Utterly Gobsmacked

This is how I feel at the moment. The last three weeks have left me in a bit of a daze, as I still can’t work out what’s going on. I’m still writing and still producing my fun (I refuse to call what I create ‘my work’ on principle), but there’s been a couple of things recently that have left me utterly dumbfounded.

First there was Justin Olivetti over at Bio break who awarded Mana Obscura “Best New Blog” in his MMO Community Awards. This was completely out of the blue – something I wasn’t expecting to see at all. For me to be listed next to so many great blogs was surprising and incredible and so many other things.

Yesterday was the second clanger – the MMO Melting Pot community awards were announced. These folks had continued the annual “Piggies” after Larísa from Pink Pigtail Inn retired from MMO blogging last year. I was doing some research for something I was originally planning on posting today when the news came up on Twitter.

I’d won the award for Most Solid Content Provider 2011. I still don’t believe it, so I’m going to quote Hugh from the Pot here:

I’m going to let you into a secret here – Gazimoff is one of the few people whose work I will not wait until the evening to read. If I see there’s a new post on Mana Obscura, I’m off reading that bad boy right away. His writing is consistently insightful, intelligent, thought-provoking and entertaining. So, if you’re waiting for me to fix an egregious guide typo or approve your comment, and Gazimoff’s updated that day (which, let’s face it, is more likely than not), I’m probably off reading his post when I should be working. He gets not only the blame for my procrastination but also our award for Most Solid Content Provider 2011

There are so many great bloggers whose content I really enjoy reading that were also nominated, and I was both amazed and surprised (again) to be listed among them. But to win? Inconceivable. After all, I’m just doing this blog for fun – it was never supposed to become something serious!

If I’m honest, these awards aren’t just for me. They’re also to the close friends that persuaded me to give MMO blogging a shot and who helped me out when I was getting started. They’re to the community over at Blog Azeroth that helped me get started, providing me with both technical and moral support. They’re to everyone who’s left me a comment saying thanks for a great article or responding with their own thoughts and opinions.

There’s also the people who I’ve bounced ideas off, who’ve given up lunches or afternoons just to talk about some game concept or other. There’s the people on Twitter and tons of other places whose random comments have given me an idea. There’s the video game journalists and bloggers who report the industry news and provide a steady stream of food for thought.

All I do is join the dots and write what I see. It’s all of you that put the dots there in the first place. For that, for the awards, for the recognition, for being there, for everything, thank you.