I know this isn't quite what the author means, but: writing can also be multi-player:
(Disclosure: this is my thing)
Writing is a single-player game
11–20 of 43 posts
Re: Writing is a single-player game
#12This feels like a submarine article, so I'm going to go off on a tangent, and ask, "For how long will this be true?"
With evolving documents like wikipedia and Conflict-free Replicated Data Type (CRDTs) coming into favor, it feels like writing could be a cooperative and multi-player game. Most of the meetings I go to have an EtherPad open for all the participants to collaboratively take notes during the discussion. I'd assume that collaborative editing of documents will become more of the norm.
Like exercising, perhaps one could show up and write in a shared document so as not to let your fellow writer's down.
Re: Writing is a single-player game
#13As someone who is written over 300 articles on my blog I can relate to the feeling of wondering if my words even matter or make difference. Feeling like they don't matter is the easiest way to quit. Some articles have made a splash, but only for the momentary period it was first published. I always wonder if the next generation of people will ever see it, or will it just get lost in the void. I've come to terms that…
'Don’t strive to be superior to others; strive to be better than you were yesterday." I find this quote to be the main difference between single player/multi player game. The joy is always in progress, the difference is your frame of reference.
Re: Writing is a single-player game
#14As someone who is written over 300 articles on my blog I can relate to the feeling of wondering if my words even matter or make difference. Feeling like they don't matter is the easiest way to quit. Some articles have made a splash, but only for the momentary period it was first published. I always wonder if the next generation of people will ever see it, or will it just get lost in the void. I've come to terms that…
I find that writing helps clarify my thoughts and own them, rather than just being an amalgamation of the content I consume. It also helps keep my opinions and predictions in check—-I have something that I can look back on in future years and see how my opinions have changed, which can be a humbling experience because in the present it is easy to think that you are always correct.
Re: Writing is a single-player game
#15This feels like a submarine article, so I'm going to go off on a tangent, and ask, "For how long will this be true?" With evolving documents like wikipedia and Conflict-free Replicated Data Type (CRDTs) coming into favor, it feels like writing could be a cooperative and multi-player game. Most of the meetings I go to have an EtherPad open for all the participants to collaboratively take notes during the discussion. I…
No everyone likes to work in group (I don't). Tools to work in group are quite often very different than tool to work in isolation (by needs).
Re: Writing is a single-player game
#16As someone who is written over 300 articles on my blog I can relate to the feeling of wondering if my words even matter or make difference. Feeling like they don't matter is the easiest way to quit. Some articles have made a splash, but only for the momentary period it was first published. I always wonder if the next generation of people will ever see it, or will it just get lost in the void. I've come to terms that…
I just checked my blog. 367 posts. But it’s private with a protected login. It’s written for an audience of one: my son when he’s an adult. Maybe it’s also written for me. I contend that the best writing and the easiest commitment to regular writing is to write for yourself. Always.
Do not forget to print it and put it in a binder, otherwise he might never know about it.
Re: Writing is a single-player game
#17As someone who is written over 300 articles on my blog I can relate to the feeling of wondering if my words even matter or make difference. Feeling like they don't matter is the easiest way to quit. Some articles have made a splash, but only for the momentary period it was first published. I always wonder if the next generation of people will ever see it, or will it just get lost in the void. I've come to terms that…
I bet my life it does help people. Even if it's just one sentence that someone read as part of 20 tabs they opened for whatever research/project/thing they were doing.
You can write for yourself, but if you publish it on a publicly available site, you clearly want it to be read by others.
Re: Writing is a single-player game
#18As someone who is written over 300 articles on my blog I can relate to the feeling of wondering if my words even matter or make difference. Feeling like they don't matter is the easiest way to quit. Some articles have made a splash, but only for the momentary period it was first published. I always wonder if the next generation of people will ever see it, or will it just get lost in the void. I've come to terms that…
I just checked my blog. 367 posts. But it’s private with a protected login. It’s written for an audience of one: my son when he’s an adult. Maybe it’s also written for me. I contend that the best writing and the easiest commitment to regular writing is to write for yourself. Always.
Publicly available but protected? Sorry, but that's just mean. Your son will likely never read all, or any, of it. But someone else's son might. If it wasn't login protected, that is.
Re: Writing is a single-player game
#19Everyone wants and needs to be heard. Writing is another way of achieving that - putting the message in an internet bottle and letting it float. Your audience may live in another age, past you, but your message is still alive and maybe immortal. By writing you are getting better at writing. You are also getting better at noticing things worth writing about. You are putting a (hopefully) rare perspective into the world. If you can survive the cringes of reading your own past work, and not be demotivated by the lack of feedback, you feel fortunate. Fortunate not if you make a living off of it, or if it becomes important, but if the person you actually intended the writing for ends up reading at, enjoying it, and replying back.
If one day some AI supersedes humans and produces the most perfect writing on the planet, humans will not stop writing. Because writing is not about achieving perfection, but about feeling heard, eventually.
Re: Writing is a single-player game
#20I've kicked around the idea of starting a blog. It would be for me and me alone. Just a way to help myself work through some thoughts. There is always some sort of anxiety that stops me from doing it though. The idea of putting thoughts out into the world is scary. The author says my ideas can help people and I'm selfish to not share them but what if I don't want to my ideas to have a wide reach? What if I accidental…
This is something that every individual needs to realize themselves, but you shouldn't give a flying fuck what strangers think of you. Or anyone, really. Their thoughts and opinions are their problem, not yours.
"Oh, but what if it actually affects me?". If it starts affecting you, then you fix it.
You don't care what a random person on the street/road thinks of you, right? Even though they can realistically punch/stab/yell/crash their car into you at any time.