Shallow Depths

So, why is this blog called called "Personal Gamer," anyway?

It's a slightly silly name, but not a meaningless one. Silly names seem to go along with video game blogging. Normally I am very careful about naming things. In this case I threw out a blog name quite flippantly. And although it felt intuitively appropriate I couldn't fully articulate why initially. Today I am at least going to try.


Personal and Private?

I have kept a journal blog for many years, in which I unreservedly discuss my daily life and thoughts. I am very used to sharing personal details many people probably wouldn't even share with their friends. I don't go quite as far here, but I'm committed to openness in my online writing. It lets me discuss things like gaming with social anxiety, for example. I'm rarely capable of verbalising my ideas well, for various reasons. I appreciate having an outlet for my thoughts, regardless of whether anyone is reading them.

Many of the things I write about are quite personal to me, which may not be obvious from the outside. Writing is always quite intimate and revealing, I think. Discussing sex or mental health isn't actually any harder for me than writing about more mundane things. I was quite surprised when I wrote that anxiety article for Screen Play, and Jason Hill asked if I was comfortable having my real name on it. I didn't consider it particularly brave just to be who I am.

As an aside, Cha is actually my real name in my opinion. That other name is really more of a legal designation. And yes, I also use a pen name, in case that is confusing anyone.


Personal Opinion

I think subjectivity and individual experiences are what make life interesting. I have no desire to persuade anyone, just to discuss and see what comes out of my exploration. I also love hearing other opinions, provided they are not being presented in a confrontational, aggressive way. Discussion is much more interesting to me than argument.

I have a habit of using little qualifying phrases, such as the "I think" and "to me" in the above paragraph. It's not because I lack conviction (as some people have assumed).  An editor would probably discard them as unnecessary, but I feel arrogant without them.


Personal Ad

Okay, so I'm not actually looking for romance. But there is a slight hint of sex and relationships in the term "personal". Those are some of the things I really latch onto in games. Often they are done quite poorly, but there is a lot of potential there. When relationships (of all kinds) are done well it really stands out for me.  And when characters are diverse and believable I can connect to them and their relationships more easily.


Personal Reflection

I'm interested in the process of writing about games as well as the games themselves. Therefore I do tend to reflect on my own inspiration and development. After reviewing something I am often tempted to discuss the reviewing experience itself, or add a little more background. Meta perhaps, but personally interesting.



So, to conclude... Personal Gamer is about a whole lot of rambling.