Based on my Google analytics stats, virtually nobody reads this blog. The majority of the hits are from myself, making sure my posts are formatted properly and don't have any spelling mistakes. Every now and then I'll get a few hits from random parts of the world. But for the most part, traffic to this blog is a joke. I admit, I haven't tried very hard to promote it: I infrequently update the In Third Person Twitter feed, which has 0 followers as of this post, and outside of my girlfriend (whom I've kept this blog a secret for about 6 months) nobody I personally know even knows this exists.
With all that said, I love maintaining this blog. I don't write in this blog to get attention, or to engage in deep discussions with others about the medium, or to build a portfolio of work so that I can become a game journalist. I haven't told anybody I know because I don't want them reading this. They wouldn't care and would probably look down on me for it. More than anything, it's a place for me to vent my thoughts about a medium I love, regardless of who wants to read or comment on what I have to say. If no one does, that's fine. It's the act of getting these thoughts out of my head that makes this therapeutic for me in a way.
Ever since I moved away from my original gamer friend when I was 13, places for me to voice my thoughts and feelings about video games have been scarce. While a number of my friends play games, I don't really have anyone to talk to about how beautiful the mechanics are on Super Mario's jump, or how I disagree with what "person X" said on "video game podcast Y". The moment I begin to dabble in more deeper video game discussion is always the moment I weird people out around me. I'm thankful to have a girlfriend that puts up with me talking about video games, but I don't expect her in a million years to care about why I think Fire Emblem is one of the most underrated video game series of all-time. Nor would I want her to care about that, unless she got into that series on her own and loved it as much as I do. I'm totally happy with her being her own person, even if that means we don't like video games the same way.
That still leaves the Internet as a possible place to let it out. More than ever, there are outlets for people to discuss everything related to games. I often frequent other video game blogs and message boards to see what people have to say. However, I have no interest in joining these particular conversations because I don't like participating in message boards. I just like to lurk. I could even sign up for a video game blog on a site like IGN or 1up, but I didn't feel comfortable with that, either.
For me, this has felt like the best solution. I have run blogs in the past, but none of them were formatted to best suit video game discussion. With that experience, I've just gone all-out to say what I want to say about a medium I've had a life-long affair with. Over here, I can say my piece on my own terms. Having eyes on my writing is secondary. Just getting out of my head is what matters most to me. If others enjoy my writing though, you're more than welcome to continue following me as I spill my release some pent-up gaming thoughts I've held in my head for days, if not years.