I’ve been doing some thinking about all the crazy things that have happened this week on various social VR platforms and virtual worlds, and in the communities that spring up around them. And about how I have covered them here on this blog. Sometimes you have to take time to reflect on what you’re doing, and how you’re doing it. Otherwise, you are blundering on, making the same mistakes over and over again.
Trying to find balance as a blogger is difficult. You can write something that, to your eyes, looks like it’s a balanced treatment of something, and be criticized by someone who thinks it’s unbalanced, biased, and unfair. You can quote somebody, and then be accused of spreading misinformation by someone, because that’s not how they see things!
Look, people. The best I can do is my best, and that will almost certainly fall short of somebody’s expectations. I’m only human, I have my own set of biases, and when I f*** up, I own it, I admit it, and I apologize to the person or people I have offended, and move on.
I am not beholden to any of the companies that I write about, praise, and criticize. If I have any sort of relationship with a company, I am up front about it (as I did when I wrote about the Decentraland Game Jam; I had an affiliate link which I described in detail here, and I linked to that blogpost whenever I wrote a blogpost that included that affiliate link).
Yes, I have been critical—even downright sarcastic—in my evaluation of some platforms. Frankly, sometimes they deserve the criticism. I reserve the right to talk about how I see things happening, from my own perspective. And at times I have offered people who don’t like what I have written an opportunity to address that, in their own words, either as an update to the original blogpost, or as a guest editorial on my blog.
One platform owner wants to debate me on what I have written in an unedited video livestream, and that is where I absolutely draw the line. I explained to him that I do not do livestreams, as I prefer to release edited video content, like the episodes of Metaverse Newscast I do with my cameraman and producer, Andrew William. (In this particular case, I also offered to film an upcoming episode of the Metaverse Newscast about his platform, but he felt that that would take too long.)
At this point, after two years of blogging, I probably have any number of people who are unhappy, upset or angry with me for something I’ve written here. And you know what? I’m OK with that. I am not going to please everybody. And I am not going to go beyond a reasonable attempt to appease those who are unhappy, and who tell me they are unhappy, and who may even angrily rip a strip off me for what I’ve said or how I’ve said it.
Frankly, I am close to the point where I am fed up, and I am quite ready to completely write off a couple of platforms, no longer writing about them at all on this blog. (And I am quite sure some people involved with those platforms would probably welcome this.)
Finding balance is hard. Writing a blog is hard work. I will continue to admit when I make a mistake, where and when it is pointed out to me, and if I can see and appreciate where that person is coming from. I will try to make amends when I f*** up. But I do have my limits.
That’s all I have to say tonight.