Changing the Game

Advance notice that I am moving my philosophical basecamp to Stranger Worlds and How To Live In Them over at Substack, although the Game is not yet concluded.

Dear Players of the Game,

It has been seventeen years, and during that time this blog has transformed in many ways. Remember in the early days when it was all about games...? That seems forever ago now. I marvel at the volume of material I have thrown into this blog over the years, but I am unsatisfied these days with the disparity between the time spent writing essays and the volume of discussion generated, which has become exceedingly low.

Partly, the downturn in discussion reflects what has happened in traditional blogs as reading has more and more been captured by services (Medium, perhaps, foreshadowed what was to come, although Twitter is an important part of the story too). Partly, however, I fear the lack of discussion here results from reaching a point whereby the intersection of people who feel confident enough to discuss my chosen topics with me and those with the time and inclination to do so is close to a null set. Mostly, however, I am certain that the Age of Distraction has continued to intensify, and even my efforts to promote Only a Game on Twitter, which represented a substantial additional investment on top of the blog itself, are not having any noticeable impact.

My experiences with WAMTNG have encouraged me to begin another project at Substack. This is Stranger Worlds and How To Live In Them, which you can discover yourself by following the link. In brief, it's a philosophy blog focussing on principles for life, building upon my philosophy books without requiring anyone to have read them. It starts tomorrow. Primarily, the purpose of beginning this project is to have a Substack where only paid subscribers can comment. I have some hope that this format has sufficient psychological impact to break through the forces of distraction amassed against the few defenders of equality. Even if it does not, I cannot pretend that the Game still plays the way it did. Golden ages never return, and their glittering sheen arises chiefly from nostalgia. As such, beginning something new feels appropriate to my circumstances, especially since my fifth international move is imminent.

I am not done putting essays on Only a Game, but I see no point continuing to put 30-40 essays a year here. I'm expecting it to end up with more like one a month, but I have no specific plan. More than posting here less frequently, however, I am decamping from here. This has been my writing basecamp - whatever I have done elsewhere, I have posted links to it here. But I see no reason to continue doing this (although if you do, please do let me know - this matters to me greatly!). Rather, Only a Game will become home to my longer philosophical essays just as ihobo.com became home to my writings on games. But neither will be 'my blog', and both will become 'one of my blogs'.

As ever, I offer my enormous gratitude to every Player of the Game, past and present, and I am still happy to hear from you whenever you are willing to take the time to write, here, there, or anywhere else. Your time here has been very special to me. But if discourse with me matters, or if you just like to read my ramblings from time to time, please join me at Stranger Worlds. 

With unlimited love and respect,

Chris.

The new Substack, Stranger Worlds and How To Live In Them begins tomorrow.