. TGD’s answer is what most people immediately think when asked that question, but Tobold decided to restrain himself and keep his answer simple.
You’re right about MMOs dominating attention though.
May 28, 2008 at 9:48 am
The reason I picked Tobold & TGD was down to their differences in the way they approach writing about gaming. Tobold will always be cautious with his answers as he has his real life persona to protect. TGD does not have this worry…
May 29, 2008 at 4:32 am
This is a great idea, DM…nice job!
And yes, MMORPGs do tend to consume your gaming time…but you have to remember, she gave her answer for her favorite game of each category of games…Tobold gave his favorite game, period.
Ask Game Dame (btw, great name, Kate) what her all-time favorite game is out of the ones she mentioned, and you’ll have a comparable answer. (I’d be willing to be that Tobold could give a good answer for each of the categories as well…however, there’s no “right” or “wrong” way to answer it, and the fact that they chose to answer it differently just shows the difference in personalities.)
The irony is, as (mainly) a player of MMORPGs, I play other games as well on XBox, PC and Wii (forgive me), but I really don’t enjoy the multiplayer feature in non-MMOs. Go figure.
Glad Tobold led me here…great blog!
May 29, 2008 at 4:36 am
Really cool idea for an interview! I’ll be checking out this article from now on!
May 30, 2008 at 8:37 am
Welcome Inhibitor! I also play the Wii so don’t feel ashamed…MMO gaming is more considered where as multiplayer on consoles tends to be quick action & less social interaction. The Agency, that comes out on PC & PS3, may buck that a little.
@ Anthony glad to have you aboard. Yes this seems a popular idea with the readers so you can bet there will be more face-offs!
June 22, 2008 at 2:28 am
Somehow i missed the point. Probably lost in translation
Anyway … nice blog to visit.
cheers, Bari!!!