G+ I'm leaving you...

The demise of G+. Couldn't come at a better time. I was starting to wonder why I was continuing to go there. I felt like there was too many posts and circles and groups to effectively curate. If I didn't use G+ as my online game platform I probably would have just stuck with my blog's blog roll to stay up on cool content.

With the migration to MeWe of many G+'ers I kinda get to rebuild my online gaming architecture. Not by much, but with any type of move I get a chance to look through my stuff and ask “What do I really need?” First off I need a group for my current online game. Here MeWe falls short because there is no integrated video conference app built into the site. G+ broke up the seamless way I could go from announcing a game, getting players and then forming a group complete with event listings and then simple click for all participants to jump in on game day. But I could still type in group contacts and send out invites to the online Hangouts session. With MeWe I can have the group organization but I will be needing to lead everyone over to the Hangout. The good which has come about with the forced reorganization is I've made a hard look at YouTube. To look at the recording and live streaming capabilities. The public consumption of viewing others playing table top roleplaying, well I have a long running game and me and my players don't mind people lurking.

Seeing what is possible. This is what I got the most from G+. What I can do with free access to online tools and the audience online to interact with. My game was nonexistent and once I was hooked up on G+ I was reading blogs with elevated gaming information, writing my own game blog and playing actual games. Then was the exposure to incredible adult material I would never get from game companies. Original, visceral and presented in useful and beautiful formats. Plenty for free and the really good stuff was worth the price. Made me want to make my own stuff. The G+ gamers showed the way here too. POD, One Book Shelf, layout software, making PDF's. I get to make game books I want to have on my shelf. And if anyone else is interested they can spend coffee money and have them too!

I was way wrong in thinking G+ would be around for a long time. But hell with it. The good look and lesson I got sure showed it is all about the people in the game community. We have met, more come everyday, and the blogs backstop all the valuable material so exposure and innovation will continue.

I will be detaching from G+. No reason not to just post on my blog and group scrum live with the gang on MeWe for now. As long as I have a viable means of creating a video table for players to sit around I don't think my online experience will be diminished at all. Maybe this will cut down on distractions so I can finish the latest three or four gaming books I agonize over.

All in all this shows the durability of the blogs. This is a good thing. Now I got a game I gotta get ready for. See you all real soon.